My Living Room

I apologize for the delay in posting pictures of my Living Room. We've had it done for a couple of weeks now, but b/c I've had other things to post about (and still do) I've neglected to post. I have had a lot of fun trying to decide how to decorate and arrange my living room. In another year or two, I hope to get a coffee table and some end tables but for now TV trays work great. The girls have learned that they aren't allowed to bring toys upstairs; but they have a bunch of books in a basket here in the living room that they are allowed to read when they are upstairs (they are free to be upstairs or downstairs whenever they want, we are just attempting to keep the toys in the playroom so we aren't constantly tripping over toys).

JA gave me this folding picture frame for our second valentine's day together :) The couple in the wedding picture is my Oma and Opa. I'm hoping to put my parents and JA's parent's wedding pictures up on either side of this one once I get them (that's a hint for you mom and dad).

Because the emphasis in our home is God and the family, we've chosen to try to decorate as much as possible with family pictures and scripture. JA scripted the words Faith, Hope, and Trust so that we could remember that we need to place our faith in the Lord, have confidence that He will accomplish His will in our lives, and trust Him even when the storms come.


I love these pictures we got from JCPenney's for $15 -- To me a great find and deal. The one on the left is I Corinthians 13 a passage are planning to have the girls memorize soon. The frame on the right is the Fruits of the Spirit. I am trying to surround myself with Scripture so that my focus is continuously directed back to Christ and so that my times of discouragement (such as in my previous post) are far and few between -- which they have been.

I do want to say thank you to those of you who encouraged me and offered suggestions after my last post. Let me explain the situation behind this for you. We are in a very small church -- in fact, on Sunday mornings there are only two other women who regularly attend. One woman takes the girls in Sunday School - Andy will join them once he can walk. The other plays the piano for services. Therefore I feel I can't ask them to take the girls in nursury so I attempt to sit through services and keep the girls quiet (we believe Church worship should be a family activity so definately no babysitters at home unless one of the kids is sick). Wednesday nights I take the kids into the Sunday School wing for Kid's club. Just this last Wednesday night Andy was fussing and wanting to eat, and the girls were both being disobedient and picking on each other thus resulting in screaming. After 5-10 minutes of trying to get them to stop I just packed everyone up and brought them home and put them in bed.

I do love and enjoy the church, and I am very thankful for the ministry the Lord has given us here. Wednesday night was just a night that I needed to cry (I hope you women understand that need at times), and my blog/facebook seemed like a good sounding board after I spent time reading and praying. Maybe I posted in haste, but I praise the Lord for your suggestions some of which I tried and others which I will try. I will let you know what finally works.

My Dinning Room

Last night after the kids were all in bed, JA helped me hang some more things on the walls of our home. We decided to focus on the dinning room. Here are the results
The picture next to the cabinet is of JA dressed as a Knight, and I am dressed as a princess.
These plates used to be JA's great-grandmother's dishes


Sorry, I know this one is a little dark but I had to close the blinds in order to be able to get this decent of a picture. The basket on the table is one Phillip gave me when he came back to live in the states -- Thank you Phillip.

I've been having so much fun decorating and setting up home. So much that I've actually been able to keep the house semi clean -- An amazing feat for me.

Unpacking is loads of FUN!!!

Since Sunday I have been steadily trying to unpack boxes and discover what was in each box. Unpacking has been a bit of a challenge since the house was not completely ready for us yet. The painting in the kitchen was not finished until Tuesday (the same day our refridgerator was delivered). However, the kitchen is the one room I have completely finished (other than mopping the floor). Here are some pictures of my kitchen.
The windows look out into our fenced in backyard (hurray -- great for small children). You can see the front of the fridge. When we purchased the fridge, I didn't realize how big it would be!

I am really excited about having a double oven. So my food can all be warm when I need to set it on the table.



This last picture shows you a more realistic picture of the colors in my kitchen. The red is very bright, but I was so tired of white walls that I wanted to keep my house bright. The theme of my kitchen is a coffe theme! The one appliance I am the most excited about is a dishwasher. Now I don't need to use a straw to clean out all the little crevices in the sippy cups.
These dolls belonged to Oma, so I am thrilled to be able to have them up in my home. Someday I'll pass them on to Kara and Lydia so they can remember their dutch heritage (something I am very proud to be).