New way of doing things...

I wrote this and questioned posting it. Often times I write drafts but never publish them to my blog... I didn't want to come off braggy or spoiled.. but as I reread it tonight I think it's worth sharing. During this difficult economic time it is hard to see families falling apart because of things of this world, we could have been one of those families but by the GRACE of an awesome God our hearts were transformed. This is part of our story and I decided to share...

Wow! How spoiled are we...

We have officially moved into the new place.

I have been impressed with us, making the much smaller living quarters work for our family.

The joy of being home owners and moving toward serious financial freedom has made the pitfalls of this transition so much easier.

A new way of thinking...

Although we would have loved to get all new stainless steel appliances for the house the reality was we had about $200 cash (not wanting to use credit) and needed an oven, microwave, refrigerator, washer and dryer...

I had just about figured out that we could get by with a fridge, microwave and washing machine for the first few months.

I have to brag on Tony because he really made some great finds...

microwave -$5
oven -$60
refrigerator -$75
washer and dryer -free (I think it did cost about $10 for the new tubing to make them work)
and $20 gas to pick up the great finds with my grandpa's truck.

I'm sure God had a hand in those great finds!! Call me crazy but I can totally see God in every facet of this move, the change in our thinking, the joy in the midst of something that before we would have responded with stress and question what we were thinking with this move- honestly we probably would have never even considered this move. How foolish we were.

I let the desires of this world influence my wants... quickly realizing that they might not be realistic. I returned a handful of items from some prior purchases and was able to purchase light fixtures for every room and a new fan to replace the one that didn't work in the living room as well a storage solutions and a few flowers for the front entrance that made the house feel like home.

Under bed storage has become my answer for most storage solutions in our new smaller space.

The pest issues.. not very grateful for that, but thankful that the spiders as big as my face are gone and we are still working on the roaches... palmetto bugs.. whatever they are called- they are creepy and gross.. now they come out dead or dying but I'll be glad when I don't see them anymore, ewww..

I just hope this cool weather stays until we can get the A/C guy out to let us know why the air conditioner won't turn on correctly.

All these little pitfalls would have seemed so overwhelming at one time.

I found myself lining the 28 year old cabinets thinking how much I missed my big kitchen, with the new clean built in stove top and custom cabinets.

God quickly transformed those thoughts into realizing the blessing of contact paper.. such an amazing material and really helped transform those old things.

While for a moment I considered the fact that my master bedroom could have easily fit inside my old bathroom... I found joy in the $avings of the small space and the low utility costs when compared to our big house.

I have found the joy in it all... from sharing a bathroom with the kids to being the dishwasher... it is true that it's good for the soul to wash dishes.

As Tony celebrated the victory of fixing the leak in the free washing machine I found myself thankful that we ran out of the wood floors and the soapy water mess was on my remnant vinyl floor (I got for $25) instead of the wood.

I love this house... this broken... old... little... house... that with a little work and a lot of love is becoming beautiful, maybe it's a lot of work and a lot of love...

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:15