Back to the Painting Board

I am completely obsessed with painting. If you don't believe me, ask my husband who thinks I'm crazy for finding yet another painting project!! :) After completing our basement, there was just one last room that needed a little sprucing up. The only problem was, I had no idea what color to paint it. Our house is very colorful as you've seen in some pics. On the main floor alone we have tan, yellow, light blue, dark red, and green in the various rooms.

I had the hardest time trying to think of another color to paint the final room. I was ALMOST daring enough to paint it orange. But, the more and more I looked at the sample on the wall, the more it made me feel like puking. :) I love orange....just not a whole room covered in orange :) Finally I decided on a light brown and was so anxious to get it painted that I started it at 8:30 tonight and just finished the first coat....It feels like my house is almost complete! What an amazing feeling....I will post pictures once it is done but you wouldn't get the full effect right now :)

Wow, I just blogged about painting colors....this obsession is getting pretty bad :) Hope you're all doing fantastically well!

New Age, New Hair

I survived turning 25. I actually do feel more like an adult now for some odd reason. It's probably just a mental thing but when I got ready for our youth group kids' prom last night, I felt so grown up. Not old....but grown up. It's not such a bad feeling :)

I decided to chop off my hair on my birthday! Finally no weddings or special events that I needed to leave it long for! Thanks, mom, for the idea and for providing an opportunity for me to get my hair cut on my birthday! Here's a pic from last night!

Hanging on to 24

I have a confession. A week from today I will turn 25. And, my confession is: I have never been so depressed about a birthday before. I mean, seriously, who gets depressed over turning 25? Well, I do.

I'll blame it on my brother because I've always looked up to him and wanted to be like him and he was depressed when he was 25.

However, I don't think he has anything to do with it. I think I've just realized that I'm growing up. Although I've done alot of my goals in life, I have so many more things I want to do before I "grow up". But, 25 to me is "grown up"...meaning I have exactly one week to do everything I wanted to do. Hmm...that's not going to happen. Which, as you can tell, makes me depressed :) What is a girl to do?

Okay, so I'm being somewhat sarcastic and somewhat true because I really don't want to turn 25 but I do believe the world won't end when I do.

Maybe it's because every other birthday had something "fun" to it...
20~Not a teen, officially an adult
21~Great year at college, got engaged
22~I got married, went to Europe, graduated from college, amazing year
23~Married life, Bought a house, Became a dog parent
24~Golden birthday, 24 is one of my favorite numbers
25~Not cool!!
So, please, can someone assure me 25 isn't so bad?? If you hear of me doing something totally crazy in the next week, you will know that it is because I'm in a "mid-20's crisis" :)

How Deep The Father's Love...

I've been reflecting upon this song during the Easter season...

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
And make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon his cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Last Chance

We have had a busy but great week!! A week ago, a couple came to our church and helped us put on a drama called "Last Chance". It was a play about people's choices and what happens when they die and if they go to heaven or hell. There were alot of decisions to follow Christ through it...it was such an exciting week!!

Friday night we auditioned, Saturday we received our parts, and Sunday-Tuesday we performed it! Aaron portrayed Jesus and this was practicing the crucifixion part.

Two of our youth group girls were our demons...scary!! :)

Aaron with the beautiful angels :)

I got to go to heaven in the play!!

Since the play, Aaron has been extremely sick :( He had a respiratory infection and has been out for quite a few days now. Yesterday I started having the same symptoms as him so today we have been just chilling on the couch, trying to take care of each other. How absolutely not fun. We're so sick of being sick! Well, I must go...my pillow is calling my name....

PICTURES of Our Basement

After a few requests, I thought that it might be a good idea to actually post pictures of our finished basement instead of just talking about it! :) It's not decorated and cute yet but at least you'll get an idea of what it looks like! :)Freshly painted and carpeted :)
(Before any furniture was moved in)

Our new office area

Family Room! Come on over, company! We finally have room!

We're excited to have a "music area" where Aaron set up his drums
and I set up my guitar and keyboard! Now we can jam together :)

*sigh* I'm still in shock that it's done...I really really really like having a basement :)

Not Proud to be an Iowan

I have lived in Iowa pretty much my whole life. I've endured the endless Iowa jokes, the questions "What do you do for fun in Iowa?" and the question "You're moving back to Iowa? Why?" Haha...I have loved this state and find the people incredibly warm and inviting. Most Iowans I know would drop everything to help a total stranger out of a bind.

Well, today I am NOT proud to be an Iowan. As most of you know, today Iowa lifted the ban on same-sex marriages. What are they thinking?? As Iowa Rep. Steve King said, Iowa will now be a "Gay Marriage Mecca"....and I don't have a good attitude about that. I could go on and on about WHY I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman and how it CLEARLY says in the Bible that God instituted the marriage covenant to be between a man and a woman but I believe most of my readers agree with me so I won't go into my sermon. Not today at least :)

So, instead, the question is this..."What can I do?" "How can I, as a little voice in my state, fight against this issue?" "How can I present this to a few of our unchurched youth group kids who believe that homosexuality is okay and believe that we need to be tolerant?" I explain and explain and explain it but why would they listen now when the entire state of Iowa supports gay marriage? I don't know. But, if any of you have any revelations to my questions, I would love to hear your advice!

Typical Wednesday Night

It's 10:50 on a Wednesday night and I'm still awake. Very awake to be exact. This is a typical Wednesday night....4 hours of youth group, the thought of sleep on my mind on the way home, and the minute I walk into the door my body decides it needs to wind down for an hour or two. However, I have too much on my mind tonight to go to bed anyways. My basement is FINISHED! Done. Completed. No more work! I can't describe the feeling of accomplishment I felt yesterday when I saw it for the first time with a freshly carpeted floor. I am so excited and we have spent so much time down there already! I am incredibly blessed and kept reminding myself of that again and again as I enjoyed our new area.

Isn't it interesting when you have a project completed you're more apt to be motivated to do other things with more vigor? I was so excited last night that I actually enjoyed doing my laundry! HA! And you know how much I hate doing laundry! I hope this motivation stays :)

Well, it's 11:10 now. I'm going to attempt to read myself to sleep :) Perhaps I'll be a better blogger one of these days :) Good night!