Country Wedding

My cousin Lucas got married to Amy last weekend in a sweet wedding in Nashville. I loved the burlap and twine touches and all the attention to details.Very cute cowboy boots on the bridesmaids...The food was pork barbeque and all the fixins. Yum! Southern sweet tea in mason jars kept the "casual country" theme going too.
My sisters and I had fun in the "photo booth."

The cake topper was made out of tinker toys.
When my uncle was giving the charge, he said, "Lucas, before you met Amy, your heart found the One it loves." (Song of Songs 3:4)

Congrats, Lucas and Amy. I loved how your wedding showed your personalities and led people to Jesus. You have both fallen in love with Jesus first, and your love for Him was so evident. May your marriage be deeply blessed by the One you love.

Easter with family

We had such a great weekend in Nashville, celebrating Easter with family there. The kids loved being with their cousins. After church on Sunday, we had a time of communion together, a delicious Easter dinner, and fun egg hunt.

Baby's first Easter. He was enamored with the colored eggs.
Because it was 85 and sunny, we even got to use their new pool with them. It felt like we were in the tropics, compared to the cold rain we've been getting in Indy.
We love you, Ries family! Thanks for a wonderful Easter weekend.

Springtime

No matter how long the winter, spring comes.

I needed to hear that this week.

One of the houses that we're trying to sell flooded AGAIN. Ugh. Seems like a long winter in our lives in many ways right now. I'm clinging to that hope that the sun is coming to shine soon.

Rainy Day

Today it downpoured outside our house. I had Clay write why he likes the rain. Here's his paper:

Evening at the park

The other night we took the kids to the park for a picnic. Clay and Emma had fun climbing all over the playground.

Hudson enjoyed his first swing ride with Daddy. He was all smiles, as long as he could hold on tight with one hand.
Emma found this neat little "fuzzy flower."

Daddy's Helper

When we open the dishwasher, Hudson immediately makes a beeline for it. Then he tries to "help" by climbing in to get closer to the action.

Before/Afters

I posted pictures of the outside of the house on the previous post. Here is a tour of the inside:
I love the grand staircase in the entryway. Can't you just picture it with garland at Christmastime? The red trim and brass light had to go though... Next up, the kitchen. Windows were moved around, everything was gutted. Travertine flooring, granite counters, and new cabinets were installed. The dining room had baby blue trim and floral wallpaper.
The living room had a great fireplace, but it didn't really stand out. Jeff also installed new landscaping around the home and tore out all of the overgrown bushes. And he oversaw the project of building a 2-stall garage. This is the backyard before:We've had a few open houses and many people comment about how peaceful the home feels. Now we are praying that some family falls in love with the character of the home and wants to buy it!

The House on College Avenue

This is the home Jeff has been working on for about the last 6 months. It has been a huge project, but so rewarding to finish.
It didn't look quite like this when he started though. Here's the "Before" picture:
When Jeff first gave me the tour of the house back in October, I felt completely overwhelmed, and asked myself, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" But now, as the process has unfolded, this beautiful stately home has been restored. Jeff saw the potential and the "good bones." I am so proud of him for all of his hard work, his vision, and his determination to see the project through.

Jeff had all of the vinyl siding removed. Then the original wood siding was completely stripped of paint.
Jeff wanted the front door to have some curb appeal and match the age of the home a bit more, so he went to a salvage yard and bought this leaded glass door and sidelights from 1912. He had to completely strip the paint, then sand and stain it. The leaded glass casts tiny rainbows all around the entryway when the sun shines in.