Update on the House

I keep saying that I'll post some pics of the decorating and organizing we've done at the house....but then I never do. Then last night we hosted an Open House for everyone at our church to have a chance to be welcomed into our home and since it was still clean today I thought what a perfect time to take some pictures. So here they are, a few updated pics of what is happening at Casa Baker.

These first ones are of course the Pirate Bedroom. It has been a long process but I think that we are finally done with it...for now :)

I was the most nervous about coming up with pirate-y curtains, but I feel like these turned out pretty cute!

I love the treasure map on the wall, it is one of m favorite parts of the room.

Joshua loves all the little pirate characters on the walls and the bed.

The pirate saying what perfect and every adult who sees the room LOVES it.

I wasn't sure what to do with the net I ordered but after trying it in a few places I think I like it best over the closet.

Luke was nervous about the blue and red together, but I love it. Makes me feel like I'm sailin on the 7 seas.

Of course the boys love to play in the hide-away under the bed!

The next set of pics is the guest room. We worked pretty fast to pull it together because we've already been having company and there is more to come!

I love the colors, they are so calming when you are in the room.

Thanks to 3m you can finally hang things on cement walls! I was pretty excited to try their new hangers and I think the room looks more inviting with things on the walls.

My crafting area isn't too exciting yet, but at least we got all the boxes out. Now just to start using it!

The family room had finally come together I think. I've tried several different arrangements and this seems to be the one that we've liked the best.

If you remember our hutch from our previous home, this is what is left of it after the move :( it was the only thing that really broke

This is the room where we are hiding our notorious red couch, and Luke's new recliner

We finally got our bedroom painted and I LOVE it. I had doubts about the orange when Luke first started painting it, but it really is beautiful and so cheery.

These are a few bathroom pics just in case you were wondering what they are like :)

This is the bathroom off from the master bedroom

This one is near the kitchen

Joe's bedroom is coming along and will be the next one that we paint.

We actually bought this rug before we moved and I thought I would like it for our bedroom, but I love it in Joe's

nothing too exciting but soon there will be paint!

Lastly here are a couple of Luke's study at the house now that it is free of boxes.

I did not include the dining room and living room this time because they are pretty much the same. But the house is really feeling like home now and we are loving it.

4 Years Already

Joshua is 4!

I'm gonna go ahead and give the standard mom exclamation, "I can't believe he is already 4!" Over the weekend we had a few new friends over for a birthday party, a Pirate birthday party of course. Joshua is still quite obsessed with pirates and his birthday was one big pirate whirlwind.  He'd been requesting his party be pirate themed for quite a while so he was very pleased to see that his pleas had been heard.

He had the best day! Lots of fun with his new friends, and of course cake, ice cream, and presents! Luke's parents sent a super fun pirate water table that the kids had a blast with. Our backyard has become quite the play place with the new water table and also a sandbox (Joshua's gift from my mother).The kids all ran and played, and of course pretended to be pirates. I was exhausted by the end of the day but luckily we had our Marci here to help out! Joshua was so excited that Marci came to visit this weekend. It was an added bonus that she flew here because that meant we got to drive to the airport and see all the planes too.

Today is the actual birthday and we've had a relaxing family day together. I took a few special pictures of my Big Boy and for some reason he wanted to wear his Superman footsie jammies in them. Of all the crazy things in his closet I think that he picked the craziest, but I wanted to capture his true character so I went along with it.

So hard to think that he's the same kid that was so frail at birth. God has already done such a work in Joshua and I know he isn't finished. We are so blessed everyday by his smiles, his giggles and his silly preschooler antics. If you haven't heard Joshua's story you can find it here on my blog: http://truepastorswife.blogspot.com/2011/03/joshua-miracle.html
It's an amazing one filled with God's grace, love, faithfulness and holiness.
Happy Birthday Joshua!

It's nice to be nice...isn't it?

I love being a Pastor's Wife.

I'm sure my husband would like to have that recorded and play it back to me sometimes when being a Pastor's wife becomes more than difficult. Over all though, I love being married to a Pastor. I have an amazing Godly man who leads our home and sets a great example for our sons, and I also have the opportunity to be nice to alot of people. As a Pastor's wife I am made aware of the needs of our congregation and I am often able to meet these needs and/or provided encouragement to those who need it. I love doing that! I love knowing that I was able to show God's love to someone who needed it whether it was by sending a card, cooking a meal, or just saying you mean alot to our family and you are loved.

I often read A Diary of Private Prayer (an amazing book I would recommend to anyone & was recommended to me by my dearest friend Marci). This book speaks to my heart always. It is written in very old English and has many "Ye's" and "-eths" at the end of words, but even the language seeps into my soul and is absorbed to (I hope) the point of making me a better, more Christlike person. If you've never read it I would suggest getting a copy, it has forever changed my prayer life.

The prayer I was reading a few days ago is the eighth day morning prayer.
                                            "O God, give me the grace today to think, not of what I can get, but of what I can give, Jesus Christ said, when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.  O God, grant that what I give may be given without self-congratulation, and without thought of praise or reward.

It goes on to continue being completely amazing, but this is the part that has lingered in my mind for days.  "grant that what I give may be given without self-congratulation, and without thought of praise or reward." I'm not sure about anyone else, but I self-congratulate myself like crazy!!! I didn't even know that a phrase existed to describe this action, but I am most certainly guilty of it! So how do I stop?!?! I have given this some serious thought since I initially read it, and here is what I have come up with:
1. stop self praising. I constantly do this when "blessing" someone. I write a nice card and the whole time I'm thinking about how they are going to think I am so thoughtful for remembering them, or I tell myself they are going to tell Luke he has the best wife etc. etc. It is self-congratulation at its worst.

2. Replace self praise with Thanksgiving to God. Instead of thinking of how wonderful the thing that I'm doing is, I replace it in my mind by thanking God for the resources I have that enable me to cook a meal for a family that needs it. I thank Him for giving me the skill and talent of cooking, for giving me their friendship that has blessed my life so that I in return want to bless their lives.

3. I stop making everything about me. This is by far the most difficult. I don't know why this is so easy to do but WOW, I see my kids doing this constantly and I am no different. I can take any situation and in 2 second flat boil it down to me and my feelings. This step will take much discipline, practice and prayer.

I just read in Great Days with Great Lives by Charles Swindoll where he says that the only place to be that is worse than the end of a self- willed life, is being in the middle of one.

AMEN! He goes on to say that when in life we cannot come up with the answer on our own we always assume we need more education and more knowledge when if fact what we need is more wisdom and discernment and those come from God and knowing Him more and being in His word more, and  listening to Him more.

Being a Pastor's wife has blessed my life in unexplainable ways. I hope that when I bless others they can see that it is God's love in what I do. I hope that I can step out of the way of my own actions and let Christ be seen in my own life.