Goodbye to our Best Friend...

We said Goodbye to our best friend last week. Jenna was 13 1/2 years old and she was suffering from congestive heart failure. Last Thursday she suffered a major heart attack and within moments was gone. We are grateful that she did not suffer and that we were with her when she passed. We are adjusting to her absence, but find the hole she has left in our family to be much larger than we imagined.

A New Space to Decorate

The new drywall is up in the foyer and the painting is complete! I chose SW Wool Skein. Now on to decorating the space. I was generously gifted this 1949 Schwinn bicycle from my in-laws. Now to figure out just how to use it in the space. They foyer is fairly large so I have lots of wall space with which to play!

New Favorite Room! The Master Bathroom is finished.

Remember the 'before'? The after will take your breath away!

Never did post our Christmas Picture.

For those who may not have seen it. :-)

And the two shall become one….

Here are the before pictures of our bathrooms. Can I just say, if we ever sell this house we will use the photographer that did these? The difference between the photos and real life were astonishing. I know, I've made this point before, but never ever trust a photo. LOL. Now that the kids have a wonderful new bathroom we are combining the two old ones to create one large master bathroom. The room dimensions are roughly 10 x 11. We decided to go with a custom shower and no tub. We really like the look of the subway tile size tumbled stone, but have not made a final decision yet. The vanities will be the same design as the ones in the kids bathroom only in a different finish. They will flank the door from the master bedroom.

Here are some photos in its current state. We are down to absolute bare…EVERYTHING! Ceiling is gone, floors are gone, walls are gone. Next up..the door to the hallway will get walled in and the current door from the master bedroom is being moved.

Den with new wood burning insert.

The den continues to be our favorite room in the house. The new wood burning stove adds to the overall cozy feel.

Bathroom Door!

My husband says I am a Houzz.com addict..and he's right. I found a picture of a bathroom door that I just loved, so I showed it to my husband and said, "Can you make this for me?" Yes, there was a little bit of eyelash fluttering that went along with the request. The job was no small task. We are on a very tight budget and we didn't want to have to purchase a new door, so my husband set about making modifications to the door we had. We had hoped that the old 6 panel doors in our house were solid, but alas, they are not. Mark made cuts in the existing door then proceeded to reinforce the opening so that it could handle the glass pane. The entire project took a few weeks, but the finished product was better than I could imagine!

New Bathroom/Laundry

The room conversion is complete! What was once our fourth bedroom is now the kids' bathroom and the laundry area. What a blessing to have the laundry on the top floor. No more climbing down three flights of stairs to do the laundry. The kids each have their own vanity on opposite sides of the room. No more bumping elbows while they brush their teeth. The commode has its own little room tucked away in the corner.

Before Photo:

Katie's Room...Before and After

Katie's room was so much fun to put together! When we first viewed the house she and her brother were told to choose who got which bedroom. She chose this bedroom because as soon as she saw it she could envision built-ins on either side of the window with a desk in between. She drew her ideas out for Mark and he built them. The color choices were all Katie.

Daniel's Bedroom - After

As many of you know, Daniel is a filmmaker. We wanted his room to reflect what he loves. We went for a monochromatic theme. The border was designed and executed by me. Katie and Daniel picked out the 'screen shots' they wanted to include on the film strip, then I printed them off and used spray adhesive to attach them to the white painted 1 x 6 that Mark cut to fit the walls. I then used electrical tape and black car pin-striping tape to create the outline of the 'film'. I painted the 'sprocket holes' by hand. Afterwards I used some spray gloss finish to protect the project. The headboard is a simple upholstered board. I used letter stencils and white fabric paint to do the letters. Xavious Pictures is Daniel and Katie's production company. The movie posters were created by Daniel. They are from two of his short films.

Daniel's Bedroom-- Before

Now, as I said, this house photographs really well. What you can't see in this picture is that the paint on the bottom was a very high gloss green painted over wallpaper. The baseboards and window and door trim all had peeling paint. The walls had patch marks everywhere.

Our House!

So, I think it's finally time to start posting some pictures of our new house. Well, it isn't exactly new, it was built in 1969, but it is new to us! We had been searching for well over a year following our move to Indiana. We walked into this house and within 10 minutes were ready to write and offer. (When you house hunt for over a year, its not that hard to figure out what you like and what you don't like) This house was full of potential in our opinion. It's in a great golf course neighborhood. Because of its age, the lots are large and the trees are even larger! To say this house has a lot of work that needs to be done is an understatement. Although it shows very well in photos..as you will see when I post the before shots, what you can't see is the years of neglect and bad paint jobs! And so, without further ado...we present to you...our home.

The War- The kids' latest video

Weekend Getaway

You know it just doesn't get much better than this! We spent a fantastic family weekend in Southwest Michigan, driving along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The beaches were comfortably quiet. The warmth of the sand between our toes was strangely unfamiliar, even though we had lived only 50 miles from a beach in Oregon. Could that be because the beaches in Michigan were actually warmer than those in Oregon? It would appear so. We visited quaint little beach towns with all of the usual artsy stores. Although the temperatures were only in the 60's the feel of the sun on our faces made it feel so much warmer.

Spring?

We have not quite figured out the weather here in Indiana. To be honest, I don't think the weathermen have either. It changes so rapidly. This morning as I sip my coffee I have to shield my eyes from the sunlight coming through the window. It's a very deceiving sight as currently the 'feels like' temperature is only 18º. My weather widget on my IMac assures me that on Wednesday we will see highs in the 60s.

Producer Profile: Up and Coming Producer Daniel Hart

Producer Profile: Up and Coming Producer Daniel Hart

Never a Dull Moment

Our kids laugh...a lot! Most of the time I don't even know why they are laughing. (Which sometimes causes me to suspect that they may be laughing at me.) Whatever the reason, it always makes me smile. Laughter should be a part of every persons' life. Young or old, rich or poor, sick or healthy. It's not hard to find something that makes us angry, or frustrated, or sad, but sometimes things that should make us laugh go unnoticed. So take the time for a little giggle now and then, I think you might find its contagious!

Settling In

We have now lived in our new state for over five months. We've settled into somewhat of a daily routine, with school, work, church, etc.
Mark's job is going very well. His involvement has brought measurable improvements to the distribution side of the company which pleases the higher ups. His secret to success, "Seek to please the MOST HIGH, and the rest will follow".
Katie continues to work as a deli-counter clerk along with taking a full load of college courses this fall. Her commitment to a job well done does not go un-noticed in either venue.
Daniel has started his junior year of high school. He is taking a History course at a private Christian school, in addition to schooling here at home. His passion for music continues to grow. He plays keyboard for our church's high school praise band and is having a blast.
I remain very much in the role of homemaker, and all that entails. I delight in sitting down with Mark each morning and chatting over breakfast before he heads out the door for the day with his hand-packed lunch under his arm. Our small condo requires little by way of maintaining which frees up some time for honing my culinary skills as I seek out new and fun recipes for our family dinners.
All in all, this move has been a good one for our family. We are so grateful for God's provision!

Sunshine, how I love thee!

We have been in our new city for three months now and I must admit I have grown quite fond of the frequent days of sunshine. Now the funny thing is, Fort Wayne actually had an extremely wet spring. You couldn't have proved that by me though. Coming for Oregon I know a thing or two about rain and wet springs. Because of the wet spring we are enjoying beautiful flowers and lush green lawns. It really is quite lovely. And now we are in the throws of a beautiful summer with warm days and firefly filled evenings.
We have also settled into our permanent living arrangement for the next year. It's a three bedroom condo with a two car garage and meets our needs quite well. We have enjoyed the amenities that condo life has to offer including the sparkling swimming pool.
The kids are both involved in groups through a local church we've been attending. Katie participates in college group on Wed and Thursday nights as well as Sunday mornings. Daniel goes to a high school group on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. He is also playing keyboard for a newly formed praise band in the group.
Mark's job is going very well. He is enjoying some significant successes in his position and is very well respected. He has had to travel a bit, but nothing overwhelming. He even had the opportunity to visit my brother on a recent trip to CA.
I'm enjoying the summer. I've gotten back in the habit of running and Jenna and I head out in the early mornings for a run along the paths that surround the farm by our condo. I'm also still working on putting the finishing touches on our condo, and trying to thin out the garage to the point where we'll be able to fit two cars in this winter.

45? Really?

Yes, really. Another year has come and gone and I have celebrated the day of my birth in a new city and state. We now call Fort Wayne, Indiana home, and although we have not yet quite settled into a permanent housing situation we are settling into our new surroundings. As in past years my family went all out to indulge my desires for the day. Wanting to acquaint ourselves with all that our new city has to offer, we started the day with a long walk around a local farm park. We later visited the downtown botanical gardens where I was treated to a beautiful butterfly exhibit and even got to experience a butterfly up close as it perched on my finger. We ventured north of town to a local favorite Italian restaurant and my lobster ravioli were cooked to perfection. To finish out the day we reserved the movie theater room in our apartment complex. The kids had made me a birthday video and we watched it on the 'big screen'. Then we sat back and enjoyed a movie and some popcorn. A day to remember as the Hart family builds new memories in our new location.