Collage wall

At our home in Wake Forest, it took us forever to decide what we wanted to put on our 'big blank wall' behind our couch. We finally opted for a collage wall, and loved it so much that we quickly put it in place at our home here in Jackson. A few things have changed in our layout, and we have added items (with more room to expand:), so I thought I would explain a little more about it.

From left to right:

• Tennessee state watercolor, painted by a Union University art student
• Four postcards representing places we have lived, including two of Waycross (one a map, and one a shot of the Ware Hotel), one of Southeastern Seminary, and one of the original Southern Seminary campus in Louisville
• "Important Dates" print, which lists all of our birthdays and the wedding anniversary that started it all
• A print of Habukkuk
• North Carolina state painting with a heart over Wake Forest, and signatures on the back from dear friends of Leah's
• Hatch Show Print of Johnny Cash
• Georgia state outline with a heart over where N and L met
• Envelope w/ Johnny Cash stamp (and a postcard of FBC Durham stuck in front of it! We need to find another frame for it)
• This Is My Father's World hand lettered artwork by Kimberly Cambell

Bad Remus hits Wake Forest

You may know that winter weather systems are now getting names like summer hurricanes.

Last week, Wake Forest was hit by Remus.

My friend and I started calling it Bad Remus (#badremus) because, frankly, snow just messes up our lives here in the south. Bad Remus hit us on Thursday, Feb 26, just two days after a surprise snowfall cancelled classes and big activities at Southeastern that Nathan was in charge of (boo!).

The average snowfall for our area from #badremus was 5.75".

That's the most that has fallen since 2000, and the most we have ever seen.

The snow started on Wednesday evening and continued through the night

The delight in my children's faces to wake up in Narnia was priceless

On our back deck, we were measuring just under 6" of accumulation!

Our winter wonderland

These panoramic shots are some of my favorites.

If you click on the picture, you should be able to enlarge it

When you don't have snow-proof shoes, you break out the fancy footgear

I tried to coin a new term: Snelfie, a snow selfie. It hasn't quite caught on yet!

I think my house is super pretty in the snow!

Date taken: February 26, 2015

Our HOUSE is for sale!!

Life in the Finn land--in addition to wrapping up summer activities,

preparing for the new semester to start,

we decided to put our house up for sale!

Right now it is For Sale By Owner,

and we have already had a few showings.

Pray for this to be a smooth, peaceful, relatively easy process.

And please know--we are NOT leaving this area. Wake Forest and SEBTS are home.

We just need a different space.

Curious about our house? I have a blog for that:

http://205amarylliswaywf.blogspot.com

Pottery from the NC State Fair

At the NC State Fair, there is a building called "The Village of Yesteryear." Inside the building are artisans who display a wide variety of artistry and craftsmenship, from painting to weaving to pottery to wood carving and more. We LOVE to wander through the exhibits and see all the wonderful works of art that people create. I am drawn to the pottery especially. Did you know that Seagrove, NC, is famous for its pottery? We have not visited Seagrove yet but I would love to!  This year we came home with three pieces of pottery from Turn and Burn Pottery--two coffee mugs and a lovely blue-green vase. The dark veined pattern on the vase is created using horsehair, which I think is fascinating. The potters sign each of their pieces with a scripture verse, which is a lovely touch, and led to a sweet short conversation about the gospel. May God be praised and glorified as they use their art for His glory!

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene hit the Outer Banks of North Carolina this morning, and here in the Triangle we are feeling some small effects. We should not be greatly affected outside of rain and gusty winds, praise the Lord. The Outer Banks and rest of the East Coast will be greatly affected. Please be praying for those areas that have never dealt with a hurricane before, those areas that are already saturated with water and will probably flood, and anyone caught in the path of this storm. I rejoice that we serve a sovereign God who controls storms, gives us technology to track and prepare for storms, and raises up people to respond to storms and aftermath (go disaster relief!).

This picture was taken from our front porch last night--well before any of the 'real storm' hit us:



And though we had an uneventful night for sleeping, we found this outside this morning--a tree down in our backyard! Praise the Lord that it did not hit our shed, firepit or tree house.

River? No, Lake!

Last month, I posted pictures of the river that runs through our yard when it rains. Two weeks ago, severe storms (including tornados) came through our area and dumped the most rain at one time that we have seen. The small "river" that normally runs through our front yard turned into a standing lake! Thankfully, the water went down pretty quickly, though it washed away a good bit of mulch and topsoil from the flowers around my mailbox. We lost power for about five hours, but that was the worst of the damage to us. On the other side of Wake Forest, a tornado touched down and destroyed several homes (tornados also hit parts of downtown Raleigh as well). We rejoice that our only damage was a short-term lake in our front yard!












Date taken: April 16, 2011

A river runs through it

I have mentioned before that when it rains for any length of time, a river runs through our yard. The water drains from our neighbor's yard, across our driveway, through our yard and into the road. It has created a large washed out section in our front yard. This exposed area of red clay is the kids' new favorite place to play by digging in dirt and making a big mess. We need to figure out a good way to divert the water away from our yard. Any suggestions?

Playing in the snow, day 2-December 27, 2010

I have already posted several of these pictures, but click on the photo below to see all of the pictures from our second day playing in the snow!

Our beautiful green bathroom

This past weekend, Nathan tackled a project that has been on our 'home improvement list' since we moved into this house 2.5 years ago--painting the half bath. It's a very small bath, so it didn't take terribly long, and the paint has made the biggest difference in the room. Georgia now calls it our "beautiful green bathroom"--and you can see why below!







*Just in case anyone is just "dying" to know, the paint color is "Grass Cloth" by Behr at Home Depot :-)