Passing along FAITH

Last night our pastor called to let us know that a man from our church had died suddenly (he was in his mid 50's with no known illness). This was very sad news. Husband and I know that he was not saved. He came with his mother (whom he lived with) and sat behind us in church every Sunday. We would hear him critique the sermons during the sermon and make little comments. He was a very sour person in his attitudes and speech.

This had me thinking about the passing on of the faith. Both of his parents were/are faithful Christians and served in many ways to the church community. I'm sure that their kids always went to church with them and they continued to do so in adulthood. One of their children is going to be a pastor while this child lived with his parents. But somewhere there was a disconnect of faith.

This thought has been on my mind already. Parents....bring your children up in the Lord! This has to be a very deliberate exercise on the part of the parents. I have been realizing that our younger 2 children have been put on the back burner lately with me working so much and husband working and doing his masters' studies. So, we are working on a plan for me to be able to spend more time (really THERE time) with the kids. Passing along the faith to our children is really a top priority!!!

Layers of creation

The hired-out portion of the kitchen work is done. LOVE having my counter space available when doing meal prep and not just a big pile of dirty's waiting for washing (or clean ones in the drainboard waiting to get put away!). Now I just got to paint, do the back splash and figure out a way to make a pull out trash can holder.

The real topic for today is how amazing God is!!!! Was out in our yard yesterday working on our raised garden beds. Was appreciating our peony bush and it's flowers. Decided to cut a bunch to bring indoors to enjoy. After cutting and arranging 2 pots worth, Lydia and I were appreciating their delicate fragrance (not strong like our Lilac!!) and the softness of the petals. Isn't it cool how God layers HIS creation!! LOVE IT!

Phase 1 of kitchen

Today is the day of the kitchen work - phase 1! We are changing the countertop, moving cabinets, fixing the outlets, and adding a dishwasher. It is so very exciting!!!! We found a contractor who we trust (he was the group leader for Awana's for Joanna's age) so I'm very optimistic that it will be done well. By Friday (if all goes well) we will be done! YEAH!!
We had decided to work on the kitchen (which really could use a total makeover) one wall/section at a time. I'm going to try my hand at tiling the backsplash and if that goes well then I'm going to try to tile a small countertop area next to our stove. Phase 2 will hopefully be the pantry wall shelving and a rack to hang our cast iron pans from (and a shelf above for cookbooks). And then Phase 3 will be removing the wall between the kitchen and dining area. That will be a big one because we will be moving the chimney run, adding supports to the ceiling and fixing the ceiling in both rooms (they have those 12" ceiling tiles). We will make a pennisula/eating bar there. Husband kind of likes the idea of doing that but doesn't want to tackle the work. We may have to hire out some of that project.

I took a picture of the before of the area. So hopefully I can figure out how to load pictures and send a before and after.