Make room for baby...

Make room for baby...

“Give and it will come back to you; pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.” Luke 6:38

Many of you have probably heard a sermon preached on this particular verse in regards to tithing.  DH and I have seen so many times in our lives how when we didn’t think we had enough money to make it, we still tithed and God provided for us.  It’s always so amazing to see the creativity in God’s provision for His children, and I am so thankful to Him for that!  And, He showed His provision to me in a really unique way this week...

Our homestudy is coming up on Tuesday.  It’s funny how adoption mimics pregnancy in so many ways, because I swear I’m in “nesting mode” right now!  LOL:)  My sweet mama came in town this week to help me get the house like I want it for the homestudy.  Those of you who know my mama know that she is amazing with anything having to do with decorating, cleaning, arranging, etc.  We spent Monday afternoon getting things to clean up my flowerbed (we had the most gorgeous flowers in our flowerbed when we moved here, but the crazy heat last summer was not kind to them:( and then we got to work on Tuesday.  Ironically, Tuesday was the first official day of spring, and we certainly took “Spring cleaning” literally this year!  I now have organized EVERY SINGLE CLOSET in our house!  (The baby’s room closet, two hall closets, L’s room’s closet, and our closet.  I also cleaned out the kids’ bathroom cabinets and drawers.)  We also got the flowerbed cleaned up thanks to my mama’s magic, but the most surprising item checked off of the “to do” list was rearranging furniture...

I’d really been fretting with where we were going to put my piano.  It was occupying the the guestroom in the house, which will (hopefully soon!) become the nursery, but I knew I needed to find a new place for it if we were going to be able to put a crib for the baby in there.  Plus, since I teach piano, I need a “studio space,” and I don’t think the baby is going to nap very soundly sleeping right next to the tickling ivories!  However, a piano can’t go just anywhere in a house--it needs to be on an inside wall.  Also, because the movers damaged one of the legs on my piano, I wanted to be careful where it was placed-most of the available “inside wall” spaces were right next to doors that could open onto it or right next to walkways in the house where it would probably get bumped.  The most logical place in the house to place it was the living room...but where was it going to fit in the living room?  Mom and I began moving furniture around in the living room (don’t worry--I made her behave and not push or pull on anything heavy!), and I was getting frustrated that the placement just wasn’t working out.  DH came home for lunch, so we took a break.  I remember sitting at the dinner table and found myself praying silently.  I realized that possibly the reason we weren’t making any headway was because we were trying to do it on our own.  I began to ask God to show us how to best arrange the furniture and to help us make room...and, as I’m sure you guessed, He did just that!  I’m SO please with the results!  But what’s so amazing is that it doesn’t feel like we lost any space at all, yet we now have an open spot for furniture for the baby’s room!  I know it may sound kind of silly, but it’s almost as if the Lord somehow increased the square footage of our home!  Once again, I’m reminded that He cares about every detail of my life...

You see, my piano is very special to me.  I began taking piano lessons in grade school, but we rented a piano, so when we moved from California to Texas, I didn’t have a piano anymore.  It was months before we were able to get me an old, upright piano so I could begin lessons again.  It was a beautiful piano--the keys were actually made from ivory!--but it was not in great shape.  Keys were continually getting stuck and breaking, and the sound was not good.  We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so we couldn’t just go out and buy a brand new piano.  We began checking the paper though and found someone nearby with a nearly new Kawai upright.  It was a beautiful cherry wood with decorative french legs, and it had a great tone and sensitivity.  The price they were asking for it was RIDICULOUS (as in crazy cheap considering how new it was and the shape it was in), so my parents purchased it for me.  Now that my father has passed away, I cherish that piano even more--it truly is irreplaceable and such a gift to me.  So, maybe it makes a little more sense now why its placement in our home was such a gift to me from my Heavenly Father.  He continues to remind me that He cares for every need and desire I have in life.  If I get this excited over the placement of a piece of furniture, just think how ecstatic I’ll be when He brings our baby into our lives!

The (hopefully soon!) baby's room!  That bare wall on the left is where the piano was.  We also had two little filing-type cabinets in this room that we were able to find other spots for in the house.

 

 

I took this when it was getting dark, so it's hard to see, but Mom and I added new mulch and more soil to the flowerbed and also put three plant stands up with ferns in them.  I'm hoping the bricks we put in the bottom will keep them from toppling over from our strong West Texas winds!

Our newly rearranged living room!  The storage unit on the left used to be where the TV is now, and the TV used to be where the piano is now.  The telephone cable is on that middle wall, so we decided to save the money and cancel the satellite which freed up that wall for the piano.  Is it sad that I'm going to miss getting to watch America's Next Top Model and Dance Moms?  pathetic, I know...;-)