Mother's Room Redo

When Charles was born the 'mother's room' at church was a bare room in the back of the sanctuary. Aside from a changing table and a few church folding chairs (you know the type) it was pretty uninviting. I'm not sure how long it had been like that but that was how it was as long as I had been going to the church. However, there weren't really any babies until the year before Charles was born. Then, all of a sudden there was a 'boom' and we had six babies in the church all within about a year. My friend, and fellow mama, and I approached some people at church about sprucing up the mother's room and we were given a budget. YEA! Shopping and decorating is still fun even if it's not for you. After a few trips to Ikea and Target the mother's room was transformed from a cold, bare room, to a warm, colorful and fun place to take our little ones during the service to nurse and play.
I don't have a before photo of the room but are the afters.




The room has been without a curtain for a few months because my sewing machine has been out of commission. With the move home just around the corner, and two new babies at the church, I wanted to make sure I got them sewed ASAP. So Monday night I went to a friend's house and used her machine (thank you Kimberly!) and finally got the curtains done. It feels good. (side note: these are my first curtains ever! Such an easy sewing project.. a little sad that I wont get to use them, but excited that they are going to be used in the mother's room of a church I love by people and babies I love)

Window (looking into the sanctuary from the back of the church) sans curtain...



Curtain being sewn..


Window all dolled up!


I'm happy that the finishing touch for the room is complete and really pleased about the transformation. We use the mother's room every sunday during the service and it is such a better space now. I sure will miss the time in there with my fellow mother's room friends and babes. Here are a few of us..

BUMP

Bridging Urban Ministry Project. BUMP. Something that really shaped my life. I could write a lot on this subject but I'll keep it short. I met my husband at my first BUMP in 1998. God began to develop in me a heart for the city. BUMP is what brought me to 2EFC church in Brooklyn, NY for the first time and I have now been living and serving at that church (with Chris) for the past six years. I believe BUMP helped to bring our group of friends from Youth Group closer together.

And so with this being the week of BUMP NY I thought I would pay tribute to some of the BUMPs gone by.
                    

A Whale of a Time

Thoughts for a Friday...

It's HOT! (106 degrees with a heat index of 114 to be exact.) A few days ago I was seeing all my MN friends on facebook posting about the blasted weather and now that weather has come to Brooklyn. Should I blame Margaret and Anthony for 'bringing it with them from MN'?? No, but I will be relaxing in the AC and playing in the pool with my favorite boy :)
On that note, upon entering the house after being outside one day earlier this week I had to thank God once again for providing us with the means to purchase our window ac last summer. Holla

Today, despite the fact that I was wearing a cute skirt and strapless top it just got to the point where sticking my legs in the water wasn't enough so I sat down in the pool with Charles and Hailey fully clothed and didn't care. It't too hot to care.

Tomorrow night we are attending a wedding Garba (which is an Indian celebration) for our friends who are getting married in two weeks. He is Indian and she is Italian. It's going to be the fanciest wedding we have ever been to and I am SO excited. She was one of my first close friends here in Brooklyn and I am so happy for her. One of my friends from church lent me a chaniya choli outfit to wear to the Garba and a traditional Indian outfit of her husbands for Chris, even a little one for Charles too! fun!

I didn't hear about the bombing in Oslo until this afternoon after we came in from the pool. I am thankful that our friends in Oslo are all ok. Please pray for Oslo and that God would use this incident as a way to bring people to Him. Klem til Norge.

In five weeks we *could* be back in MN. We wont be leaving before the 20th but it looks like it will be some time during the week of the 22nd. AH! I have so much to do! Not one box has been packed.. Goal for next week while we have Margaret here is to start packing.

Heading to Coney Island tonight for the fireworks. Perhaps a bad idea in this heat but hoping that it will be cooler near the water with the breeze off the ocean.  Wondering what Charles will think of the fireworks this summer now that he is a little older. This will be his third time including two summers ago when he was still in my belly.

Earlier this week I bought some rhubarb because it was on sale and then got some from a friend who got it from her father-in-law's garden. She brought it over along with some blueberry rhubarb upside down cake. mercy.  I love rhubarb.. now what should I make? Thinking I will try my hand at my Grandma's famous Rhubarb dessert and make another batch of strawberry rhubarb crisp. yum

Share The Love

I saw this link on another blog I read and since I'm all about sharing the love I thought I would put it on here for you to have privy to as well. Parties are fun. Invitations are fun. And free party invitation are even MORE fun! There are a few on here that make me want to throw a party for just so I can use the invitation. Check them out!

Photo from HGTV.com

CLICK HERE TO VIEW INVITATIONS

Weekend Adventures

Getting ready for a move across country is a big task! First thing on the list? Downsize! I was just going to take a bunch of stuff to Salvation Army but a friend of ours is moving as well so we decided to pool our stuff together and have a stoop sale first. One thing I have learned about Chinese culture by living in this neighborhood is that they don't really buy things that have been used. If it's free, regardless of the quality, they'll take it, but used? nope. With that being said, we knew going into it that it wouldn't be a big money maker, and it wasn't.



On our second day, which was also our last, we decided to make a huge sign that said FREE for the last hour or so to see if people would take stuff and lessen our load of things to haul to the Salvation Army. Worked like a charm! We got rid of almost everything on our table as well as a lot of the clothes. Everything left over fit into a few boxes/bags in the back seat and most importantly, we got rid of a bunch of stuff! I am sure there will be a few more trips to Salvation Army (as well as some postings on craigslist for some larger items) in the next few weeks, but it feels good to make a dent.

On Saturday we headed for the upper west side to take in the Museum of Natural History. Some people feel obligated to pay the full amount of a suggested donation admittance, I however am not one of them. I paid a dollar a piece for the three of us (which would have cost us $32) and we spend the afternoon at the museum with our friends Dion and Janet and their new baby Samuel. Charles loved the fish, animals and dinosaurs- although walking into the room and seeing the herd of Elephants was scary at first!


(I apologize for the poor quality of some of these photos- they were all taken on my phone)







 


We had a great time with our friends.


Afterwards we headed to the Shake Shack. Ohmygoodness. Awesome burgers and one of the best chocolate shakes I have ever had. Ever. No wonder the line is always out the door!

 
We will definitely be going back there again before we move home- though I am really looking forward to finally consuming a famous Jucy Lucy at Matt's!
And to top off our fun weekend our friend Nate was in NY and we got to spend Sunday with him. Here he is with Charles who is shamelessly giving his girlfriend the flirty eye. Boy did he love making her smile! He is such a charmer!

The Big Announcement...

We are moving back to Minneapolis!


God is calling us back to our roots and although it is bitter sweet, we are excited for this new adventure. Please pray with us as we search for jobs and a place to live. We don't have a moving date yet but it will be sometime towards the end of August.. just in time for the FAIR!!!

For Becca..

Can you tell who that is??? Leslie and Charles are total BFF's :)

Showing Our Patriotism