An Adoption Twist x 3

I'm not feeling very creative, but I don't want to wait any longer, so I'm going to cut to the chase:

We are no longer adopting an infant from Iowa.

WE ARE ADOPTING THREE KIDS FROM C---- IN AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THREE. That was not a typo.

Yes, we are we out of our minds.

But God has made it very clear this is his will for us so we are going for it. And trusting Him for all that lies ahead.

And we are incredibly excited!!

(Of course there will be more details to come.)

Main Level Renovation

When you walk into our house, here is how it looked BEFORE:And here is how it looks NOW:Before, with all white walls:

Now, with 'high-speed steel' (name of paint color) walls:

I absolutely LOVE the dark grey color. It just makes it all look so different and better.

Another BEFORE:

And AFTER:

I got the outdoor lanterns at Kmart. A different kitchen table (probably black) is on the wish list.I got this shelf at Ikea about a year ago for $20. It was grey and I painted it black. I don't have much cabinet space (and we have a renter who uses some of that cabinet space for her food) so this shelf helps a ton with storage.

This is what our living room looked like some time back. I move furniture a lot so this is not exactly how it was right before the remodelling, but it gives you the idea.Here it is now:Since we needed our office room for another kids room, I made my office in this little cubby space (and Jason's is now downstairs). I love it! We weren't planning on painting the living room/my office space, but the other color we painted it turned out to be too close to the dark grey. So, I found this silver color called 'pewter luster' at Lowes. It is a great contrast to the dark grey and it lightens up the room.

For a long time I have wanted Kate to draw something on one of my walls. She drew the branches on this wall and I painted them (with the same dark grey color as the kitchen).

Here is a picture of our living area before (several months ago, actually):

And now (not the same view of the room, but it gives a better feel for the room):We got this great furniture on Craigslist for an awesome price several months ago. Found the rug at TJ Maxx. I am quite happy to finally have matching furniture!

This may be my favorite thing in my house right now . . . the hanging lantern (thanks, Allie for giving me the lantern for my birthday!). And thanks Hobby Lobby for the cheap hook. I love that from any point in my kitchen I can turn around and see outside. And there is so much more light in the house now that it is open.

It really does feel like we have a new house!

Basement Renovation

We are finally finished (shy of two cabinet doors) with our house remodeling/redecorating projects. This is the view of the area to the right as you come down the stairs BEFORE:And now AFTER:Not bad for using the same old hand-me-down couch and not buying anything new for the space (except black spray paint to paint picture frames).

Here is the living room downstairs as you look to the left from the stairs BEFORE:

And AFTER (sorry for the horrendous glare).Here is the bench about a month ago. This bench was a super garage sale find for $12 about 10 years ago. It had been built into a kitchen as a breakfast-nook-bench. The best part about it is that the lids lifts up! Because it was built-in, though, it didn't have a back or solid bottom. But, my brother put those in for me so I could make it a toy box. After sanding and black enamel paint, here it is now. It looks good and it is very functional - you can't beat that! My sister drew the branches on the rectangles above the bench and I painted the branches. (The rectangles are repurposed placemat/trays I got as a gift from a Thai friend years ago.) The branches are a hint of what is painted on one of my walls upstairs (to be posted soon). The pillow cases I got in Thailand when I lived there over ten years ago.This was part of the downstairs BEFORE:(Inside were storage cabinets.)

And here it is now! There is a glare (because I'm not a photographer), but you still get the picture (and can see one of the two places where a cabinet door is needed). The paint color is chalky blue. It is a little more blue than I like, but I'm going to enjoy this color for awhile . . . I can always paint it a different color a year or two down the road. :)

Some of my favorite pictures of my neices and nephews . . . each at one year old.

From the new space, this is what you can now see. It definitely feels bigger, and that was the goal. Mission accomplished!