Monday, April 29, 2013

Fancy Nancy Spa Day


Paige got a new book entitled, 
Fancy Nancy's Oooh, La, La! Spa Day.


The book shares all sorts of fun beauty secrets and recipes!
Like this one of banana & honey face mask.




After testing the product, Paige set up shop and began taking in her own clients.
Marbles and warm water for a lush foot massage.


Followed by a lotion rub.



A skin smoothing banana-honey face mask and cucumbers to reduce puffy eyes.



(it was really cold...any runny! :)


Next was make-up application...


And a hair stylist was brought in...



(ever have someone ELSE apply you mascara?!?)




This Spa even FLOSSES your teeth!!!


Client and the hard working team.


The end result!


Ooh, La-la! 
What a lovely spa day!!


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Bringing Maya Home

Our dear friends Jason & Melissa Stanek
are working tirelessly to adopt a sweet girl 
from Poland.



Saturday night they held an Auction Fundraiser in effort to raise the funds needed to bring her home.


These are some of the items up for auction.
(Our family won the bear and now he stands in our home as a reminder to prayer for Maya and the Stanek's and all orphans waiting to find a forever home. We are doing "battle" through prayer.


This is the poster board about Maya and Poland that Melissa put together. 
It is so well done!



One of my besties, Christina Malone was the spokes person for the event. 
She worked so hard to put together and pull off the event. 
Christina's heart for orphans is truly inspiring!!


Our good friends Rick & Jeanie Ramondo
catered the event and the food was delicious!


Jason and Melissa shared from their hearts about the journey the Lord has carried them on.
They are so excited and ready to parent Maya and credit the Lord for all the amazing miracles that have brought them to this place. 



Christina and Melissa.


Melissa, Christina, Dee.


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Settling In to Our New Home


Settling into to a new place brings all sorts of discoveries, both good and bad.
This is the third time this excavator has been out to the farm since we've moved in!
The end result will be a new septic field. 

Oh, the joys of buying an 1850 home begin...



On the inside, we can now flush toilets without fear and the majority of our boxes are unpacked. 
Things are beginning to feel a little more like home.

This barn wood room holds our kitchen table and is where we've been doing most of our schooling. 



This is the momentary home of our dining room table, but we're still working out all the scenarios for this space.  Our poor knight of armor seems really out of place, but we'll find him a good spot ... eventually!


This is our family room and it ties with the barn room as our favorite.  
The fire place has been used far more that it should ever have been used in April, 
but puts out a wonderful fire.  It's a fabulous devo spot!



Goal: Barn beam mantel by Fall :) 
The ceiling is also a little creepy, but that will be further down the road.



Ah! The kitchen.  It's about 1/2 if not a third the size of our Oakland Twp kitchen, 
and that's not nearly as big of a deal as this lovely floor we are greeted with each day!  
But, an architect was out this morning and we're in the beginning stages of making it both functional and farm-housey!





The kids have been fabulous!
We've had so much rain, but they haven't let that stop them. They've played outside ... even in rain 
and have found lots of ways to stay busy. One favorite way: doing puzzles!



Monday, April 22, 2013

First Week at the Farm


I've had several people make comments to me about our "giving up" our newer home and exchanging it for an old farm house.  But, after having been here for a few weeks, I can honestly say, I haven't missed our previous home one bit.  Even when I ...


1.  saw a cat eat the head off mouse
2. found a snake in my basement
3. went through two 32 oz containers of Pine Sol in 2 weeks time,  countless buckets, cleaning.
4. washed more coats, boots and muddy pants in these two weeks than all my summers combine







Quite honestly, its been proof to me that it's truly not about the building you're in, it's about the people you're with!  And the smile that  illuminates Steve's face every time he comes in from the barn or from working outside...and the ear to ear grin that Jake wears as he retells the adventures of the day...the mud that covers every inch of Paigey's- "it was just so fun, I couldn't help myself" body...the tree house and the Fall Festival plans that Connor is putting together...it's all worth every bucket of dirty water, every dish that no longer has a home, every decoration that doesn't seem to have a place here.  None of that matters.  I've got my gang. And when the gang's all here...we're happy!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Moving In

We had two days to get our barring's and get the carpet cleaners in and scrub down as much as we could before the truck came with all of our belongings.  





Getting our kitchen table set up was the first signs of things beginning to feel like home.



The boxes and furniture kept flowing.  
We were doing our best (with the Lord's help!) not to feel overwhelmed.


To say we were over our heads in boxes was quite literal!


The kids found little nooks and crannies to play games or read.


They created a fort under the dining room table and played under there for hours!


They even ended up sleeping under there for the night!




Whew! We're here. We're all in.
We have NO idea where it's all going to go, but we have the rest of our lives to figure it out.
LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN!