PROJECT: "REFRESHED"

When things happen in our life, Eric and I tend to roll with the punches. Believe me, it isn't always easy to do that, but our life has been somewhat filled with unknowns due to being Active Duty.  I guess in a way this has prepared us to take disappointments in stride, and try to do the best we can.

So, last summer when the denial of retirement happened, so many things went thru our heads and there were so many situations to take care of and work out. We had just started painting the house, and we were only half way thru. We had many projects that we had to stop before they were completed. But we decided to trust that God knew best and we made a list of things we would need to do each time we came back.

So, when we went back this time we knocked one of those items out (almost).  There is always an "almost" because time is never on our side!  We also saw family and friends, sat in our Church and felt so at home, listened to the beautiful music and let our souls truly be refreshed.

Before I say anything else, I do want to say that this post is "not" about material things. Yes, this is a house made of wood and stucco, but it is soooo not about the physical nature of the house.  Anyone who knows how we were lead to this house, the significance of the address, the people who we were blessed to know along the way, simply stated...is just part of God's plan for my family.

He gave us awesome neighbors who email us and help us out by watching over the house. They take time out of their day to email and keep us up to date whenever anything occurs, and never make us feel like it is a burden to them.

Thanks to the Martinelli family, Mark finished painting our house for us and it looks beautiful, so beautiful!!  As mentioned, we literally had to stop in the middle of painting last summer to move.  He did such a wonderful job and we are so blessed to know them! . We thank you Mark, Vi and Sean for your friendship and always wanting to help us.

And finally, a beautiful friend takes time out of her life to check up on the house often and send us updates, always willing to help no matter what.

All these people God put in our path, and took the stress away in what could have been a very crazy situation.  We are so grateful and thankful!

While we were back, we were able to check one thing of our list and stain our deck and almost finished completely.  Doesn't it just look like a little section left to do?  We just simply ran out of time!  Add in the rain, and time just wasn't on our side. But... it still looks awesome and it feels good to progress.

We chopped down six trees that hid this deck and our entire family worked together to get this area cleared out, as always our kids jumped in and helped because we are brownfamfive! With very minimal moans and groans, we all pulled together and got it done! Thank you to our beautiful kids for always just being you and helping us whenever we need you to.

So this post is to all of those wonderful people in our life who continually support us and let God's light shine thru them, we are ever thankful for you!

** Project:"REFRESHED" couldn't be more true for us**