The Downtown Farmhouse

Dad is in the hospital …….. again. 

It’s always serious if you are admitted to the hospital but this time it just seemed to be harder. 

Hospitals are busy and loud. So many sick people and no one is more important than your person. 

The ER was slap full. 

If you aren’t from my English class, slap means ridiculous. People everywhere. In the halls, in the rooms, standing, sitting and all the places in between. 

Dad laid in the ER for 26 hours. In the hall.

Now my person is no more sick or important than other people’s persons but I don’t want my person to be in the hall sick for 2 hours, let alone 26.

Long story short. He’s in a room. It’s been a rough week but things are looking up and hopefully he’s coming home soon. He’s got chairs to paint for goodness sake.

This morning I was picking up around the house and I found a few books I wanted to give to Mom. 

I gathered them up and walked through the shared door into Mom and Dads place. 

I lay the books in Moms chair and notice her Bible is open on the couch.

I always know that there is Bible reading going on every morning.

I am nosey.

Job? 

Oh my word! Dads in the hospital and she’s reading Job. Job went through some super bad stuff. Why Job? 

Well highlighted in her Bible was Job 5:9.

And it says “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,  miracles that cannot be counted.”

Miracles that cannot be counted. Too many to count? Wow! 

Do you believe it? 

People are hurting. My friends are hurting. 

So many are bleeding. Bleeding from hurtful words. Bleeding from lies and distrust. Bleeding from loneliness and bitterness. Bleeding from their own self loathing. Torment and torture. My heart breaks.

Here’s a reminder.

Job 5:9 “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”

People are facing trials. They are going up against unmeasurable odds. There are uncertainties and questions. Why me? Why you? 

Moms words “everyone has stuff.” 

Not tangible stuff 

Life stuff.

She’s got Dad.

Dads got Mom 

My job title is takin care of old people and babies.

We’ve all got stuff.

It’s really easy to get wrapped up in our stuff. It completely consumes our life sometimes.

Don’t forget to look outside your box and see the hurt around you. Someone might need to hear Job 5:9. 

Just for kicks x 3, it says “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” 

Believe it. 

This room give me all the feels.

It’s far from done.

I have pictures to hang 

A beautiful rug to find

The fireplace is a wreck. 

But just take it in

This room has the prettiest floors

Just look at my piano. It’s a story all by itself. 

Today I’m focusing in on the light.

During the bulk of renovation, I had to choose light after light after light. By the time I got to the parlor, I was over it. I chose a random, nothing special pendant light. 

I hated it from day one. 

Recently I have been cruising the internet for a new light. 

This is what caught my eye. 

It’s called an orb.

I like it!!

$300? I don’t think so. I can think of many other things I want to spend $300 on than a light. 

Next best thing? Make it yourself.

A few days later a sweet friend offered me this chandelier. I knew exactly what I would do with it. 

Step one: take it apart

The candle part is what I really wanted. 

What to use for the orbs?

It can’t be too heavy

It has to be able to be screwed into.

Needs to be paintable.

Wooden Embroidery hoops from Hobby.

2 @ $6.99 with 40% off of course 
A little spray paint 

Looks like metal huh? 

Another day on a giant ladder hanging it up.

Just look at the beautiful shadows it creates on my beadboard ceiling. 

No longer a ho-hum light in the parlor. 

Loving it! 

This wall 

Right here

Plain and boring 

It’s the wall you see as soon as you enter the front door

I wanted it to make a statement. 

I wanted shiplap.

You know, the Joanna Gaines famous shiplap? Yep….that shiplap. 

I was even ok with faux shiplap that was cheaper and you spaced it with nickels. Confused yet? 

Well shiplap would cost more than I wanted to spend and currently the carport has taken over my bank account, all of our time and most of our energy. 

Plan B.

Almost free and something I can do alone 

My google search included :

Front entry accent wall 

Stenciled wall

Gray/blue accent wall

What stencil would look good on a front entry accent wall

You get the idea 

So I headed to Michaels one day and just happened upon the perfect pattern. $9.99 are you kidding me? Plus I had a coupon. Woohoo!!!

There was paint in my stash.  I just mixed  me up a little concoction of the perfect color. 

Get to work!

Looking pretty good. My ever constant companion was a super helper. Yeah right. 

Not bad 

This is pretty fun

I finished up both sides.

Then there was the top.

Good grief people, I climbed to the top of this 40′ ladder, taped the stencil on hanging halfway upside down and proceeded to paint the stencil while having little to hold onto. 40′ is the only thing I’m exaggerating on. 

I finished. 

I was not happy.

Every little pattern had flaws.

What in the world was I going to do?

I would fix it. 

Every pattern I would have to retouch, repaint, fix.

There were hundreds. 

This is where I cried. 

I was having company in 3 days and one of those days I was junkin with my girls. Priorities. Right? 

How would I ever finish? 

What do I do best? 

I make new things look old. I take the ugly and make it pretty.

So instead of perfectly shaped stencils…..

I grabbed my sanding block and I sanded both walls. It created this beautiful old looking, vintage pattern.

Some of the paint was removed.

The lines were not perfect and I began to love what it was becoming. 

I swiped a little paint here. 

I swiped a little paint there. 

I had paint all over my fingers from rubbing and smearing.
Our house is 114 years old.

Why would I want it to look new anyways? 

I finished just in time for company. 

Is it perfect? No, but neither am I.

Have a blessed week!

Charma 

Well that’s not exactly true.

I actually have many words but not sure how to adequately express them. 

Last week we prepared for Baby Jacks dedication day. Many know of Christenings but we celebrate dedications as we dedicate our children to God. We choose to raise our children, leading them with Gods love and then when they are  old enough to decide for themselves, we pray diligently that they will choose to Love and Serve God as we do.

Sunday mornings  are full of Jack and Pops. 

Just look at the bow tie💜

There were many family members and friends invited to Church of Hope to witness the dedication. Steve and I have attended COH for many years so we are grateful for friendships that we have. People have walked beside us as we struggled as Courtney (Jacks Mom) wandered from home and our family. There was never any doubt of love but there were many months that we would wonder if she was safe and was she really happy living the life that she had chosen? 

Yesterday morning as I entered the Auditorium to prepare for band practice, I sat in the back and thought of how far we had come. 

In a  couple of hours we would be celebrating the miracle of Baby Jack. We would watch as his parents openly confess to raising him to strive for and reach for Gods guidance in his life. 

We are so incredible blessed by the people who love and support our family.

When Pastor Mark offered a prayer at the end of the dedication, he asked if anyone wanted to come to the front and stand with the kids. 

I’m still teary eyed as I see the amount of people surrounding my little family. To be loved is no joke. 

We returned to the house for lunch. 

Jack had a full morning and went upstairs for a snack and a nap. 

When he can down, everyone wanted him. There is no better thing than to  watch as his friends and his family love him.

4 generations 

Thank you those who drove from afar to be with us yesterday. Your presence made our day better than ever imagined. 

Thank you to my Mom for helping to keep the food flowing. You are the best. 

Thank you to our church family for loving and supporting my sweet little family. You will never know how much we love you.

Thank you to the family who are in the trenches with me. For cleaning and hanging pictures when there is company coming. You know who you are and I love you. 

Thank you Heavenly Father for filling my life with such joy. 

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.      Joshua 24:15

My son was born today.

His birth story, no matter how long ago was a doozy. 

Getting pregnant was NOT hard for me. Staying pregnant was.

My first pregnancy resulted in a daughter. 

Courtney was 2 years old when we found out we were going to have another baby. Four months into the pregnancy, there was no longer a beating heart and the pregnancy was lost. We were devastated.

Months later we are pregnant again. Fear set in. When you have suffered a miscarriage, so many negatives are brought into the equation. 

Will I lose this baby too? Will I go into pre-term labor like I did with Courtney? How will I care for her if I have to be bedridden again?

3 months and it seems as if all is well.

Each year we would child sit for some friends while they would go skiing. 

We packed up our belongings and headed out to their  home. Their daughters were both elementary school age and I would mother the two girls along with Courtney who was almost 3 years old at the time. Steve would go to work as usual and life would proceed.

Our friends welcomed us to their home. We spoke of details of the week. We all hugged goodbye, sent our friends off for their ski adventure, gathered the girls and headed upstairs. As soon as I reached the middle of the staircase, I felt a steady flow of blood had decended my leg. I looked at Steve, he knew something was up and we immediately finished the climb and headed to the bathroom. 

I was beside myself with fear. This can’t happen again. I don’t think I’m strong enough to have to say goodbye to another child. Why? Why is this happening? 

We called the obstetrician, who had been with us through the tumultuous pregnancy with Courtney, and he said for us to come in. 

In the meantime, the girls who were old enough to know something was up, were instructed to NOT TELL MOM and DAD that there was a problem because there was absolutely nothing they could do. They would want to come home and we wanted them to enjoy their time away.

The Dr said that so far everything was ok but that I had a condition called placenta previa which was what caused the bleeding. I would have to monitored closely and I would need to remain very still for at least a few weeks. As my pregnancy progressed and if the placenta did not move to its rightful position, an alternative birth plan would need to be discussed. 

Why couldn’t  I just have a baby and it be easy??? 

In the meantime, Steve now had to be mom and dad to 3 little girls and be caretaker to me because I was not  allowed to be up and definitely not to be going up and down stairs. 

So he took the week off work,

He took the best care of us all and the only thing he didn’t do, was fix hair. Each and every morning he would rise, make breakfast for everyone, help everyone get ready for school and one by one they would come to me with hair essentials in hand and the beauty shop would begjn. He made sure everyone was dropped off, picked up, fed and cared for like nobody’s  business. What a guy. 

After months of worry and having to wear a belly brace that kept the weight of a baby off of a placenta sitting in the wrong place, Kyle Steven Kern was born on August 17, 1989 weighing in at 8 pounds and 7 ounces. He was born without having to have a cesarean because God decided that the placenta would move into its rightful place. 

Baby Kyle with his Mimi

One of my favorite pictures 

College grad 

Happy Birthday Kyle,

We are not together today but I won’t be disappointed because we try hard, as a family to make every day we spend together special and rewarding. You have grown into a man I am extremely proud of.

We speak often. The topics of conversation that I think about make me giggle. You are so smart and I am in awe of your knowledge. I watch and listen as you learn and grow in your field. I try to understand when you explain intellectual things but I am so grateful when you will talk reality TV with me. You are the only one willing and I love you for it.

You are not only a wonderful son, but a tender hearted grandson and already the best Uncle Jack could ever dream of having. I am blessed to be your Mom. Happy birthday!

I love you more than words could ever say.

Your life is beautiful and I am ever so grateful to have a front row seat.

Love,

Mom

After the roof on the carport was complete, the walls were next. 

Ya’ll…calling the walls “walls” is a big stretch. The owner who built the garage in the 70’s decided to puzzle piece the walls together with whatever he could get his hands on. I’m sure in the 70’s, code was non existent and whatever was good.

Many years and many bad repairs resulted in cutting walls with a sawzall.

The walls had weeds and more weeds growing through them.

Behind the plywood and the weeds, there were old windows.

What????? Old windows??? Be still my heart.

Do I want them? What do you think?

Each weekend, we tore down one section of wall. We could only do one wall at a time because we could leave the walls open for all the word to see our beautiful junk! 

Plus, it was hard, stinking, dirty, disgusting hard, sweaty, boiling in the sun work. Thank goodness we couldn’t do more than one wall at a time.

Here’s a close up of one of the walls.

The boards aren’t even touching the floor. Not much structurally integrity do you think? 

New walls going up! 

One of the best days during this renovation was when our electrician showed up to give us lights!

Lights I say!!!

No more stretching extension cords from the house. Glory!!!

This week we are getting ready for the garage door people to come do a last measure and we are starting to give things a permanent home.

Look at my color coordinated spray paint wall.

Whoop Whoop!

The small things make me happy.

Be happy friends, it’s a great day.

Charma 

The Old House had an extra added benefit when we bought it. 

Now some people might have thought it was just an eyesore……which it was, but you have to look past the roof that looked as if it would cave in at any second and walls that had weeds growing through them. 

Instead we saw potential!!

5 carport bays!

A workshop!

So much potential!!!!

We are not blind. We saw the wall rot and the rusty roof.

We saw the uneven concrete floors and the sagging doors.

Yeah we saw it all. 

The carport has always been Phase II and about 8 weeks ago, Phase II moved to the top of the list. 

Good grief, you would think we could start an outdoor project in a month other than June. 

Roof quotes were received. Wow roofers cost a lot!! But roofing is one thing this do it yourself family does not do. 

Goodness gracious, with a new roof it will look brand new, right? 

The old rusty bent up metal roof was removed. 

Some pieces were repurposed into a friends chicken coop roof (I love that!) 

Some pieces were saved for a later on project and the rest………left with the roofers 😦

Lots of repairs and many dollars added to the quote but a new roof was completed  and it looks great! 

The carport was open on the end facing the street. 

We (as in Steve) built a wall to close up the end so that everyone could stop basking in the beauty of all our junk. Cause we have a lot of precious junk.

I’ll be back later with more of the time stealing story.

New walls 

New columns

More junk 

And we are almost ready for garage doors! 

Be blessed friends,

Charma 

One year ago today we had a wedding on the front porch of the old house.

It was a magical and very hot evening full of love, family and friends as we witnessed the marriage of Justin and Courtney.

From the moment Courtney’s Papa drove her to the aisle

As she was greeted by her Dad

Kyle officiated the marriage of his sister while we watched in awe of God’s wonderful blessings.

We retreated to the back yard and the glorious spread of food. Thank you to such wonderful friends who helped prepare and serve so that I could complete my Mom of the bride duties!

We danced and sang and the evening was a great success.

Not too many weeks after returning from their honeymoon, we all went a little crazy over the news of a baby!

Jack Wissinger entered the world May 8, 2017 and now today, 1 year later, within the old house, we live. 6 adults, 1 baby boy, 2 dogs a cat and a turtle.

Life is good and who would ever have imagined such a year.

Happy anniversary to my kids.

Here’s to many more!

Love,

Mom

For years, Thursday nights are marked out on my calendar for small group. 

When we moved to Ocala in 2010, we joined a small group. A few years later, I became one of the hosts. 

People have come and people have gone. 

Last night I led small group.

I had zero thoughts on what to lead on. For a couple of weeks I have been listening to a podcast by Jen Hatmaker titled “for the love of girlfriends” so why not talk about friendship. 

I am not a public speaker. 

I am usually tongue tied and tripping over my words but last night, not so much.

As I prepared my notes, I googled “bible study on friendship.” 

The one common denominator was the story of David and Jonathan.

Interested? Check out I Samuel Chapter 20.

I am blessed with friends but it hasn’t always been easy. I spoke about how I had I’ve had friends that I brought very close to my heart and they broke my heart into pieces. It makes it difficult to step back into those kinds of relationships so I just didn’t. I had many acquaintances but close to the heart friends, not so much. It was easier to stay just far enough away so that I couldn’t get hurt. 

We read the story of David and Jonathan together.

We shared how small group added a dimension to our lives that could not be a coincidence.

We talked about how we have to be a friend to make a friend and how we should choose our friends wisely. 

Most of the time there is never idle talk at small group but last night just seemed to be different.

I thought maybe my topic was shallow and not enough of Christ centered conversation but I discovered that I was not alone in the friend department.

Some shared of their longing for a friend that is close to the heart. Some shared that they have one true friend and they were happy with that.

Conversations led to great discussion and even some tears. When there are topics that reach deep down, it allows us to pray for specifics. 

I shared with Steve when I got home from small group about our converstion.

I shared that he was my friend that sits right on my heart. My best friend. The person I love to spend time with the most. He is my person. 

Then I have two friends that sit right above him on my heart.
They allow me to be me. They love me and tell me when I’m stupid. 

I shared privately with someone after about my friends. I shared that we yard sale together. I said that sometimes we cry in the car from one sale to the other. We also laugh until our 50 something bladders fail. I will not take for granted that I have not one but two friends that help me be a better person. 

And at the end of small group one more thing happened. 

We have one group member that I am in awe of. She thinks to do things that I would never have thought of.

She had purchased a bottle of frankincense and myrrh. She took the bottle, and we as a group anointed our group family members that are suffering in one way or another. 

Ya’ll……..Jesus was making his presence in that room in a big way! That’s what friends do for one another. 

I love a blessed life.

Perfect? Goodness NO. But you people, my small group people, you know who you are, I hold you close to the heart. 

Have you ever just sat in the airport and people watched? 

Maybe not all airports are so full of many different nationalities and languages but Orlando International is. 

It’s impossible to know but I sometimes sit and watch and wonder what their stories are.

This family. 

They stand in the middle of the airport terminal and they cry.

The little girl weeps and cries as the older couple walk away. Her mommy picks her up and hugs her and she has tears streaming down her face.

Will they see each other soon?

I wonder. 

These two. 

Maybe mother and daughter saying goodby?

Goodbye for a little while or a long time. Who knows. But it’s obvious they are sad to be saying goodby.

There is this  cute family sitting beside me.

Mom hands out snacks to the kids.

They are so well behaved and dressed like a magazine ad

Mom wears a head scarf and she has a gold tattoo on her hand. She is stunning. I hear her accent. Where is she from?

Gosh I really want to know. She could be from Florida going to visit her Uncle Fred in Wyoming but my wild imagination has her from an exotic foreign country married to a King of somewhere.

Why is this young girl in a wheelchair?

She could have sprained her ankle but my mind goes to her being the poster child for the upcoming Jerry Lewis Muscular Distrophy Telethon. 

Whatever the cause, they laugh and smile and are obviously glad to be here. Mickey Mouse welcomes you! 

Now that I’m done taking rouge pictures of total strangers, the real reason I’m here today is to pick up the parents from their Ohio adventure.

Flying is not their thing but under current circumstances, it’s the best option.

I’ve said more times than I can count the last month,  “stop talking about it and just do it.” 

As I watch people with their people, I’m grateful that my people are close. Most are in my backdoor while some are a car ride and extended is only a plan ride away.

Hug your people when you are blessed to have them in your presence. 

Oh I gotta go……..mine deserve a hug.