My Little Loves + A Little R & R Wednesdays - A Link Up Party

As you know, I was gone for most of last week while we were having work done on our house.  I brought my laptop, but not my converter for European outlets, which would explain why last week's blog hop didn't happen...

Here are some sweet moments from last week at Baka and Dida's (Grandma and Grandpa's)

Robi's Fashion Statement: Rubber Boots go with anything!

Such a handsome boy!

Checking out the ads

Out riding mah car!

Freedom!  On my new BIG bike!

Ready or not, here I come!!!

Tata spoiling his boys

Uff - this thing is about as big as I am!

Hot Rod!

I gots me 2 handsome boys!

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And now for the party!!!

Link up as many posts on any subject you desire (except giveaways)

Link up those posts that you wish would have gotten more attention Come on - you know what I'm talking about.  I'll be linking up a few of my own, too.  

Link back to A Little R & R with the button or a link

Visit the post just before your's

-->Tweet<-- and invite your friends to join the party

The party runs from Wednesday through Saturday

So link up and have fun!

Linking up with some these blogs:

M: Motivation Monday, Gracelaced Mondays, Playdates at the Wellspring, Mom's the Word; Matrimonial Mondays   T: Titus2 Tuesdays, Women Helping Women, W: Women Living Well, Wisdom Wednesday, Wholehearted Wednesdays, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Deep Roots at Home Th: Thrive at Home, Serving Joyfully F: Faith Filled Friday, TGIF Fridays

The Need to Maintain

The renovations are done and the house is back in shape!!! which would explain why yesterday's post is happening today

See my pretty new hall???  I love, love, love it!  And I love it that the fridge is there, so the kids can play with the magnets and not get under my feet.

I love the boy's room.  I can't wait to put some wall stickers up!

I am slightly less thrilled with our room - but it's a work sitll in progress and at least the blue paint matches our quilt (which was hanging on the line when this picture was taken).

I am over the moon with my kitchen!  I love the color!!!  I love my new ceiling!!  I love it that I have counters!!  I just love it!

5 days of renovation work, 9 hours of clean up, and 10 + loads of laundry and our house is back into order. 

Funny thing though - it never stays this nice.  Ha! I have 2 toddlers - it doesn't stay this nice for 2 hours together!

It's called "maintenance".  To maintain a clean house means daily picking up toys, vacuuming, wiping down the bathroom, doing the dishes and laundry, making beds...

If I let my house go for even one day, I would have a disaster on my hands.  I am sure all of you have the same issue.

When God does renovation in our lives, it doesn't mean that the work He did was once-and-for-all.  We have to maintain it. We have to "work out our salvation".  Salvation itself is a free gift, but we have to maintain our relationship with God if we want to keep our life from becoming a mess again.

So often we want God to do all the work.  We pray "Give me patience! Help me to love so-and-so! Make me gentle! Help me to be more consistent in my devotions!"

But consistency, discipline, and the fruits of the spirit are things we have to cultivate and grow in our own lives.  God purposely limits Himself to our will to do what it takes to mature spiritually.  Sure, He could make us patient, but the lessons learned in becoming patient would be bypassed! The character and maturity we would build in our lives would be skipped over. 

Daily Bible reading, prayer, scripture memorization and meditation, fellowship with believers, and regular evaluation of our lives ensures that our spiritual lives maintain order.

We have to regularly allow Him to eliminate worldly things we accumulate along the way that are cluttering up our lives.  We must daily allow the water of His word to wash away the dust and grime, we must allow the sweet oil of fellowship to fill our hearts with His fragrance, we must give careful time for the truths of His Word to strengthen us through careful memorization and meditation.

Because, while we are a work-in-progress, we are living in that home that is being renovated...just like my family and I. It's hard, it's frustrating sometimes, but it must be maintained. 

So, although by the time I went to bed last night with a house that was already cluttered and needing to be vacuumed, and while I bemoaned the fact that my 9 hours of hard labor to clean and organize my home felt wasted, I woke up this morning and learned this very valuable lesson.

What are you doing to maintain your spiritual life?

Do you need a jump start to help you gain consistency and discipline?

Are you praying useless prayers, asking God to do what only you can do?

Linking up with some these blogs:

M: Motivation Monday, Gracelaced Mondays, Playdates at the Wellspring, Mom's the Word; Matrimonial Mondays,  T: Titus2 Tuesdays, Women Helping Women, Mercy Ink, 

Character Corner W: Women Living Well, Wisdom Wednesday, Wholehearted Wednesdays, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Deep Roots at Home Th: Thrive at Home, Serving Joyfully F: Faith Filled Friday, TGIF Fridays

The Road To Renovation

 As most of you know, last summer we purchased our first home. A small renovation project that will likely take us the rest of our lives to fix up.
We've been slowly working on it, inside and out, and I can tell you right now that it is nowhere near what we want it to be.

In fact, there are days when I have what I call "renovation frustration". 

When we were still in the waiting stage to see if the bank would approve our loan, I was dreaming.  Oh was I dreaming.  Color schemes, room arrangements, wall decorations.  I had that house arranged, painted and Pinterest-worthy. In my imagination.

It's been 9 months now, and our house is about ready to undergo some major work.  Because....well....it's not done yet.  And it wont be done yet when when this work is done. Some of our friends ask us from time to time, "Are you done fixing up your house yet?" I politely stifle the unladylike guffaw about burst out of my mouth and shake my head.  Fact is, it will be years before its done.

Here is our living room.  Starting at the top left and going left-to-right are the arrangements we've done.  The bottom right was taken today.

On the bottom left picture you see the brick-work around the window.  We pulled out the old wooden window and put a PVC one in.  And you can't see it in the bottom left picture, we finished the work around the window and painted the right wall and the wall around the window.  But it aint done yet!

Our dining room.  "The top left picture is the same as the one above", you say.  And you'd be right! Our dining room shares our living room. Not ideal. But not a lot in this house is ideal....yet.

Our Kitchen - I know, you're wondering how on earth I survive.  Well, I have a meltdown regularly once a week. I a missing cabinets still.  But this week the fridge in the left corner is going in the entryway, the stove is going where the fridge is, and the counter in the hall is going in the kitchen.  Plus we have 2 more cabinets to hang on the wall.  It will still be crowded, but much better!

This is where most of the construction will take place. As you see, our hall/entryway is divided by a door.  We hate that!  That whole wall is coming down and we'll have one long hallway. And that counter (the kitchen overflow) is going in the kitchen, so the hall will be free. Plus, the hall will be painted pale yellow and the entry way a medium beige.

The bedrooms haven't changed much.  We'll be coating the bottom half of the walls with an anti-fungal paint and then a coat of light blue.

But isn't this so much like our own lives?  Jesus moves in and starts moving stuff around, pulling out old garbage and installing new habits. Time passes and we look at ourselves compared to what we are supposed to be and we grow a little disillusioned because the picture of what we should be compared to what we are is so different. We still have so much work left!

We grow frustrated because parts of our character are still so rough, old habits aren't dying as quickly as we'd like, and sometimes our brothers and sisters in Christ begin to wonder - as we do - if we will ever be what we should be.

I take comfort in Paul's words: "For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing." Romans 7:19

We are all a work in progress, and it takes time for God to renovate our lives! For those who came to Jesus in their teen or adult years, it can take much longer, because He has to go back and clean up a bunch of garbage, old thinking patterns, humanistic world views, and sinful habits.  

Yes, God is able to do all of this in an instant, but most times He chooses to do it one step at a time - knowing that the road to renovation is sprinkled with important lessons that we must learn along the way.

Before without the insulation.  The day the crew finished the insulation on the house it started to snow...they got it done just in time! And we were warm for the winter.

Sometimes He changes the outer things that are visible to the eye. But sometimes - just like the very important electrical work we will be having done tomorrow - He works in areas that only we can see.

Be patient and find joy in the mess of life.  It wont be cleaned up for a long time yet. 

And remember to be patient with your brothers and sisters in Christ - God isn't finished with them yet either!

Linking up with some these blogs:

M: Motivation Monday, Gracelaced Mondays, Playdates at the Wellspring, Mom's the Word; Matrimonial Mondays,  T: Titus2 Tuesdays, Women Helping Women, Mercy Ink, 

Character Corner W: Women Living Well, Wisdom Wednesday, Wholehearted Wednesdays, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Deep Roots at Home Th: Thrive at Home, Serving Joyfully F: Faith Filled Friday, TGIF Fridays