Home Ownership, Part 3.

Okay, home ownership update. We've scraped our ceilings, re-textured the walls, and now - we're finally down to the floors... Eeeek!

A few weekends ago, the Walkers helped us out big-time around the house. Here's Josh with the sander we rented for the day. The boys had fun trying to control that thing. It's really powerful!!

This is kind of a before and after shot all in one. The part on the left is where David and Marc sprayed/scrubbed the stain and left it to dry -- looks gray and cloudy. The part he's scrubbing in the pic is what it looks like when all the film is washed off. The part where his feet are is what it looks like once the scrubbed part is dry.

And then THIS is what it looks like now that we have the sealer over it. It's so amazing to me -- like a science experiment that looks totally beautiful when it's finished!

This is what the other room looks like. The previous room is really a deep deep brown. This is called "cola." I just call it "pretty." :)

A few other great and not-so-great things happened this weekend as well.

While chopping onions for a tuna salad, I basically cut straight through the side of my thumb - including half of my nail. Aye aye aye - I've experienced some ouchies before, but this one would just. not. stop!! It throbbed for a good portion of the day, but thanks to my sweet sweet husband, I have a nice little bandage to protect my boo-boo.

This is my Memaw. She turned 84 last week, and we celebrated her birthday on Memorial Day. Now, this picture kinda makes her seem really frail, but she's really doing well, I think. She's pretty much the sweetest woman in the world - and I'm probably not exaggerating. I love this woman.

Ugh, and now for the part I debated about leaving out. This is a photo of Derf, David's dog, while the two of them were in Alaska. So last week I told you guys that we picked up Derf from David's dad's house in March. Well, Derf thought it was time for an adventure of his own, and he ran away on Saturday night. He dug a hole under our fence and took off on a stroll. We've called the pound, we've posted signs, we gone on Derf-hunts. He's just gone.... And I try to stay light-hearted because, in all honesty, I've been a little heart-broken. He's only been my dog for two months, but he's a great little dog... a sweet, old little dog..... And my only hope is that some sweet family rescued him off the street and just decided to keep him and not tell the pound. At least that's what I keep telling myself to keep from imagining the worst. I've been pretty torn up about Derf's disappearance, and I still have a tiny bit of hope that he'll come home. But until then, I'm trying to remember that God is big and can comfort me way more than a sweet little dog can.

It feels strange to write a post about losing my dog and staining our floors in one. But I recognize that this is life. Imperfect and ever-changing. Good and bad happens every day. And I don't mean to get all philosophical on ya. I'm just learning to thank and trust God in the small things and the big things... Not an easy task, but He's good. For sure.

"...just wanna know you're gonna hold me if I start to cry. Oh great God, be close enough to feel you now..."

Three months, seriously?

Oh my goodness gracious... How the time flies when trying to renovate a home...

Well, since my last post, quite a few things have gone on. The main one (or at least the main thing that we actually have pictures of...) was a little trip we took down to sunny Guatemala. Here are a few of my favorite pics. Above is a picture of our dear friends Josh and Angela. The stinking adorable child in Angela's lap is Selena (Selenita). She's the little girl they're trying to adopt, and the family bedside them is a group of sweet Guatemalans who are taking care of Selena in the mean time.


I love this. This is a group of students at the church in Huehue who had praying to start a worship band, and the majority of them didn't even know how to play music. But the Lord provided a school for them to learn how to play, and through random people all over the states, the Lord provided these instruments (and a few not pictured) for them to play on.

This photo was taken at the orphanage where most of our teams from the Village go to do some work. These children were dropped off by their mother the day before. Supposedly she will return when she has more money to take care of them. I pray that she does.
This is Selena and her awesome AWESOME pout. Seriously, it's amazing. And even though I know she's crying, and she's sad and all... it's probably one of the most adorable faces I've ever seen.
This is a view from the top roof. (There are two.) But this is house over the way. So interesting...

This is the clear roof that David built. When it rained, the missionaries and mission teams couldn't do their laundry without getting soaked. But now they can - and they can still see the light! :)

We were still smiling by the time we got home, so I figure it was a pretty great trip. We met some really great people - including some folks from Kentucky - who have challenged and sharpened my thoughts on God, the Spirit, the Scriptures, and my heart. I got to see one of my best friends hold her hopefully-future daughter. We got to experience another culture and stretch our perspective on the world a little bit. I praise God for the opportunity to go.

Home update?

This is David's garden on the side of the house. It's pretty impressive if you ask me. It's got just about everything. If you need any extra lettuce, please come take some of ours. Really.

And this is what our livingroom currently looks like. From the last photos I posted, we've sprayed texture, primed, and painted the walls and the ceiling. The furniture is from my mom and dad. They got new - so we got the hand-me-downs. Not completely my style, but after a little work, I'm sure we'll funk and mod it up a little. :)

Now, don't be entirely fooled. The rest of the house is not nearly as furnished. The majority of our house is still pretty much a construction zone. We're current working on the floors. We've pulled up all the carpet, and we've started scraping and sanding the concrete in preparation for stain. We've tried a few samples, and I'm really looking forward to getting that done. Once we know how the floor colors turn out, I'll be able to aptly choose wall colors - and then maaaaaybe we'll start to bring the rest of the furniture in.



So much else has gone on, but I just really don't feel like typing it all. Home Group is flourishing. Work is actually going REALLY well lately. AND we got a dog! Well, sorta. When David was like 10, his mom thought her son should get a dog. And David thought his dog should be named Derf. (Fred, backwards.) And so this is Derf. He's got to be like 14 years old, but he still acts like a puppy a good amount of the time. I like having a dog around. :)

So that's it for now. Hopefully my next post won't be such a long time coming.

"Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee. Ponder anew what the Almighty can do if, with His love, He befriend thee."

Home Ownership. Part 2.

Alright friends. If last weekend was popcorn scraping awesomeness, this weekend was a sanding extravaganza. As you can tell from many of the following photos, this was the weekend of prepping for texture. Already we're a little behind schedule... but such is life, right?? Here are a few of the weekend highlights:

This is what the boys look like after just a few hours of sanding. From left to right: David, James, Cody, Jordan (the brother-in-law)

This, my friends, is what my living room walls currently look like. After many hours of sanding and re-sanding, we've filled in all the nooks and crannies with buckets of joint compound. Again, check out the awesome scaffold -- the husband's idea.

This is what my husband looks like when I say, "Hey babe, go stand over there and stretch out your arms so people can see the difference between the old opening and the new one!"

This is what our pantry looks like at present.

This is what I look like when I'm sanding the ceiling. In my head, I'm singing, "I hate. this. part. right. here.... I hate. this. part. right. heeeeeerrrreeee!!!

This is what my husband looks like while sanding the ceiling.

This is what I look like after a day's worth of sanding. If someone had told me how I look a lot more creepy than cute, I might have chosen a different task for the day. Eeeek!

So we didn't wind up tackling the texture. I had hoped we'd get that done this weekend, but it'll all get done eventually. Our new goal is to texture this Saturday. Here's hoping!!! So far nothing catastrophic has happened, and we've really been humbled and blessed by the situation. We have far too many people helping us out than we deserve - and it's such an encouragement to have friends who are willing to get messy and yucky -- just so we can have a cute house someday....


Speaking of dear friends, some you know the Sandlins, some of you don't. But they're very near and dear to us Smiths, and we found out recently that Dustin's (head honcho's) job is taking him in a new direction. He'll be living up North during the week and flying down home every weekend. If you pray, I hope that you would pray for the Sandlins. They're friendship and family-ship (not a real word) is so valuable to us... Look how cute they are:

This is what they look like when I say, "Hey y'all get together so I can take a picture of you guys!

And this is what they look like on a regular basis. :) Just kidding, guys... Love y'all!!

"We. Are. Fam. A-ly!"

Home Ownership and promised before pics.

It's official. We own the house.... Eeeek! And so it begins...

This is a before shot of our living room. The plan: remove ceiling texture, knock down some shelves, open up the doorway to the kitchen, knock out the wet bar, and turn that bar into a pantry on the other side. Oh, and remove the awesome, awesome panels. PS. This is not our furniture. Just sayin'.

Yes, friends. That would be my husband. With a water hose. In the living room... This is how we drenched our ceilings to get rid of all the popcorn. I'm pretty sure this is actually the proper way to remove ceiling texture.

Step two. Scrape said popcorn off the ceilings. This is our awesome scaffold system in the living room. Those are ten-foot ceilings, friends. And I'm not a fan of heights. Thankfully, with the Walkers' help, we knocked this room out in about 30-45 minutes -- and finished the whole house in a day.... Best friends ever.

Our future pantry.

The living room walls withOUT the massive panels. It's a step...

David and our friend, James taking out some shelves.

So far, we've been pretty productive. As most DIY home projects, we're running into a few unexpected tasks, but we really got a lot accomplished in weekend one, so I have high hopes. This weekend we take on re-texturing and possibly ripping up the floors. We've got a long way to go, but I'm guessing March will be here before we know it. Thankfully, we have amazing friends who actually like doing this stuff (or at least pretend they do for our sake! :)) Check back later for more updates, and until then, happy home-owning!

"That's why we build, and re-build. We put away what was and make room for what will be. You hold the nails, I'll take the hammer. I hold it still if you climb the ladder. If you will, then I will build."

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! A house, I mean.

Beginning late February (assuming we've completed all the remodeling we're planning... :/) David and I will reside in a lovely 3-bed 2-bath in peaceful Highland Village. A hop skip and jump from church and some very dear friends of ours.

Remodeling plans so far? Re-texturing ceilings and walls. Ripping up and replacing carpet. Staining some cement (eek!). Knocking out some walls... ya know. The easy stuff. I'll post some "before" pictures after we close and it's all official.

In other news, we're planning a trip down to Guatemala with the Walkers to meet their sweet sweet girl, Selena. Some of you may not know that I have super-cool friends who are trying to adopt a sweet little girl with CP. Only problem is: she doesn't live in America. So we'll spending our "Spring Break" (ha!) traipsing about the cities of South America and getting to know our hopefully future... well... friends' kid. David and I applied for our passports this week -- hope they get here in time.

And - I guess that's about it for now. :)

"Life is just what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

So.... it's a no-go on the house we were looking at. Just wasn't "the one." So back to "square one."

Regardless, I am thankful for the way God is bringing David and me together as we sift through what seems like every SINGLE house in the Lewisville/Flower Mound area right now. I look forward to building a home with him. Okay, not literally building, but you know what I mean.

In other news, I'm looking forward to our home group Progressive Dinner this Thursday! I love me some progressive dinners - especially when it's with people like our home group. I just gotta figure out what to bring for a White Elephant gift.... Suggestions??

Also, I began Project Get Healthy a few months ago by removing all fast food from my diet. Somehow, that dang Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuit worked its way back into my mornings, and thus ruined my fool-proof plan. And so, here I make a public declaration (inspired by Lovely Leslie) to completely remove said biscuit (and the like) from my daily consumption. It's a step. Not a big one. But a step.

So other than that... nothing too exciting in the Smith household. Would've been awesome to have a house by January. But either way... Still hoping. :)

"And the line gets blurry all the time between daily and devine. It's hard to know the difference."

Nowadays.

A few fun things that have happened over the past week or so.

1. David and I put up our Christmas Tree!! Okay, so really David put the tree in the stand and then I decorated. I mean, I love the guy -- but what can I say, I'm a bit of control freak - especially when it comes to decor. Here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure.

2. We went to the Glass Cactus on Friday to celebrate Jessica's birthday. Several of us from home group went out to hear the Spazmatics play awesome 80's music and dance the night away. I can't speak for everyone but I had a blast! That is, until my feet began to punish me for the adorable black pumps I chose to adorn them with. I'm still suffering the consequences...

3. We went house-hunting with Linda on Saturday. We found one that both liked (shocker, I know!!) so.... we decided to put an offer on it. We're not certain what the Lord has planned, but there is a very real possibility that we could be home-owners by the end of the year. Eeeeek.

4. On the way home on Saturday we saw the Sandlins working in the yard, so we decided to stop by. This is one of the things I absolutely love about our church and our community. One of the things that made us choose to move to Lewisville. I love running into people that feel more like family than friends.

5. We semi-sorta hung out with Jordan and his friends after church on Saturday. David and I went to eat at Chili's (random) where his brother and pals were eating as well. Coincidentally the host sat us directly behind David's brother. So we didn't exactly eat with them - but we did eat next to them. I mean, how were we supposed to behave on a date sitting in the booth next to my brother-in-law? I suppose by eavesdropping and then barging into their conversations all through dinner, right? Success.

6. I successfully completed Season 3 of the Office. Pam and Jim are set for their first official date. Heeheeeee.

7. We watched the Cowboys run out of time on Sunday with home group friends and some of their children. A tragedy at best, but at least we spent the heartbreak together.

Tomorrow is "Bible Study" with the girls. Thursday is David's Office Christmas Party -- which, by the way, my office is not having. How lame is that??? No Office Holiday Party??? Lame.

Anyways. Christmas Shopping this weekend then just a week and a half til Christmas! Take another look at those pretty little photos. Now imagine there are shimmering packages piled 'neath the branches. Maybe if we all imagine hard enough they'll appear without my having to go pick them out and wrap them...??? Yeah, probably not... Oh well, happy blogging!

"Doooon't stop..... Belieeeeeeeevin'....... Hold on to that feeeeleeeehhhhnn!!!"