Mr. Tumnas?

One morning as Joshua was helping Noah get dressed, Sydney came in to play. She walked over to give Joshua his morning hug when she noticed something under his arm. She asked, "Daddy, what is that under your arm?" Noah then added his comment about the underarm hair discovery with, "Eww, gross!" Both sprouts then lifted up their arms to check to see if they had any underarm hair and then they checked each others. Once Sydney realized that neither her or Noah had underarm hair she said, "Daddy, your weird. Your like Mr. Tumnas!"

My Husband

I love the fact that my husband knows I've had a long night/day and while I'm asking him what would bless him to eat for dinner he says, "How about peanut butter and honey sandwiches?"

While You Were Out: Finale

Joshua's office was ready and waiting for his grand entrance this morning. I had put a sign on the door that read, "While You Were Out...," and then wrote a note on his dry erase board that said, "To get the full story go check out our blog!" 

It ended up that the sprouts and I had to take Joshua to work this morning (flat tire w/rain), so after I dropped him off, I circled the parking lot and waited as he went inside the Church. I knew it would take him no longer than 5 minutes to call me on the phone, and sure enough it only took him 3! "Amanda! This is incredable! I can't believe you pulled this off while I was away (laughing). This is the most meaningful gift anyone has ever given me. I can't believe so many people were in on this and helped out with the project. This is just the way I would have wanted my office to look. This truly is the best surprise ever!"

Thank you Dodson's, Estrada's, Walsh's, Lee's, and Dad & Mom Crow, for helping make this go down in Joshua's memory book for "best surprise ever!"

While You Were Out: Part 3

Here are the after pictures as promised! Wall to wall shelves put together this morning by our good friend Jeff Dodson. Restocking the shelves was done this afternoon with the help of Josh Lee and Bryanna Walsh. Thank you all for your help in completing this project. Joshua is going to have so much fun organizing and filling in those shelves! Notice how they're framed with the newly painted wall. Love it! The wall on the left has his diploma, license to preach, and PC pictures.

This is the wall on the right with some of his other favorite pictures on it. Powlison, family, wedding, The Church at Auvers, by Van Gogh, and Notre Dame Cathedral in the late 1800's.

Here is the wall opposite the bookshelves that had the maps on it. Now it holds a dry erase board and pin board for Joshua's notes.

Stay tuned for his reaction on Friday!

While You Were Out: Part 2

Yesterday's phase of the project was successful with the help of Laura Dodson and her son Josh.

15 boxes of books labeled in order to put them back in their general location on the new shelves.

I am sad to say that this is indeed one of the four bookcases I was referring to in Joshua's office. I'm pretty sure Noah is taller than it is.

Here is a picture that shows how this wall in Joshua's office was covered in maps. When we took them down, we discovered that they had been painted around.

And this is a picture of half of our best friends here in Seguin, Philip Estrada. His wife Danielle, (the other half of the bf's) was my consultant on paint and schedule coordinator for her husband.
Thank you both for being the paint experts behind the project!

BEHR "Tea Time" was the name of the color we chose. Better keep that from Joshua, it's not a very manly name for the color of his office. :)

While You Were Out: Part 1

Today Joshua left for the "Together for the Gospel" conference in Louisville, Kentucky. While he is gone some friends and I are going to give him an office make-over.  This has been a project in the works for a few months now. Phone calls, work schedules, Home Depot, Ikea, and computer research, have all been going on secretly. And now the day has arrived for the project to begin. Today's agenda consists of boxing up books, removing the 4 different colors and styles of bookcases that now take up wall space in his office, and getting ready for painting tomorrow.

Stay tuned for the "before pictures" and the stages of the project as it develops in the days ahead.

Valentine Secretary

 

 For those that know me well have heard me talk about "the desk." It has been on my to-do list for 7 years now. Yes, you read that right, 7 years. Marriage, 3 children, moving, and life have taken its place every time when it has come to checking this of the list. 

The story behind the desk is that when I was young and naive, I painted my heirloom desk from my Great-Grandmother purple. Yes purple, stupid I know and I would learn to regret how big a mistake that was during the 7 years it has traveled around with us. My sweet husband has endured this mistake along with me as he has had to live with it being hidden in our bedroom.  Well, a few months ago I thought I would finally have the time to tackle this massive project and after purchasing the goggles, the chemical protective gloves, face mask, and some type of goo that can melt your skin off, I set out to undo the damage I had done. After several hours of removing layer after layer of paint (I had painted several layers), I took a brake. Then life happened again with my kidney stones taking precedence, and the almost stripped desk fell to the back burner. 

Which brings me to the end of this 7 year journey. For Valentine's day my sweet husband seeing that I would not be able to finish my desk anytime soon, surprised me by having a friend who does this type of work for a living complete the project. Our friend did a beautiful job on the desk and I am so grateful to now have my desk come out in the open. 

Thank you JJ for helping me check this off my 7 year to-do list. I love you!