From an Awakened Eye: 2012

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas from the Huffstetler's

Monday, November 19, 2012

Wow... it's been too long!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since June! A lot has been happening around here and things are starting to find their "normal" again.

From the top, our sweet boy is 20 months old...blink...how did that happen! He is a complete JOY to be around {most of the time}. He is learning so much and talking all the time. He tries to say what every you do and has mastered Pete and Re-Pete! It's too cute! He get's excited about trains, helicopters, tractors & water! He says "mommy" about 300 times before he even leaves the crib. I want to bottle his sweet voice up and keep him this sweet forever. I am his favorite person and he makes sure that every knows that "my mommy" is right there as he is pointing toward me. I melt...can I tell you I just melt!

J and I just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary! We took a long romantic weekend get-a-way to Asheville. We rented a cabin far, far in the woods so there would be no contact with the outside world...it was heaven! We enjoyed the weekend together with just us and no one else in "our little piece of the world". It was so good for our marriage. So much has changed in the past 2 years that it had us feeling a little off. Praise God for his provision over our marriage and getting us through some of the most difficult strains in our marriage. We enjoyed holding hands, laughing and just enjoying one another again. Although life is back to normal the bond from that weekend was much needed and we promised to slip away, just the 2 of us at least every 6 months or so. I'm excited to have found a sweet retreat so close to home.

Know let me share some pictures since it has been forever!!!

My parents, Me-Me and Grand-Daddy

Giving Grand-daddy a rock

Eli's 1st trip to the fair...

Our little Thomas the Train...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

On the move and first night home

So ready to live life in our new home. For the first time yesterday, the house felt like ours and a place to call home. We are spending our first night home. I am exhausted, excited and feel like I am dreaming. We are ready to live life again and find normal again. There has been so much change for us in the past 15 months that I feel wind blown. I will give you a sneak peak of our progress. Promise to post more pictures soon!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Paint, paint and more paint!

I have been so incredibly nervous about choosing the colors in this house ya'll. I am seriously sitting here with wet palms texting my painter about paining the interior doors a different color. I guess with this being our forever home I feel locked into the colors forever. It's totally not the case, but I just haven't had the chance to see everything on a design board or anything. The hardwoods were just delivered Monday and that is the first time I have been able to compare my paint colors with the flooring without using a 8 in sample piece.

I am thrilled with our hardwoods!!! It is the most neutral wood I have ever seen. I will be sure to take pics today so you all can see our progress, but the hard woods are going to be amazing! They are dutch licorice, so in regular terms it's a black stain on mahogany wood. NO reds, yellows, browns... just shades of black!!! So happy... and relieved. We ordered them off line and you will have to forgive me at the moment I can't remember where we ordered them from, but I promise to post all the details later with tons of pictures.

The house looks more like a home and the painting will be done this week!!! Eeks!!! I am nervous! Which is crazy because it is a fresh slate and our couch is so neutral that I shouldn't be this nervous, but

I am. I guess I'm overwhelmed too. I had Lindsey do my hair yesterday and I just sat in the chair and told her to do whatever she thought... I was out of answers. I had already answered a million questions in the past 48 hours that my mind had shut down. So I walked out with more blonde, bangs and curls! I looked like I should be in a wedding and not going to Home Depot. I know the guys working there thought... this girl is out of her element. I just kept trucking. With a baby sitter for a few hours I was on a mission! Thanks to my wonderful mom who watched Eli for me yesterday I was able to pick out door knobs interior and exterior, narrow the tile down to 4 pieces and decided that if the price is right we are using quartz on the kitchen counter tops. Whew! Deep breath, it will all be worth it and the kitchen cabinets will not turn out yellow and the kitchen island will not be totally out of place. It will all feel like home in several months. I am just overwhelmed and so incredibly blessed to be in this situation and I am so thankful for blessings and favor.

Okay, so I'm off to drop the dogs by the groomers/dog sitters, and pick up the interior door paint and decided for a final decision on the exterior paint color.... yes my palms are still sweating. :) Pictures are coming soon... promise!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Interior doors and Paint stories

So I'm gonna be honest, I have been completely stress out in the past 2 days. There is so much going on with the house and my creative wheels are spinning. I am exhausted from E's party and working this weekend, but I have deadlines on when I have to tell "these people" what I want. I am totally not complaining, just venting a bit.

Deep breath, feeling better all ready.

I'm gonna use this post to help my hubs with knowing what I want and then us coming to an agreement. So here goes babe, this post is for you. I think it will be cool to look back and see the process once it is all done too. So kick Pinterest to the curb today because you wouldn't pin a picture off a site because you didn't "recognize it" and here we go.

Interior doors.... we are ordering them from Jeld-Wen windows and doors and all of the following photos are from there site... so they have total credit.

I like this style door....Model Continental

This is what the bifold will look like for the pantry.....

This is the specifications....

What I want....

60 min fireproof door...probably an added feature, but we are only buying 10 doors.

maybe we can just get in on our bedrooms and the laundry room door for the pups.

I still want 20 min fire proof on all the other doors at least.

Wood grain is fine, unless smooth is cheaper, but I think with E

the wood grain will hide the dents better with him banging on everything these days!

I want recycled materials

but I'm not sure what NAF stands for.

I am totally digging this color for the doors... Benjamin Moore's Dragon's breath...

Source: awelldressedhome.com via Jenny on Pinterest

I am thinking China white or Swiss coffee for the trim through out the house.

Source: yournestdesign.blogspot.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Swiss coffee... best off white trim paint...per - Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter. "Swiss Coffee OC-45. This is my favorite off-white. It's an off-white with no yellow in it, but it's still warm and creamy and never random. Yes, this is what I use in my own home."

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Jenny on Pinterest

For the foyer, living room and hallway I am looking for a greyish taupe color. I want it more warm than a stark grey.

What I have found are these but I have to go buy samples because I know they look different once painted.

Hop Sack by RL

Source: vintagerevivals.blogspot.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Rockport gray...

Source: houzz.com via Jenny on Pinterest

this is my default if all else fails.... Grant Beige by BM

Source: yournestdesign.blogspot.com via Jenny on Pinterest

So here is my paint story.

I posted on FB yesterday..."Off to pick out the exterior paint color for the stucco.... say a prayer for direction and clarity. I become overwhelmed with making all of these decisions at once.

They are so permanent!"

Well I arrive to the paint store with list in hand of the colors that I wanted to look at in real life.

The salesman was nice and helped me find all the colors I was looking for. I told him what I needed a quart sample of and he went with it and starting mixing my paint.

While he was mixing we were chatting and he kept asking me questions about the kinda paint is was using, what kinda stucco, who's painting it. Blah blah blah. Every reply he had was a negative one. He was pushy and negative and that just wasn't what I had came there for.

Needless to say I decided in the middle of his blabbing to me to tune him out. I wasn't rude, I just wasn't accepting what he was speaking over my house and my paint.

I reminded myself that this house was a gift from God and he has sent us some amazing Christian sub-contractors to do the jobs and I trust God and them to take care of all the details that this guys was trying to "warn" me about. Even after I explained to him that this was our 2nd time building a home and my dad has been building homes all my life, he still continued with, "well I would paint it my self" and "well you have to be careful when painting stucco and you can't paint it like a car."

I drew the line.

Just as Jesus did in the sand.

I had enough and I decided that I was not going to accept any of the fear and negativity that this guy was putting in my mind.

So I stopped answering the questions fully, but enough to give him an answer and he got the picture. I wasn't rude, but just answered yes or no or I'm not sure.

I just can't have people speaking negative over our home.

This home was given to us by God to raise our family in and we are going to be here until God moves us.

I just want Satan to be sure that he knows where the line is and he can't cross it.

It's a blood line and that blood was shed on Calvary and no darkness can penetrate it. PERIOD.

So that's my paint story and I hope you pulled something from it.

I sure did.

Don't let Satan throw up distractions and cause you to let your "gate" down.

Instead recognized them and draw the line in your thoughts.

Don't let him bring doubts and fear in when it doesn't belong there.

Do your research and have scripture to back it up.

He has done his and trust me he knows the scripture too.

But from him it has no power.

Through me it does because I am cover by the blood and given the power to speak over him.

That's what I'm going to do.

I think i should physically draw a line around my house, since the sand and dirt is still there. And give Satan a mental picture of where the line is.

In the mean time I have been praying that hedge of protection over my family and our home. I know it's there, Satan just needs to see it.

Maybe you need to remind Satan where the line is.

If so I encourage you to do that today.

This guy explains Who gave me the power to

speak the name of Jesus and use it in this way.