Merry Christmas!

I guess this post is a couple of days late, since it is two days after Christmas and I'll be taking down my decorations very soon.  Although, I want to be reminded of Christmas throughout the upcoming year- of my helplessness and need for my Savior.  I need to be reminded that Jesus left the glory of heaven to come to earth for me, to live and die for me that I might live for Him!  May we all long for Him, more than anything else this year.

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come thou long-expected Jesus, 
Born to set Thy people free; 
From our fears and sins release us, 
Let us find our rest in Thee. 
Israel's strength and consolation, 
Hope of all the earth Thou art; 
Dear Desire of every nation, 
Joy of every longing heart. 

Joy to those who long to see thee,
Dayspring from on high appear
Come thou promised rod of Jesse,
Of thy birth we long to hear
O'er the hills the angels singing,
News, glad tidings of a birth
Go to him, your praises ringing,
Christ the Lord has come to earth 

Come to earth to taste our sadness,
He whose glories knew no end
By his life he brings us gladness,
Our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend
Leaving riches without number,
Born within a cattle stall
This the everlasting wonder,
Christ was born the Lord of all 

Born Thy people to deliver, 
Born a Child and yet a King. 
Born to reign in us for ever, 
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring. 
By Thine own eternal Spirit 
Rule in all our hearts alone; 
By Thine all-sufficient merit 
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

The island is finished!

Rob finished the island a couple of weekends ago, and it is amazing what a difference it makes in the kitchen!  I moved all of our silverware into the island drawer since it's the largest pull-out drawer in the kitchen, and the extra counter space has helped tons too!  Here it is:

While Rob was working on the island in the garage, I was trying to do a bit of sewing/Christmas projects for the home. 

Pinterest-inspired ornament from our wedding program

Leftover burlap has so many uses- here...

...and here...

...and here.

stockings!...and the pennant idea I got from my friend Dawn, who had one with "thankful" painted on one side for Thanksgiving and you flip it over to put up "rejoice!" for Christmas.  Thanks Dawn! :)

A House Divided?

"And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand." Mark 3:25
Well, Rob and I know that our house isn't really divided, but we certainly differ on the college teams we cheer for.  I grew up a Clemson Tiger, and Rob grew up a South Carolina Gamecock...so for the sake of our marriage we decided to only go to one game in Columbia and one in Clemson.  Last year after one week of officially dating, we went to Columbia for the Clemson-Carolina game- it was a little more difficult than I thought but we made it through.  So here are some pictures from the games.  1. I can't believe I actually wore something red (too close to garnet if you ask me) to Columbia for the Carolina-Georgia game but I just told myself it could go for either team.  Rob was a good sport and actually wore orange to the Clemson game last weekend, and my parents were determined for him to have the best Clemson experience ever seeing as we had seats in the west end zone!  I could get used to that!

Hey, we know him! :)

Erin and I trying to convert the boys

Simplicity

1. Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status
2. Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you
3. Develop a habit of giving things away
4. Refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry
5. Learn to enjoy things without owning them
6. Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation
7. Look with a healthy skepticism at all “buy now, pay later” schemes
8. Obey Jesus’ instructions about plain, honest speech
9. Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others
10. Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God

“May God give you – and me- the courage, the wisdom, the strength always to hold the kingdom of God as the number one priority of our lives. To do so, is to live in simplicity”

–Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

Fall Break

Fall break is now coming to a close...it's been a wonderful 5 day weekend, with a good mix of relaxation and projects.

Friday:  I drove up to Camp Greenville to see the sunrise, which was amazing!

The rest of Friday I did some projects around the house: recovered a chair that was a yard sale find.  I had painted it during the summer, but finally found some fabric I liked at Hobby Lobby so this is the result.

Also, I made a bedskirt for our guest bed.  Rob's old bed is very tall so it's hard to find a bedskirt that is long enough.  I found a plain sheet at a thrift store to use as the base and I sewed parts of another old sheet around the sides and bottom.  I think it turned out pretty well- at least it covers our junk under the bed. ;)

The guest bedroom was ready just in time for our first "spend the night" guest- sister, Rufus!  She came to Greenville for the weekend for a friend's wedding so it was great to spend some time with her.  While she was at the rehearsal dinner Rob and I used some gift cards at Lowe's.  We got supplies for our island and bulbs for our ceiling fan and our total cost was 30 cents!  These two deal-hunters were pumped!

Saturday: We (I mean Rob) worked on the island.  I just took off the drawers and painted them- he did all the hard work.

My parents and all the siblings and spouses came over to Greenville Saturday night to celebrate Mama and Daddy's 30th anniversary!  Sadly we didn't get any pictures of the whole family together but we had a great time together at Sassafras and the food was amazing- highly recommend!

Sunday was restful and relaxing.

Monday & Tuesday: Cleaning, putting up curtains, trying new recipes: these were some winners:

Speedy Chicken Stew:

Melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin cookies:

Gospel reminders on Reformation Sunday

I was reminded in church today of the history of the church and the "five solas" on which believers took a stand during the Reformation and on which we're called to stand and to claim as our own today:

Sola Scriptura- Scripture Alone

Sola Christus- Christ Alone

Sola Gratia- Grace Alone

Sola Fide- Faith Alone

Soli Deo Gloria- The Glory of God Alone

Our responsive prayer of confession was a great reminder of how far I fall short:

"Leader: Holy God, our confession of faith reveals our sin,

People: for the words on our lips do not match the way we live.

Leader: We declare that scripture alone is our only rule for faith and life,

People: but we admit with sadness that we hardly touch our Bibles.

Leader: We declare that salvation is ours by faith alone,

People: but we are constantly tempted to trust in our own good works;

Leader: We declare salvation is ours by grace alone,

People: but we are foolishly inclined to feel in some small way, worthy.

Leader: We declare Christ alone as our Savior,

People: but we still cling to our sinful self-righteousness.

Leader: We declare that you alone are worthy to receive glory;

People: forgive us Lord, for we eagerly accept praise that belongs to You."

Latest project progress

We've been hanging a few things on the wall lately and trying to fill up the huge space above the couch in the living room.  Well, at least we got a start or as Rob says, "Pinterest finally attacked our wall above the couch".  We had seen large picture frames in stores similar to what we made, but they were too expensive for us and again Rob made the mistake of saying, "That would be so easy to make!"  He should know better than to say that now. ;)  The only thing I did was take the pictures from our honeymoon (our attempt at a panorama) to get them enlarged to 8x10's.  I cut some thick poster board to back each picture, and bought replacement glass at Hobby Lobby.  Rob did all the work of cutting 3 boards from a pallet and nailing them together.

Then we lined up the pictures the way we wanted them and Rob nailed in two small nails below each picture, and one on each side of the picture, to hold the glass in place.  We decided that the handle would add a nice touch and we had picked up a whole bag of old fixtures at...you guessed it... a yard sale!  So here's the final product...unless we decide to add hinges to the top so it'll look more like an old door.

Officially Mr. and Mrs. Rob Martin

Needless to say, Rob and I have been just a little busy lately, between finishing up plans for our wedding, honeymoon, and getting adjusted to married life.  Hence the lack of blog posts...but we're back!  And with a vengeance I might add since our first full weekend back in Greenville included yard saling!  We got up early yesterday morning with a plan of hitting a few yard sales in the "05" area of Greenville.  At our first stop we found a tie rack, curtain hooks, and a handful of vintage hinges all for $7.  We hit a HUGE yard sale at about 9:00, and they had just what we were looking for- a set of old kitchen cabinets and a hamper.  See, our plan before we set out was to look for some old cabinets or something similar that we, i.e. Rob, could turn into an island.  We can't claim this idea as our own; we got the idea from our assistant pastor (who did our pre-marital counseling and married us), Mark and his wife Kristi who had us over to their house before we got married.  Is it bad that when I go into people's houses I automatically start looking for ideas of things that we could do in our house?  Well, that's immediately what we did when we saw their kitchen island.  It was made from cabinets that they backed in bead board, painted, and topped with an IKEA cutting board.  So, when Rob and I found this set of cabinets for $15, we deliberated for a while over whether it would fit in our kitchen or not, but eventually went for it- plus we got the hamper thrown in!  Quite a deal considering we were going to have to buy a clothes hamper anyway, which would probably be closer to $30 or $40!  Well, we later moved the cabinets into the kitchen to see how they would fit, and they were way too big for our kitchen. :(  We're determined to at least try to make it work, so Rob said he could try to basically cut it in half to make it into a smaller island.  It would still have a top pull-out drawer and two cabinet drawers at the bottom.  Here is the before picture (not sure how long it might be before I can post an "after" picture, but I'll try to post as we work on it a little bit at a time:

I'll be in charge of the simple job of painting, but I'm not sure what color I'll choose...I'm a big fan of yellow or red though, and we have a pale blue kitchen so I think either of those colors would work.

On another note, backing up to our wedding TWO WEEKS ago...have we really been married two weeks already?!  Rob and I are so thankful for how the Lord brought us together, and brought us to marriage on September 1st.  It's hard to believe that we hadn't even gone on our first date at that time last year.  We are so thankful for both our families' hard work leading up to the wedding and cleaning up after the rehearsal dinner and reception but most of all for loving us so well.  The whole weekend was a great reminder of God's faithfulness and how He loves us far more than we can even imagine.  Rob and I are also so thankful for everyone who was involved in the wedding and for everyone who came to worship and celebrate with us.  We were overwhelmed with people's generosity and love for us.  So to close this post, I'll quote one of my favorite hymns and leave you with a picture of a beautiful sunset over the mountains that Rob and I got to enjoy on our honeymoon.

"Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee.

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."

The First Soapbox

We have lost the art of the intellectual and reasonable conversation in this nation.  Today, the attention goes to the loudest, most obnoxious voice out there, and we as a culture live for it.  No longer do we take the time to worry if the view expressed has any factual evidence to back it up.  That doesn't matter.  The only thing we care about is does it have a shock value, will it entertain us, and will it hurt someone so badly that they will retaliate, break down, or start a war.  It's what reality TV is based off of, what we see in movies and in the news, and what we have come to accept as the norm.  Why do we settle for this as a country?  The more and more we waste our lives watching and indulging in rubbish, the more our country and our faith dies, and unfortunately, that is where we are headed.  This saddens me so much as I hear all the hate that continues to be exchanged between the far conservative right (who are all of course born-again Christians, essentially perfect non-sinners, and have impeccable tract records when it comes to how families should operate, businesses should run, and how to make America great) and the Gay and Lesbian community (who preach tolerance but are intolerant of any position that they disagree with, are completely unreasonable, and just need to stop living a life of sin and immorality) in regards to the Chick-fil-A issue.  I am not going to waste my time by taking a side and bashing the other one (too late, I just bashed both by means of sarcastic stereotyping...whoops).  I believe wholeheartedly that both sides have failed so much in the art of having a fruitful and intellectual conversation that almost no ground could possibly be made towards resolution.  

The issue at hand is sin...and its not the sin of homosexuality, its the sin of not loving our neighbor.  People ask me who is responsible for all the mayhem.  Is it the biblically founded company and its leader that took a stand?  Or is it the liberal media?  Or is it the minority of the G and L community that is just trying to make a mountain out of a molehill?  I don't think it's any of these.  If I am going to point a finger at anyone, its going to be the church and the Christians therein.  This is not directed at any one group or denomination, but as a whole, the Church universal has done a pretty terrible job of loving people, especially the G and L community.   Now Christians will say that this is unfair, and that the Bible clearly defines marriage between a man and a woman and that homosexually is a sin, and that we have to stand up for what we believe in so it doesn't ruin the Church with bad theology so the Kingdom will move forward and the Gospel reach the nations.  I agree completely, but what has happened is that we selfishly hold these truths as our own, and when another person that doesn't agree or says that it is too exclusive or that we are too intolerant, we write them off.  We then start to attack instead of love, we start to defend without regard to feelings, we start to categorize people as beyond grace, beyond hope, and as helpless groups lost in their sin and immorality, and we say "to Hell with them" (which is literally what we are doing now as we have in the past as believers).  I shudder to think where I would be if this was Jesus' attitude towards me, as a helpless sinner who chooses to spit in His face and accept cheap grace while He hangs there on the Cross for me.  

We have to be asking ourselves as a community of believers, "What did He do in His ministry?"  He ate and lived and had intellectual conversations about the Gospel with the very people we choose to hate, reject, and count as unworthy every day.  We have to start to view people the same way Jesus saw people...a people in need of a great Saviour (of which I am in great need of everyday).  This means we love people.  This does not mean we compromise on what we call sin, Jesus did not do that, and I am not calling us to that.  But what we must do is be willing to love, to listen, and to make a clear presentation of the gospel in the most loving way possible.  Be willing to go "outside the camp," because that is where Jesus went, and it is where our sin killed Him.  But thanks be to God that He rose again to bring life, peace, and joy through a relationship with Him.  Stop seeing people as unworthy of love, and instead of grabbing your sword and going to war, take some time to invite someone into your life that doesn't agree with you and just listen...don't talk just yet...just listen.  And while you are at it, go ahead and confess to them and apologize for how you and the Church haven't loved them as Christ has called you to love them.  Get to know them, love on them, then share with them the greatest free gift history has ever known, the gift of Grace from Jesus Christ.  They may not agree with you or change the way they are living, and they may even hate and resent you...all the more reason to fall down on your knees and thank God that He sees you worthy to be His ambassador.

Farm Days

I didn't realize how spoiled I was with fresh fruits and vegetables until I moved away from York.  There is just nothing that compares with the good ole B-N-V!  It's hard to pick a favorite, but peaches are way up there on the list.  I never even buy peaches from the grocery store because they don't compare.  So last time I went to York, I came back with lots of peaches so decided to freeze some (works great for cobblers, on top of ice cream or pound cake, fruit salad).  All you have to do to freeze peaches is peel, slice, add a little bit of sugar, and bag them.

Fresh corn on the cob comes in a close second place on the list of favorites.  Growing up freezing corn every summer never seemed out of the ordinary to me, just like watching cows be killed for beef never seemed unusual...I apologize to my elementary classmates and teachers who had to put up with me bringing cow parts in a cooler to school!  Anyway, that's another story entirely.  The corn freezing process begins with shucking between 20 and 40 dozen ears of corn.  The cows have an amazing nose for corn- they literally run through the pasture to the truck to eat the shucks (and to try to sneak a few full ears of corn).  Rob got to experience the whole process this year, and he couldn't believe how the cows devoured the corn shucks.  The second step is to wash all the silks off the corn- we used to use brushes, but now we just rub them off with our hands under the hose outside- it works just as well.  After the corn is washed, then it is put in a huge pot of boiling water for about 8 minutes.  Immediately after it's taken out of the pot, it is plunged in a cooler of ice/ice water for about 10 minutes.  Then comes my favorite part- cutting the corn off the cob.  This was probably my favorite job because it meant sneaking a few bites of corn. :)  The last step is to bag the corn in Ziplock bags and put it in the freezer. Those who have had this kind of frozen corn can testify that it is AMAZING!  There's just no comparison.

Rufus got caught sneaking a few bites of corn.  Rob's job was to cook then cool the corn- he fit right in!

*Disclaimer: it does take all morning and you're very sticky afterward, but it's worth it!

Rob is very quickly becoming a country boy...proof seen in the following pictures.  Daddy decided that Rob needed to learn how to drive a tractor before our engagement could go any further, which of course Rob had no problem with.  He was like a kid in a candy shop...he just doesn't know what kind of work he's getting himself into now that he's learned to plow. ;)

Pinterest...you are my downfall

 So Rob posted about the first big pinterest project which was really all him- I helped paint, but that's basically what I've been doing a lot of lately.  We painted the living room green over my spring break, then Rob taped off and painted the dining room and kitchen by himself basically in a day!  I didn't take any pictures of the house before paint went on the walls, but  imagine bachelor pad with greyish-white walls, red leather couch (which has not been covered yet- see pictures below), grey-green overstuffed couch, at least THREE regular recliners, and one very special fish love seat recliner.  Yes, that's right, a love seat recliner.  We tried to sell it in our yard sale a month or so ago, but guess what?  We didn't have any takers!  ;)  How does a guy end up with so much furniture?!  Well, roommates getting married and getting rid of their bachelor furniture is the answer.  Seems that no future wife likes that many recliners and overstuffed couches/love seats.  We replaced the recliner with an entertainment center that Rob and I picked up at a yard sale for $10, and we probably spent more money on the paint and knobs to make it our own.  Rob did a great job taking out the top drawers and making it into a shelf.  You can kind of see the love seat recliner in Rob's last post about the window table.  Here are a few pictures of the living room.

 

The window above the fireplace is from Rob's home church in Barnwell.  I decided just to clean it up but not to paint it to give it kind of a rustic look.  The wooden trunk was from an estate sale in Greenville- bought it for $150 (Rob said I should have talked them down, which I'm learning how to do- he's much better at that than I am, being the one who "fiends for confrontation" as he says.)

The dining room has our first piece of furniture that we actually bought for the house.  Rob bought it the weekend, actually the day, we got engaged.  It was a minty green color so I just painted it cream.  Of course Rob talked the lady down- I think it was originally $150, but he got her down to $110.  

You think we have enough mason jars?

We used one of those mason jars to make a mason jar light fixture.  Well....I saw the idea on Pinterest, and Rob made the light fixture. ;)  He's so handy!

I think that's enough of our projects for now.  Summertime has been dangerous because I've had more time to go to yard sales, thrift stores, parents' sheds/basements, and to actually work on projects...well, in between wedding planning of course.  It's been a relaxing break from planning (mostly). :)

Window Coffee Table

Several things in life can cause rapid and sudden change in a young man.  Graduating from college, engaging in a career, or finding true love are just a few examples.  My life changed not from these, but from being introduced to Pinterest by my beautiful and very crafty bride to be.  From that moment on, I knew that I would bear the responsibility of making our house into a home by hanging rakes on the wall, making light fixtures from mason jars, and turning old windows into functioning tables.  The list could continue, but that would ruin the blog.  So begins the handyman section, and I will start with the window coffee table.

The materials that I used in this project were mostly purchased at a salvage store called the "Front Porch" here in Greenville, S.C.  It is located off Augusta Rd. near the Church St. intersection and is nestled between my two favorite restaurants, Church's Chicken and Taco Bell (Elizabeth loves them too!).  All kidding aside, this place has tons of windows, shutters, old lumber, and pretty much anything else you would need for this kind of project.  I mean, you could probably just make an entire Pinterest board by randomly snapping photos of the grounds.  I bought a window, two door frame posts, and four old porch banister posts for about $35 dollars.  I also picked up some sweet hardware (some hinges and a knob) that she just threw in for free with everything else.  The project itself was not too difficult and only took me about an hour of build time.  I cut the door frame posts to basically form a box that the window would eventually rest on top of.  After making the box, I used 6 pieces of old pallet wood to form the bottom of the table.  These were spaced evenly and attached with screws. The banister posts were far too long, so I cut them down to a reasonable length and attached them to the bottom.  Attaching the window to the rest of the table was maybe the hardest part.  I used old door hinges that I got from the Front Porch.  The tough part was stabilizing the window and making it even with the rest of the table while screwing down the hinges.  

After some sanding and some white paint, it was ready to be introduced as the nicest piece of furniture in the house (at this time it was still a bachelor pad).  I presented it as a Valentine's Day gift to Elizabeth, and I am happy to report that the table is still standing strong and that she, for some crazy reason, has continued to put up with me.  This was the first of many projects that have turned our house into a unique home that we are so thankful for.  I know I didn't include a ton of detailed instructions and  I couldn't provide a plan for the table because one did not exist.  But if you want more info on how to build it, just give me a shout!

The blog that wasn't supposed to exist...

First of all, I love reading blogs, but I've always thought, "I'll never start a blog.  I just don't have anything to write about or share."  Not long after Rob and I started dating, he found out that I followed blogs and said he was just waiting for the day when I would start one.  I told him not to worry because my life was not interesting enough to start a blog.  I should have known better than to say that, because life got a lot more interesting when we started dating, got engaged, then began fixing up his house...soon to be OUR house!  Rob bought a house in November, before we became "official".  It was built in 1949, so it has a lot of character but is also in really good shape.  We've found that a coat or two of paint makes all the difference in the world!  I remember Rob telling me when we were dating and he was showing me his house that he wasn't going to paint anything yet because he would let his future wife decide on paint colors.  Of course I was secretly hoping that would be me.  We've painted several rooms in the house, which has been fun, but our pinterest projects have probably been the most fun.  I think it was January when I introduced Rob to the wonderful world of Pinterest, and I showed him a window coffee table that I thought was super cute.  He made the mistake of telling me, "Oh!  That would be so easy and quick to make!"  Haha...he has gotten himself in trouble by telling me that a few too many times.  That was just the beginning of home improvement/decorating projects.  I've also become a little obsessed with yard sales and thrift stores, so you'll see some of our finds on the blog.  Rob will be sharing his handywork and the occasional soapboxes- whatever strikes his fancy.  I'll try to share a few crafty projects as well as other random posts.  This won't be completely pinterest related, but I guess it will start that way.  Be on the lookout for our next posts on some of our first projects!