Reno Reveal & My Path to Prayer

 I've been learning that this blog cannot be fashioned like other blogs...God has continually whispered to be real...so real other young mothers can be encouraged, strengthed, and walk away knowing that yes, motherhood is HARD work if done properly, but ever so rewarding here and in eternity. P.S. If you are saved you do have HELP!

2007
By this time we had three grown children that had left home and I was pregnant with our thirteenth child.

Being an "older woman" I'm told to "teach the younger women", so I'd like to share my struggling "prayer journey" for my thirteen children in hopes that you will be strengthened in our prayer life. 

I turned 60 years old this week and God is still teaching me how to pray for my family! This morning I read a devotional entry in Streams in the Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman in 1925 on prayer. I'd like to share a snipet of it so I can share what the Lord pointed out in my life. Prayerfully it will shape your young life for your children and family. 

"I NEED oil," said an ancient monk; so he planted an olive sapling. "Lord," he prayed, "it needs rain that its tender roots may drink and swell. Send gentle showers." And the Lord sent gentle showers. "Lord," prayed the monk, "my tree needs sun. Send sun, I pray Thee." And the sun shone, gilding the dripping clouds. "Now frost, my Lord, to brace its tissues," cried the monk. And behold the little tree stood sparkling with frost, but at evening it died. 

Steve's lil' olive sapling.

Then the monk sought the cell of a brother monk, and told his strange experience. "I, too, planted a little tree," he said, "and see! it thrives well. But I entrusted my tree to its God. He who made it knows better what it needs than a man like me. I laid no condition. I fixed not ways or means. "Lord send what it needs," I prayed, "storm or sunshine, wind, rain, or frost. Thou hast made it and Thou dost know."

Earlier this year I looked back through the looseleaf notebook that lists each child's prayer requests that I used for YEARS..I started a page for each child when they come home from the hospital after birth. There is a record of areas I needed wisdom to help each child to overcome...challenges we met in their character...health needs, hurdles blocking them in school, and I prayed for their future mates and their parents. In the past decade I've added those long prayed for spouces names and as the years have flown by, grandchildren's names litter the tops of the notebook pages. 

Flipping through the pages I saw prayer requests that seemingly hadn't been answered from their early childhood days. I remember seeing these areas of weakness and crying out to God for wisdom to fine tune my training. Why were MY prayers seemingly unanswered in some of their lives?  Immediately the enemy whispered thoughts of failure. My heart ached for my inability to train my children "in the way they should go". Somewhere in the mix I didn't factor in their free will. Each child takes training differently, and all I was ultimately accountable for was my faithfulness.

Then again this morning as I read this lil' devotional God showed me once again how to pray for my children. I just thought I knew what they needed...HE TRUELY DOES! He alone can change a heart...He alone knows how to orchestrate the lessons that will one day bring them to their knees at the cross. He has never failed them and orchestrates the lessons HE knows they need at the proper time. My timetable was often filled with pride...to have a well behaved child...a peaceful home...to prove to my parents our path in obedience to God wouldn't make social misfits. (Yes, that's an OLD lie of satan that was being whispered in the early 80's to discourage us!) But  little by little He exposed my prideful heart and now I see His loving touch on each one. I can picture his knowing smile and hear His chuckle as I droned on and on about what each one needed! Ha ha! I'm thankful for His patience! 

So, as you look at your prayer life, do you cry out for wisdom? Do you beg for patience? Then your path may resemble mine at times. 

Are we allowing God to "water, send strong winds, and freezes" into our children's lives to make them the adult He needs them to be? We must guard against begging for what we think they need...It's a step of maturity to release your children into His all-knowing power and pray, "THY will, not MINE be done" in  their lives. 

After we've cried out in surrender we need to be listening for His voice to direct us. Releasing our will to His and trusting Him is a big step...a growing step...a step of faith. I can testify it's a step that leads to peace!

After a long winter, we took a day off for a one-day vacation exploring a town nearby. We had such fun as a family!

I've had gals write and ask how the renovation is going. Some of ya'll say you have dreams of getting out of debt and renovating a place or building yourselves.We're nearing phase 1 completion!!

BEFORE LIVING ROOM

The dark living room before we started the demo...only cleaned up. Notice the waterbed headboard above the fireplace. The "built-in cabinets" didn't fit into the space on the left so the cabinet is cockeyed to make it look "good". The fireplace has three plus layers of marble print contact paper covering it. (Everytime a spark or ember melted a spot, the past owners recovered it!) The best part of the room was the wood looking linoleum!

AFTER

I peeled SEVERAL layers of wallpaper with borders before Steve could start putting up the ship lap walls. He built the shiplap from 1/4" plywood.  We used luxury vinyl flooring that really is similar to what was there (only better). Next, Steve crafted a lil' barn door that covers our monitor as we don't want it to be the focus of our home.(See above picture where it is open.) He covered the hideous 70's tile on the fireplace with antique brick and built the cabinets and shelves. :) I even have a drawer and cabinet to myself beside my rocker to the left. If you are a momma to a lot of little ones you know how SPECIAL this is!

As Steve finished one room, he'd often ask me what I'd like him to start next. We brainstormed each area to make it as efficient as possible. He has offered to start the kitchen a couple of times, but I assured him I could wait, knowing he'd be able to concentrate best on building the cabinets during the long days of winter. The transformation from using folding tables and a desk to my new kitchen is AMAZING! Maybe you can glean some ideas for your "dream kitchen" from us. (If you just want to see the finished project, scroll towards the bottom for the finished pictures.)

Before Pictures

The kitchen was very dark and cut off from the living room. Steve took the end of the wall out just enough to place our stove and two small cabinets against it since it was a load bearing wall. Where the refrigerator is here he made a door.

This isn't a real picture of the filth and age on this kitchen. I always wondered why the state didn't let home bakeries have tile countertop...till we saw the tile on these! There was no way to really clean them. The cabinets were falling apart and some mismatched ones were slid in to make it look like a lot of cabinets. 

Here you can see through the door Steve cut. We bought new appliances and cut out alllll the cabinets.

The view from the "dining room".

Our first upgrade was for the coffee and teapot.

Last fall before he took a trip to Missouri he upgraded the counter, and I felt so rich!

We used our farm's bakery rack to hold bowls and appliances and made do the best we could. The two dish pans under the sink were handy to catch all the leaks! :)

That weekend I hung a bookshelf on the wall and put my changing table/dry sink below it. It was fun to use what I had in my hand already to make my home prettier. The lesson was to "be content with such things as ye have." I had failed this test so many times in the past that God kept repeating it over the years! 

I replaced the market table with the changing table.

 If you are making do till you create your dream kitchen try to be creative with your furniture to create storage. The shelf on the wall is a bookcase, and this picture shows our dry sink changing table (it hasn't been used as such in 10 years) that housed linens and baking supplies.

Progress Begins!

First we settled our plans! This was a commical step as I had a lot planned for this small space that in reality wouldn't fit! I had put a small desk in the middle of the kitchen last fall to see if we could fit in an island...nope! It was handy during canning season, but cramped the room. So, we have came up with an idea for later to give us a moveable island that will greatly help.

Steve's first step was to build upper cabinets over our stove. We wanted to use this area for coffee and tea, so mugs, coffee pot, tea pot, would be stored here.

The coffee supplies are well above my reach.., all these cabinets are! Ha ha! But I don't make coffee. MY 6'5" husband does. My hot water carafe is on the right and the coffee pot is on the left open shelf. He built the cabinet so that he is able to fill the water on the top of the coffee maker without moving it. 

We bought a new microwave to match the stove...It looks very modern and has a built in vent. 

Steve designed the lower cabinets on either side of the stove to be an organizing marvel for me! All the baking pans are stored vertically in the left pull out "drawer" and our large cast iron collection (over 100 pounds) are organized on the right of the stove.

Onward he pushed to make the lower cabinets. We decided to make all the lower cabinets drawers like we saw in another special kitchen. We have one la-z-susan that was designed to house all the small appliances.

These deep drawers are an amazing storage for linens, pots and pans, bowls, and "Tupperware". On the end you can see the pull out trash cans.

I want to praise my husband at this point as he was diligently making these cabinets in a frigid workshop and bringing them inside to install and finish them. 

The top four left drawers are shallower than the rest, but house all my baking and cooking utensils. The lower drawers hold bread pans, casserole dishes, and odd shaped pans. The narrow cabinet on either side of the sink holds cutting boards (left) with all my recipe cards above it in the specially sized drawer. To the right of the sink the narrow cabinet holds the dish draining rack and microfiber pad. The narrow drawer above it is just the right size for small disposable containers that I put scrubbies in! How fun and HANDY! The vegetable scrub brush and bottle brushes also are stored there. 

We simply thought of all the things that used to sit beside our sink or was cluttered under the sink and designed a special out of the way spot for them.  

We picked out our countertop and sink about a year ago and have had them stored awaiting this project. Unless you are very sure of your choice, be careful with the timing of your larger purchases. By the time we got this far I was nervous that my past choice wouldn't make sense in the present. Thankfully they did!

A word about countertops...maybe two...Next month we will have been married 40 years. In that time we've seen trends come and go. Trendy things are often more expensive. When it comes to trendy countertops they are EXPENSIVE. We couldn't see sinking a lot of our building budget into granite or other expensive choices. We heard they are fussy with hot pots, we had experience with rotting wood, and we knew that laminate countertops last a long time taking the beating. So for around $700 we got our special order countertops, saving a few thousand! Again, you don't have to take the stock options at the building supply store. Find a local cabinet shop and buy from them...guess what!? That's right where our Lowes would have ordered it for us! 

Next Steve installed our sink. It's a dream for a large family...we were once a large family with a farm bakery. Now tho, I'm simply spoiled and ready to wash most of my larger pots during canning season.

When picking out your sink, you don't have to settle for Lowe's or Home Depot sinks anymore. This sink cost less than the moderately sized special order triple bowl sink. We found it online. Since we hand wash our dishes, the sink was worth the extra effort. 

I fell in love with the Pintrest kitchens online made with old hutches, Hoiser Cabinets, etc. Steve outright rejected the idea since he wanted to put his stamp on this home, BUT he did take my desired for a bit of old with the new. He fashioned our sink's cabinet to look like an "antique" wash stand and our upper glass cabinets to have the hutch "feel". 

The raised panels that are in the sink "wash stand" give it an old world feel.

By this time we could see the finish line! Steve hand painted the cabinets with an expensive cabinet paint. They are extremely easy to wipe off, so don't skimp on the paint! We simply laid brown paper down on the floor and table and in 24 hours everything was ready to reassemble.

In the past I didn't have much of a say in construction matters, but this time I've enjoyed sharing my ideas when asked. I figure this is allll a gift, so how could I be unhappy either way?! 

When we built our log home 38 years ago, I wanted the glass front cabinets that were popular in the country style kitchens. My husband was a wise man! With the children doing dishes, they'd never last. He built all wood then, and in the farmhouse. This time around, he built them for me and used a special type of plexi-glass for the glass. Now that Charity and I are doing most of the kitchen work we still need that insurance. You can't tell that it's not real glass either!

The little detailing helped the upper cabinets look like a hutch top. 

Again, the finish work dried in front of the fire!

Ever since the new year I've felt like it was Christmas or my birthday as one after another part of the kitchen plans were finished! 

We have always had open shelving in our home. I store a lot of our dry goods in blue antique canning jars. This time instead of a box-style open shelving, Steve made corbals with a femine flare to them. 

Next since we left our 12' farmhouse table at the farmhouse we were in need of a new one. After drawing some plans, off he went to create it. 

The last area to create a cabinet for was above the refrigerator. He simply made the box-type shelf we'd always had here as it was to store my oversized bread bowls.

Trimming the doorways where we tore down part of a wall was a big improvement!

All my jars have been tucked away in the laundry room/pantry this past year. I've found that I use my dry ingredients more when I have them out in front of me like in the past. 

Steve laid the white subway tile as the back splash and added a narrow pop of blue on a narrow shelf to trim it.

The countertop on either side of the stove needed to be heat proof so you can slide hot pans off the eyes. I fell in love with the natural look of stone on these tiles. Since it was such a small place, we could splurge on something that would be cost prohibitive elsewhere. 

I am so blessed to reveal the finished cabinetry! 

 

Our next project is coming home in the back of the truck this afternoon...new windows for the whole ranch style house! 

I've been thankful for the letters from subscribers that have been wondering where I was and when I would post again. If you've come this far in the blog I know you truly are faithful and probably have written me. (For some reason the comments section of this blog doesn't work.) Thank you for your encouragement to write.

Yes, I have been busy. We are nearing the end of our 35th year of home schooling. With only two teenagers at home, school is VERY different from years in the past when I had 10 children or more around our table learning together. The oldest children learned to teach with our preschool aged little ones; taking turns daily keeping them active and busy learning. 

A page from a photo album with our oldest boys who made a canoe into a covered wagon during our unit study on westward expansion. The bee bee gun "killed" big game to nourish them on the Oregon Trail!

February and March are my sewing season before gardening season arrives. I've been sewing lil' dresses and leggings for granddaughters, I got the priveledge of helping a friend from church learn to sew her first dress for Easter while Charity learned to sew teired skirts for herself. I even got a chance to sew 2 jumpers with 3 blouses for myself!

We continue to experiment with sourdough in the kitchen and learn new baking tecniques. 

This is a quick sourdough crusted Breakfast Pizza!

Sourdough supper hand pies

Left: Sourdough Hamburger Buns
Right: Sourdough Hand Pies
Below: Hand Pie filling

I keep a bag of sourdough English Muffins in my freezer for quick breakfasts.

Baking day! The same dough can be shaped many ways. Some of our favorites are pictured...Italian Parmesan Swirls, Braided with  DIY Everything Bagel seasoning on top, and also tucking tomatoes, cheese and whatever catches my eye on the far back loaf. 

This is our basic sandwhich bread. It freezes well, so the whole 5 loaf batch goes in the freezer (if no one hyjacks a loaf first!). This still amazes me as we used to eat a batch a day!!

We're also gearing up for gardening season, starting our seedlings indoors since our greenhouse isn't set up yet....all in good time. 

Steve converted my baking rack into a growing shelf for me. We simply hung LED shop lights from all the shelves but one. We've never had a real grow light, so we are experimenting with one shelf. So far it hasn't made a big difference with the peppers, but the tomatoes are GORGEOUS!

Hardening off broccoli, cauliflower, onions, cabbage, lettuce, and MORE. 

I invited friends out for a seed swap and it was a blessed time of sharing...not only seeds and plants, but gardening advice and recipes. 

I had fun making refreshments for the seed swap. I made regular humus and also an Almond Humus for those on a low-carb diet. I "planted" a lil' garden of the vegetables into the dip. (The lil' cabbages are Brussels Sprouts that made it through the winter on the plants outdoors!) 

My kitchen had been done about 3 days when we had the swap. What a blessing it was all neat and pretty!

 I would like to ask for your help. Ever since leaving social media I've been unable to share The Farmer's Wife there. If you know of any friends that could use a word of encouragement, please share this blog with them. If you haven't yet, subscribe as the more subscribers, the easier it is to find on a Google search.  

I could go on and on with what the Lord is blessing me with physically and spiritually, but it's time to say goodbye and head to the garden. It's time to plant some of those transplants!

May God bless you and your family as you grow in your walk with the Lord and live it out before your family!

Abundant Blessings,

The Farmer's Wife,

Val Colvin