OTHER HAPPENINGS IN DENVER...

No beatin' around the bush today... MY DAUGHTER HAS A JOB!!!  She has been in Denver about a month, and just about the time we were starting to think it may not last long, she has a job HERE and will be able to support herself and stay.  It's incredible to me because I never was independent as a 20 something.  I married at 19 years old and never ventured out on my own or had such diverse options for a job.  I was happy with that.  Really!  Only a few years later did I wonder if I hadn't met my husband so early in life what I might have done.  Law school or Dental hygiene were two of my interests.  I'm sure either one of those would have been my route had I not been married.  Teaching was the road I took and it came easily to me.  So all this is foreign to me!  To my beautiful, talented daughter I say:

WAY TO GO!  

I'm so proud of you!  

God has blessed you, honey.

CONGRATULATIONS! 

Here she is on her birthday, doing what she loves, camping!

I haven't met her roommates yet, but I already LOVE them.  Look what they made for my Reese's loving girl!

God is good.  

BEAUTIFUL SONG, BEAUTIFUL STATEMENT OF FAITH...

  I hadn't heard this song before - or maybe had heard it but not really listened to it.  At a memorial service for 5 week old baby BRYN, this song was sung and it just really touched my heart!

EVEN IF

Sometimes all we have to hold on to
Is what we know is true of who You are
So when the heartache hits like a hurricane
That could never change who You are
And we trust in who You are

Even if the healing doesn’t come
And life falls apart
And dreams are still undone
You are God You are good
Forever faithful One
Even if the healing
Even if the healing doesn’t come

Lord we know Your ways are not our ways
So we set our faith in who You are
Even though You reign high above us
You tenderly love us
We know Your heart
And we rest in who You are

You’re still the Great and Mighty One
We trust You always
You’re working all things for our good
We’ll sing your praise

You are God and we will bless You
As the Good and Faithful One
You are God and we will bless You
Even if the healing doesn’t come
Even if the healing doesn’t come

The Lord is close to the broken hearted 

and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 

 Psalm 34:18

UNPLANNED BIRTHDAY SURPRISE...

I've never been so mad at little squirrels!!! Since I wouldn't be seeing my daughter on her birthday, I sent her a care package with one of her favorites, my banana bread!  I guess it sat on her porch just a few hours too long...and when she found it, it looked like this.  She was a little nervous about picking it up, but finally did and shook it.  The culprit was gone - and so was the delicious bread. It didn't touch the candy corn!

Thankfully some of the other goodies in the box were intact.  Like this card - have you made one of these for someone special?  I made it in about 5 minutes from Treat.com.  I had a code for a free one so I tried it.  (Oops!  don't tell her it was free!)  Anyway, a lot of fun playing with fonts and designs.  They will even send one directly to the recipient for you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!  SEE YOU SOON!  

GRANNY CRAFT...

No offense to the grandmas out there, but this is one of those things you would probably pass by at the Little Old Ladies craft show.  But it is also EXTREMELY USEFUL.  When you want to give something to a sick person to encourage them, it's one of the best gifts you can give.

Do you know what it is???

It's a greeting card holder!

I first made one seven years ago when my husband was injured and receiving lots of get well cards.  My mother-in-law told me about it and so I decided to try to make one.   I think she told me that they used to make them with coffee cans.  I didn't have any of those, so I tried it with an oatmeal canister.  Works great, you just have to put the first few cards on opposite sides so it won't tip over.

 You can probably figure out how to make it yourself, but here's some directions anyway:  Open both ends of your cylinder.  Put a loop of yard around it and tie it off, making sure the knot is hidden inside.  Then wind it around and around until you have covered the entire thing, and tie it off again.  Make it as tight as you can because you can see on the brown one, the yarn will loosen as the weight of the cards increases.

The funnest thing is giving these to your friend and letting them try to figure out what it is.  I gave one to an elder the other night and he thought maybe I was giving him a cat scratcher!!!

P.S.  This one will keep your kids busy for a LONG time!

GIGGLY GIRLS...

New school year, new beginnings, new CORE group!  These girls are just some of the lovely young ladies in my CORE group at church.  We celebrated with a little lunch at IHOP the other day.  Their choice, of course.  I don't know what it is about IHOP but kids love it.  I, on the other hand, not so much (Oh, the sacrifices we make!).  In fact I probably hadn't been there in 10 years, maybe?  It's even worse with a group of 10 - took 30 minutes to get a table, 30 minutes to get our food, and then we sat there with our food and no silverware!  HA - but the best part was that these delightful girls didn't complain, they just giggled and had fun and took pictures of each other and got creeped out by the manager who wanted one of the birthday cupcakes we brought with us...It's gonna be a fun year!

9 MONTHS LATER...

our baby bathroom is complete!  Seriously folks, it's a good thing you don't have us working on your remodeling projects!  It was actually functional in June but only about halfway finished.  I like to call it the YOUTUBE BATHROOM because we consulted tutorials on youtube constantly during this process, especially the tiling.  So here's the BEFORE & AFTERS for ya:

Before:  Olive green plastic shower insert

After:  Shower tiled to the ceiling with clear glass doors

Before: Stained wood cabinets with faux marble counter, carpet on floor

After:  Painted cabinets with granite countertop and tile floor

Before:  Olive green toilet with cream lid, light green tile, wood paneling, wooden window sill 

After:  Off-white toilet, large tiles (same as shower), new cream paint and granite windowsill- someone told us if you can cut tile that you can cut granite too.  So when a friend gave my husband a spare piece of granite, we tried it and it turned out great!  

Before:  Wall creation by the kids

After:  Cream paint with decor

Here's a better pic of the cabinet color and granite. The mirror was rectangle before, and I really wanted an oval.  Couldn't find one that big, so the glass place told me to bring them a pattern.  They actually told me to lay grocery bags or newspaper down and make a pattern for them!  It wasn't perfect but I got the size I wanted.   

I love the new modern light fixture!  I didn't take a picture of the old one but imagine big round white globes hanging down here before.

The granite/sink installation is the only thing we didn't do ourselves.  It's also the only bathroom with granite countertop in our house.  Lucky kid!

Our little secret:  The guys were laying the tile and asked me if they could put a "W" design in  the floor.  Why not?  Most of the time it'll have a rug on it!  So we've left our mark on this house.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...

Maybe you remember me telling you about a new endeavor my husband and I started last school year...leading a small group in the church high school class.  It was something I enjoyed, but kinda second guessed if I was very effective at times.  Our group of 8 was very quiet.  You know, during those times I would ask questions and the reply was silence, I wondered if I was getting through to them.  Maybe they just weren't awake.  Anyway, we decided to continue this year and just got our new groups.  I have 2 of the same girls from last year, but 13 more, - yes, that makes a total of 15!!!   I can tell this year will be a total change.  Lots of energy and chit-chat on the first day.  I'm looking forward to it!

I know what you're thinking...next week I'll be complaining that I can't get a word in edge-wise.

I had the evening to myself so I decided to be a little pinterest-y between listening to THIS SERMON from my brother-in-law and THIS VERSION of "How Great is our God".  (A great cross between the  praise song and The Lion King theme song if you ask me!)

What did we ever do without computers?  I'm addicted to this little box that sits on my kitchen counter!

Here's what I made for my girls:

 Scripture bookmarks out of paint chip samples

Blessings for your weekend!