Our Village

When I was in the 5th(?) grade, I was asked to accompany the school choir on a song called, "If It Takes a Village."  (This is the closest I could come to finding a recording...that's not a home video somewhere at my parents' house, that is.☺)  As a result, every time I hear the phrase "It takes a village," whether it pertains to child-rearing, ministry, whatever, I sing it in my head.

The last several weeks have been...hard.  I'm not sure that adjective encapsulates everything that we've been dealing with, but it is as good a descriptor as any.  It's seemed that as soon as we put out one fire, another one starts (not literally, thankfully, though the way things have been going, it would not have surprised me to see some actual, unexpected flames).

I'm an optimist, as you've probably gathered, and my husband is a constant helper and fixer, so we were able to keep our chins up and take on each new trial as it came.  The trials just kept coming, though, and it became harder and harder to maintain a clear mind and a positive outlook.  With the help of the Lord and our village, however, we've come out mostly unscathed and are (fingers crossed) regaining some sense of normalcy around here.

The people in our "village" did not ask for acknowledgment, and in fact, I know one in particular would cringe at the thought of being publicly recognized for kind deeds done.  As I look back on the hard things these last several weeks have brought, though, I can't not remember and acknowledge the things people have done to make our life easier in the midst of it all.  They've seen needs and met them without being asked.  They've voluntarily cared for us in ways we can never begin to repay.  They've come alongside us physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually in such tangible and practical ways, and I'm simply in awe of the generosity, kindness, and love we've been shown.

Our "village" has truly been the hands and feet of Christ to us, recently.  They always have been, of course, but I think I have possibly taken it for granted, or maybe just not always recognized it so clearly when life wasn't so "hard."  I'd like to take this opportunity, however, to acknowledge some of the specific ways we have been blessed by others in the recent past.  Our "village" is made up of both family and friends, and some of them were part of multiple deeds listed here.  Please know this is not a comprehensive list, by any means.

Lately, people in our "village" have been known to:

• invite us over for leftover cupcakes, because they knew how sad we were to miss the party.
• clean our house while they're there to let the dog out.
• make serious headway on our basement remodeling project while we were away for the weekend.
• sit with me while I make and accept the hardest decision.
• babysit our kiddo for free while I was away making that decision.
• watch our kiddo during piano lessons because plans changed last-minute.
• ask us to come swim because they enjoy watching our baby play in the water as much as we do.
• offer to come for a visit the week before we throw a birthday party, so they can help.
• put away leftovers after a party without being asked.
• bring me a sweet commemorative gift in honor of our kitty.
• invite us to stay at their house till our AC is fixed immediately upon telling them it broke (several people did this, and we actually took one of them up on it).
• cook meals for us while we're staying at their house.
• give input and genuinely care about our son's mysterious rash (it turned out to be nothing serious).
• give us Freon for our AC.
• bring their special tools to help fix our AC.

We're safe, healthy, cool (praise the Lord), and grateful.  If you did something on this list for us, thank you.  You know who you are, and if I haven't said it enough already, you've blessed us beyond measure.  If you feel I'm leaving something/someone out, please, please let me know.  It would be impossible to list everything anyone has ever done for us, but like I said, the large and small things people have done for us, lately, just added up so quickly, I couldn't help but share.

Gratefully,
Kensy

P.S. Immediately prior to posting this, my computer died (because it wasn't plugged in, though I thought it was) - wouldn't that have been the cherry on top of all this?  Ha.

Favorites of the day:

the splash park

garden-fresh cherry tomatoes

the fact that our baby boy loves to read to himself

Extreme Makeover: (Byers) Outside-of-the Home Edition

Happy summer!  Or as my husband might say, "Nice spring we're having this summer, eh?"  No complaints, here.

I come to you this late June to (finally) bring you news of our outdoor home improvement projects!  They have been completed for several weeks, now, but you know how it goes with me and this blog thing lately...  Actually, I was just waiting a bit, so I could get pictures of the projects after they'd had some time to become more established.  ; )

So, without further ado, I'll let the pictures (mostly) tell the story:

Bryant did a ton of research about gardening, and as a result, we decided to try the Back to Eden method.  This involved starting with laying down a weed barrier (we opted for free cardboard).

This pile sat for a little while, patiently waiting for the next layer to arrive...

The weed barrier is covered with wood chips!  It was important to get these when the leaves were still green, so there was both green and brown matter.  We found a tree company that had to pay to dump their chips elsewhere, so they were happy to bring them to our house for free...and we were glad to get so many for free!  The only downside was the fact that they had to be hauled to the back yard manually.

Pictures don't really do the space and amount of work involved justice...

...but hopefully you get the idea.

It took a second load of wood chips to cover the rest of the area, and even then, there was still some uncovered grass left in the plot we'd planned.

All done, for now! 
We let this sit for almost a full year to let the cardboard and leaves break down and start enriching the soil (mostly clay, in our case) below it.

This spring, we had old railroad ties delivered, and Bryant hauled those to the back, dug out trenches for them, and put up the (very necessary) deer fence.

Ready to plant!

We didn't use the entire space this year - decided to start somewhat small.

Less than a month later!
Don't mind the grass/weeds.  We weren't able to get the railroad ties in before the cardboard/chips to prevent weeds from coming in from the sides, but we've been able to keep them pretty far from our plants and will get them cleared out for good before next season.
Check out those plants, though!  Everything is really doing well, despite a hot/dry start for them.

We've got a pretty great supervisor. ☺

Our first big harvest!  There's a cucumber in there somewhere.  Prior to this, we'd picked one cucumber and one zucchini.
The tomato plants are loaded with blooms and some fruit, already, and the potatoes look great, too!

I didn't get an intentional "before" picture, but found this one from last year after the step was finished.  The landscaping timbers were placed shortly thereafter.  Then, the baby came 3+ weeks early, so the front landscaping project was officially put on hold.  No one told the gladioli and weeds, though, so they just kept filling in the bed.

What you can't see is the many man hours and loads of elbow grease my awesome hubby put into clearing out this spot.  There were so many weeds and debris, in addition to a large pail full of gladiolus bulbs.  This picture was taken at dusk after we'd gotten all our plants in the ground and watered.  Shout out and huge thanks to my mom for letting us use her greenhouse discount and finding/asking people for plant/design ideas!

We had some cardboard left from the garden, so put it down between plants as a weed/gladiolus barrier, and I'm so glad we did!  It didn't cover everything, but sure made a difference.

This is the last of an almost-ten-cubic-yard pile of wood chips.  We used what we needed as mulch out front and took the rest to the garden! 

Added a second tier of timbers and were good to go.
This was a long time coming, and we are so, so glad to have it done!

Almost a month later and everything is still alive and filling in nicely! 

This guy likes to watch me pull weeds...and help himself to pieces of grass... ☺
It's amazing to me how many weeds and gladioli continue to find their way to the surface.

These projects have been hard work, but have also been a nice change of pace and somewhat enjoyable, mostly because we get to continue to see the literal fruits of our labor.

As always, thanks for your interest and support!  Let us know if you have any questions...or need any cilantro!  ; )

With a green thumb,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

garden-fresh pesto!

quality time with family and friends

these two hard workers:

Extreme Makeover: (Byers) Home Edition

Friends,

This post has been a loooong time coming.  As you may know, there were some unexpected issues with our house when we moved in almost two years ago.  We've worked since the very first day we lived here to rectify and remedy these issues, and we are so thankful to finally be able to say we're done!  Yes, there will always be home improvement projects, but these were more necessary than cosmetic and more pressing than most.

The most recent renovation occurred in our bathroom.  We'd picked out and purchased many of the new elements in the room around the time we moved into this house, but they were banished to the storage room till we were able to tackle this project.  I was able to snap some before, in between, and after shots.  We're so pleased with the end result!

There's no "before" picture, but the shower head is a few inches higher than it was. 
If you've met my hubby, you probably understand why this was a necessary update. ☺

Found this sign at Hobby Lobby (with coupon, of course), but it didn't match the vanity, so...

...I stained it!

Long before the bathroom project could be completed, we needed to insure our basement would be usable in both sunshine and rain.  So, over the course of a year and a half, we completed several related projects both inside and outside.  So much credit goes to my amazingly handy hubby - from planning to executing and brain power to man power - he orchestrated and managed everything so well.  We're also so thankful for all those who helped us (finally) reach the finished product.  Whether they were paid by check or by cookies, we had some really wonderful help, all around.

These pictures don't really do the projects justice.  So, so much time and work went into them all!

Front step, bushes, tree, and lots of dirt out...

...drain tile in.

One surprise lead to another!  haha...

We had the tile professionally removed, but then, Bryant worked many long hours to put on the epoxy finish.
Turned out so great!

The long table/chair/carpet wasn't meant to be a permanent fixture, but it sure comes in handy! 
Glad to have plenty of space and flexibility!

Inherited some leftover landscaping pavers, so now, we have a firepit!

(This was a fall project, so these pics are old...and they're making a s'more sound extra good, right now...)

Not pictured: seemingly daily "medium," "small," and "tiny" updates/fixes/renovations including, but not limited to: purchasing and installing a new microwave within about 4 hours time beginning at 7 p.m. (this was definitely one of those "out of necessity" projects...), replacing light switches, fixing toilets and faucets, figuring out how to better heat the basement, adding hooks to the inside of the bathroom closet door, etc., etc. 

This may not have been a total home makeover, but some of it did seem fairly extreme.  We're excited for the promise of warmer weather allowing us to tackle some less-necessary-more-fun projects outside (garden, landscaping, etc.)!

As usual, thanks for reading and for your interest!

With dust in my hair and paint on my clothes (not really, but those both occurred over the course of the aforementioned projects, so it counts, right?),
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

concrete dust (NOT - oh man...definitely not a favorite...)

spontaneous day dates with my boys

freeze-dried pears (the ones I've had are from Aldi!)

this "busy board" we made for Jacob with things we had around the house: