Swedish Preschool

I just started watching this video, but after only a few minutes in, I am really loving it.  I love the way those little classrooms look-with the little lamps and the flowers and sticks.  I plan on watching the three part series.  I know some people get all uptight about where their kid goes to preschool.  I kind of tend to lean toward this idea: there is plenty of time to get serious about learning.  It's good to play and explore when children are little.

Here is the second video, and the third
  After living in Sweden for a month, I really was intrigued by their lifestyle.  I loved the way they biked everywhere, and I loved how everything looked beautiful.  I loved it (in a way) that there wasn't a single restaurant open at night.  (It is good for their country and for the food service industry-but rather annoying when you worked every night until 10 and then couldn't find any where to eat)  The whole town shut down on Midsummer's Day.  Their workers had weeks of vacation every year.

Wow, trip down memory lane.  I also remember that I loved the street signs, our backpacks were WAY too overstuffed, and I remember how all the men wore capris.

Major House Work

Right now I'm feeling the best kind of tired.  The tired that comes from working so hard for so long- but actually produced big results.  It's been a whirlwind the last 6 days!  My friends Amy and Chelsea and Amy's mom- Julie all flew out here for a week to purely revamp the downstairs apartment of our duplex home.  I haven't said a whole lot about it on this blog.  We had to evict the previous tenants and it was really ugly and the place was left a bit of a disaster.  I knew there was potential, but with a one year old, and a husband who works a lot we were moving at a snail's pace.  It felt like we would never get done.  And there were some projects that I physically and mentally couldn't tackle, like cleaning the fridge and the kitchen cabinets.  I am so blessed to have friends fly out here just to help us.  They were so generous, beyond words.  We also had family and friends watch Luna so we could all work.

It was crazy.  There were blood, sweat, and tears from the last 6 days.  We stayed up until 3 or 4 a couple of nights.  Julie surpassed us all and did a complete all nighter.  We were fighting.  Amy is my best friend.  We have lived together, we know each other too well.  We are too much alike.  We both are completely stubborn, and we both have a need to be right all the time.  Amy gets things done.  She is a hard worker.  One of the hardest workers I know and she has skills.  She knows what she's doing.  She isn't quite as much of a perfectionist as me, and this can bug me sometimes.  But she does a better job at getting things done than I do.  She was our pro paint roller.  And she cleaned the fridge.  I love her.  I can get so mad at her, but I love her.  And one day I'm going to win- we never had the arm wrestle rematch we had planned!

Chelsea came too.  I met Chelsea a few times when Amy was in college and really got to know her during Amy's wedding.  She is so much fun.  I love her.  She is also a hard worker and she is so strong.  She cleaned some nasty nasty stuff!  She learned some new skills and did an amazing job.  She did a little bit of everything.  She cleaned the kitchen cabinets and basically completely crawled into the cabinets.  She made us do push ups every morning.  I thought scrubbing 3 very textured ceilings with a rag was enough of a workout- but these girls say no excuses.  She can do 35 push ups.  We're talking real ones.  I  can do 15 pathetic ones, and only 6 decent ones with good form.  Sam showed us he could do 40 and he can still rock the one handed push up.  Amy can do 25.  Julie didn't really participate.  But she outworked all of us young whipper snappers and always started working earlier than us and always stayed up later.


Julie.  What can I say.  I love her, but she is cra cra.  She is so generous with her time and money.  She pulled an all nighter and worked nonstop on the kitchen cabinets.  She always read a devotion at meal time.  She asked two bored workers at Lowe's to be our personal shoppers.  They listened to us and walked through the whole store getting us what we needed.  Julie is the ultimate dumpster diver.  She spotted a little picnic table and outdoor car for free to pick up for Luna.

 I didn't know which knob I should go with so I picked up one of each at Hobby Lobby to try and pick!

 Sam is going crazy and starting to strip some of the molding.  That is a big job.

 Here is the ultra nasty refrigerator.

We fought, we laughed, we drank some wine, and beer.  We had a dance party.  We had a fight.  We watched several episodes of Parenthood.  We had good talks.  We listened to so much music.  We had devotions.  We prayed.  It was awesome.  I always wanted to be on an HGTV show and I think we have enough of a sob story (almost) to get on Extreme Makeover.  But I would never want to be on that show because I like to decorate and work and I would love to do the design work and the physical work.  They always whisk you away on those shows.  I now know why they always get so emotional.  It is such a transformation.  It feels like OUR house now.  Even though I threw a party down there, part of it was still gross.  It still needed a lot of cleaning.  I was tired.  We needed the help.  It was good for us to let go of control and accept help for once.  Sam and I are quick to help others, but we have trouble accepting help and admitting when we need it.  God was working on both of us during this time.  I had some convicting moments.  Moments when I knew I was so mean- why do I focus on the little tiny problem instead of seeing the big picture and being thankful?  Why do I need to be right.  Why do Sam and I always think we need to do everything on our own?  This was so good for us on many levels.  Sam just told me today that it all turned out better than he thought.  He's too sweet to admit it, but he was nervous to let 4 women take over.  He said that he was impressed that everyone knew what they were doing and were good at it.

While they were here we completely painted every surface with Kilz paint, after scrubbing every surface with TSP.  We took down all the upper kitchen cabinets and painted color in every room.  2 bedrooms, the dining room, living room and kitchen.

Update: I wrote this right after they left on Jan 17.  Right now we are stripping the entryway getting ready for the wood floors to be refinished.  I'll share more soon!

On Faith

Hmm, what to write, what to write?  Well life has been a little hard lately.  We haven't been able to live in the house that we bought a few months ago.  I have been spending time reading books and having chats with lawyers.  I do know that God is here and I have faith in Him.  It's not always easy when things aren't going your way.  I have been stressing, but everytime I start to feel sorry for myself I say a little prayer and ask for strength and comfort.  Sure, I complain and am stressed out and I don't really know why this has to be happening to us, but I do know that I have been met with the strength I need from God.  It's not like the stress of dealing with our problems goes away.  I still have to research it all and deal with this, but it has been more bearable.  I think I've only shed tears once, which is pretty remarkable for me.  Having a little dialog with God before I want to feel sorry for myself has been so good.  I still worry more than I should, I should trust more.  At least I know now that the more I trust the more at peace I feel.  I do know that in a few months we will be past this.  We will learn a lot and be much stronger.  One more chapter for the book of Becca and Sam's crazy adventure.  It seems that doing a conventional thing such as buy a house is a little more complicated for us.  I have been able to laugh at it all!  I do know that things could be so much worse.  We are all healthy and that is so good.  We aren't dying of starvation, we are safe.  Our life isn't going as we would have planned, but that's ok.  Hmm, sorry I can't really share more than that on here.  But I wouldn't be able to do a post showing that life is pretty and sweet right now.  In some ways it is, but behind the scenes we are dealing with a lot.  I am taking it one day at a time, and asking for patience.  Because the patience is starting to wear out.  Sam has been really swamped at work on top of this.  I do think our past experiences have made us more prepared for this.  And as Sam would say, we will definitely appreciate our house much more after all of this!

Where We Lived

As we've been thinking about where we want to live next. Buy, rent, or drive- I've been thinking about the different places we've been. We've had some awesome opportunities to live in some cool places. Many have been very tiny. We like living small. I love the opportunity to travel and see new parts of the world and meet new people and experience different cultures.

Right after we were married we spent a month in this tiny hotel room while we worked in Sweden.

Then for a few months it was one hostel to the next...
And then after 3 months of being married, we had our first place on Cherry Street in Denver. Completely furnished off of free stuff from Craigslist- we had an air mattress bed.

After only a month in Denver living in Denver we moved to Winter Park. We stayed in a little back end of a condo for 6 months.

Then we bought our van and headed all across the US, visiting my family in the midwest, and then Sam's out in Washington and then back to Colorado. We lived in our van down by the river for 3 months in Buena Vista.


Then we moved to a tiny apartment in this big old house in Eau Claire Wisconsin. We lived there about a year.

First the roof caved in in the closet, then we saw the mold, and then after I got shocked from the old wiring in the bathroom we knew we had to go. We stayed with friends for a month, I think? And then we stayed with Sam's boss out at this gorgeous place with acres of gardens.

Then we moved out to Washington to be innkeepers at this lodge. We were there for a year.
Then we moved to Spokane. We were in this apartment for a year. The first normal apartment ever.
Then we were in Berkeley California for 2 months.

Then we started housesitting at this beautiful home on the north side. We've been here about a year. We'll be here for 13 more days. I need to pack it up!
And next....

Who knows. We've been praying, we'll see. I'm going crazy. I think I'm having this nesting urge, with nowhere to go. I think we might move in with Sam's grandma until we figure things out. We were so close to buying this cute house and then it all fell through when we had the inspection. We were sad and disappointed, but now we're reevaluating things and trying to decide what we really should be doing. Stay tuned. Prayers are appreciated.

A Dream

I am so happy and full of joy.  I have exciting things to share with you all.  We are staying here.  Can you believe it?  Who wouldn't love to live in a charming apartment like this.  I feel like Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail, yes, I feel that I'm living straight out of a movie set.  I can walk down the street, pick a fresh bouquet of flowers, grab a coffee, get a baguette, and some fresh veggies from the market. 

Here it is.  We live in the upper front apartment (there are 4 total)  That turret (I think, I'm going to call it one anyway) in the upstairs corner is where I love to spend time sewing.  I love the three big windows.

You have a good view of our little balcony here.

Here are some of our neighbors.

This is a view from our balcony.

This is my work station.

Here is our cozy bed.

Ahh, the bay window.  I enjoy my breakfast here.  I also knit and read here.  

  A lady helped me pick out this cheery combination of flowers and then she wrapped it in tissue paper and tied it with twine.  I watched her do her magic as I waited my turn.  She is an amazing artist, she grabbed a flower here, a flower there and created a glorious arrangement, what a job.  I couldn't help but smile from the smell alone.  It didn't hurt that the flower stand was sandwiched between a french bakery and a fruit market.  I also grabbed an orange currant scone from next door (how could I resist)  I found all of these places accidentally while I was out getting laundry detergent.  I'll gladly run errands out here, it's such a pleasant, joyful experience.

Sam brought home a vase so I can contain some of those beautiful flowers and a few candles.  These little touches help make the place feel like home.  It is pretty bare, but it's simple and cozy enough.

Check out the built in bookshelves.  I am dying to fill them up.  I would gladly unpack and move in permanently, or take this place and the weather in my suitcase back with me to Spokane.

This is taken from the dining room looking into the hallway and then into the bedroom.  This place has two big rooms and a little hallway dividing it.  If you turn to the right, you can walk out onto the little balcony.

I love to read out here.  The smell of jasmine and magnolias perfume the air.

I hope you enjoyed taking a peak into where we are right now.  This is making up for all the hours spent sifting through craigslist ads.  All the e-mails that led to disappointment, we ended up in a charming location.  As always, in the end, with our crazy lifestyle it was worth it. I get to sit here instead of a boring old hotel.  I'm so amazed.  I don't know why God has blessed me with seeing so many beautiful places.  This is an experience I will never forget.