Passion: Poetic Winter Photo Challenge Wk.3

  Wow! February is clipping right along, I have really enjoyed participating in this Photo Challenge this month. This week the theme is...

Passion

I have several passions, but...I love photography...especially shots of flowers and other detailed items found in nature.

I also of course think of my wonderful Hubby Dave when I think of the word Passion...

(To read our story, click here)

And my passion as a Mom...I love my boys....

Mostly when I here the word Passion, I think of the PASSION of Jesus Christ on the cross...

(To read an earlier post about this trip read here...)

And, I am so thankful that my family knows the Love of Christ and has made the decision to follow Him....

Have you decided to follow Jesus?

Glad you stopped by, leave a  comment and let me know you were here :)

Have a Blessed day!

-Allison

My Valentine

More pictures at the end :)

  I am such a blessed girl! I have a husband who is my protector, provider and my best friend. We have been through a lot since we started out two young puppeteers in our youth group. 
   Dave and I met when he was 9 and I was 7. Our families went to the same church growing up. When I turned 13, I got to enter the church's teen group. We had an active group that traveled doing puppets and music ministry. During a fun game night, Dave & I were voted most shy boy and girl of the group. For some reason, I think it was part of a game or something, I had to hold his hand that night. He was a tall strong farm boy with thick strong hands. I NEVER forgot that feeling! I had never held a boy's hand before! Or felt the way I did while holding it! We all had such a fun time in that group. 
   Unfortunately, our church had a split and our family stayed and Dave's family left. We didn't see each other until I got a call  almost 3 years later from one of the youth leaders that had left, but continued the puppet and music ministry. They were calling to see if I was interested in joining the team. I went to one of the Bible studies and saw a lot of familiar faces from the old group. Including Dave! His parents were also leaders of the group.
   We became fast friends. I had many scars from when my dad had left our family and from other life circumstances, but we worked together so naturally through everything and before we knew it, we were committed to staying together. 
   We were committed to God and doing things His way, so we relied on him throughout our 3 1/2 yrs of dating. We got married when I was only 19. We started on a family right away. We will be married 20 years this year! We have been through 3 babies, a child who needed heart surgery, a cancer scare for both of us, back surgeries, unemployment, 4 moves, health issues...and yet, here we are still standing (not always perfectly) but still best friends and in love with each other.


   What is the key? I believe the key is nurturing our FIRST LOVE and by that I mean that each of us had a love in place before we loved each other. Each of us had a committed relationship with God. We relied on Him to make the match, and we rely on Him to keep us matched. That doesn't mean there aren't hard days...there are. It doesn't mean we don't argue...we do. But what it does mean, is we take the fact that we took a vow before God to "Love in ALL things"
   When it gets hard, we lean on our First Love to maintain and work out our love. Giving up is not an option, besides, Dave has seen me at my best and worse...he was the face I saw loving me through the birth of our 3 babies.....his was the hand I held waiting to see if I would hear the words "it's cancer"....he is the man I have set up house with 4 times....he's the one that still sends me silly little messages on Valentine's Day. Why would I want to give up on all this beautiful history?

   I am so thankful for my First Love that makes it possible to extend love to my husband and children.

Do you know him?

Everyone has at least heard John 3:16, but it's more than a sign at a sporting event...let it pierce your heart.

For God so loved the world (that's you) that He gave is only son (Jesus Christ), that whoever (that can be you) believes in Him shall have everlasting life!

Watch this:

   God loved you enough to pay the price of all your sin (and mine) with the life of His only son. Jesus was willing to be beaten and crucified, to have His blood spilled to pay the price of your sin (and mine). The power of God raised Jesus from the dead, and is offered to you through the Holy Spirit. All you have to do is ask.....Have you asked? The Holy Spirit is close by just waiting for you to ask Jesus to come into your heart.

It's the best Valentine ever!

One of our Halloweens while dating: Scarecrow & Dorothy

Our Wedding Day 10-10-92

Our 1st son Cody's 1st Family Reunion

Going to a friends wedding

Christmas'11

Pictures of Warmth: week 2 of the Poetic Winter Photography Challenge

   I am linking up with the Poetic Winter Photography challenge at Project Alicia. It is throughout the month of February, and every week there is a one word theme. Week two's theme is....

Warmth

Psalm 91:4

He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

Now doesn't that sound like a warm inviting place to be? I'm so glad to know I can rest there!

These are a few of my shots that warm my heart ....

Christmas warms my heart

The warmth of a fall sunrise

My son laying in his horse's hay on an unseasonably warm winter day

A warm sunny spot to sit

This kitty is feeling the warmth of the sun

The warm feeling of the candlelight service on Christmas eve...passing on the light of the world.

The warmth of a big cup of coffee

Thanks for stopping by, I wish you warm wishes!

Come back anytime :)

-Allison

Pictures of Solitude

I am participating in a Poetic Winter Photography challenge at Project Alicia. It is through the month of February, and every week there is a one word theme. This week is...

Solitude

These are a few pictures that I have shot while on my own, out in God's creation. These have definitly been moments  of reflective solitude for me.

Psalm 91:1&2

1. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.(NKJV)

I broke the rules a bit and included some fall and  summer shots in addition to the winter ones. I hope that by visiting today, you felt a few moments of solitude yourself.

Thanks for stopping by, I enjoyed our visit!

-Allison

Kitchen Remix

   Well, we are redoing our kitchen! I'm so excited. We have a fairly big kitchen space and love to have lots of people over...but...while I can fit lots of people in there, I can't fit all my cups or plastic containers in my cabinets. We are busting at the seems!
   Some time back, friends of ours got a new kitchen and allowed us to take the wall cabinets they were taking out. I am a hopeless romantic when it comes to refinishing old things and loving them back to life. So of course when I saw these old cabinets needing a new home, I had to have them :)
   I can't believe it, but I didn't take any "before" pictures! My hubby had some time, and we just jumped in to ripping things out and starting this big project while we could. I have scoured through my pictures and found a couple of them that give an idea of what it looked like.
   We  don't have a lot of time (or money) so it will be a long drawn out project, but I'm so encouraged to be getting started! My plan is to post our progress as we move along. Feel free to leave some advice in the comments. We have done a lot of remodeling, but not on kitchens.
   In our "old" kitchen, we only have 3 1/2 wall cabinets, one big useless space under the sink, 3 small base cabinets and one base unit with drawers. I had a shallow floor to ceiling cupboard to hold food, and an awkward pantry type thing built in one wall. BUT, I had a long wall with nothing on it. It was begging for some cabinets! I had a kitchen table there that no one ate at and just usually held stuff that wouldn't fit in anywhere.
   The walls were white when we moved in 8 years ago, and white they stayed. I am painting them a creamy coffee/ chocolaty color called "Macchiato", and the cabinets will be painted cream and will have an antiqued finish. I love coffee and the contents of my morning cup inspired me. I am planning to have a little area devoted to all things coffee, kind of a mini coffee bar.
   Along that blank canvas of a wall we will be running counter top, but not base cabinets. I want to leave the bottom  open for bar stools of some sort. We are thinking about pouring our own concrete counter tops. Do any of you have experience with that?

Anyway here are a couple of pictures to serve as "Before" shots...

   
(Above)This is the wall that will get all the newly finished cabinets. We moved the 
fridge and found an awful peachy paint color!
Also this ugly wall paper was behind the cabinets!(Right)

Here we see usually our "company" is a house full of teens. We love it! Anyway I had this rolling cart by the door to hold small appliances, the microwave and coffee pot. To the right of that is the tall cupboard that I used as a pantry. Then I have 1 1/2 half cabinets over the stove. to the right of that is my corner sink.

After the corner sink, you see two upper cabinets and my corner of small base cabinets. Then the dishwasher and fridge. And there you see that long blank wall with a shelf on it...longing for cabinets and counter top! I know I will be giving up floor space, but I think it will be worth it. ( These lovely people are my husbands aunt and uncle and cousins. Love spending time with family!)

So Hopefully I will get a chance to get some pictures up soon of what we have done so far. Any suggestions for flooring? We are thinking of  doing a heated tile floor.