THIS OLD HOUSE ...

She is sold....to a couple who said, "I wish there was an antique house for sale in Round Top...."  And then our friend Sandy took them to see this jewel.  I remember when we moved this old house onto the property in 1997 where it sits. We discovered under the old porch by the kitchen on a HUGE hand hewn beam the words written in large script..."IN GOD WE TRUST".  It is still there under the original kitchen door under the new porch which is now the guest house cottage here with the red roses. What an incredible blessing this house was and what great memories and how many people passed by or visited or dug or cut so many flowers to share or attended the many, many fourth of July Parade get to gethers in the front yard with Mom and Dad's old Antique Round Top Fire Truck! !  We had at least 60 people every year!

This old house....this beloved old house that gave us the best 14-15 years of GRANDKID  AND ADOPTED GRANDKID TIMES AND MEMORIES a MIMI AND GRAND DAD COULD EVER HAVE!!!  Thank you Lord for those precious, PRECIOUS years. Many wonderful memories. This old house was moved from less than a mile away to where it sits now.  A story and history later and there's also many fun times written about here from the past 7 years on this blog.  We are now living in a little larger "small town" twenty minutes away and in a more manageable cottage home as we begin our older years, nearer our church, the little airport where Dick plays, grocery stores, doctors and some of our favorite children.  We absolutely love our new spot!!!  God is so good and I love HIM WITH ALL MY HEART!!! THANK YOU Lord for teaching me so much, especially patience and how to wait on You!!!   

The picture below was the beginning of this house project... it all began when Dick came home one morning from coffee in Round Top and said, "Annie Schatte showed me a house to be moved!...and it is is only $2750. dollars to be moved!" After seeing it, we HAD to buy it and two years later moved it to the recently purchased acre from Gloria Hickey.  The Yoakums moved it there in two pieces...we have a video of the move!!  On that pasture acre were only three trees at the time! ... and now an empty shell of an antique house that had raised nine children less than a mile away in the early 1900's !  I got to meet many relatives and one family member that lived there.  So I would say we were quite busy for the next fourteen years, building, improving, planting, playing and even having church with our loved friends!!  Below is the foundation of the garage/shop with the house in two pieces in the background.

The pointed design around the porch came from the idea I saw in Fayetteville on an old 100 year old store front.  The larger antique doors came from LaGrange that I bought from a dealer. Our fabulously talented local Marburger Brothers and their great crew of local boys figured it out.  I have NEVER KNOWN ANY CARPENTER BUILDERS as talented as those boys!! Everything they learned was learned growing up in this community and they just had the total common sense and knowledge of quality workmanship!!! All the front windows are the original cypress windows with old glass.

I'll miss that ten foot high BREEZY PORCH!!  I spent many many hours out there , especially with the great kids that loved to spend much playing time at that house.
Rockers all across the porches! And singing birds all day all the time, even my crazy Mockingbird who followed me all over the yard!!!
I'll miss sitting and looking out at the so many private and beautiful views of my roses and flowering trees, watching the many bluebirds that love the open countryside.  The little playhouse came with us to our new spot....Elena , age five insisted!!  So off she went!!  17 miles to a new back yard!

I will truly miss the CONSTANT pickings of antique fragrant roses!! I NEVER lacked for a beautiful bouquet that to me spoke of God's love for us in such created beauty!!
I continued to bring the roses to my new cottage until the house would be sold....maybe one more bouquet next week, then they will bloom for another family to enjoy!! Funny, I missed the roses more than any of the things or stuff there decorating the inside! The outside was my sanctuary!


A recent journal page...says exactly what I feel...."When you give something up .... you gain something more."  For me also was Freedom from too much.....Rest from worry.....Letting God....and letting go!  It is a good thing to let go....even if it hurts....because God is faithful to be what really fills you like nothing else can.

SORRY THESE ARE UPSIDE DOWN!!  They are pictures of the original house around late 1800's and early 1900's with the family standing in front....and the very same windows and glass it has today!! 

A picture, in 1999 of my precious and loved Mother in her wheelchair going up into the house for the first time! My devoted Dad and Galdino, Dad's adopted son at heart from Mexico helping get the wheels rolling! She was most excited!!!! Over flowing with glee!!!  My heart is full.  Then in 2008 we had a Christmas open house and home tour ....it was a blessing as usual, as we met many sweet people!!
The end of an era, from what started below!! I never knew we had it in us....but then we really didn't....it was all GOD'S BLESSING and I know that now as I look back!!
It's true.... His Word is a Lamp unto our feet...if we allow it....in all my stubborness I am so thankful that HE persists to push and prod and love and forgive us onward!!!  Just like a LOVING parent would do....He is our best parent and our only hope in the end..... I am so thankful .... my life is pretty complete.  I pray Dick and I have many more days to serve Him and show Him that we are thankful for His Saving Love inspite of ourselves.  And so thankful for our children, all of them!  Thankful for the huge mix of various cultural backgrounds in friends that graced us with their support and love over the years. I pray there is something here said that blesses you and encourages you in searching for Him and His truth.  In His Care....Sherry and Dick

AT HOME .....

The picture above was the beginning to which I began to find the story within....which is on top.

AT HOME.......Words that have become paramount in this season of my (our ) life!  Words that were given to my heart and mind as I prayed for direction with our downsizing move.  The year and a half we have taken to clean and glean the STUFF in our lives, the stuff we have gathered through the years of living..... precious memories, hard memories, things from loved ones gone, too much furniture, too many antiques, way too many frames for art, and way too much fabric and art.  We were excited about our new adventure and the momentum was energizing ..... and we were on a roll moving forward and never looking back.  But we were getting tired ..... really tired, really really tired!  And then began to look at the past years and all the hard work lovingly building the house of our dreams ..... and the yard of our dreams with fabulous porches .... all 2.5+ acres of it!!  Hosting people in our B and B and welcoming new people into my shop each week.  And then I got a little confused (slightly depressed maybe) thinking .... WHY HAVE WE SPENT THE LAST FOURTEEN YEARS BUILDING SOMETHING SO BEAUTIFUL TO ONLY HAVE THE DESIRE TO LEAVE IT!!??  And then thinking ....  WILL YOU BE AT HOME IN LAGRANGE IN THE SMALLER HOUSE OR IN THAT TOWN?  I asked people to pray for me, as I was also not feeling well at that time, and just really really tired, mentally and emotionally!!  I know they were praying because I would awaken in the middle of the night from sleep with profound thoughts ..... like questions from God ..... "Where IS Home?"  .....  "Do you really want to feel At Home?"   "To be at peace in your home?"  "You created a beautiful place, ... but it became difficult to enjoy because of so much work...."  "Do you need all that you had?"  "Can you let go of special things?....because you can't take it "Home" with you....." ....wow, you mean to Heaven?, I thought.  Yes, that is the real HOME, when we get there, but what about before we get there? .... then I had a visual ..... of ME BEING THE HOME WHERE HE LIVES IN ME! .... like a house!!!  So as I wrote and listened and prayed and gave thanks too..... I finally realized, ..... That I need to work on the place where He DWELLS..... and that is inside my soul.  I need to have HIM there so comfortable that He is AT HOME THERE... in my soul...  OK, A couch potato on the couch of my soul..... Wow, where did that thought come from!!?? Ha, but really, HOW COMFORTABLE is He or are you with HIM REALLY DWELLING INSIDE (Your) MY SOUL.....not just on Sunday, but every minute of the day....  Oooo now that's what I am talking about!!!  Yes!!! When He dwells in me, I am AT HOME WHERE EVER I LIVE!!!  EVEN UP ON A LEAF ON A STEM OF A GIANT FLOWER!! Climbing that little ladder..... That is where this art piece comes in.... I did the MYSTELE (you'll find her by clicking on STUDIO THRIVE/MYSTELE to the left in my list of favorites.) style of  collaging, doodling, writing, paint dripping, smearing and playing for the picture/story to appear in it .... had to come from my soul, ... what has been in my thoughts for several weeks!!! So enjoy!!!  He DOES HEAR YOUR PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS .... AND HE ANSWERS.  You have to be still (or even asleep) and listen.  We are finally getting closer to being completely moved and THIS WEEK I got ALL MY ART SUPPLIES  on shelves!!! That also feels "AT HOME" for me.  I am thinking AT HOME is actually doing something you love with Him living in your heart and getting to do it with you!!! .... or He is doing it "through" you because He lives inside!!!  So many empowering thoughts that have warmed and comforted my heart!!! We look forward to the resting with AT HOME in us ....!  BLESSINGS!!!  I am adding what we read today in Sunday School!!! PERFECT for this art and my thinking!! 
www.biblegateway.com 
click on the above link to go straight to the verses, or here are the references,
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
2Corinthians 5:1-9
Romans 8:22-25

FEBRUARY TRIMMINGS & PROGRESS

Archduke Charles antique rose with one from the Mutabulis rose bush. The white roses are called Ducher The before picture in grey of our future house and with a little work done in yellow below.... The big fat rose bud below is a different rose, salmon in color when bloomed....can't think of the name. The progress on our downsizing has been slow, but the growth of February roses, Ducher antique rose bush to be exact, was progressing like a burst of Spring! We always trim all of our antique roses around Valentines and Labor Day. These roses were what I picked up from laying in the yard before they cleaned all the extra growth they trimmed over the warm winter. I put them quickly in a vase and photographed them for future art or painting, BUT they are too beautiful like this to try and duplicate in a drawing or painting!!! I took the photos inside that evening as they sat by my chair where I work on the computer....the smell was glorious. The pink/red ones are the antique rose bush Archduke Charles, hedge we have in front of the small cottage. They bloom almost all year!!
THEN a quickie photo of the "before 1960's house" on one third of an acre, we purchased to remodel and to downsize to 20 miles away....and "a recent house picture with the addition in front changing the front profile", plus the doors and enclosing of the big garage for my studio! The house is not painted as that is the primed color of the hardy panel....but I am thinking a soft light buttery yellow with white shudders and trim would be so happy looking, especially when I get roses around it!! We will eventually add a nice big porch and other things including a garden in the back...plus the children's play house will go back there. More photos later. We are working madly to get enough done to move into it. We rented a storage unit as we can't seem to throw away enough old goodies.....and are putting people off for a while longer who are wanting to see and possibly purchase the beautiful big house on three acres we built/restored and have lived in for thirteen years ....we don't even have it on the market or appraised yet! We are getting tired and have had two garage sales and will have a bigger moving sale during the Antiques Fair in Round Top.....whew!!!! I am definitely ready for less work and stuff and a little more relaxing!! Blessings to you all. Sorry I haven't blogged...we have been too busy to breathe!

TRAINING IN WAITING....by TRUSTING

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEYTON!!!!! ARE YOU HAVING FUN TODAY!!?? Maybe my new banner for the blog.....or am I too attached to the old one? All with a ball point pen....fun doodling and some color.....bliss!! Who knew?! ...Alisa Burke did!!! Love her class! More ball point pen doodling....such fun!! I discovered this on the chalkboard after the children went home .... Pilar drew this !! She is 10 and going to be baptized in two (weeks) Sundays.... I would say she is excited!! I would love this on an invitation..."Today is Sunday!" There are a lot of activities for the youth on Sunday at our church....so happy when the kids look forward to going! Waiting is not one of my pluses .... and I am learning to accept someone else's (God's?) timing. Actually, I am at peace with the timing of our "downsizing" progress .... sort of up in the air until the next project is finished and we move on to the following item that usually we are tripping on! And in between I sneak in a little doodling and drawing with a ball point pen, pencil or micron pen and some water colors added ... my joy is doing SOMETHING creative....it is the fuel for my being along with the THANKSGIVING of a true God who is soo alive in our daily lives. Even in the tough times, he must be by my side in my soul like life blood for me to continue each day. There is so much more good than bad about this world if you see it from His perspective! Anyway, things are good right now and I am loving the process of the progress!!!! No matter how slow!! One exciting item to mention is that they have built a sleeping loft in the big garage that I am turning into a studio in the new old house we will be moving to! I needed another bedroom for my kids and family when they come and the sleeping loft is what the kids are sooo excited about!! It will have a railing around it and they can see below.... kind of like being on the side of a mountain!! For a four year old, that is wayyy up there!! Blessings to you today!!!