Welcome!

I'm Tonia and this is my family. There's Hubs, my wonderful partner; Bug, my darling daughter; and Boo, my charming son. We are the Collins clan. We are a homeschooling family who try our best to live out God's will for our lives every day. There are lots of stumbles along the way, but we love each other and this little life we're carving out for ourselves. Recently we found ourselves called to make some big changes in our lives so we're packing up the McMansion and moving out to a little farm in need of a lot of TLC. We have tons to learn and tons to do and we invite you to share the journey as we turn our not-so-new heap into a home.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Let There Be Light!

Every day you get to choose if you'll be content....or not. Some days that choice is easy, some days.... not so much.

We ordered our hot water tank nearly 3 weeks ago. It finally arrived on Saturday and the Hubs started working on installing it yesterday. He was knee deep in the process when he discovered that one of the threads was defective- it appears that when putting parts on some of the "glue" was dropped on the thread. When that glue dried it became like rock and now it is impossible to thread the pipe onto this defective part.


All this means that it will be another 3 weeks before I can hope to have easy hot water- no showers, no washing machine. I'm not going to lie- I'm really bummed. It's not that we can't survive a few more weeks- we have a way to warm up water for baths and doing dishes-it's just that this one thing creates a lot of extra work.

But I refuse to let this get me down. We really are very blessed and I know it. It might be inconvenient, but it's really not a big deal in the big scheme of things, and I know that in a few months this will all be a distant memory.

So instead I will think on the good things. Like today when the Hubs went to buy the new line for the propane he found it to be on clearance and he saved about 50%! Or how this evening a friend stopped by just to see if we needed some help. And how a dear friend took the kids for the week just to give us all a break.

Blessed. Content. Joyful. These are the things I will be, because despite what the world tries to tell you, generally, you DO have a choice.

And since we're all choosing to be happy....how about something fun? The electrician was out again today and he installed our outdoor lights. It's a tiny glimpse into the "look" I'm going for.....you want to see, right? Well, first here's the "inspiration":


I'm in love with the vintage look....not old enough to be antique, just vintage....think 1950's. I love how this light gives an older feel while still being modern and I love the color. And now here's what I ended up with:


{Swoon} I love it! This light is by the back door, but eventually there will be one by the front door too. I will probably paint it a bright, fun color at some point too, but for now I'm just excited to have it up. There isn't much style going on around here yet so any little bit is super exciting!

See....today was, indeed, a GOOD day!


Tonia



3 comments:

  1. Yep, small but important victories. I like your light, too.

    Certainly a downer about the hot water heater and the extra work not having one creates. But I applaud your no doubt hard won positive attitude in the face of your current tribulation.

    You guys are in my prayers every day.

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  2. Can't you wash your clothes in cold water?

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    1. The way the plumbing is set up Hubs is unable to hook up only the cold water to the washer so I can't use it until the hot water tank is installed and operating. Thankfully I have a friend, who I also babysit for, who is letting me use her washer!

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