Before and After

I've been reminiscing today about what we were doing a year ago. Things were rather hectic -- we were remodeling an old house, getting it ready to move into. We had owned this property as a rental unit for several years. The people who had rented it for the past 4 years were moving out and due to several different circumstances, we decided to sell our house in Belleville and move into this one. So we spent a full 3 months getting it ready. I thought it would be interesting to post before and after pictures, but alas, I forgot that they don't fall in the order in which I wanted them. So the top ones are the ones I wanted last. Oh well, you'll get the gist of what we went through to get it ready ------ and the great transformation of it all.

Our latest project (done this spring) was to add a one-car garage to the house. This is what it looked like last fall after we moved in. Before the garage.
Now it looks like this.
We saved the old kitchen cabinets and put the best ones in the garage. With a nice new countertop, it makes a nice storage area.
I have an extra refrigerator and 2 freezers in the garage, which is just off the dining room. Since it is so easily accessible, we also use it for entertaining. I've claimed this space as mine -- told John he can keep all his "stuff" in the big (31' x 52') garage out back. It's worked.......so far! You can see his garage in the outside "before" picture above.

One of the greatest transformations in the whole house was the upstairs bathroom. It was UNREAL -- BEFORE!! The built-in overhead cabinets made you feel claustrophobic. There was a little sink attached to the wall on the right of the toilet and the toilet leaned against the chimney next to it. The floor sloped about 1 1/2" -- apparently it had been an outside porch 'long time ago, so we totally gutted it, took up the floor, and started all over. Hence,
Now -- It is lovely.
Took out the old clawfoot tub.
Now in it's place is a lovely new sink and toilet. In re-designing the layout, we put the sink and toilet where the old tub was, and put a 48" shower and closet where the old toilet and sink were.

Our bedroom had this tiny little closet about 12" deep and 6' long. We tore it out and built a walk-in closet.
AFTER -- the new 4' x 7' closet
Before -- It had nasty 60s shag carpet.Now -- it has lovely teal carpet and nice new bedding which matches perfectly. (The picture doesn't show the true shades.)
Another view of our bedroom -- after

The dining room -- before The door is to the upstairs. We took it off and.....voila
AFTER --- What a transformation!!! We put a door into the attached garage, and took the nasty carpet out and put in laminate flooring.
Another view from the dining room. Living room to the right.

Doorway in the middle of the picture leads to the kitchen.

Laundry room -- There were no cabinets, so the guy that custom-built the kitchen cabinets made these to match the pine paneling. He did a great job! (This picture was taken before I had my curtains at the windows.)

The living room BEFORE. There was a closet that took up almost one wall. We tore it out! And got rid of the dark paneling and put drywall on.

AFTER -- The couch is sitting in the old closet!!

Before
After

Now, the
KITCHEN

Before

AFTER!!

Before

After

I so much enjoy my kitchen. I've never had a tile backsplash before, and John told me if I wanted it, I'd have to do it myself. SO I DID!!! It turned out better than I had even hoped it would. Don't want to do it for a living though.

The outside -- Before

After (We painted the siding a light beige, but that doesn't show up well.)

Before

After

Jayna's Party

Jayna's birthday party was a smashing success for the little girl who declared for the past 7 months that she was going to have a pool birthday party. When Joel's moved into this house last December, the pool hadn't been used for at least 3 years. We didn't know what it might take to get it "up and running" again, but they told her they'd get it done before her birthday, if at all possible. There were about 7 or 8 other children in the pool besides Jayna and Kaylee, and several Mommies and Daddies and April's Dad were there to supervise. The rest of us relaxed under the carport until it was time for cake and ice cream.

Jayna is on the right side -- jumping into the pool.

Kaylee in her boat, with Pappy keeping guard.

The birthday girl and her Hannah Montana cake.

Jayna's new bike.

Kaylee getting a ride on the new bike, with David's help. My nephew and his wife couldn't be at the party at the beginning, but when they got there, Kaylee latched on to David, and became his sidekick.

Happy Birthday, Jayna

Monday was Jayna's 5th birthday. Since her party isn't planned until this coming Saturday, we decided to have a small family celebration. April's parents and John & I were there for cake, chips and pretzels. Had a great time together. It doesn't seem possible she's 5 already. Quite the young lady, she'll be going to kindergarten this fall. SIGH!! I'm going to miss keeping her every day.

All smiles!!

"Happy Birthday, Jayna"

Joel, April and Jayna

Pappy and Mimi

Joel, April, Jayna and Kaylee

Grandpa and Grandma

This is Jayna's latest accomplishment, and she had to show us how it's done.

In Memory of Mama

The most wonderful Mother in the whole wide world!!! (Don't I look like her???) SMILE

By the time I finish composing this blog it will be July 23 -- two years since my dear Mother went to be with the Lord, and oh, how I miss her!!! There are SO many times I think I MUST talk to her. So many things I'd like to share, get her advice on, etc....... But all I have now are the memories of the wonderful times we did share together. As I look back and reflect on those times, I cherish them more and more as the years go by. Especially dear are the last few years of her life when she spent much of her time at our house. Although she kept the home where she and daddy lived when he died, her declining health made it necessary to have increased care -- and I was happy to have her stay with us as much as she needed. The last 4 months of her life were spent in bed (at our house) and she required much care. Little did she complain about the things she faced; instead, she was concerned about "being a bother."

She lived out the last few months of her life just as she had lived all her prior years --- making everyone who came to see her feel special, loved and as if they were her only friend. Indeed, she had a unique gift of sharing her love with everyone she met. She lived her life for her family, and made many sacrifices for us. Mark and I are indeed blessed beyond measure for the parents God gave us. Then as Bonnie and John came into the family, she embraced them with the same love she had given us. As grandchildren (then the great-grandchildren) began coming, she made the comment that she didn't realize how much the heart could expand to include each of them; she loved them equally. She anticipated with great eagerness the times we spent together as a family, and told us often how much we were loved. Before she departed this world, she made sure she gave us each goodbye and urged us to be ready to meet her in heaven. That was her life's greatest desire, to see her family living for the Lord.

Mom, you are deeply loved and sorely missed!!! As I promised you many times as I gave you goodnight those last few months, "I'll see you in the morning!"

I'm Still Here

In case you think I've dropped off the face of the earth, I thought I'd better post again. That is, if I even have any fans still watching for updates. HA

We've been BUSY -- just like everyone else is especially in the summer. We made a quick trip to Ohio the middle of June for a Miller reunion (my Mom's family). Then the end of June we went to Toronto, Canada, for our church's General Conference. That was an exciting time as we traveled by coach with 56 other pastors, wives, and delegates from our regional conference. It was great not to have to drive, just sit back and relax.

Now this week we just came through our VBS. John and I took 6 LIVELY little tykes from our community (2 4-year-olds, 2 5-year-olds, and 2 6-year-olds) -- 5 boys and 1 girl (Jayna). That stretched us to the limit sometimes. The 5 little boys have never been to church that we know of, and none of them have daddies living at home with them. We can only trust that they heard something that will stick with them.

I don't have any new family pictures to post at this point. However, Jayna's 5th birthday is on Monday, the 21st, and we are planning to have her birthday party next Saturday, the 26th. So I'll try to post soon after that with some updated pictures.

So, the next best thing is my flower gardens. This is a sampling of the flowers I am enjoying these days. It's been so warm and dry -- I'm sure they are begging the Lord for some rain!! Hopefully, we'll get some in the next day or so. (I washed windows this morning while it was still "cool" outside, so maybe that will bring rain.)

I've had begonias for quite a few years now, and always enjoy them. This is the non-stop variety, and I keep the bulbs from year to year.

This is a view of the front of the house -- the right side of the porch. The sun is shining on it, so the colors don't show up as brilliantly as they really are.

These are some of the dahlias I have planted. I'll need to pull out the bulbs in the fall, but they are well worth the effort.

I also have some daylilies -- they are really beautiful!!

My roses aren't anything to "write home about," but I enjoy the few I do have.

This is Joels' family picture, taken Christmas 2007. They live across the street from us, and I babysit their two girls nearly every day. My first post included recent pictures of them. It is so good to have at least one child living close, so we can "spoil" the grandchildren, then send them home. HA Joel works full-time as a builder at Pro-Built, Inc. a modular home company, and part-time at Sparkle Pools as pool installer. April works for a company who has clients with social needs; she has 2 clients assigned to her. She takes them shopping, eating out, to the movies, etc., to give their family a break. They both enjoy their jobs and are kept busy with work, family, and keeping up the house.

Now that I've gotten started, I thought I'd post an additional photo, just to see how it turns out. This is Joy and Wesley's family picture -- taken Christmas 2007. (I scanned it, and it turned out smaller than I thought it would. Anyway, you can see their family.) Their children's names are Darren Wesley, Melissa Joy (Missy), and Ethan Mark. They live in Tennessee, so we don't get to see them very often, much to my dismay. Thank the Lord for cell phones; we talk FREQUENTLY, nearly every day and sometimes several times in one day. Joy is an RN and works two nights a week in the nursery and sometimes NICU. She loves her job and I'm sure is the best nurse a new mother could ever have. Wesley works as a supervisor of a commercial electrical crew plus is pastor of their church.