The Process Continues!

There is one main reason to only tackle a major remodel project once every 40 years or so.  It's called keeping one's sanity!  Actually, things are moving along quite nicely.  The spaces are all now defined.  Half of the perfataping and texturing is completed.  And, as I type, I can hear the washing machine and dryer doing their work in my new dedicated laundry room.  For all the clutter and mess, life is good!

Yesterday, we spent the evening shuffling furniture and "stuff."  It had all been crammed into the new second bedroom, (created from two original, smaller bedrooms) while work was being completed in the expanded master bedroom, office space and sunroom.  To make way for round two of the texturing work, everything was moved into the master bedroom.  Next week, the workers will return to work on the now empty bedroom, and finish up the two bathrooms and laundry room.  This lines up nicely with our upcoming getaway to Arizona to visit Bert's uncle.

 

Soon, the office space I have used over the years will be dismantled, and my computer world will be reduced to the use of the iPad and iPhone for a time.  Since it will be awhile before the new space will be ready, it seemed only fitting to sit here one last time and blog.  Last night, I spent some time looking over the many encouraging words surrounding the computer desk, and realized it had been some time since I actually read them.  Still, they were always there handy, should I need a reminder of God's faithfulness in my life.

 

 

It has also been fun working our way through the layers of wallpaper, and removing the trim to reveal the original colors of the rooms.  It kind of made me think, "What were we thinking??" as I found the "lovely" striped wallpaper in the bathroom, and the very green color which was originally in the smallest bedroom.

 

 

 

The old school clock on the wall is certainly a reminder of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 which tells us there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.  Especially fitting for our current situation are the examples of "a time to break down, and a time to build up" in verse 3, and "a time to keep, and a time to cast away" from verse 6.

 

Throughout this crazy remodel time, it is good to look ahead to a time of completion, and the opportunity it will give to offer our home as a place of fellowship in our community.  Until then, we'll endure the process!

 

 



 

Mixed Emotions

Today is a sad day, as we learn of the passing of a powerful man of God, Billy Graham.  At the age of 99, God has called him home, after a lifetime of pointing people to Jesus.  Only eternity will reveal how many lives were changed because of the influence of his life.

Today is also a day to rejoice because Billy Graham is now in the presence of Jesus.  He is free from the challenges this life gave him, and free from the evils which seem to prevail here on earth.  All of heaven is rejoicing over the arrival of a dear saint called home.

Lastly, today is a day to be challenged.  As a fellow believer, I am challenged to step up to the plate, and do a better job of reflecting Christ's love and forgiveness in my life, as Billy Graham did.  I am praying for a new level of boldness in sharing my faith.  It's time to wake up, church.  A hurting world needs what we have to offer!

Giving Hearts are Growing!

From last year, and brought forward to bring attention to the fact it is once again "Giving Hearts Day" in ND!  Take time to be one of this year's givers!! ❤️

It has become a tradition at our house to participate in the annual "Giving Hearts Day" in North Dakota.  Once a year, thanks to three foundations hosting the event, (Dakota Medical Foundation, Impact Foundation and Alex Stern Family Foundation) donations are matched dollar for dollar, and many charities get a real boost.

In the last three years, donations (and people's generosity) have consistently grown.  In 2016  there were 37,109 donations made to 326 charities and causes, raising $8.3 million.  Last year, the total grew to nearly 10.7 million, and so far this year the total is up to 12.8 million.  Perhaps by midnight we can boost it to 13 million? 

In the eleven year history of "Giving Hearts Day" $41 million dollars has been raised, benefiting nonprofit organizations and charities across North Dakota.  What a blessing to see so many people sharing, and at the same time so many wonderful causes reaping the benefits!

There are over 400 different benefactors listed as options. . .check them out at this website, and join the band of North Dakota "Giving Hearts."  The minimum donation is $10, and you can choose as many different charities as you like.  https://giving.impactgiveback.org/#

These were our picks for the year:

     Williston Trinity Christian School (our grandchildren's school!)
     Adult and Teen Challenge (for recovery from drug and alcohol)
     Anne Carlsen Center (help for handicapped children)
     Gateway to Science (fun "hands on" learning center)
     GiGi's Playhouse (Support for Down's Syndrome)
     First Choice Clinics (Pregnancy Support)
     Upper Missouri Ministries (Bible Camp)

Do What You Can

My husband and I have lived in our home for over 40 years now.  Other than putting in a few new floor coverings, little has changed.  So never have I had to experience a remodel project. . .until now.  It has been an interesting and challenging project, one which is far from over.  It is exciting, but such a mess!

First of all, there is the 40+ years of "stuff" to contend with.  Suddenly rooms and closets are having to be emptied to make way for the changes.  I do believe once it gets out in the open, some kind of internal combustion takes place and it multiplies in size.  Or else we were just very good at "tucking things away!"

One day this week, I walked into my bedroom after breakfast and thought to myself, "Is there any sense in even fixing the bed?"  There are random boxes all over the house, and did I mention there is a mattress and dresser in the middle of my living room?  Yes, things are in disarray, and there is no hope of maintaining any sense of order.

In the end, I did fix the bed, and have been trying to make a point of doing so each morning.  It is the one small thing I can do every day to maintain a piece of "normal" in my crazy, mixed up world.  As I have been doing so, God seemed to whisper a little message to my inner spirit.

"I know how you're feeling," He said.  "I've got my own remodel project going on in the world, trying to make it a better place.  Sometimes it seems for every step of progress made, we're taking two steps back.  But the good thing is, in the end, it will be such a great new world!  So if things are in a mess, just do what you can each day, even if it's just making the bed, and before you know it, in My time, everything will be fresh and new."

It's amazing how beneficial a little conversation with God in your head can be!

Exposed!!

Most of us, at one time or another, have seen an episode or two of the show "Hoarders."  Watching it always makes me feel a little bit better about my own house.  It's certainly not THAT bad!  There have also been times when I have been witness to real life examples of a hoarder's home, and it makes me want to pat myself on the back.  I could never let things get to such extremes!

Having lived in the same house for some 40+ years now, I have often told my husband we should just pretend to move, without actually moving, so we could purge some of our accumulation of "stuff."  With a sunroom addition underway, we reached a point this past week where I was informed we would need to empty out some rooms prior to the point we tear into the existing house to connect it to the new part.  That's when the real truth was exposed. . .we ARE hoarders!

Although not quite yet worthy of an episode of the show, I am finding out there is an overabundance of, shall we say, "unnecessary items" in our home.  But when it comes to weeding through them, and making the hard decisions of whether to keep, throw, or sell, there are far too many things I want to keep.

In the past, I have often called myself a "sentimental saver."  Added to the challenge in our home is the fact my husband and son both fit the category, as well.  An item may have no current purpose, but "It used to be Grandma's" or "I remember when Dad used it," and the next thing you know it has been stashed away in one of the "save it piles." 

Yes, piles.  As in plural.  Lots of piles.  Some of them are orderly, and some not so orderly.  Every once in awhile we get inspired and decide to organize our "keeper places."  The main one is a room we call the "freezer/storage room."  It also houses our electrical box, the water heater, and the workings of our central vacuum system.  Over the years, it has become home to all those items we feel we can't live without, even though they haven't seen the light of day in decades.

It used to be we would store all of our Christmas décor in this room, under the basement stairs.  In later years, however, I learned it was much easier to store some of the totes and boxes in the guest bedroom closet, and leave the rest in a more accessible area of the "freezer/storage" room.  Over time, shelves have been added on all available parts of the walls, and now there are also rows of boxes in front of the filled shelves.

Did I tell you we still have most every toy our children had growing up?  Our daughter will turn 39 tomorrow, and her brother is 36.  But now there are four grandchildren, and it wouldn't be fair to break up the collections of Barbie dolls, GI Joe sets, and miscellaneous odd toys which fill the toy box, which happens to have been build by my carpenter husband.  (Who could part with that??)  There is also a "kitchen set" with stove, oven, sink and cupboard in one unit and refrigerator in another (also built by him).  These are treasures.  But more often than not, they are so buried under the rest of the "stuff" our grandkids don't get a chance to play with them.  Besides, the Lego collection seems to take first place at capturing their attention on most visits lately.

Getting back to the reason I am blogging about our accumulations, our sunroom project is requiring we clear out some areas to make room for the electrician and plumber to work.  This means the Christmas things can't be in either the guest room closet OR the "freezer room."  Because of this, it is currently taking up a huge corner of our TV room.  When it's all piled in one place, you realize how much of it there is! 

Then we move on to the "office" where photo albums and books need to be boxed up for the time being.  Lots of photos, and lots of books.  It was like the "Fibber McGee's Closet" of another era. . . layer after layer of things in need of a new place to hang out. 

It actually has been kind of fun.  I've discovered lots of things I haven't seen in a long time, and lots more I didn't even remember we had.  I've come to the conclusion we have so many memories stashed away, we could live another 40 years and still not get through them all!

Someone recently asked me why, after our kids are grown, we all of a sudden decided to add on to our house.  Truth be told, it was either add more space, or get rid of "stuff."  And you know how I feel about that!

Week-end Recap

It has been an exciting week-end for Vikings fans.  My husband has been one ever since I first starting dating him.  After so many unsuccessful years, it has been fun to follow the Vikings road to a last second victory tonight. 

This blog post, however, isn't really about the Vikings and their win.  It's about recapping an event I attended earlier this week-end at my daughter's church.  Every year the ladies of their church put together a fun night for women with fancy tables, a good speaker, and lots of fun fellowship.  I was especially proud of the two beautiful tables put together by my daughter and 8 year old granddaughter:

The first table utilized my daughter's beautiful white "wedding china" and had a "silver and gold" theme.  She borrowed placemats, napkins, and goblets from her mother-in-law, and the gold ornament tree from me.  She says she's not very good at this sort of thing, but I beg to differ!




 



 

The response from ladies wanting to attend led the organizers to ask if anyone would take on doing a second table.  This one was simpler, using paper plates and disposable utensils, but was every bit as appealing in a different sort of way!

 

Prior to eating a delicious meal of lettuce salad, lasagna, veggies, and garlic bread, my granddaughter and I made the rounds of the tables, "oo-ing" and "ah-ing" over the creativity displayed.  Here is a little peek at what we saw:

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The organizers were clever in serving the meal on clear, plastic plates so we would get the effect of eating off the pretty dishes without dirtying them.  Pretty lemon cupcakes finished off the meal as our dessert. 

The speaker for the evening was a young woman who recently returned from traveling around the world with an organization called YWAM (Youth With A Mission), and she gave a challenging message, along with sharing pictures from her journey.

Since the weather has been extremely cold, and we wouldn't be getting done until after 9:00pm, I opted to spend the night at my daughter's to avoid traveling after dark.  This gave added "Grandma Time" with my granddaughter and three grandsons.

So, there you have it.  I didn't enjoy the excitement of attending a Vikings game in Minneapolis, but still experienced a winning event!  Who knows?  Perhaps this could inspire some of us to do a similar event here in Crosby!  Let me know if you would enjoy helping organize one!

 

 

"Read Through the Bible" - UPDATE

Earlier this week I shared the beginnings of my challenge to read through the Bible this year.  I even created a Facebook Group and challenged others to join me.  Some have.  As part of my role as group moderator, I have felt led to share my own personal thoughts after reading the day's assignment.  Today was a longer assignment, and this was my commentary:

"So, how many of you made it through Isaiah 1-6?? Thankfully, I had the four hour drive home from Bismarck in which to tackle it!

It's a sad tale, but one which has been repeated often through the years. . .a rebellious nation, a need to seek, a promise from the Lord that He wants to reason with us and make our scarlet sins as white as snow. And that's just the first chapter!

It goes on to tell about a coming time when the Lord is coming to make things right. He asks us to stop trusting in man. He tells us there will be judgment, but His Branch will be beautiful and glorious, and bloodstains will be cleansed. His Branch will be a shelter and shade, a refuge and a hiding place from the storms of life.

I found the "Woes" in chapter 5 interesting. At some point I had underlined verse 8. . ."Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land." That's an interesting picture, but one that made me think of the big apartment complexes. Lots of people together in one place, but so many alone in each "house".

Other woes. . .to those who are up early and stay up late drinking; to those who live in deceit, to those who want to set God's timetable instead of letting Him do things in His time; to those who are "wise in their own eyes"; to those who deny justice.

After all this, in chapter 6 we find the Lord seated on a throne looking for someone to send with His message to the people. It is a challenging message to people who hear, but don't understand, see, but don't perceive, have calloused hearts, dull ears and blind eyes. Somehow I see this as a picture of our world today. God is still looking for messengers. Are you willing to be one?

Tomorrow we get to read from the NEW TESTAMENT! We start in Matthew, the first of four Gospels. Makes me think of a recent song with a good message. Have a listen!"

 
Ryan Stevenson - The Gospel (Official Lyric Video)

If you are interested in joining our Bible reading journey, contact me through Facebook, or my email, which is saturdayseeker828@gmail.com   Only when we spend time reading God's Word will we learn to recognize His voice in our everyday world!