Lilley of the field

So we've been cooking in the kitchen for a while now, but I haven't posted pictures because I have been waiting for the counters to be clean and the light to be right which equals letting weeks go by before I take pretty pictures. So let's revisit the old kitchen first.... And now for the kitchen reveal..... (If you want more info about stages of the project, visit my  home projects page. ) The big question: Would I do this again? YES! Actually- it only took about 2 and half months of our life on weekends and some week nights and it was SO worth it. We saved a ton of money doing it ourselves and learned a lot along the way. I love every aspect of and we LOVE cooking.  We see God is making, creating, and redeeming. Restoring and fixing up our house is one of the many ways we do this together. We want our home to be a safe place and a refuge for people and although I know it's the love and the people that mak

I made up a new song "All I do is trim, trim, trim no matter what. I got moulding on my mind I can't ever get enough." This post is long overdue and I didn't take as many pictures as I should, but I will come back and add details about it soon. I mainly wanted to get the "finished" pictures up, but still have my blog posts in chronological order. More to come soon.....

The sun is streaming in the windows. The dogs are playing next to me. I am drinking a delicious strawberry ale. I've got my new trendy glasses on. It is Friday afternoon of my first week of school and I, by miracle of miracles, have energy to spare. And yet, it is both a miracle and the product of a string of conscious decisions. We have grandly titled this year our "Year of Sabbath." We have purposely said no to things, stepped down from things, and thankfully finished some things- like being Teacher of the Year and Aaron's grad school. Some weights feel lifted. So I went to work each day and  I came home each day and I loved loved each day. Wednesday, we filled our house with about 22 people and we ate around a table, laughed, shared stories, and prayed to our good, good Father. Thursday, a dear friend who has moved away came over for dessert and we shared about life. We say "yes" to people, to rest, to a peace filled home, to abundant room for time

So I wrote this two weeks ago, but it didn't publish on my other computer and I thought it had. I wanted to post it though because it is an interesting follow up to my excited post about swimming.... Real life man. ------- Sometimes it feels like for every step forward you take, you take two steps back. I had high dreams and hopes last week. My feet were feeling better and I could picture myself swimming- confident and maybe not great- but decent?! I spent way to much time watching pros swim on youtube who make it look easy. So Tuesday rolls around and my friend Dana comes to the pool with me to teach me how better techniques and I am surprised. Surprised at how hard it is. It does not come naturally at all to me. The breathing part. Then I psych myself all out in my mind because other people are around and I have to stop at the end of every lap and catch my breath. She taught me how to do the flip turn, but I can't even do two laps back to back right now... so flip tur

This morning I did 20 push-ups. Yes, my knees were on the ground, but at the beginning of the summer I could only do 9. And those 20 this morning were after an entire 30 minute arm workout with free weights. While it may be a small feat, I was quite happy. It's little moments like that this summer that remind me that I can do things I didn't think I could. And that is half the battle in any type of fitness. Going to physical therapy and looking for new ways to strengthen by body has been so motivating. Mostly, I don't want my feet to hurt for the rest of my life and that is pretty good motivation enough but I've found some interesting truths along the way as well that motivate me. I am happier when I exercise. I am more confident when I exercise. I see God when I exercise. I realize I am capable of much more than I let myself do or think I can do. That's been the most fun and surprising one. I am able. I can do it. I think what has mostly held me back

This is the place where I am trying to heal. This is the place where I have gone each morning the for the past year. Where I have risen many mornings before the sun comes up to stretch and exercise. Because I need to get stronger. I've had plantar fasciitis for 3 1/2 years and I keep waiting to write a post about it once I am healed. I'm not yet. But I am close. Since I painted this chalk board on the wall, the only thing that has adorned it is a verse written in my prettiest handwriting. It's been all fancy and pinterest looking for over a year. I haven't wanted to erase it because it took so much time to construct it. Each detail and design. It looked good. After a walk this morning I felt it was time to take it down and to etch into that chalkboard the verses that I have been declaring over my life and over my feet. My feet are an outward symptom deeply connected to where I am spiritually. I have known that for a while. Although the pain is in my feet

Warning this is long and detailed. Probably my most detailed post yet about the kitchen because tiling is hard and I don't want to forget what I did. This step has made the kitchen really look like it's coming together! I definitely learned some things along the way and a few things I would do differently in the future. I am in LOVE with glass subway tile. I thought that since I had tiled our shower with white porcelain tiles, I could step it up to the big girl glass subway tiles. Well.... it is stunningly beautiful, but I may go with the white subway tile next time even though I love this look. It was a lot of work. I would probably be willing to do it again if Aaron said yes, but seeing as how he was the one cutting all the tiles and getting a few glass shards stuck in his hands... well I am not so sure he will say yes :\ And I got a couple shards in my fingers and we had to sweep really well after. So we thought we could tile in one day. One day sandwiched between our

So we decided to go with butcher block countertops. At first we were going to go with laminate because they are durable and we thought they were pretty inexpensive. But when we went to get a quote, I apparently wanted all these things that were custom that I hadn't realized so it was much more expensive. So we just decided to go for butcher block. We ordered American Cherry from Lumber Liquidators. We also paid for delivery which I highly recommend. They are HUGE pieces. It was delivered in 7 days by an enormous Fed Ex truck. They come unfinished. Aaron cut them on the floor after I measured a gazillion times. Then we made sure they all fit. Aaron sanded them with a random orbital sander down to 220 grit. Honestly, it's still a little grittier than I would like in places, but it's ok. It will wear with time. Then we had debated how to protect them. I am paranoid about water, but whatever, I will get over it with time because we use our kitchen hardcore and other peo

And now... the stage that has been the most fun and most rewarding so far. In one day it went from a big ol' space with pretty flooring to something that resembled our future kitchen. Also, this step required the least amount of physical energy. Every other Saturday we've been crawling into bed exhausted. After this day- we went for a canoe ride and paddle boarding adventure with some friends. Oh yea. Have I mentioned before that I LOVE Ikea? The assemble was awesome and now I can say the installation was awesome. They use a rail system. So you measure and screw the rail into the wall. Then you slide the cabinets in, make sure they are level, and tighten these little screws at the back and screw them into the cabinet next to it. I was kinda scared they wouldn't hold up, but they are sturdy as ever. Our first cabinet in! Success! They come with super easy to follow instructions. This was my kitchen drawing with the Ikea program and all my mea