Yikes!

No news on the re-scheduling of our court date. Maybe we will hear something tomorrow?

Send some prayers up for my poor Mom. I'm now calling her Nana Knievel! She was riding bikes with my nephews yesterday...actually racing one of them when her brakes locked up and she flew head first over the handlebars. She landed on her head (good thing she had her helmet on) and broke both bones in her right arm where they meet the wrist. She also severely sprang her left arm. She has to have surgery on her arm....OUCH! She is home resting but in lots of pain. Poor Nana Knievel. She told the ambulance guys that maybe she should take up a more appropriate sport for her age. I think she failed to tell them she is a Mountaineer and has climbed Mt. Rainer twice!

Hubby and I are painting the stairway/hallway that goes up and downstairs today. I'm really getting sick and tired of painting so it's a good thing that today will be the end of it! I know I'm too tired to do this because my perfectionism is wearing thin...."looks good enough, nobody will see that spot I missed".

So Peaceful

Call me crazy but I had the most peaceful morning sitting in my living room reading the paper today. The one thing that made it so much better was the new paint. Instead of looking at the dirty walls and grimacing about them I could gaze at them and smile. Something about new paint...it's so clean and refreshing. Plus, the kiddos were all quiet and watching cartoons:)
I ordered this print for the wall in the living room. It's a photo I took while in Ethiopia. We took a drive outside the city and this woman was walking along the road carrying sticks into the city to sell for firewood. There were many women doing this job. Some of them walk many, many miles a day. We stopped and our driver Danny gave her some money calling out to her, "mother, mother". He was such a kind and generous soul who gave so freely to those less fortunate. I am having the print put onto a canvas and then framed. I can't wait to see the final project hanging on the wall.

I'm debating which other photo to have put on canvas also. Tell me your opinion. Which picture do you think I should use?

Photo in Addis of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church

Grass hut picture taken on the drive outside of Addis.

Here's the before pictures of the living room.

The new photo on canvas will hang to the left of this sitting area. And..the other photo I've yet to choose..will hang to the right of it.

And....the after!

Done!

The living room is done....YAHOOOO! The trim is drying and I'll have hubby move the furniture back tomorrow. I'll post the living room picture tomorrow.

Before.....

And....After! Beautiful! Next week we will be doing the stairways that go up and downstairs and the landing area. And then...no more painting until next year when we tackle the family room and entry area downstairs.

Hubby and I were laughing and remembering when we almost got divorced (well maybe not divorced, but....well yes, I think divorced;) while painting our last house. We waited until we were getting ready to sell it and then painted the whole house inside and out! Yikes! It was horrible! I'm sure the neighbors thought we were the most crabby couple on the planet. We worked all day one Saturday finishing the trim on the outside of the house. It was summer and it was warm out and stayed light out late so we painted until dusk. The house was grey and the trim was dark blue. In the morning we drug our sore tired bodies out of bed for church. As we were leaving we were horrified to see that the dew had caused the blue paint to drip off of the gutters all down the house and onto the freshly painted deck! I think we just got in the car, shut the door and didn't say a word the whole drive to church or home. We then spent all day Sunday re-doing it.

Just Keep Painting...

Just keeping painting...sung to the tune of "just keep swimming" from Finding Nemo. Yesterday I finished the hallway and it looks wonderful....well except when I compare it to the dirty living room wall next to it. That will be fixed today when I paint that wall. Of course there is also the dirty wall leading to upstairs...I know...one room at a time! I went last night and got all my supplies so I could start today as soon as Papa takes the little ones to the gym with him. I don't feel bad about not working out with hubby at the gym...my sugar levels have been good...and painting is serious exercise...at least to me it is! I couldn't have done more than the hallway yesterday if I had tried! I laid down to rest and could barely get up and walk afterwards. We went out for a nice dinner...so no cooking and the kitchen was clean when we got home...bonus! I will post some pics of the newly painted walls later today. The colors are Barley and Hush.
Also, we have our court date on Monday!!! Keep us in your prayers. Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead so Sunday night as we sleep (or lay in our beds anxiously) our baby girl's case will go to court.