Mayberry

Sometimes it seems like we live in a place that is a bit removed from the normal pace of life. It's a place where we stand on our porch and chat with our neighbors. A place where people mow other's grass if it seems to be getting a little high. A place where the library has four sections: western, mystery, romance, and large print. A place where I feel felt safe.

Lately I have been burdened with a sense of fear, a quiet sort of fear that creeps up when its time to go to bed and I check the doors one extra time or when I've been home alone too long and the I jump when the door bell rings. I open it to find the terminator exterminator...sigh.

Last night just before we clicked off the nightly news, we heard a headline featuring our Mayberry. Normally the headlines surrounding this sleepy town include drug busts by our hard-working, ever-present law enforcement but this one hit a little closer to home:

Man attempts to assault 18-year-old woman while walking at 2 PM on Monday

The news awoke my dormant fear as I had a morning run planned. I shared my fear with Adam and his response was exactly what I expected, did not want to hear knew to be true.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed --Isaiah 41:10

In this world you WILL have trouble, but take heart for I have overcome the world--John 6:33

Last night as we prayed I was convicted for placing my hope in this world. I so treasure safety that I had let the fear of losing it control my heart instead of finding my security in Christ alone.

This morning, I awoke and ran as planned, with a few extra precautions including mapping out my run for Adam and staying in well-populated areas. As I ran, I prayed, not only that God would protect me physically, but that He would shield my heart from the "flaming arrows of the evil one."

As I was driving home from the library (the one with four sections) I heard a song that seemed to sum up well the journey that God has led me on these past few days

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?

And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

What a reminder that what Christ wants for us is not a life in Mayberry but holiness.

Guests

This weekend my fabulous husband organized our storage shed a bit to make room to store the twin bed that is being replaced by a full size beauty (more on that in a minute).

When we first moved in there was quite a large rat out in the shed who ran off with a few of our sticky traps. However, he has not been seen for some time. Perhaps this was the reason.


Most people run from such unwanted guests, but my husband put him in a bucket to scare surprise me and then picked him up as you see here so that I could get a good look at the smelly substance he (or she) was releasing and even pet it. Adam never ceases to surprise me with his lack of fear--he is teaching me that creation is something to be enjoyed and respected (not conquered).

After releasing our uninvited guest into the woods, we made room in our home for the full size bed that was graciously loaned to us by the Beavers, which is now available for all out-of-town family and friends.

I'd like to invite you to the Waters home and entice you with the thrills of Hueytown, the taste of fresh veggies, the smell of Waters cinnamon rolls and the feel of a lovely, Sealy posture-pedic matress:

Idea Thief

This week I have been making more small changes around the house thanks to ideas and contributions from friends and family (which they may or may not know about).

1. After seeing a floor to ceiling shower curtain at Laura's house, which looked oh so sophisticated and made the room look larger as well, I decided to try it out myself. I got these panels at Target for $10 a pop and hung them on a tension rod.
Before:

After:


I also replaced the palm tree light switch (a relic from the previous owners) with this neat piece ($2.50 at Hobby Lobby).


While at Hobby Lobby, I picked up some burlap (3.99/yard) and created these backties for my dining room chairs to mimic those I saw I at a friend's house the other day.


My original purpose for going to Hobby Lobby (so easily sidetracked) was to get a hanger for this canvas, painted by my most lovely sister-in-law. On it are the words of Paul in 2 Thes. 3:5

May the Lord direct your heart into God's love and Christ perserverance.

I hung it in our bedroom as a reminder of the essentials of our marriage: the love of God compelling us to love one another and the perseverance of Christ who set an example by willingly submitting to the Father and laying down His life for His bride...oh the gospel is SO good!

Adam thinks that things are starting to look a little girly around here. I may have been inclined to agree, but this reminded me that its okay to have a few girly touches here and there.

ThredUp

I LOVE getting packages, so the latest groupon was a double thrill for me.

My friend is giving birth sometime very soon and I wanted to welcome the newcomers with something special. ThredUp is essentially ebay, simplified for moms (and non-moms alike). Mother's pack flat rate boxes with new or gently used children's clothing and post a summary of the contents online.

Searchers pick out the box they want according to gender and size and one week later...viola! The mail lady arrives with your package.

It was so much fun to pull out the contents and ohh and ahh over each item. The best part..it's a bargain! Normally the boxes cost $15, including shipping. Through the groupon I got two of them for $12!

Perhaps I will post a picture of the contents after the shower so that I will not ruin the surprise.

Buy Fresh, Buy Local

Before I started dating Adam, I had never met a farmer..have you ever met a real-life farmer? Now I not only know, but I am related to some of the best farmers around (around Auburn that is, but they are so good that I think we could say they're the best "around" no matter where we happen to be!)

Growing up in West Jefferson, some of the neighbors had small garden plots with the normal variety of tomatoes, okra, and cucumbers, rarely, however, did we find ourselves privy to their harvest. We bought our fruit and veggies at the grocery store and were blind to the goodness of farm-fresh produce. If all you ever have is grocery-store veggies, then you may think, as I once did, that the phrase "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" is simply a marketing campaign.

However, it is TRUE! If you want the freshest, most flavorful bounty that the earth can offer, you must go to the source!

On Monday, that is exactly what we did!

After a wonderful weekend getaway in Auburn we stopped by Randle Farms to select some goodies that we don't have growing in our small plot. For the first part of the morning, we picked blueberries and one or two or three or more of them may not have made it from my hand to the bucket :-) Sidenote: We had a blind taste test to compare Randle Farms blueberries with "organic" blueberries from the store...no comparison.

After 6 gallons of blueberries were collected, we were offered the chance to explore another portion of the farm which contains veggies galore. There we selected yellow tomatoes (yes, yellow...I had never heard of such before either). Today I canned them and they look simply lovely (Waters--2, Tomatoes--0)





A special thanks to Zach who collected this garbage bag full of peppers for us! Most of them were chopped and placed in the freezer while some grace our table as a lovely, colorful centerpiece and others have already found their way to the tummy.



Other bounty from the farm included melons of all shapes and sizes and lovely flowers. I am so grateful not only for a husband who is a gardening master, but also for his family, their farming skills, and their willingness to share "the gifts from the goodland."

Little Changes

When anyone asked what I did this summer...I am going to show them a picture of this
It literally feels like I have spent every day of this summer either sanding, staining, sanding, polishing, sanding, painting, sanding...Did I mention that refinishing a table requires a lot of sanding? I almost thought I was going to give up but my hubby came in from the bullpen and finished the sanding on the final pieces.

Here is a glimpse of the chairs before and after the first sanding.

Seeing the big difference that a small change in the table made, I was excited to continue projects around the house. Just as my housing interest was peeking, Karly, now OFFICIALLY a homeowner herself, introduced me to http://www.younghouselove.com/ a fabulous blog in which a young family chronicals each step of their low-budget makeover of a somewhat imperfect home (Just like ours!)

I am now hooked and just this week have made a few fabulous (and inexpensive) updates to our home.

I got this new lamp at JCPenney for $42.00 (regular price: $140.00).

I thought it a nice replacement for the metal one that was obviously a carry over from the dorm days.

I picked up this picture last week at an estate sale for $8. Even though it doesn't fit 100% with the rest of the decor, it reminded me of China.

I got this lantern at JCPenney for 60% off (aka 7 bucks). It makes an enteresting centerpiece and provides an excuse to have "candlelight dinner" any night of the week (like last night with our Mexican leftovers for example).

Here's the only before shot I could find (it's WAY before, like before we owned the house).And...here's the progress. We won't say "after" because hopefully there will be more updates to come.

Naked Buns

Awaiting their icing :-)

Waters-1 Tomatoes-0

Sometimes this feeling washes over me, a sense of peace and certainty that THIS is the good life. It is at odd moments though, not exactly when you would suspect. It came today when my husband and I were standing in the kitchen, both clad in aprons, arms covered in tomato juice. The battle between us and the tomatoes had been waging for a few days. They had been mounting a serious attack on our kitchen.
But today we called in all our forces (knives, pots of boiling water, and cans) to take them down for good.
Like in the Bible when God instructed them to destroy all the enemies...we had to do the same....defeating not only the big daddy tomatoes, but the baby ones as well.
It was a tough battle, but we have these as a clear sign of our victory (we also took out the tomatoes' allies...the cucumbers :-))