Amy J. Bennett

My Provider

January 10, 2011 by Amy 12 Comments

I sold my mac two weeks ago after being prompted by God to use the money to buy World Vision and Compassion gifts. The total was $800 plus what ended up being $31 for shipping. I tell you not to brag on me. Oh no. Giving glory to God today. Because today, I received notification that one of my advertisers on onetreehillblog.com had an accounting error over a year ago over several months and OWES ME $1631. Exactly twice the cost of the mac plus shipping. Just a coincidence? Could be. However, I choose to believe He opened the windows of heaven. I mean, what’s the chances? The error was over a year ago. I JUST sold the mac 2 weeks ago. The numbers are astounding. He’s so good. I was worried about how we were going to pay our tax bill this year for that site and now He has provided!

"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it." Malachi 3:10

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

Weekend Recap and Snow Day

January 10, 2011 by Amy 7 Comments

Weekend

So I finally set down my ruler and pencil and have given the floor plans a break. No floor plan pictures today! I think we’ve done all we can and we’re just going to have to wait until the snow melts enough for someone to get over and look at the house.

We had a low key weekend this weekend. I had to work on and off through the weekend on a conversion we’ve been working on for six months. It went smoothly and it feels good to have it out of the way. Other than getting out to the mall, the grocery store, church and Sunday dinner, we were at home doing stuff like laundry, cleaning, cooking and exercising. Yes! Exercising! I bought a few new workout DVDs with my Swagbucks and Opinion Output rewards at Amazon. I’m not committing to any exercise goals but I have been trying to do some type of something in the evenings. How’s that for noncommittal?

Snow Day

As for today, I’m sure you’ve heard that we are getting 4-6” of snow dumped on us as we speak. It’s beautiful, but really, a pain. The kids are home basically going back and forth between 2 rooms. Scott is sleeping from working this weekend so they’re having to be quiet. I work from home so snow is not stopping me from having to work today. And to top it off, Scott has been called in for two additional 12 hour shifts this week, totaling 7 days straight working. So now he actually has to be out in this mess working all the wrecks out there. Yay us! So, besides the snow cream, I’m really not jumping for joy over this snow. If I didn’t have to work then it might be a different story. But no. I hate to be a buzzkill but keeping it real!

On a high note, I did make some very yummy French toast this morning. I’ve never been good at French toast but I think it’s because I never used French bread. I took a note from my mom’s friend that cooks it when we visit in Pennsylvania and bought a loaf at the store yesterday and then followed these instructions. Enjoy!

I’ll leave you with a sure-to-be-famous “Amy story”. I have many in my past.

Last night the girls and I were trying to switch from Wii Sports to the Wii Fit DVD. I put the Wii Fit DVD in the Wii but it wasn’t recognizing it so I tried to eject it so I could clean it. Nothing! I went online and then followed all the online recommendations for ejecting one. I put out a complaint/plea on Twitter about what to do. Best I could tell, I was going to have to get it sent back to Nintendo to get fixed. It was REALLY stuck though. I could even get another DVD in the Wii and get it to eject that but the Wii Fit was lodged somewhere that couldn’t get out. Well. This morning I told Scott about it hoping that he would have some magic fix. Turns out he did. He hit the eject on the PS3…right where I had put in the Wii Fit DVD. Fail, Amy, fail.

Oh wait, in other big news today, Lexi lost her front tooth. She now looks like a legit kindergartner.

OK, now my blog has been down so long that I have a few snow pictures. Girls eating snow and then jumping on the trampoline with 4” of snow:

Custom Bathroom Floorplan Numero Uno

January 8, 2011 by Amy 5 Comments

OK, so after many attempts this is what we put together from the floor plans I posted yesterday. Certainly not set in stone. I’m looking forward to having some builders and/or designers over here to see what they could do with it.

The fact that we have to build in the closet from the second bedroom makes it a bit more challenging. Since I couldn’t figure out how to close off half the bathroom like option 3 with a sliding door, I went with a room for just the toilet. I think it actually fits nicely. And trust me, it’s going to be beneficial for all of us if we can close that off ;)

Still debating whether to make the shower a linen closet. The dimensions are a little weird for one. If we do a separate shower, the tub would be more like a spa tub and might need more room into the closet which is not a big deal because right now it’s 9.5’ long! If we don’t do a full linen closet, I’m thinking we can use the space under the counter since it’s twice what we have now or some space in the closet. Really we don’t NEED another linen closet but it would be nice.

While I really wanted a separate his and hers closet it’s just hard to do because of the closet in the girls’ room. The square in the middle is a bench for dressing. Scott really needs an area to hang his uniform and get dressed when he gets up at 4am. Right now he hangs his stuff in the laundry room and it drives me nutso when he puts his bulletproof vest and jackets on top of the washer/dryer. Sorry, random rant there.

Make sure to check out the oh-so-awful 3D rendering I did. While awful, it did help me picture better what we would see walking in.

UPDATE:

Ended up doing another new one while I had some down time working this morning. I still like the thought of the countertop at the back and separate closet spaces. Downside is the toilet is not separate and we don’t have a separate shower.

The first I posted is still our favorite. Thoughts?

Bathroom Floor Plans

January 7, 2011 by Amy 8 Comments

All pistons are firing here on the addition. We have a friend coming next week to help out and then possibly two different designers coming to take a look. Even Scott has been sketching out floor plans in his spare time. Our headache right now are the bathrooms. We have an 11×19 rectangular that we can do whatever we want with as long as it holds our closets and the bathrooms. The options are endless and quite overwhelming.

My idea now is to put the bathroom in dead center and a his and hers closet on either side, with the openings from within the bathroom so we have no closet doors in our bedroom. I am SO tired of staring at two sets of bifolding doors from our bed.

Here are a few plans we’re working from right now:

Option 1

This first one we’d add a door and come into the bathroom from the bottom and then go into each closet on either side of the sink. This is my favorite I think. I like the long countertop. I like the idea of natural light at the sink. The bad news is this is a tad larger than we have space for.

Found here

Option 2

Scott couldn’t get around the idea of a bidet but I don’t know, I think we could work from this. I like the double sink and the possible makeup area and especially the linen closet. We NEED one in a bad way.

Found here

Option 3

I think on this one I just really think it would look nice coming in and our sink areas are definitely separate. I also like the sliding door that could close off from the shower and toilet, especially with the kids getting older. Just not sure I like the lack of countertop. Also, the window would need to be a door to the bedroom and we’d have to add a window between the tub and toilet.

Found here

I know it’d be hard but if you have any recommendations, throw them at us. I love this kind of thing! So fun to make something beautiful from nothing!

Sacrifice

January 6, 2011 by Amy 15 Comments

I love when God speaks. When prayers are answered so clearly, there is no mistaking it. Follow me, it’s a long one…

Last night we had, once again, another conversation with the girls about the possible addition to the house and adoption. My kids are comforted by a schedule and set expectations. Mommy and Daddy down a back hall versus the next room over is a big deal. Giving that up for a little brother is a big deal. And I’ll be honest, the kids aren’t sold on it. Especially Emma. I haven’t broken through yet to see what’s going on but so far it’s just that she’s an “us four, no more” girl right now. So I just prayed that God would change her heart and ready her for this change. To be frank, we don’t let our kids dictate our decisions. If God tells us to do this, Emma’s just going to have to get an extra dose of grace from God to get through it. I did the same with a house move when I was 8. I remember my mom saying, “Listen, Amy, we’re moving and you can go with us or not, but we’re going.” I suppose this is “what goes around, comes around” part of my life. Anyway, I say all to say last night I prayed about the addition and adoption during prayer time with the girls. I specifically prayed that He would ready us and also prayed for the little child, if he was out there. As soon as we were done, Emma started asking questions. I could tell her little heart had already opened a bit to the idea and she was trying to get the answers she needed to be ok with it. She’s not there yet, but she’s moving.

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Last night I was reading for my Bible in 90 Days schedule and I bookmarked a verse in 1 Chronicles. I haven’t bookmarked a verse during this reading since Numbers, almost 3 weeks ago. This is it:

1 Chronicles 21:24 But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”

When I read that, I thought, ouch. That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about, especially surrounding money. What good is it that we give when it’s not a sacrifice? I love what CS Lewis says

“I do not believe that one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid that the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as out own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”

Now CS Lewis’ work isn’t the Bible but I think that’s what David was getting at. What good is a sacrifice if it isn’t really a sacrifice at all?

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This morning I was praying again, please, let it be clear. I don’t want to do this without clear direction. Again and again, I keep hearing. Do it! Fast!

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I started my blog hopping this morning and was reading, actually watching, this post from a new blogger I’ve been following, Laura Parker. Her and her family are in Thailand serving. The post led me over to another on her site about adopting an orphan. Those words hit me hard:

Yet, we wait.

We wait for God to speak to us in an audible voice, telling us to “GO!”—sometimes He does that audible voice thing, you know.

We wait for the perfect job to come along—orphan care demands a whole lot of money.

We wait for the bills to be paid—can’t be taking on more than we can handle.

We wait for the larger house—because adding children requires a large house.

We wait for a few kids to leave the nest before we add more—can’t be having too many children in the home.

We wait for confirmation with the perfect scripture to drop into our spirits as a sign that we need to act now.

We wait, we wait, we wait.

And while we wait—they perish. The statistics are staggering. I can’t even look anymore.

Ouch. But that’s not the end. I saw a link for a post “Being a Foster Parent”. Which it’s probably not ringing a bell for you guys but the thing we are considering right now is foster-to-adopt which our church is launching this year. She talks about the very thing I’ve gotten many comments on already…how hard would it be to give the child back? I can say, it’s hard. No denying it. My family was a foster family to many newborns when I was 6-7 and I was in the room when my parents handed the child over to the adoptive family. There were tears. There is no denying it would be hard. But guess what the post said?

Of course it’s hard. When God calls us to do something, to serve, to serve Him, he doesn’t say – oh and I have something for you and it should be pretty easy so go for it. No, He says, "…to look after orphans and widows in their distress" James 1:27. It doesn’t say, when it’s convenient and easy…look after orphans. In 2 Samuel 24:24 King David says, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." Sacrifices in the Old Testament were a form of worship and an action of obedience. "I will not sacrifice that which costs me nothing." My dear friend Laura Parker who chose to listen and obey and sacrifice for orphans said, "true worship and obedience comes with a cost." I think that is true. There has not been a doubt in my mind in the last 9 years that THIS is what God has called our family to do. To sacrifice for orphans.

Gosh, this post is getting so long but do you see that?? She pulled in the exact same verse (same instance but from it’s original context in Samuel) from David! The same one I highlighted just last night. And the post was related not to money, but to sacrificing yourself for orphans and specifically this post talked about fostering children. I mean out of all the verses, how is it that I ran into the same one just hours later and really only minutes after praying about adoption?

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I love how God uses so many instances to create a beautiful tapestry. More and more when I see God work, it’s many things pulled together to make a bigger picture. When I read that last post, it was like a ton of bricks hit my soul. That’s our sacrifice. I hope, though, it’s also our joy.

I don’t do this much but would you please pray that God moves in our family? I feel like this is the direction we are going but it would be awesome if the kids were excited. The thing is I KNOW it’s going to be a sacrifice, that’s what’s clear about what God is saying. It will be hard, there will be tears. But I also know He will equip us if he calls us.

Additional Additions

January 5, 2011 by Amy 6 Comments

Thanks for the input yesterday. I’m encouraged by the positive response we’ve had, especially from our mothers :). I know secretly they just want a grandson out of the whole deal but that’s ok. Just kidding, guys! Sorta!

Anyway, we had a couple of other great ideas and thought we’d share. Here’s the original plan again:

And I do want to be clear that the boxes in between the Master and Girls Bedroom are each of our closets.

This first additional option was from Allison and that is to take out those closets instead of cutting through the girls room to make the hallway. We do have a tad of an issue because the closets are only 34” and code says it has to be 36” wide. Also there is a question on what to do with our old entrance to our room but I think it could definitely work. It would only take out a small corner of the room instead of a large chunk and we’d build their new closet as part of the new addition.

Another option takes out a need for a hallway through a bedroom at all and that is to close in the girls bedroom completely and make that the closet for the new suite. In this case, we’d only have 3 bedrooms but the flow is much better. We’d also get a cool deck leading out to the pool in the backyard. Scott isn’t much of a fan of this one and seems to think he’d rather do a 4th room in case the girls eventually want to split rooms (which I expect but is not required). This way also knocks out the closets, giving the current master bedroom another 3 feet of space, giving the girls more room since it would be a combined bedroom/playroom. Another option with the deck is to close that in and make a second closet for the current master bedroom for our impending two teenage girls sharing that room :). Or, you know, make a HUGE master bathroom.

So there ya go. I’m pretty excited about this and feel from several sides that God is prodding us to move forward quickly with it.

Do you like any of these plans better/worse?

UPDATE:

Scott found a way to use the closets as the hallway. Our other closet was posing an issue but I think he has it worked out. Latest favorite is this:

The Bachelor – Week One

January 4, 2011 by Amy 7 Comments

OK, we all know I love The Bachelor but gave it up last season and I didn’t watch it last night. Well, I did. For about 3 minutes. And I couldn’t stand the catty women fighting over Brad so I turned it off. But I kept an eye on some tweets and several mentioned Emily as a frontrunner. I decided to look her up and turns out she’s from Charlotte! And not only that, she’s the wife of the late Ricky Hendrick. Which people, no disrespect, but that’s huge. Charlotte is called the Queen city and the Hendricks are part of that royalty. NASCAR royalty to be exact. Car dealership royalty. Their name is all over the place. So I had to look up her scenes and ya’ll, I might have to watch The Bachelor this year. I’m just not sure Brad is good enough for our Southern royalty though!

I loved her! She’s sweet and sincere, calm, poised and beautiful. And Brad was falling all over himself with her!

Did you watch? If so, do you think Emily is a frontrunner?

PS I think that was Central Church of God where I went to church during middle/high school!

Addition

January 4, 2011 by Amy 9 Comments

And not in the subtraction kind of way. Scott and I spent some time this weekend considering an addition on the house. As I mentioned, we’re still considering adoption. But really, we don’t have the proper room for it. Yes, we could make it work with the 3 rooms we have. We could condense the girls’ toys, put their bed on stilts and cram it all in their room. The second option I’m not a fan of but we could switch rooms with the girls so that the girls have a bigger room to fit them and their toys. We lose a personal bathroom and well, that’s a bummer.

Why not just buy a new house? Well, we can’t even let go of a recliner. Think about how we feel about moving. Really, we are in a fabulous location, have a nice piece of property, like the school, etc. I’m not saying NO to it, but all of us want to consider an addition. So I thought we might all want to consider it together. Yes?

OK, so here’s the front of our house. It looks oh so…wintry. Wahhh…when is Spring coming??

Here’s the same side but from the back.

Photo Jan 04, 10 05 44 AM

And here’s the current floor plan on that side of the house

So basically that room you see jutting out of the back of the house is my office (where I’m currently sitting). It used to be our back porch and Scott closed it in. I just looked and wow, it has been 6 years since he did that. The room on the back corner is our room and the two windows on the left side of the house are the girls’ play room and bedroom. Here’s a shot down the hallway. Playroom to the left, their room straight down the hall and our bedroom is the last door on the right and as I said, is in the back of the house.

Actually, here’s a really old house tour if you’d like a better feel for the inside. I’m almost embarrassed by it though…not ONE of those rooms look the same but the floor plan is still legit.

OK, whew, I hope you get the idea of the current state of our floor plan. So there are really only two options for an addition. In both cases, the idea is to add on a master suite, let the girls share our room, and let whomever (whether it be adoptee or just guests) have their bedroom.

OPTION 1

The first is to close in that back corner of the house where the trampoline is. You might want to scroll back up to the pic from the back yard.

The door to the new bedroom would come off the office. You can see I added in where the furniture would go.

The back of the house would look something like this:

The good part about this is you don’t change the front of the house. You wouldn’t even know it was different if you were driving down the road.
You also don’t really lose any square footage from the house. Yes, we’d have to do some rearranging in the office to get a door from there but overall, no square footage is lost.
The one really big downside is you’d lose the window in the office, the window to the master bathroom AND one in the bedroom. Our house already is pretty dark and that’s the side of the house where we get a lot of sun.
We’d also lose the back yard for the trampoline, where it is currently hidden from passersby. However, we do have room for it still.
The bedroom would be roughly 16×17 and include a closet and bathroom.

OPTION 2

The second option is to go wide. We’d tack the room on to the end of the house.

The tricky thing about this is how to get to the room. We’d have to extend our hallway into the current girls bedroom , make a new wall for their room (see the dashed line) and have our doorway at the end of the hall.

The front would look roughly like this. This is rough, but the last two windows would be the addition. The ones in the middle are the current girls’ room:

And the back, you can see it to the right there:

The bad part about this is obviously the second bedroom loses a lot of square footage. The room is not big already and I think this change would make it as small as the first one, which is like 8×10.
Another downside is we’d for sure have to redo all the siding and possibly carpet.
The good news is the room could be much larger, up to 22×20 if needed.
We have lots of space in our side yard that is not used.
We keep all the windows in the back as well as the trampoline space.
All the bedrooms are still accessed from the hall.

Given all that, we are definitely leaning towards putting it on the end. I know we’d lose some of the bedroom but I think it’s better than losing back yard and all my windows and office space. And really, I think it’s a better looking solution.

So did I lose you? Follow that at all? What do you think? Side or back? Or bad idea altogether?