Archives for October 2011

One of the first things you have to choose when you’re building a house  is exterior materials.

I knew I wanted hardie siding and was pretty sure I wanted white but we did a lot of drive-by’s in nearby areas to make sure we were set.

We chose white hardie siding and my friend Polly made it easy to pick the color.   I knew I loved her white farm house and she gladly shared that it was white dove by Benjamin Moore.

Steve and I had a few discussions on whether we wanted hardie board or hardie shingles.

Steve won that debate and I’m so glad he did.   The all white house needs a little visual interest and I think the shingles are perfect.

Our builder made the roof color easy for us.   We knew we wanted the economical 3D asphalt shingles and he recommended a color that he says looks good with any siding—

weathered wood.

It’s a grayish-greenish-brownish-gowitheverything color.   It looks different in every light and  we’re happy!

So far so good.

Now we needed a front door.   I begged for a double front door so I could hang double wreaths and have a grand sort of opening.

We picked a fairly typical cottage style door, made of fir wood and stained it the same as our porch ceilings—-early americana.

The problem is—it’s so pretty, who wants to hang anything from it?  And that cute little girl just happened to walk through just as I was snapping.

You’re lucky if your house comes with one of those 🙂

Our quaint little white cottage may look simple and calm on the outside but there’s a party of color behind those doors!   The paradox makes me happy.

RECAP:

roof—3D shingles in weathered wood

siding—-unpainted hardie shingles painted white dove by Benjamin Moore

door—8 ft double door in fir wood stained early americana

Theology matters when your world is crashing down.
What you believe about God and how He works in the world can bring you unspeakable peace or tormenting despair.
There seems to be a ‘movement’ in the modern church that wants to minimize doctrine—-“it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re being a force of good in the world” or something like that.
That seems all fine and good until tragedy strikes. And then what you believe about God is everything.
I grew up with a mixed bag of theology. On the one hand, there was grace. I was taught that Christ died for my sins and paid for my forgiveness on the cross.
On the other hand, I was taught to do my best to keep the law of God and was always despairing at my inability to do so. Christ’s blood on the cross was powerful enough for my salvation but everything else I was taught pointed me to myself…….my own spirituality, my own prayer life, my own measurable growth as a believer. I knew deep down that I wasn’t pulling it off. I was still sinning and failing to love my neighbor and failing to love God with all my heart.
Back in those days, I was a regular at altar call. I got saved at least one Sunday a month and rededicated my life the other three.  I’m not sure how many times I got baptized but I’m sure the congregation wondered what horrendous sin I was committing to be needing so much salvation.    I was burdened with myself.  I would take personal inventory.  “Okay, this week I missed ‘quiet time’ three times and lost my temper with my sister and failed to witness at school.

Back to the altar I went.   And I was one of those who gave in early—first verse of “I Surrender All” and I was  weepy confessing mess.

It’s the “Jesus has saved you.  Now you get busy” theology.

That kind of shallow, self-sufficient christianity will leave you either  broken or self-righteous and I’ve been my share of both.

I was nearly 35 years old before I began to *get* the grace of God.

It was Lutheran pastors who came to my rescue.   My very own pastor, who was so patient with my rapid fire questions and the wonderful pastors I’ve been privileged to learn from  at Issues Etc. have helped me see that the mercy and grace of our Lord is boundless.   No matter what life is throwing at you, you can be sure that He is up to something, and that something is love.

So, whether your house burns down or your spouse leaves or your children rebel or you have cancer—there is one thing you can count on.

For the sake of Christ, God has loved you with an everlasting love.  He is your Father and He knows your sorrow and counts your tears.

He chose you before the foundation of the world, to live this life, with these people, in this very specific circumstance.

Your hurt is not lost on Him.   He cares for you so much that He suffered every conceivable temptation to rescue you from your shackles.

He will use every heartache in your life to bring you joy in Him.

He will make every piece of the puzzle make sense.

He is not waiting for you to obey or be strong or be faithful.

He has obeyed and been strong and faithful in your place.

And He offers this all to you freely, for the sake of Christ, because that is the reason why He came.

He is the Rock on which your life is built and you need not worry when you see the walls all fall down around you.

In Christ, they will be built again, with the true and sure Cornerstone of His body and blood.

He will make life from death.

Hope from ruin.

Beauty from ashes.

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I highly recommend the following podcast series that recently aired on Issues by Pastors Todd Wilken and Jeremy Rhode called “The Gospel for Former Evangelicals.”

By God’s mercy, there are still churches that are gospel centered but I think the gospel is far too rarely preached and taught and I’m thankful for these faithful and highly trained pastors wh0 are able to so beautifully share God’s grace for those of us who have been bruised by the church.

This post is part of series called “31 Days to Rebuild Your House and Heart” and I’m writing it to chronicle our rebuilding process after we lost everything in a house fire last December. You can start here and read the whole series. Thanks for visiting!
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You’re not gonna hurt my feelings if you tell me I’m a fruitcake but the first time I ever visited Polly’s house, I dreamed about it for at least 3 days.

But heck, can you blame me?  I’ve said it before on this blog but I’ve always wanted to live in a farmhouse.   I’m an Ellie Mae/Ma Ingalls wannabe and I just know that at some point in this life, I need to raise chickens and bees and goats and llamas.

Polly lives the life of my alter ego.

One time when I went to visit, she had a  little black pig running around in the house! Now, that’s something you don’t see everyday.

Here’s some other things you should know about her. She’s an incredible mom with 3 of the cutest “yes ma’am”ing kids you’ve ever seen.
She’s southern to the core and everything about her house says welcome y’all and stay awhile. I love to see her serendipitously in town because she’s so fun to chat with and our two favorite subjects are homeschooling and adoption. I homeschool and she’s adopting but we’re both intrigued about both issues. I love her passion for orphans and was so thankful to be able , in some small way, to help support her trip to Uganda. Polly’s life is inspiring to me. She’s married to a wonderful, theology loving surgeon whose book stack puts mine to shame. She has a knack for making a house a home and just like Julie—-she has that certain ‘it’ factor when it comes to making perfect spaces. Her house is so different from anything I’ve seen and got under my skin. She and Julie, in much different ways, made me rethink the way I nest. I’m so lucky to have found such wonderful friends who inspire me on my journey of homemaking and mothering.

Her foyer is grand and beautifully welcoming with the most delicious scent I’ve ever smelled.

I took a picture of it so I could check on ordering it.

Just sit back and feast your eyes on the wonderful.


…..and the photo that nearly undoes me every time I see it—-the empty picture frame as they wait for *Ruby* to come home

the coolest powder room EVER—this picture doesn’t do it justice but that mirror is a good 8 ft tall?!

the master bath


the amazing gourmet kitchen


and the buffet I plagiarized
and the ‘whistle’ sign i’d steal if i could only lift it

and while i’m stealing, i’ll probably throw in  this adorable mirror from the boy cave upstairs!

this could be my favorite thing of all—-
life is full of hard things and sometimes all you can do is saddle up……
In true Polly fashion, she sent me away with this wonderful treat—-honey from their honey bees.   Of course she has bees!

You know what I love most about Polly and Jeff? As much as I love their life on the farm, I love their willingness to ask the hard questions. What is all this for? Polly said to me yesterday that her heart is changing—-that all this stuff doesn’t have the same hold on her it once did. They want to use their resources to serve others and are opening their lives and their home in the most wonderful way, through adoption.
It’s a theme all throughout scripture. We are blessed so that we may be a blessing to others.

Thank you so much Ms. Polly for having me into your home. It was a wonderful visit and I cried most of the way home.
And I prayed that Ruby will be find her home and her true identity in Christ, learning the faith from two of the most wonderful christian parents I know.

This post is part of series called “31 Days to Rebuild Your House and Heart” and I’m writing it to chronicle our rebuilding process after we lost everything in a house fire last December. You can start here and read the whole series. Thanks for visiting!
***A little nesting news—–the schoolroom bookshelves are almost organized and the queen chair is hogging all the space. I think I’m gonna have to get a smaller table because of her. I’ll tell you all about her journey across America and her broken leg soon!

I know with Pinterest and Tumblr and all the other bookmarking sites, it seems so last year to have a flesh and blood design book.

But I’m old school like that.

I like things I can hold in my hand.

As a matter of fact, as much as I love to read, I don’t own a kindle yet.

I can’t let go of having real books with real pages to dog ear and mark in and on which to spill coffee.

So, I have a design book, full of inspiration pictures and paint chips and fabric swatches.

I’m beginning to think I really should have been a designer because I LOVE that stuff.

My good friend Polly, who’s beautiful home you’re gonna be lucky enough to see tomorrow was so kind as to loan me her design book when I started the building process.

I poured over it and took lots of inspiration from it.

I copied the paint color of her farmhouse (white dove) and had an armoire made for my kitchen based on photos of hers.

Here’s a page from her book…..

(Wasn’t it so generous of her to let me use it?!!!!!)

I’m so thankful for my book but it fell into dreadful disarray during the house building.   I’m trying to get it organized for ongoing projects or for others to borrow.

I printed the following  screen porch from Pinterest and was able to paint my ceiling that yummy blue and my kitchen pendants are very similar to the ones in the ‘white’ kitchen.

And I’m working on a page in the front full of paint colors and swatches.  (I’ll share them all next week)

If real life books aren’t your thing, you can follow me on Pinterest here and on tumblr here!