Home Series: The Before--The Basement

Have you been keeping up with our home tour?  If not, you can catch up here and here.

One of the requirements on our list when house shopping was a basement.  Living in Southwest Missouri my whole life, tornadoes were something that we had to be aware of.  My parents' house doesn't have a basement, but I never felt scared.  We couldn't even hear the tornado sirens because we lived so far out of town.  I went to school many times and my friends were talking about waking up to sirens in the middle of the night.  I slept right through them.

Fast-forward to May 2011...I was home when the Joplin tornado ripped apart their town.  My hometown is just north of Joplin, but I have family and friends that live there.  The day after the tornado, we went down to see how we could help.  What I saw that day, I will never forget.  The stories that I hear are forever ingrained in my brain.

Fast-forward again to May 2013 when a tornado went through St. Charles and north St. Louis.  Many of our friends live in the path of that tornado and we saw the devastation from it.  

I knew that we had to have a basement in whatever house we decided to buy.  It was a non-negotiable for me.  We got lucky and found a home with a finished basement.

The air hockey table came with the house...and it's really nice!  It has been very fun to play! :)

We also have a full bathroom in the basement.

The people who lived in this house before us have always lived here.  They really liked brass and the nasty orange colored walls.  I can't wait to paint them. 

Not pictured:  the dungeon (our unfinished storage area).  It's scary.

Well, there you have it!  Those are the pictures of our home on the day we got our keys!  I hope to be back soon with some "after" pictures! Hope you enjoyed the tour! :)  Come visit sometime!  We would love to have you!

Home Series: The Before--Second Floor

Welcome back!  How do you like our empty house so far?  Did you miss the first post of our main floor?  You can catch up here.

The one great thing about not having too much to move in is that we can make the house our own.  I mean, we squeezed as much as we could into a 900 square foot apartment.  All of that seemed to have fit on our main floor.  We have empty rooms still...but they will eventually have furniture in them.

Upstairs, we have three bedrooms and a master suite.  Two of the bedrooms will be used as guest bedrooms and the other will be used as my craft room. 

These are the two guest bedrooms.  

My future craft room:

The Master Suite is what really made me fall in love with this house.  It is amazing.  We have a double door entrance into the master suite, and if you know me, you know how much I love double door entrances. :)

This is the sitting room.

This is the bedroom, taken from the sitting room.

Taken from the bathroom, looking towards the sitting room.

We also have a double door entrance into the master bathroom.

I knew when I saw that Master Suite that I could eventually turn it into a place that we would want to come to rest in.  I am excited to turn these rooms into the vision that I have. :)

Well, that's all for the second floor!  Be sure to check back for the rest of the tour, including the basement and the backyard! :)

Home Series: The Before--The Main Floor

Welcome to our home! 

I know some of you are getting impatient about seeing pictures of our home. ;)  I really wanted to do before and after pictures, but those will have to wait.  Filling a home takes time, and I am picky about the things I want in my home.  So I decided to wet your appetite a little bit before I make you wait a little longer for the "after" photos.

Here are the pictures of our home on the day that we purchased it, taken by the iPhone.

Our gorgeous entry way.  A couple of the things that I fell in love with are the double closets on either side of the door and the beautiful wood flooring.

To the left of the entryway is our formal dining room.  There is a gorgeous "chandelier" hanging from the ceiling.

To the right of the entry way is a formal living room.  After our offer was accepted on the house, I was thinking long and hard about the rooms and what we would put in them.  One day, in church of all places, it hit me that this room would make a phenomenal piano room.  I could just picture our future kids practicing in here. :)

Through the formal living room, you walk into the family room, living room, whatever you want to call it.

We have a half bath on the main floor as well.

This picture is taken from the kitchen.  One reason we fell in love with this house is the open floor plan, which is great for hosting and entertaining.  We also have room for a kitchen table.

Our kitchen is fabulous.  I absolutely love the island.  However, to answer your question...I know you want to ask it...I do not like the dual colored cabinets/island.  I do love all the cabinet space and counter space.

On this floor but not pictured:  the laundry room, garage, and pantry.

And just for kicks and giggles...this is one of my favorite things of this house:

I'm really not kidding.  I grew up on a farm...on a gravel road.  We could hear people coming down the road from a half mile away.  We didn't have a door bell, so I really love that we have one now. :)

We are so blessed to have this home.  I pray that we can have many people stay with us and we will be able to have many over to fellowship with us.  Because everything that we have is not ours.  We want to use it to the glory of God.

Come back tomorrow for a tour of the second floor!

Focused on the Plan?

Just when I think I know what God's plan is...

....BAM.  He goes and changes it on me.

That's just how He is.

But I'm so thankful that's how He is.

I've been quiet for some time here in my corner of the internet.

It hasn't really been on purpose...

We've just had a really busy month, and I haven't had much to say.

Shocker...right?!?

via

But during that time...

I have been focused on my life.

I have been focused on my job.

I have been focused on my future.

I haven't been focused on God's plan.

He's been doing some really cool things in my life lately.

I can't wait to share them with you!

What are you focusing on?

Your plan or His?

2013 Float Trip

Back in June, I went to Tyler's family reunion.

I told him that if I had to go to his, he had to go to mine.

Besides, I'd been to his 3 different years and he'd never been to mine.

Fair trade, right?

I thought so.

Ours is always the first Sunday in August.

Always has and probably always will be.

It was on the calendar and I just know that he was counting down the days. :)

However, last weekend when I called my Dad, he said they had gotten a bit of rain.

Now that is a miracle in itself.

Normally the drought is in full-swing by now and the guys are in irrigation mode.

He told me that if it rains a bit more, we might go floating on Saturday.

That was okay with me...one of our family's favorite things to do is spontaneously go floating.

I say spontaneous because that's the only time we go floating...if we get rain.

Well, it was supposed to rain all weekend long!

But we decided to go anyway.  

It turned out to be a beautiful day!

My aunt, uncle, and 3 of their kids went with us...so there were 13 of us total!

My favorite time was on the way back home.

We were all in the van together playing games that our family is known for:

"Muck-a-luck" and "The Spelling Game."

Then we ended up singing songs that we used to sing on the road when I was a kid:

"Oh You Can't Get to Heaven...," "Oh How I Love Jesus," etc.

We laughed a lot.  

It did my heart so much good.

I had such an incredible day just hanging out with the people I love and getting to share it all with my husband.

He got a taste of what our family really is.

My dad really wanted to go zip lining...he wouldn't tell you how much, but you could definitely see it in his face.

My mom got to go with him...along with my brother, his girlfriend, and our cousin, Carl.

They had a blast!!

And of course, I recorded them...
so for your enjoyment:

Two Years

Two Years.

In some ways it feels like we've been together for a lot longer.

In others, I can't believe it's been two years.

I am so blessed to be married to my best friend.

The one I'm glad I get to come home to each day.

The one who makes me laugh.

The one who makes me feel like the only girl in the world.

The one I get to serve Jesus alongside.

I'm so thankful for Tyler.

I am thankful for the two years of marital bliss. 

And I'm not saying that sarcastically, as some might. ;)

I pray that God will bless us with many more years!

I'm thankful for our family's legacies of long marriages and what we have to look forward to.

I thought I'd share a few wedding pictures, since I'm not sure I've posted any here.

We had the wedding that was better than my dreams.

I'm so thankful for my parents and the willingness and their hard work that they put forward to help make my dreams a reality.

That is one perk to being the only daughter...haha!! :)

Happy Anniversary, Tyler!

I love you SO much more now than I did on our wedding day!

You are so good to me.

Thank you.