october

In case you didn't know, my birthday is February. You read that correctly. The entire month is my birthday. Since that's true, it seems only fair that Matthew gets an entire month as well. Tomorrow his birthday begins.

I want to dedicate this post to my favorite person in the world.

Many people think of my Matthew in the same way that I used to think of him. I always thought he was just quiet. So quiet that he wasn't friendly enough to smile back at me. Even when we started hanging out with the Nowaks I was never sure if Matt was having a good time. The other day, after spending the afternoon with some other college kids, one of my friends asked, "Did Matt have a good time?" I understand, he's hard to read.

It's funny though, how my opinion of him has changed. I now am sure that my Matthew is:

• Spontaneous
• A Leader
• Playful
• Hilarious
• Brave
• A Blanket Sharer
• Ticklish
• Steady
• Faithful
• A Toothbrush Stealer
• Practical
• The Best Kisser in the World

I know you don't know him as well as I do, but every single one of those is true. He is all kinds of fabulous... and I love him.

combination faucet

This post is one of those "every day" seemingly pointless posts. We got a new faucet in our {only} bathroom.

"So what?" You say. I understand what you mean. Even normal, ugly faucets are fine temporarily. Our faucet was not normal. Our faucet was trick-sy. Our faucet had no shut off point. Both knobs went around and around and around without ever reaching a "stop". Sure, at some point in the round and round, the water would turn off, but then no matter which way you went {even slightly} the water would come right back on. It wasn't horrible when you only wanted to use one knob {for brushing your teeth or something}, but when you wanted to wash your hands with warm water and you turned both knobs on, it was like a horrible game to turn it off. There was no way to gauge it. There wasn't even an H on the hot and a C on the cold. There was no "Well just get the knobs straight, and it should turn off." No. It was a guessing game. It was a combination safe that you didn't know the combination to. Yikes.

We had gotten used to it. You had to add a couple of seconds to every bathroom visit to make sure the water wasn't dripping, but it wasn't bad. Our poor guests. They would come out with a perplexed look and mumble ashamedly, "Um, I had trouble with your faucet." It was getting a little old.

A couple of days ago our apartment owner called and asked if we were having any leaks. I guess they had an abnormally high water bill {we aren't the only apartment on the bill} and were just checking up. We told them the only issue had been the faucet, but it wasn't consistently running. Today they came out and installed a new faucet.

It's really the little things in life that make me the most excited. Little things like having an "H" and a "C" on the knobs. Little things like having a stopper in our sink. Little things like saving up the seconds we were spending in the bathroom to spend somewhere else. :)

my home church

I have struggled with starting this post. Partially from emotion and partially from inward conflict.

I know that the Lord has a plan through this fire that is abundantly above all we could ever ask or even think.

Having said that, I am so emotionally attached to the building that was Tidewater Baptist Temple. I have spent at least 528 Sundays in that auditorium. I have wandered over the rafters in that room and sang squeaky solos on that platform. The platform is gone. The rafters are gone.

I have slept on the pews during lock-ins and hidden in the cry room after services for Julia/Amanda time. The pews are now gone. The cry room is gone.

I can't believe that I've been here, in this building, for more than half of my life. I was nine years old, sitting in that room in awe of the sheer size of it. I could barely see the pulpit from the pew we were in. I remember how high the "mission ledge" was. It has been recently used for presents and bulletins, but it used to be full of pictures of missionaries. I couldn't even see over the ledge the first time we visited. The ledge is gone.

This room is where I kissed the man who is now my husband, for the first time.

The church will be rebuilt, and God will use this greatly for the growth of our church and the furtherance of His Gospel, but my heart hurts for the loss of memories. Moments, that will almost be erased when they tear down the final bricks. Someday I will say to Matt, "Remember how it looked?" and then describe it to our children as they try to picture along with us.

I just realized everything I have is someday going to be gone. It's all just material, and yet it holds the essence of friendships, and new beginnings. Do not take this post as faithless. Instead indulge me in my nostalgia.

The church is not a building, but a group of believers who hold firmly to their head, the Lord Jesus. The building is in ashes, but the church is stronger than ever in the grace that is our Provider.

reminiscing

A year ago {as most of you know} I was living in the quaintest sturdy farmhouse you can imagine, sipping tea after every meal.

My home was located in Evesham, England, and I was living with 11 people I barely knew. Oh, how things changed. We got to know each other well. We became a family. Here we are, where they built the {real} Titanic.

Basically, I've been looking at old pictures and thinking through the awesome places I got to go. I want to share them here with you, because this experience is as much a part of me as anything.

The view from my bedroom window as the sun sets on a frosty world.

Homemade apple cider in the fall.

Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland

Loch Ness

Big Ben

The London Eye

The Tower Bridge (London Bridge)

There are hundreds more that I could share, equal in grace and beauty, speaking of a time long before America was even discovered. The United Kingdom holds a forever place in my heart.

our first pets

This afternoon we were sitting on our front porch and I noticed {what I thought was} a small piece of bark. How would bark get on our second story porch? It wouldn't, but sometimes I don't think completely logically. It turned out to be a tiny brown frog, which we basically considered keeping. In the end we decided that wasn't very nice to do to a wild creature, so we didn't, but it put animal on the brain.

We were headed out anyways {to return a present we bought for my sister's birthday that we didn't end up needing} and we decided to swing by a pet store and look at the little pets. Apartment rules state that we can't have a pet that's not in a cage, so that ruled out most of the fuzzy cute ones, but we looked anyways. Snakes, lizards, rats, gerbils, mice, guinea pigs, and hamsters were basically our choices and most of those weren't rocking my world. To be honest, I wouldn't have been like "Let's buy a mouse!" if they hadn't been so stinking hilarious to watch. They were the little white feeder mice {basically bread to be fed to snakes} and they were going to town on the yellow wheel in their cage. Two of them were riding it together, and one would run, while the other one would hang on and flip around and around and around. It was pretty entertaining. They had personality. Most of the mice were asleep in a giant heap. Long story short, we were both in agreement. We needed a couple of mice.

We grabbed a cage, a yellow wheel, cedar chips, mouse food, a water bottle, and a london bridge for them to play on, and then spent a whopping $4 {that doesn't include the other stuff} on our new pets.

We thought about naming them Ralph and Stuart {a nod to Ralph S. Mouse and Stuart Little} but when we got home we noticed that one of them was a boy, and one of them... wasn't.

My first thought, "Awesome! Now we can tell them apart!"

Matt's first thought, "Shoot. Baby mice."

Nevertheless, they are a boy and a girl, so we had to think up new names. I don't know if we were the only two families in America that watched "An American Tale" growing up, but regardless, we both did. The story is about a mouse family that moves from Russia to America {this is where they sing "There are no cats in America, and the streets are paved with cheese!"}. The mother and father are just Mama and Papa, but the brother and sister names stuck immediately. I am happy to introduce you to...

Fievel

and

Tanya

I know, I know. They're way cuter than you expected right? Same here. :)

pallet shelving

This post is a little late in coming, but better late than never? I think that's true of some things, and I'm applying it in this case. :)

After we finished making our pallet wood mirror, we were sort of on a kick. Since the pallet wood is free {and i like the weathered look of it} we gave some thought to what else we could do with it. Two of the things we still had in our house that were a huge "no-no" were my three drawer {plastic, wal mart, very college dorm} storage containers. I hated the look of them {not so much when no one ever saw them in my dorm room, but they just didn't belong in a house} and was looking for a change.

Furniture is so stinking expensive. One of my favorite stores to home decor shop in is Homegoods {which they don't have in Hampton Roads. Boo-hoo}. They're basically the TJ Maxx or Marshalls of home decor. It's like stuff that bigger stores didn't sell all of, and everything is like 70% off retail price. When we decided to get rid of my two plastic monsters we started looking for something with drawers that would fit that space. Honestly, I think we only found the right piece one time, but said piece of furniture was a tad pricey.

It didn't take long to decide we were going to make something on our own. It took us a little longer to get around to it. One weekend we decided to start. We went for a drive down the nearest "major" road. Behind a store that has batteries for everything, we found stacks of pallets. Matt ran inside, and after getting the o.k., we grabbed three of the pallets and headed to Wal Mart. After way too much deliberation {and rearranging every basket in the basket section to figure out what color, texture, and size we wanted} we left with four baskets. They were almost $50 total, but that's the entire cost of the project, and those baskets will stay with us as long for as long as they'll last. :)

Next, we had to decide what style the book shelf would be. I knew I wanted it to have little feet, and I knew the dimensions I wanted, but we still had to decide whether to make it box/crate like, or a little nicer. Basically, did we want to angle the top boards to make a more appealing bookshelf, or leave everything flat, basically making a crate? We decided to go all posh, and angle the boards. I helped, but Matt did most of the cutting. I marked measurements, and then when we had it all, we glued each side {out of two boards and then four cross beams to hold the boards together and hold the shelves up}. It had to dry over night so we set heavy things on top of it and left it {taking up too much floor space in our Living Room}.

The next day we finished assembling it. Attaching both sides to the top, and adding in the shelves. It's sitting pretty in our Kitchen, helping us keep things organized. 

jelly pavement

baking

I've done a lot of things in my life. My mother gave me many opportunities and a well rounded childhood. One thing I don't remember doing much of {other than Christmas cookies} is baking. It's funny how timid and unqualified I can feel if I've never tried something. For someone who can be so confident about some things, I sure can be timid about others. So when Matthew said, "Let's make a loaf of bread", I felt lightheaded. Make bread? "Don't you need a baking stone?" I replied innocently and stupidly.

But I do love first times, so off we went to pick up yeast. We made Challah Bread together {using my Better Homes and Garden's Cookbook}, and it turned out in a beautiful golden braid.

Was it a challenge? Sure. Was it enough to name a post "baking"? No. A couple of days later Matthew was telling me some of the foods he remembers liking as a child, and he mentioned pretzels.

I love soft pretzels. And so our new hobby took another step. Pretzel making. After a quick walk to the gas station to pick up baking soda, we began our adventure. Using our good friend Google, we settled on Alton Brown's {one of my favorite food network hosts} recipe. Once we had made the dough we had to let it rise, so we pulled out our favorite board game {well, i say we pulled it out, but really we just leave it on our Dining Room table because of how much we play it} carcassonne. We have so many expansion packs that the game takes over an hour and we both normally get over 400 points. That was a little rabbit trail, but I suppose that is what this blog really is. One long rabbit trail. Anyways, one the game was finished, we rolled out the dough, made the pretzel shapes, dipped them in the boiling baking soda/water, covered them in sea salt, and popped them into the oven. Here they are after a nice little toasting.

It made so many that we shared them with friends {who loved them} and we ate them for a couple of days. They were delicious.

This is me highly recommending that you take some time to make pretzels with your family, and while the dough is rising you play your favorite board game. It made for a pretty great night. Well, that's a little update from the Nowak household. I hope that someday you feel inspired to do something new. :)

an emergency

Still that heaven scent on her skin, and I pull her close and whisper right into her. Whisper into her the meaning of life, the one thing she needs to know before she’s as old as I am. Before she has messed up as much as I have... Moments, I tell her this... Moments, this is all we have. 

Microscopic, fleeting moments. 

Her eyelashes flutter in dreams and I wonder, how many moments of my life have my eyes been wide open but I’ve been rushing, racing, sleeping right through? How many of the popsicle days and the run and twirl and spin days? How many moments of melting ice cream, crazy laughter and dangling bare feet days…  The setting sun igniting the wonder of now. 

Someone, wake me up to the beating of wings, the splashing of water, and the setting of fog at twilight. The way the leaves and the childhood slip away in the woods, torched with the last light of summer. I want to tell her this, “You have got to figure out a way to stay fully awake.” Time is blurring by and everyone is slipping past.

How do we wake to the moments? How do we stop living like life is an emergency, something to be sped wildly through?

 Life is not an emergency.

How do we start believing that life can be carried only in the hands of the unhurried? A bubble, held in awe. How do we stop wolfing life down? It is our only dessert. Too sweet, too brief, too delectable to hurry through… To live like a boy I once knew. To pause between bites to wiggle his one lose tooth and whisper, “I love you, mom.”

The earth under you and the stars spinning all around you. This is for you. Your true love’s smile, a nap in a patch of light, the whir of bike spokes, and that one great puff of flickering candles. What if we really figured it out? The gratitude for the seemingly small and significant. Because this is how you spend your one life well. Receiving each moment for what it really is: holy, ordinary, amazing grace, a gift.

I didn't write this, but I believe it. This expresses my heart to children. Slow down and hold on to the innocence that fills your eyes with light.

pallet wood mirror

In general, I am a copy cat. I can draw, but only if I am looking at the thing I want to draw. I am "creative", but hardly ever do I have an idea that is entirely my own. My favorite blog is younghouselove.com and in this blog they go house crashing. In a house crash they go to awesome houses and take pictures of everything they love, so that we the readers can drool over it with them. One of these house crashes had a mirror that I fell for. I'm a huge fan of mirrors. Dad always said that it's because I like to look at myself {true...}, but I like to imagine that I appreciate their other marvelous qualities. I enjoy the way they bounce light around a room. I like the way they make a room look endless. And yes, I like to look at myself. So, I got onto Craigslist and did exactly what this housecrashed couple did. I requested a HUGE mirror. I said I wanted a mirror that used to be a sliding closet door. {These closet doors aren't fashionable anymore, but they are still HUGE mirrors. Add a little frame, and -bam!- huge statement.} A couple weeks later, I got a reply. He said the mirror was 6'x2' and he wanted $20 for it. I have never seen a mirror that was taller than me for $20, and so I said, "Yes, please!" :)

The mirror was all kinds of filthy, but after a good scrub it was perfect again. Next step= Pallets. You know those wooden pallets that stores get shipments on? Yeah, we needed some of those for our frame. We asked around, and then brought two home. I went for the grayish colored weathered wood. Here's my gorgeous husband cutting them up on our front porch.

After they were cut off the pallet, we had to cut them to the right lengths with the right angles. I'd like to say I helped, but other than taking measurements and marking the boards, I did nothing. Here's Matthew's {circa 1940s} miter saw.

Old fashioned, but it did its job perfectly. Once we had all the pieces cut to frame {with a one inch over lap so the mirror wouldn't look too skinny} we placed the pieces around the edge of the mirror to see if they were fitting correctly.

So far, so good! Next, it was time to attach them. We had looked around at different things, and after much debate had decided to go with "sika universal" in a caulk gun. We brought the mirror into the kitchen and propped it up on two of those {very college} three drawer plastic containers. We clamped all the pieces into place and then {when it looked as perfect as slightly warped wood can look} we unclamped the pieces one at a time and glued them into place.

After an night of drying we stood it up in our Dining Room. Here's our finished project.

Matthew and I did it together, and I know I'm biased, but I think it's pretty fabulous. What do you think?