House Decorating-Before and After

We finally bought our new home..Yay...and we love it.  Now, we just needed some paint on the walls...I LOVE color!  So, we began our 1st floor decorating/painting project.  Josh said he wanted the "wow" factor (as he called it) so, I knew I might need a little help achieving that :)  I contacted LeCroy Interiors, Inc.,  and they were GREAT.  They are good Christian people and so easy to work with.  I would highly recommend them.  They brought in samples of paint color, fabric, pictures, lamps, etc.  And away we went with choosing and planning.  It was a lot of fun and I'm "happy, happy, happy" with the way everything turned out!  We still have some more work to do and things (candles/pictures) to set out, but the big stuff (i.e. painting and window treatments) are complete...well, for the first floor anyway..wink wink :)  Here are the before and after pics:   

 This is not the picture that will go here, but I wanted something there for now to cover the outlets on the wall.  You get the idea :)

 LOVE our dining room!  The fan will be coming down eventually and a pretty light fixture in its place.  Thank you Greg for our dining room table.  We love it!

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 Love my picture's new home in the downstairs bathroom.  It is Thomas Kinkade's 23rd Psalm.  It was given to me by my mom a few years ago.  Thank you Mom! 

 And thank you again Greg for our breakfast table.  Notice it's the same table and chairs, just different color (and the leaf is out).  We made a little swap!

We love the special touches to our new home!

Thank you again LeCroy Interiors for all of your help and hard work.  You guys were great.  Hope to work with you again real soon.

~The Lordship Of Christ In Our Homes~
May God’s peace be upon this house
That God has blessed you with
A home that reflects His awesome love
And the grace He freely gives

May it be a home with open doors
That welcomes strangers in
And makes them feel loved and accepted
Knowing that God dwells within

Our homes should be more than a house
Where we live day by day
It should be a place where God can reign
And precious memories are made

For as we establish in our homes
The Lordship of Jesus Christ
We invite His presence to come and dwell
And fill each room inside

So as we continue to lift up the Lord
In every part of our lives
It’s then our homes will reflect the faith
And hope we have in Christ
© By M.S.Lowndes

TBC Mission Trip 2012

This past week, I had the pleasure of going with my church, Tucapau Baptist Church, down to Talladega, AL for our 2012 Family Mission Trip!  We had a amazing trip.  God did mighty things in and through us!  While there, we stayed at Mt. Olive Baptist Church.  A special thanks to them for providing us with such a great place to stay for the week.  And we met so many amazing people along the way!  I know now that God really wanted me on this trip and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to go.  So glad I'm apart of a church that is so mission minded!  Thank you TBC!  Warning:  Lots of pictures ahead :)

 "Circling Up" for prayer Saturday morning before we left!

 Our room for the week.  My air mattress slept quite well :)

 And my sweet, "young" roomies:  Rebecca, Me and Hannah

 Sunday morning worship at Mt. Olive Baptist Church

 Our men's construction team hard at work

 They were helping build a house for a precious family in AL.

 Sweet girls:  Sarah and Brooklyn

 Salome being very creative while at Subway before we got there on Saturday. :)  And below is sweet Eva and another pic of Salome and Reagan.

 Becca and her mom, Paula

 Getting a pic with our new friend Jeff, who attended Mt. Olive.

 We went and checked out the National Forest one afternoon and went on a small hike while there. Pictured above is:  Barry, Brooklyn, Sarah, Rebecca, Paula and I'm taking the pic!

 Making salvation bracelets with some sweet babies!

 Fun Club Time!  Each morning from 9:30-11:30 we had our fun clubs, similiar to VBS.  We had games, crafts, lessons, music and snacks!  Paula did a great job organizing the fun clubs.

 Our Am-az-ing "cooks!"  We had a big breakfast, lunch and dinner (and dessert) every.single.day.! It was sooo good!  What do we say to the cooks?....Thank you Cooks!  You guys are great. 

 Even some of the kids got to help.

 Eva and me!

 Silly girls!

 Christian all wrapped up!

 And our favorite game on the trip...Dutch Blitz.  It gets quite rowdy occasionally ;)

 Barry and Christian

 And the hard working men heading back to the work site after lunch.

 We had a Girl's Night doing manicures and pedicures.

 The finished product!

 We all had to take our turn doing kitchen and bathroom duty, even Pastor Eric, who did a great job!  :)

 Ice cream night!

 Love these ladies:  Ms. Jo Lynn and Mrs. Helen hard at work making salmon patties!

 Wednesday and Thursday, we went and visited a couple of nursing homes in Talladega.  We talked and sang songs with the residents.  It was such a blessing for me to see the way our children interacted with them.  Christian and some of the older kids were going around asking "Do you want a hug?"  It was precious.  And the residents just loved them!  We had a great time.  They even asked us to come back on Thursday and of course, we did.

 We also got to visit in the Alzheimer's unit.  It was amazing to see the residents singing along with us and to hear them remember and talk about their past.

 haha...no words!

The Tucapau Baptist Church Mission Team 2012

What an amazing trip!  "To God be the glory, great things He has done!"

Mt. Olive Baptist Church-Talladega, Alabama

~" And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him"  Colossians 3:17~