a room where dreams come true

obviously when you move into a house that you didn't build yourself, there is going to be some re-decorating involved. most of what we plan to do, at least in the immediate, falls into the category of minor changes. though if i could find some low-budget way to change the light colored tile on most of the first floor i would be ON it (i am enamored by acid-stained concrete floors)! by the way, does anybody know how to clean light tile? because i surely don't. nor do my minions children.

the first order of business in re-decorating were the boys' rooms. that was a must since jack's room was pastel pink and pale green and tate's was well, just take a look for yourself...

he tried to man it up, but there's nothin' you can do with that but have some fun. all the princesses have gone now and this is where we are now...

we'll be adding this tapestry to the wall and curtains like these to spice things up a bit. 

we've arranged and re-arranged many times over and i'm still not sure about what we have. i don't like the bed in front of the window, but it's hard with the bed and the futon in the room. any ideas? my sisters know it is their god-given responsibility to advise me on such things, but I would welcome any input you have as well. 

now if we could keep it looking more like the above picture rather than like the teenage boy room that it usually looks like... 

to be fair, i should admit that my room currently looks like this...

i could definitely use a fairy godmother right now. or better yet, cinderella in her pre-princess state!

and off they go...

 

we've known this day was coming. i've laid awake at night praying over my kids going off to new schools. wait, let me re-phrase that...i have laid awake at night in near panic attacks in which i finally turned to the lord in prayer over my kids going off to new schools. i was so concerned about those going, that i kind of forgot the pain of the one staying behind...

poor little lu. it was rough. tate was off while it was still dark. it's sick and wrong if you ask me. but i have been up two days in a row at 6:15. shocking, i know. he was pretty overwhelmed by his first day of high school, but it was fine. he has school and then football practice which means this young man i adore is gone for almost 12 hours each day. again, sick and wrong if you ask me. 

jack is the next to leave at 8:08. though it's earlier than he was used to starting in nebraska, hes' a morning person, so it's not bad at all. and he is getting to see a dream fulfilled as he is getting to ride the bus now. something this momma was NOT excited about. though school pick up lines make me want to cuss, the conversations with my kiddos in the car, especially on the way home are priceless. thankfully, the bus stop is just on the other side of the park across the street. though the goodbye was hard for lulu and me...

 he was excited...

 he loves his new school and his teacher. that's my jack. he makes the most out of every experience in life. the last to leave was the divine miss em...

she gets a pretty sweet deal not leaving until 8:56. lulu (and i) fell apart after she left. but we did what made the most sense to us. we got some daddy love...

and painted nails...

and then we prayed like crazy, especially for em, throughout the day. the boys at least knew a few people in school. but this dear girl started her first day of middle school not knowing a SOUL. but, she didn't end the day that way. she made friends in school and actually had a pretty great day. but what was REALLY great was seeing this coming down the street in the afternoon...

 

 and the blessed reunions that followed...

 

 

 back TO school was good, but there was something better...

 

 

 and now we do it all over again...and again...and again. 

girl scouts are smart cookies

i can't continue with my blog tour of home because i keep forgetting to take after pictures. before and after pictures don't really work that way. so i just haven't been blogging. and that's just no good. so blog i shall.

as we left nebraska, our friend kelly gave us a beautiful word picture. she told us she was praying for people to "catch us on the other end".

we said some pretty hard goodbyes...

but we have also had some pretty sweet hellos on this end too...

i guess the girl scouts know what they are talking about when they sing that song.

more than anything, we know we have been "caught" by the One who never let us go in the first place.