a fresh start

So it has been a while since I have posted anything here, but that is because we've had a pretty busy few months as we settled into our new city. Our move to Toledo has been filled with some really high highs and some pretty low lows since we got here last July, and through it all the Lord has given me some perspective on this whole life-thing. I know that doesn't seem very fair, to sum up a whole year with a statement like that, so I'll try to include some highlights below:

Highlights of our first year in Toledo:

1. Jonah turned TWO!!
That happened back in April, the 23rd to be exact. He is so much fun and his personality has come through so much more now that he can talk! Let's see, Jonah still loves cars and anything with wheels. He moved into the big boy bed about a week ago, and has been doing a great job (he's only fallen asleep on the floor twice!). Now that it is warmer out, he loves going on walks in our neighborhood and playing on the playground at Fort Imagination. We've also been trying to get some use out of our zoo pass, a gift from my grandparents! We will be at Rockbridge, a Young Life Camp in Virginia, for the month of July, and I can't WAIT to spend the month swimming and playing with him!! Two is such a fun age!

Jonah's awesome train birthday cake, made by Grandma Jenelle!!

 

Figuring out how to sleep in the "Big Boy Bed" is tough.

2. Black Swamp!

Exciting news for South Toledo Young Life--we have officially combined with Bowling Green Young Life to form (duh! duh! duh!!!) BLACK SWAMP YOUNG LIFE!! Why Black Swamp, you ask?? No, despite popular belief, it has nothing to do with Dan's longing to live in the bayou of New Orleans and catch alligators for a living. Apparently, this region of Ohio was known as the "Black Swamp" because it used to be underwater (if you really care, you can read more about it here). So, that was enough to convince Dan that this name would adequately represent the vastness of our new area. Well, we definitely got the good end of the deal because the BG leaders and committee are AWESOME!! One couple on committee even moved down the street from us! It has been fun getting to explore the quaint college town of Bowling Green. Dan is currently looking for a new office space in downtown BG and will be spending the majority of his time there next year, running first year and recruiting new leaders. What a blessing we have two universities with 20,000+ students each within 30 miles of each other!! 

The Black Swamp Gang at Timberwolf Leader Weekend 2013 (typical)

 

Ok, I'm really excited to continue to bring you up to speed, but it is almost midnight, and my bed is calling! More to come this week :)

diy: coffee table to bench

Ever since we found out we would be moving and buying a new home, I was inspired to begin some of the diy projects that I have been meaning to complete, but just hadn't had the time or been motivated enough to finish. I thought I would share one of those with you today!

 

Unfortunately, I completed many of these projects in a bit of a hurry, so I am lacking in the "before-and-after" photos department. I have lots of great photos of my projects now, and hopefully with my descriptive verbage, I can paint a wonderfully awful picture of what some of these items started out looking like.

 

When I am decorating my home, my goal is always to make it look amazing by spending as little money as possible. Let's face it, I'm a teacher, and my husband is in non-profit youth ministry--we're not bringing home the big bucks! But because I am always trying to find a hidden gem for cheap, I have such a greater sense of pride when my project turns out well knowing that I spent next to nothing to make it happen! So, over the next few days, I will share some of my most recent projects, beginning with this one:

 

Coffee Table-Turned-Bench Tutorial

 

This project is the result of a little luck and a little work. Dan and I acquired this Pottery Barn coffee table from some friends of ours who were moving and didn't want to take it with them. I think we paid $100 for the table, two couches, and a dishwasher. We left the latter three at our old house, but took this great table with us.

 

Now the problem we found with this table at our old house is that the drawers open on both sides of the table, so when Jonah was playing, he would sometimes push on a  drawer and fall through or pinch his fingers. So our goal in the new house was to keep this table up against a wall so he could only open the drawers on one side. I saw a tutorial on Pinterest about how to turn a coffee table into a bench seat, so I thought that was the perfect solution to our dilemma. Visit Sabby In Suburbia's blog to see a wonderful tutorial! Here is my finished project:

This project literally took me less than an hour to complete. I had a hard time finding enough decorative trim to cover up my cut fabric, but I ended up finding this adorable black ruffled ribbon trim at Hobby Lobby when it was 50% off! The gray chevron-striped fabric is also from Hobby Lobby, and the foam and batting were from JoAnn's. Make sure to check when the foam is on sale, because it can be pricey. I think I paid around $30 for my piece, which isn't too bad, considering how cheap the other supplies were. So there you have it! Our coffee table bench! So far, it has been Ollie's favorite place to sit. Coming soon will be a tutorial on making pillow covers, because this bench is screaming for some color!

I guess I kind of cheated. I gave you a link to someone else's tutorial! But its way better than anything I could have ever provided for ya! More (original) tutorials to come, I promise!

Thanks for reading :)

thankful for friends

I am feeling so blessed today. I have the best friends in the world. Just sayin.

I met my four best friends in college, and we have been close for the last eight years.

Don't believe me? Here's the proof.

That top picture was taken our freshman year at Christmas time, baking cookies at my grandma's house. I think it might be the earliest pic of all five of us. The bottom pic was taken just a few weeks ago at our new house when all five girls and their hubby's/boyfriend's came to visit. What a perfect housewarming gift--having all five girls in one place!!

Since college, I have learned just how unique our friendships are. I don't think its normal to have four women in your life that know you so intimately and care for you so deeply. I have come to appreciate these women so much more in the last few years, as we have shared wedding weekends, baby births (well, one anyway!), big moves, and many other joyful events. And, for the first time (other than breaks in college), the five of us are living in four different cities. But now, more than ever, I have seen just how strong our friendships are. We have been corresponding via weekly (sometimes daily!) emails. But these aren't just your typical emails. They are like four-page emails filled with heartache, prayer requests, excitement, and just downright silly stories.

Anyway, in the midst of the craziness of life today (getting stuck in rush-hour traffic, attending an all-day professional development, and taking care of a one-year old), I was struck today with just how thankful I am to have these four women in my life, to get to live this messy life with them, and to watch them each grow in their own new families and careers.

On that note, its time for some chocolate!

Thanks for reading :)

Lost and Found

Thursday night, Dan and I lost our first child.

Our beagle, Ollie.



This is our four year old beagle, Ollie.





It was possibly the scariest, saddest, guiltiest, helpless we have both felt in a looooong time. Here is what happened:

We were having Young Life leadership at our house, and Ollie started to get a little hyper, as he always does when he is surrounded by large groups of people, especially if they are not paying any attention to him. So Dan let him outside into our back yard, which is fenced-in, but also borders a major highway.

 

 

An hour (or two) later, after people had begun to leave, we decided to let Ollie back in the house. But there was a problem--Ollie was not in the back yard anymore! Now, I don't know how much you know about beagles, but they have a VERY strong sense of smell, and we had been warned that many beagles are hit by cars because they hone in on a scent and lose track of what is happening around them. So, of course, we both immediately assume the worst. Luckily for us, there were about 12 leaders still at our house who were more than willing to help us search for the lost pup.

We armed the search parties with flashlights and then sent them out in various directions around our neighborhood. Oh yeah, and this all was happening at around 11:00 at night. Dan, assuming the worst, decided to hop the fence and walk along the highway to see if there were any signs of Ollie. Our house sits approximately a quarter of a mile from the exit ramp, at which lies a Speedway gas station, a Harley Davidson dealer, and La Quinta hotel. Dan walked all the way around these establishments and began making his way back towards our house, with no sign of Ollie.

 

And unfortunately, no one else spotted him either. After an hour and a half or so of searching, we decided to pause the search until the morning and thanked all of the leaders who stayed to help look. At that point, Dan and I were feeling pretty exhausted but also pretty upset. We knew we had to do something else. We called the non-emergency police line, printed up some "Lost Pet" flyers and posted them all around our town, and created a "Lost" ad on Craigslist. Finally, we decided we would just have to wait until the morning to do anything more.

 

The next morning, Dan woke up before me to drive around to the local vet offices and animal hospitals in order to give them Ollie's information. When he returned, the anguish he was feeling was so evident on his face. I figured there had to be SOMEONE we hadn't contacted yet, so I googled "Lost Pet" and the number for our local humane society came up. I clicked on the link, called the number, and a woman answered the phone. I told her that I wanted to report our pet as missing. She asked me what kind of pet it was, and I told her it was a beagle named Ollie. She replied with, "From Clark County?"

 

Now, here is an example of the responsible pet owners Dan and I are. We have lived here for a month and Ollie still has his old tags from where we used to live.

 

I could barely speak; I felt like I was going to cry. I had no idea before Ollie was missing how much I really enjoyed having him around. I think, though, that it made me more sad to think about Jonah and how much he would miss having Ollie around.

 

So the woman at the humane society told us that he was found at La Quinta hotel near our house. She gave us the name and number of the woman to call who had Ollie. After giving her a quick call, Dan hopped in his car to go pick up Ollie from the hotel.

 

When he arrived, the woman behind the desk, Joyce, said she had enjoyed spending the night with Ollie. Apparently the hotel is a pet-friendly hotel, so when Ollie followed some customers in, the hotel clerks did not think twice about it. However, when Ollie didn't follow them into the elevator, that is when they knew this dog did not have an owner staying in the hotel. So, Ollie checked himself in to his first (pet-friendly) hotel, snacked on Milk Bones all night, and made a few new friends. I'd say he did pretty well--he may even be able to keep up with Sassy, Chance, and Shadow (who's with me??).

 

Loosing Ollie was so scary, but finding him was so incredible. I can't help but think about how the Lord must feel when we finally decide to follow him. Like Ollie, our noses take us on these grand adventures, sometimes dangerous paths along scary highways, and we may even end up somewhere grand, like a pet-friendly hotel! But what is all of that worth, if we don't have anyone who loves and cares for us, and wants to give us a place to call home? Dan and I know Ollie better than anyone else, just like Jesus knows us better than anyone else. Just think of the adventures we can have if we choose to follow him.

Thanks for reading.

Our Favs in Toledo!

Check out my hubby's latest blog post today about our favorite places in Toledo so far! Feel free to come up and visit anytime!! Click here to read all about it!

More updates from me to follow!

The scary new world of being home owners

Dan and I feel pretty blessed to be living in the house that we are. It has awesome lighting in the kitchen, granite countertops, and Dan's favorite, the Man-Shed out back! However, there are some things, some good and some not so good, that we are quickly discovering about our new house that will be much different than our old house. Here are a few of the not so good:

1. Dark laminate wood floors + Ollie the Beagle = Swiffering EVERY day!!

Because our old house had carpet throughout, we could get away with only vacuuming once a week (or month!) but in our new house, we have high-maintenance floors that require cleaning every. single. day. I'm seriously considering making Jonah a suit so he can roll around on the floor after Ollie.

2. The dishwasher is smaller than our old one.

Not a huge deal, considering we didn't even have a dishwasher the first few years of our marriage. Our cookie sheets and cutting board don't fit--annoying but manageable.

3. There is nothing more relaxing than the lullaby of semi trucks and police sirens.

Our back yard backs up to the highway, so getting used to the noise from the cars was a little tough at first (harder for Dan than me). We probably heard seven or eight police sirens the first night we were here. There is a perk though--a huge, fluorescent highway light in our neighbor's backyard that fills our backyard with an expressway glow. And, last weekend, Dan and I stayed at my parent's house in the middle of nowhere, and I found myself missing the background noise. Maybe it's growing on me!!

That's it for now! I'll post the good as well as some pictures later this week! I've also got some DIY projects to share with you that have kept me busy since moving in.

Thanks for reading!!

Welcome!!

So I am finally feeling settled enough to sit down and take a stab at blog-writing. This blog is mostly for our friends and family back home who would like to keep up with our new life in a new city. However, I am hoping I can share some fun and simple projects along the way, as well as a glimpse into what this new journey is teaching me. So, thank you for reading; I am going to try really hard to update a few times a week, but we'll see how that goes!