Category: Creativity

room reveal: the claire bear's room

12/14/2018

From the moment I stepped into the one and only bedroom upstairs in the farmhouse, I knew it was meant to be the Claire Bear's.

It had a beautiful eastern view, where the sun would rise every morning for my sweet early-bird.

It had two closet doors with a long closet that met in the middle...a "secret-passageway" as she says.

And it had a little hatch that went into some attic storage that really made the oldest daughter nervous. "Who knows what might come out of there?" Harlee said that first day.

When we saw the listing for the house online, this was the picture of the upstairs bedroom...we now could call this the "before" picture. You can see the two closet doors on the left, the big windows facing the east, and the little hatch to the attic down on the bottom right of the photo.

We had originally talked about taking down the paneling upstairs and putting up sheetrock, but it seemed like kind of an unnecessary expense when the paneling was in good condition and when paint is an inexpensive option to brighten up a room.

You might remember the playroom transformation that I shared earlier this year. We used the same paint (Valspar's Warm Oatmeal) in all four upstairs areas (the playroom, each of the older girls' bedroom areas, and the new bathroom).

After the room was painted, we started to fit Claire's furniture in.

She knew she wanted BOTH closet doors accessible, so that left ONE place for her bed.

My mom had found an antique bedroom set at an auction that had "Claire" written all over it. There was a full bed and matching vanity. We fit those pieces in first and went from there. We covered the "creepy attic hatch" (as Harlee calls it) with her dresser and saved room for her desk by the window.

The picture on the right was the first day she was planning to sleep in her bedroom before we put pictures on the wall or carried in the rest of her furniture.

The other girls were so excited to help her "move in" and then they laid around chatting for a while before bed. This picture is now almost a year and a half old and I remember the memory like it was yesterday.

I remember thinking of this image when I walked upstairs as a vision into their future...

...when they're teenagers, lying around talking about school and (hopefully not too soon) boys...

...when one of them comes back from college and they all snuggle up to hang out on the weekends...

...and when they're all married with kids and their children go to play up in their mamas' rooms.

Since those pictures were taken back in July of 2017, we've gotten the windows in the farmhouse replaced and Claire Bear has her dream desk with her dream view.

It's not perfect, but it's all Claire!

I really can't wait to watch my sweet girl grow up in this bedroom. ❤️🏡❤️

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bible journaling.

4/8/2018

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Every single Sunday, I find myself worrying that people think I'm texting or checking my Facebook during the sermon.

Granted, I do reply to a text message here and there.

But usually, I am looking up the scripture that Brother Matt is referencing or taking notes on my phone.

I started taking notes on Google Docs in January of 2017 and it has been amazing.

I have a "Sermon Notes" folder for each year and monthly folders for each month.

I can access my sermon notes from any device or any computer.

Housing my sermon notes on my phone has given me the ability to review the content from wherever I am.

It's also allowed to have a good reference when I take some time to do my Bible Journaling at home.

Brother Matt is in the middle of a sermon series entitled "Second Chances" right now.

He preached his first message on Easter.

It was amazing. You can check it out here.

Today was week 2.

The message was from Acts, Chapter 2.

Acts Chapter 2 was after...

Palm Sunday,
the betrayal in the garden,
Christ's crucifixion,
His resurrections,
and 40 days of traveling and teaching.

In Acts 2:38, we read these words that Peter had said when the people asked him what they needed to do to make Jesus Lord.

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

I grew up in the Church.

I can't even tell you how many times I have read that passage or heard that passage read aloud during a sermon or Bible study.

And yet today...I got a fresh perspective on it.

Repent means I'm turning AWAY from my sin.
Baptism is when I'm turning TO God.

When we choose to leave behind those behaviors that are not pleasing to Him, we choose to leave behind those feelings of guilt and remorse.

The feelings of not being good enough.

The feeling that we are "broken by our own mistakes" (good words, Brother Matt!).

We choose to turn towards Jesus and the feeling of hope that He brings.

So we stop repeating our bad behaviors, turn towards Jesus, and He sends us the Holy Spirit to help us to keep ourselves out of the situations we have been in for so long.

It's like a lightbulb popped on for me.

So I took notes and journaled about it this afternoon.

I did a very SIMPLE page, with white gesso, a sticker, and a marker writing the phrase that I don't want to forget.

I highlighted the verse in colored pencil and wrote the reference on the bottom of the page.

That's it.

Sometimes, my pages are a lot more detailed.

But today, this was fine.

Turn away from sin.
Turn to God.
The stain will be removed and a Helper will be sent to you.

True story.

If you enjoy art and would like a creative way to connect with God's Word, I would recommend the art of Bible journaling.

Happy Sunday from the Farmhouse, friends.

Stay warm.

❤️🏡❤️

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room reveal: the claire bear's room

bible journaling.

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