Home Sweet Home

~Welcome to Home Haven~

Be it ever so humble there's no place like home.

Your Home is like no other place on the planet,

because you LIVE there.

Home Sweet Home,

~Deanna~

Home Haven

Home Haven
is our place to call our earthly home.

I'm glad we have her.

~d~

Around Home Haven

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December










Beloved,
The only thing that would make Home Haven a better place is if you'd stop by and share with me what you have been up to!


Refreshments served when you're ready.


Best wishes always,
~Deanna~

Out With The Old ~ In With The New

Our 4 year Anniversary of buying our 1885 Native Limestone Two Story House located in a dinky town nestled in amongst the Kansas Flint Hills was at the end of December 2010.  4 years.  Oh my goodness.  4 years.

I've had time to dream and look at loads of decorating pictures.  
Time to think and let my imagination go wild.  This is cheap entertainment!  With a twist.  Refurbishing or remodeling isn't cheap.  It comes with a price.  Your time and money goes into this.  There are sacrifices.

In reality...what makes the messes that we live in while a MAJOR PROJECT is going on tolerable?  Depending on your personality... a lot of praying has had to go on with me.  Looking beyond the mess and believing it will happen has helped.  But above all else, having a handy man that has the tenacity to forge ahead is what it takes.  I can be a cheerleader, sidekick assistant and main bottle washer, but my hubby is the one actually doing the sweating and putting muscle into it all.  I can grin and bare it.  He is the one that has to listen to me while I do my best to carry on as if everything is normal.

He has had help from Heaven On High.  For you sweeties that have prayed for us...I am thankful for your prayers.  God bless you one and all.

This past year while he was in the middle of tearing out and rebuilding the front porch...I get the phone call, yes...you have cancer.  While having surgeries, he is still there for me and forging ahead building a huge porch.  While I am having cancer treatment, he is working away at getting a 800 pound boiler out of the mechanical room and replacing it with a newer nearly 400 pound one and knowing it has to be done before the snow blows while the winds are howling.

Here's a few pics of projects that have kept us busy over the last 4 years at Home Haven.

Have you ever thought, 'Life isn't for sissys?'  It is these challenges that add character to us.


For starters, we had been in the house close to a year when our daughter went through a divorce and moved into Home Haven with a toddler.  The Utility room was redone before the Kitchen.  We would use a Laundry Mat while remodeling.  This meant we would load into the car loads of laundry.  I decided I was going to make this inconvenience a FUN DATE.  If Hubby and Daughter met me there after their work day, we'd go get a FAST FOOD MEAL.  Later a Fancy Coffee.  If it was just Hubby and me, we play the Pin Ball Bowling Game.  This was a blast!  Now would I go back to the Laundry Mat over my own washer/dryer?  Nah.  I like in house utilities.  Amen.

~Before~

 ~During~

~After~

With the Utility room completed, we moved onto the roof of the Garage and two story House during the Summer 2009.  The weather did not cooperate.  Some days were way to HOT and others, way too wet.

ROOF

~Before~

~After~

Then our porch disintegrated right before our eyes.  
This was disheartening.  For safety sake we redid the porch the Summer of 2010 before the Kitchen.


~Before~

~During~

~After~

Autumn came and a new electric Hot Water Heater 
went into the Mechanical room.
Before the snow blew the old 800 pound Boiler 
was replaced with a new 367 pound efficient one.
Imagine removing this heavy of an object all by yourself.


~Before~

  

OUT with the OLD ~ IN with the NEW

~After~

We are making plans for a cute Kitchen!
Praise GOD and Thank you Honey.


Thank you for stopping by.  I enjoy hearing from you.
May God richly bless you and may you have a terrific year.


Morphing right along,
~Deanna~




PS
Many share their morphing projects over at Susan's.
Please visit Met Monday.
www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

Homes Are Made Out Of Love

Beloved, welcome to this blog.

May God Bless you as you continue to make your Home into a Haven for real people to live in and be blessed.

This Story Book Picture is an illustration of what a house can look like.

What a nice structure this could have been for somebody if it had been a real house.

Houses can become a Home for real people and not just story book characters. Other dwelling places can become a place to call home as well. Dwelling places come in all sizes, shapes and types...Trailers, Condos, Houseboats, Apartments, Huts, Tents, etc.

May God richly BLESS you as you live in the real world and call your dwelling place a home. May He help you transform your home into a HAVEN.

Blessed HOMES are made out of love and not just building material.

Homes become Havens when you are willing to make it that way and with God's help...it becomes a reality.

Deanna

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

Hello there blogger friend. Nice of you to stop by.
It's like a crisp Spring day today.  A few days ago while I was out driving and trying to relax, I remembered what the difference between a house and a home are.

I was about 35 years old when we moved from the Houston area to a small Kansas farming community after my husband went through a job lay-off.  This small community has roots for me because so many of my Dad's family lives and lived there for years.  I simply thought it would be a resting place for us until we upped and moved to where ever the next job would take us.  We ended up staying here for close to 3 and a half years.

It was at Church that I had heard about one of the elderly shut-ins that had an experience with an angel.  I was eager to talk to her and she was gracious to allow me to come to her home and visit.

It isn't a new thing for me to have a pity party.  I had plenty of material to use for a pity party.  I was upset coming from the Houston house that was a nice four bedroom brick house to the Kansas rental that was a two bedroom house with water damage that shook when our miniature dog pranced across the floor.

Now I will sound like a realtor... formal living room and dining room, 4 bedrooms each having walk in closets, master bedroom with private bath that had a over sized vanity, glassed in shower and separate deep jacuzzi tub, over sized family room with vaulted ceiling and bricked fireplace, kitchen with walk in pantry and eating area, detached over sized double car garage, fenced backyard on a third of an acre.  The small rental had two bedrooms for the five of us, so the family room would be converted into the boys bedroom.

When I visited with this sweet lady that had the experience with an angel, she listened to me as I shared about how we had ended up in this town.  I was telling her that we had sold our home and and and and and and...She politely intervened and said, "You didn't sell your home.  You sold your house.  Your home is where ever you hang your hat."

What she gently said spoke volumes to me.
A house can be blown away, swallowed by the earth, burnt to a crisp, washed apart, broken into, vandalized, foreclosed on, kicked out of, mildewed melt down, etc.  One's home is more personal and sacred.

Remember what Jesus said about going to prepare a place for us?

In the precious scriptures we can read about this in the Book of John
Chapter 14
verses 1-3

Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God;
believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me (Jesus).
In My Father's house there are many dwelling places (homes). 
If it were not so, I would have told you;
for I am going away to prepare a place for you.
And when I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.

The way to Heaven is through Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.  He's our redeemer.
verse 6 goes on to say:
Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life;
no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.

Earthly housing is necessary while we are here on planet earth.  But when the day comes that we take our last breath and pass into eternity we will no longer need the earthly house, building or body.  What we will need is a heavenly home that's in God.

Until that time, we have been given the opportunity to use God given talents to enhance and bless the lives of others.

Do you know the Master?
He can warm your heart.
He can warm your soul.
He can give you purpose and reason to live.
He can give you a place to call home.

Even though I was very upset  coming from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom rental, God had His hands all over us.  This rental property had a storage barn in the backyard to house the things we didn't have room for in the rental.  Though some of the stuff would get water damaged, it would further allow the fact to sink in that we can't take any of this stuff with us to the grave.  It all can be destroyed.  We need to have our priorities in order.
God first.

Who holds your heart in the palm of their hand?
Until next time, don't forget to pray.
Deanna

Homemaker With Heels On

Dear Ones,
Hello from the Kansas Flint Hills.  Bitter cold outside this morning. Around 6 degrees.  So it really is comforting to be indoors where we are warmed by radiators.  My sweet husband gets up early each morning to tend to our 4 outdoor Airedale Terrier Dogs then off to work he goes while I am a Keeper of the Home.


Most days, I generally write in my day timer to refresh my mind what I need to get done and/or hope to get done.  Nothing is cast in concrete. My day timer is actually just a spiral notebook that I bought for a quarter.  I prefer using it over the fancy ones that are on the market.  It doesn't matter how neat or sloppy I write in my spiral...I am relaxed to plan.  If I scribble out something, it's no big deal.

Since I have been a stay at home woman for years that doesn't carry a brief case and wear high heels all day, I was once asked, "What do you do all day?" I simply replied, "Everyday is different and every year is different."  This could have gotten into a harry discussion about what I do with my time as well as to having value as a human being.  But if I had been more on my toes, I could have used it as an opportunity to share WHY I choose to stay home.  Live and learn.

In the eyes of those that think a HOMEMAKER doesn't count because she's not making a paycheck and the use of my time is odd.  PRAISE THE LORD!  I have learned that ALMIGHTY GOD is who gives me value and I don't have to LIVE TO THE STANDARDS of those that cannot see the importance of a woman being a keeper of the home.  I honestly think that they don't know what this is.  Oh government...plezzzzz don't take this away from me!  PTL (praise the Lord) we can have our eyes of understanding opened to see things as God would want us to see. PTL, I live in a country that still allows women to be homemakers without getting taxed more for breathing air.

Have you encountered those that think a baby in the womb is just tissue and not really a baby?  Have you encountered those that think babies have no value because they don't bring home the bacon (cash)?  What about you have value as long as you make money and contribute back to society because you make money?  Couldn't we debate that the more money made the more value a person has? The issue of how they made their money isn't really important, just the fact that they made lots of money...so a drug lord that is rolling in the dough has so much more value than the little guy that pays his bills and gives an honest days work?  I don't think so. 

Using money is part of the system we live in, but it's not my god.  Value doesn't come from the amount of mula we make, but value comes from God.  We can have huge bank accounts and still have value in God's eyes.  We may only have two nickels to rub together and we still have value in God's eyes.  It's not the money that gives us value in God's economy.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying money is all wrong.  It can be an answer to many things.  We still need to be responsible with what money we are allowed to handle.  I'm saying it's not the money that gives us our true value, tis God that gives us our value.

I use to not take COFFEE BREAKS nor down time during the day while at home because I thought I had to justify why I stayed in the home and had NO career.  I had to justify that what I did in the home had as much importance as the woman in the so-called work force.  That I worked just as hard if not harder than those employed.  My focus of what was important was in "want."

I fully understand that there are situations where women must be in the work force.  These precious women were not who I was in competition with.  When push came to shove, I was in competition with my own husband wanting his approval for being a Homemaker and not a so-called career woman.  As well as wanting to outshine the secular world that was breathing down my neck. 

Emotional support and the cheering section that could of been Homemaker Friendly was not coming from family and friends.  Not even the homemaker peers I was honored to associate with gave encouragement to be a Keeper of the Home. So I believe that it is part of my godly duty to CHEER HOMEMAKERS ON and that it's perfectly alright to be a woman that stays home to raise her own children or be a woman that stays home without children.  Homemaker with children or without children.  And to those dear ladies that wish they were home instead of in the work force...We can pray.  God answers prayer.  God is still on the throne and answers prayer.  He will show you the way in which you should go.

Thank God my thinking changed and I take coffee breaks, spend time in prayer and don't always get dressed before noon. Ouch, did I really admit that I don't always dress before noon?  Can that be possible.....what will you ever think of me?  

I still believe while teaching young children how things are done that order and structure are important teaching tools.  My presentation is so different now then what I practiced as a young homemaker and full-time momma before God opened my eyes on many things.  Thankful that HE did.  My husband has matured a great deal when it comes to wanting a wife at home verses being a playboy driving a new sports car.  God did a number on him as well.

This internet stuff with all these fantastic Christian Women Sites and Blogs is awe inspiring.  I am so impressed with the number of women that are sold out to Christ and desire to have a Christian HOME that becomes a HAVEN to respect their husband in and nurture their children in.  Praise God!

As for wearing heels?  Well, sometimes you've just gotta! Playing dress up isn't all bad.  Don't forget to splash a little good smelling parfum on behind the ears.

Til next time, may our homes be a haven that's a ministry to our families.

God Bless and don't forget to pray,
Deanna