Welcome to my "Open Window"...a place of hope, encouragement, and adventure as we journey down the road from "Closed Doors" to the new opportunities God places in our pathway. I hope you will take the time to go back and follow the trail of mixed blessings and fears, failures and triumphs from the past and side-trips in the present. Perhaps it will conjure up some of your own special memories, and be an invitation for you to share with others. I look forward to spending this time with you!
What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Sunday, November 6, 2022
Sunday! A Quick Check In
Good Sunday Evening!
Thank you all for your kind and helpful and concerned comments on my last post HERE. I thought perhaps a little check in and update would be a good idea before things get too crazy here this week.
But first: This was our sunrise yesterday morning! I just thought that was so gorgeous I just had to stand there and sing the Doxology of praise to God! I posted this on Facebook, and I know some of you were singing along with me.
"Praise God from Whom All blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Amen"
Meanwhile, I've been VERY BUSY PACKING! If you are just tuning in, NO, we are NOT moving! But we are doing a major project inside our house...exchanging the nasty wrinkled carpet for new vinyl plank flooring, which looks like wood, but is totally waterproof and much less expensive than wood. I promise to post "after" pictures once it is complete. But here is how things look tonight after our marathon of packing up the dishes from the china closets, the books from the bookshelves, and myriads of other loose objects sitting around the three rooms that will have the new floor installed.
Since our son Scott has moved out recently, his room was available for the staging area...or storage or whatever you want to call it...and by the way, Scott did come home for a while on Saturday and helped us move some things around and was a big help. So thankful he is not too far away to still come home when we need him!! (And just to visit too!)
Thankfully he left behind two chest of drawers with mostly empty drawers, so I made use of that space to actually pack a good bit of the china/and glass dishes from the china cabinet.
Before:
After: (This antique china cabinet (and a lot of the china) belonged to my husband's "Nanny Martin")
(the little bookshelf on the left was built by our son Benton)
Most of the stuff from the Hoosier Cupboard (before...below): (Also from "Nanny Martin")
Went into boxes. (After). The hutch on the left was built for me by our son Benton several years ago. The top I use to display tea cups, etc., and the bottom houses office supplies.
And the Curio cabinet is now empty:
(one of the few pieces of furniture that we actually bought new quite a few years ago now!)
(before:)
And so is the antique secretary desk...(which also belonged to my husband's Nanny and Granddaddy Martin)
(Before:)
And the bookshelf is bereft of its books and family photos:
(Hubby and I built this bookshelf about 45 years ago!)
Before:
A LOT of those books need to go away...most are obsolete or textbooks or just books that we will never look at again, but they are not really the kind that other people would probably want either because they are a bit outdated. Many from our years of ministry. We've donated lots of books over the years to our public library and to church libraries, etc., but we still have these left. I may not be putting a lot of them back on the shelves when we are done with this project.
Oh, the Buffet is also devoid of any ornamentation: Again, another item from my hubby's Nanny and Granddaddy Martin's home...
And the table is also bare. Yes, this also came from Nanny and Granddaddy Martin's home. The original chairs are long gone, so we have this variety of chairs.
In the Master Bedroom (I think the proper politically correct term is now the Primary Bedroom or some other such description...LOL), anyway, we have cleaned off the vanity... (This was a gift to me from my father on my 18th birthday, a year before I got married, and is the only piece of furniture that I took with me to my new marital home. My dad had bought it at a used furniture store and then "antiqued" it a lovely shade of green, which was the style then over 50 years ago. About 20 years later I stripped off the green antiquing paint to restore it to its natural wood.) I didn't take any before pictures of the bedroom furniture...
Our two tall chest of drawers are cleaned off and ready...the one on the left is affectionately called "Aunt Dode's Dresser", and I believe I've written about that before HERE..., and the one on the right is my hubby's dresser, which came from his parents' home.
And this dresser below belonged to my maternal Grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa Tedlie. From what I understand, they had this dresser when they got married in 1901. Yes, the top veneer is kind of bubbled and warped, but it still serves us well and I wouldn't trade it for a new fangled dresser at any time! The large mirror that it used to have was long lost along the wayside in one of our many moves, but it was very very heavy and quite streaked with age and much of the silver backing was long gone, so I think we kind of just left it in a basement somewhere...
And so now we are ready and waiting for the workers to arrive on Tuesday morning. Tomorrow the flooring materials will be delivered.
And we will be sleeping in the Guest Room!! And yes, the bed came from my hubby's Paternal Grandparents, Grandpa and Grandma Steiner, as did the dresser on the far wall. The antique Singer sewing machine belonged to Nanny Martin. (The portrait on the far wall is of my paternal
Great Grandma Mursch)
And we will be very GRATEFUL when this is all over and done with.
I hope you've enjoyed the tour of the family "museum", as we lovingly call our home. Most everything we have came from some ancestor, and we are very thankful and blessed to have those special treasures and history to pass on to the next generation (if anyone wants them!)
Meanwhile, we did go to church this morning and enjoyed a wonderful message from our Pastor from John 10:1-21. If you are interested, you can see it HERE:
And you can sing along with us as we sing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"
"Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with thee
Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not.
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside!
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!"
Amen!
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You have accomplished a lot and what beautiful antiques, I have always wanted a Hoosier . rest well tonite ( did you see the pretty moon?) I just read that there will be an eclipse Tuesday morning. Amazing how we see god in nature and the night sky.
ReplyDeleteYou have such beautiful furniture! Treasures for sure. My husband and I need to replace our carpet too, but honestly all the work you just described is why we haven't done it yet! We really need to bite the bullet and just get it done. Can't wait to see the finished product!
ReplyDeletehahaha, your museum. Yes, God is faithful to us. It is a lovely song too I think.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a hassle free installation.
ReplyDeleteGreat is Thy Faithfulness is one of my favorite hymns.
Wow! That was a lot of work accomplished. 🥵 It will be wonderful if you are able to release some books that no longer have any meaning for you. I should join you in that effort! Happy flooring!
ReplyDeleteOh my, Pam, I sure don't envy you all the work you have done and still have to do. Whew! But you will have what feels like a whole new house with those new easy-to-care-for floors!! Nice that Scott could come home to help with the heavy lifting! Your master bedroom comment made me chuckle. I watch a lot of British TV and one show I enjoy is Escape to the Country. People are moving out of the big English cities and going to the country. They used to always say "master bedroom" but have since switched to "main bedroom". What's wrong with master? I guess it has other meanings we must not think about. Good grief!! Primary works very well, too!! Can't wait to see all the "afters"!!! xo
ReplyDeleteI love how you've filled your home with previously-loved furniture and accessories. Something no 'professional' decorator could accomplish, even if they tried. Like Cindy said, I think all this work is reason we haven't seriously entertained new flooring. Almost 5 years later, I'm still recovering from the cross-country move. (LOL)
ReplyDeleteThank you for including the doxology and the hymn. I love them both. Your house is a literal museum of memories! How wonderful! I have my Grandma Saathoff's antique washstand that was on her porch for many years. Also, Dennis's dresser from his childhood that had belonged to his Grandparents. The old furniture we have means more to me than anything new we could possibly have.
ReplyDeleteI gave my Hoosier cabinet to my sister when we moved a few weeks ago. She loves it.
When we moved to Spokane 30 years ago, the movers couldn't believe how many books we had. It was the majority of our possessions. We ALL love books. We have whitled them down and don't have quite as many, but still have a huge one in the yarn room and the two little ones in the living room. One thing I like about this place is that there are two libraries here. Lots of reading material to choose from.
Blessings,
Betsy
Blessings and love
Betsy
I think it's wonderful that so much of the furniture you have has a family history, Pamela. That makes it all the more special. I only have a few items that belonged to my grandparents and parents, but I'm thankful for those.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can't believe the great progress you've made in getting ready for the new floors! Can't wait to see the finished product.
Blessings!
Beautiful sunrise!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of work you have been doing to get everything ready for that new flooring. I have a lot of books that need to go away as well. You are inspiring me ...
Pam: You have accomplished a lot in a short period of time. I wait with bated breath to see the new flooring. We had plans to get new flooring for our kitchen but we have to get the first kitchen project done before we can begin that one. Peace and blessings to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful sunrise. Oh my, you have so much work to do but you will be so happy with the new flooring. You take care and don't overdue.
ReplyDeleteAmén.
ReplyDeletewww.rsrue.blogspot.com
Thanks for this detailed update, Pam, as you and John and son have been very busy with relocating things for the new flooring. I enjoyed reading about the history of your furniture as not many people save vintage pieces now. When, we emptied my late mother’s home, we kept nothing because the pieces were too large and we already had our own. And, when we left the VA home, we sold furniture to the new owner because it would have been too difficult to move and too large for the apt. It’s nice that you remember family members through your pieces.
ReplyDelete