The Journey At Hand

There was a time, not so very long ago, when I would look at my life and the various events which would occur, and regularly say to myself, "I should blog about that." New furniture, a great recipe, some thrift-store finds, or a parenting dilemma were all viable candidates for a new post. I am not quite sure what happened. Suddenly this "blogging momma" went from once a week to... well, it has been four months since my last update.

All that to say, though I don't think I'm jumping back on the weekly wagon, I do hope to get back into blogging if simply for the sake of documenting life a bit. It is fun to look back on previous entries and remember valuable lessons learned and great deals found.

Ok so onto the actual blog post...

We have been in Visalia for almost seven months. Amazing to think about how much life has changed since January of 2010. In the last year we took a trip to the devastated country of Haiti, Tim took a new job with Valley Orthopedic, we moved to Visalia, got rid of the pacifier, bought our first home (which I consider as big of an accomplishment as getting rid of the pacifier), Tim went back to school, found out we were pregnant with #2, and survived two whole years of parenting (happy birthday Sawyer).

In the midst of the change and adjustment to life back in the Valley, we were praying regularly that God would lead us to a good church. Praise the Lord, by August of last year, we had found a home. We have plugged in at Radiant Church in Visalia and have been blessed beyond all get out during our time thus far. Radiant is a non-denominational, charismatic church of about 200 people and it is an alive and growing body.

Let me pause for a moment and address what I know some of you may be a bit hung up on. That word "charismatic" can bring a whole host of feelings depending on your experience and knowledge. When we were first invited to the church and were told it was "a bit on the charismatic side," we were hesitant, partly due to strange experiences, but mostly out of ignorance to what in the world that might mean. I am so thankful we did not allow our lack of comfort to keep us from visiting and finding the jewel of a church we are now apart of.

Because many of the variables involved in any given Sunday service are not what we were used to, it did take some time to adjust and learn about the many expressions of worship we had never experienced at our previous churches. Though I was somewhat comfortable with gifts of the Spirit such as tongues or teaching, I had never been in a service where someone received a Word from the Lord and stood and spoke it for the benefit of the entire congregation. In Guatemala I attended a church which had reserved half of its sanctuary as a dance floor (where, every week, the first people to utilize the space were the elders of the church). Though there is no designated dance space at Radiant, it is not uncommon for people to worship in dance.

Tim and I have spent many hours discussing these new and different means of expression worship and how they fit into our current understanding of scripture and the direction God has given His church. We met with the Senior Pastor and his wife (who, yesterday, brought me over a batch of the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls- winner) multiple times to ask questions and share our hearts on the matter. We were like sponges. Travis, our Senior Pastor, called us a few weeks ago and said he had a book he thought we would enjoy. He brought us "Empowered Evangelicals" by Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson and encouraged us to read it as we were processing through these new experiences.

I started to read the book before Christmas and ended up giving my dad a copy as a gift. Though I am not done, the book has really helped me to understand the roots of both the charismatic and evangelical movements and why they can, at times, be so polarized in the twenty-first century. The authors do a good job of exploring the relationship between worshiping in both Spirit and Truth and the error that comes when one is emphasized over the other. Here is an excerpt I read last night:

An honest reading of the Scriptures and church history demands that we maintain an open attitude toward the work of the Spirit to renew the church. God is God and he does whatever he pleases in the way that pleases him. The mere fact that we feel uncomfortable, or that there is a mixture of wheat and tares, doesn't mean God is not at work. 

But along with a posture of openness we must also exercise discernment. "Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold onto the good. Avoid every kind of evil." (1 Thes. 5:19-22)...Some people seem to think that genuine openness to the Spirit and discernment are incompatible,. But the work of the Spirit demands discernment, since the Spirit interacts with human beings who are anything but perfect. It is essential that we understand what is from God and what is not...The fact that conservative evangelicals can learn something from charismatics and that charismatics can learn something from conservative evangelicals doesn't mean we have do adopt everything the other side offers. So with openness we must also hold on to discernment. (pg. 55)

This new journey has been fascinating so far and I know God has much more to reveal to us as we continue down this path. I am excited to know and experience Him in new ways and am so thankful that we are surrounded by brothers and sisters who desire to worship God in both Spirit and Truth.

Bedroom Beautiful continued...

 For the past month, as we've been settling into our new home, Tim and I have been going round and round about what pictures to hang and where to hang them. Though the thought of putting holes in our freshly painted walls made both of us cringe, we wanted to begin to put pictures and photos on the wall to help make our house more "homey." 

This weekend we finally put a few holes in the wall and I can honestly say, the items we hung in our bedroom may be my most favorite things in our home...

Our first project was making a key display. Tim collected skeleton keys when he was a little boy and we have been trying to come up with a way to show them off in our house. I settled on putting them in a shadow box and so, after picking out our favorites, we covered the back of the box with a cream colored burlap and hot glued the keys to the material.

So proud...

We hung the framed keys so that you see them as you walk into our room.

 LOVE THEM.

Our next project was one that I had been carrying around in my head for weeks. You know when you get an idea or are inspired by something and it just sticks with you? Well, our bedroom has a lot of wall space and although we want to be a bit more minimalistic with the room, I do want to hang some unique pieces. 

Those of you who visited our "cottage by the sea" in Ventura will remember my turquoise mirror I found at a garage sale and painted to match my kitchen curtains. Well it has been re-painted and is now hanging in our bedroom next to a few fantastic antique post cards I picked up at another garage sale about six months back. Oh and did I mention they are hanging in frames I bought at a thrift store about four years ago? It all makes me smile. I love how the scene fits together and that the total cost was under $9 dollars!!!

Until next weekend...

Bedroom Beautiful

Happy Labor Day! 

Tim's parents offered to take Sawyer for a couple days and so we have finally had time to do things like organize the garage, paint some furniture, fix up the laundry room, etc. We've been working hard on bedroom furniture and I wanted to share some pictures of what we have accomplished thus far...

I found these funky bed-side tables on Craigslist and thought they would add fun texture to our room. 

My new favorite paint color is called "Beige Shadow." I found it at Lowe's and then saw it featured in "House Beautiful" as one of 2010's top 5 colors. I felt very trendy :). 

After a few coats of paint and a bit of clear coating (to keep the furniture from feeling sticky), we had lovely new pair of bed-side tables!!

Finally, we painted Tim's dresser with the "beige shadow." I have no idea how many times that dresser has been painted but I know it has been used by quite a few Kanallakan family members. I love how it turned out!

Our room is definitely starting to come together. I have a few more projects to work on tomorrow, before we go pick up Sawyer. More pictures to come soon...

The "D" word.

I decided to take a break from the house project blogs and write about bit about my current parenting dilemma.

The dreaded "D" word...

DISCIPLINE

Let me give you a glimpse into what attempting to discipline looks like at my house:

Sawyer's newest and most favorite way to push my buttons is to let out a short and shrill scream, usually indicating he is upset with me because I said "no" to something.  Now, my initial decision, as far as how to discipline him for this behavior, was to put him into our version of "time out" which basically means I put him in his crib, away from me, for 2 minutes. Then I go in, and we talk about why mommy put him in his crib, and he says he is sorry, I tell him I love him, you know the drill.

Up until about a week ago, the period of separation was a successful form of discipline. Sawyer did not enjoy being removed from the party that is our home and would react appropriately.  Now, when he does something that he knows warrants a time-out, he smiles while in the midst of the said behavior and then, after saying, "na night," promptly walks himself to his room and stands by his crib waiting for me to put him inside.

Or better yet, if I get to him before he can start heading to his room on his own, as soon as I pick him up he says, "ready, set, go" and pumps his arms like we're tag teaming in a marathon.  

Clearly this form of discipline is no longer affective. Yea.

Here's another one...

When I'm talking to him in my "listen kid" voice, Sawyer often attempts to avoid eye contact. When I give him the commonly used phrase of, "Look at my eyes," he puts the tip of his nose to the tip of mine and completely stares me down like he's my optometrist.

And how do you not crack up when your kids pull stuff like that?

All this to say, Tim and I are currently reading Dr. Dobsen's,  Strong Willed Child and trying to memorize his advice. We are certainly not anti-spanking but, up till this point, have reserved it for dangerous behaviors or things that he simply cannot do again for his own safety or the safety of others. You know, like if he (hypothetically of course) were to climb up on the kitchen table, grab my car keys, head to the ONE outlet missing a cover and proceed to try to stick the key into the electrical outlet.  He got a spanking for that. I mean, if he had done that, hypothetically of course, I would have spanked him.

I find myself praying for wisdom all day long. Each day is so different and each week seems to bring a new behavior I have to nip. At least I always have entertaining stories for parties. I'll end with the one I got to tell at MOPS yesterday (great first impression, I'm sure):

So Sawyer was standing with me as I was locking up the front door, and began heading to the car in the driveway. I opened up the drivers side door and put my purse on the seat. I saw Sawyer walk around the front of the car towards his door so I walked around the back to meet him half way. As I took 2.7 seconds to get to the other side of the car, I was surprised to find that Sawyer was not there. I took another 1.3 seconds to get to the front of the car only to find that Sawyer was not there either. Now I'm running laps around the car yelling for my child.

-Let me interrupt to paint a more accurate picture. Our street is in a state of construction as new homes are being built all the time. There are cement trucks, tractors, and pick-ups constantly driving in front of our house. Not the front yard where you want to lose your kid.-

Back to me running laps around my car...great mental picture, eh? I'm starting to panic and am in awe of Sawyer's ability to escape so quickly when a construction worker stops his truck in front of our house and yells, "He's sitting in the drivers seat." Yup. He had climbed up into the drivers seat and was looking at me like, "Get in the car mom, we're going to be late." Oh child of mine.

Like I said, they make for great party stories once my adrenaline has gone back to a healthy level.

Kitchen Table Re-Vamp!!!

We finished our kitchen table revamp and wanted to share our pictures!! I am super happy with how it turned out...

Before:

After

We finally found surfboard hanging hooks and put up the red board in Sawyer's blue room. Soooo cute!!!

I fell in love with these modern and funky stainless steel stools for the kitchen bar. 

We love our home!! More pictures coming soon...

Moving In-Sawyer's Room and Living Room

So in Part One I showed photos of our developing bedroom and dining room. Here are some pictures of what we've done, so far, in Sawyer's room and the living room...

Sawyer's room is now an adorable robin's egg blue with fun surfer posters Tim ordered from one of his favorite tee-shirt designers. We are still planning on hanging Tim's red surfboard over the crib.

Our living room is slowly coming together as well. We'll fill up the shelves as we unpack more boxes but for now I'm kinda enjoying all the empty space.

I found this cute tray at Z-Gallery for $4.00. I love it!!

My dad grew up with this chair in his parents home. For the last 10 years it has been in my parents basement. We cleaned up the wood and found an outdoor cushion that fit the frame perfectly (and matched our pillows quite well). Its a great retro addition to the room!

More photos coming soon!!

Our House- Part One

We've officially moved into our new home!! Thanks to my "get-er-done" father-in-law, we actually moved in a couple days earlier then planned and have had a blast slowly piecing everything back together. Since we've only been here three days, I don't have a whole lot to write about yet but I did want to put some pictures up to show the progress we've made thus far...

Here is our Master Bedroom with the headboard Tim and his dad made out of reclaimed wood. The cream colored duvet from West Elm adds amazing texture to the room. So happy with how it turned out!

After searching for in-expensive curtains, we found these beauties at the fabulous Ikea...LOVE THEM!

Here is my "mint green" dining room. I love the color and can't wait to get all my milk glass and black shelving up to really give the color contrast I'm going for...

Here are a few of my milk glass pieces and a tiered plate stand I made with thrift store and clearance treasures (it looks a bit lopsided in this photo...it really is quite cute :)).

I'll post more picts of Sawyer's room (surfer themed) and the living room once we are a bit further along in the unpacking process. 

Thank you Jesus for your blessings!!