Wood House Renovation: Phase One

I said I would post our after pictures today, so here you go! It’s been so fun trying to make this house our home! As you will see, we still need a few things to finalize phase one, which will hopefully happen this weekend! I will let you guess what they might be

We are still deciding what we will do in Phase Two of our project, so I will keep you updated! Our greatest prayer for our house is not that it would look nice, but that when people enter our doors they feel loved, welcome, and can find rest here. We want our house to be a center for ministry to those who don’t yet know Jesus and to those who are walking with us on this journey of knowing, loving and sharing Jesus. My desire is for Jason and I to live simply and love greatly in this house. It’s so easy to get caught up in the projects around the house and the every day chores that an old house needs and forget about what’s most important. It’s easy to forget that this is a gift from God to steward well for His purposes, so my prayer is that I don’t forget and when I do to run quickly back to the Cross to remember.

So here are the pictures!! Enjoy! If you hover your mouse over the pictures, you can read the caption. I am still trying to figure out how to use this blog the way I want to!

We Bought a House!

The journey to buying a house all began at a Christmas party on December 5th, 2011. Jason and I had been invited to the party by one of my clients, we felt comfortable going because we knew that there would be at least three people that we knew there (I easily get uncomfortable when I’m around people I don’t know…not Jason). We were sitting with another client of mine and her husband and son. As we got to talking, we learned that Alan (my client’s husband) was a general contractor and he had done work on the house that we were at. Alan showed us his handy work and we became fast friends with him. We told him how much we would love to have a house but it just wasn’t in the cards for us right now because we couldn’t afford the type of house we would like. As any good small business owner would do, he gave us a pitch about how he could help! He suggested we look at houses that are in need of renovation and are in foreclosure because the price of those in Tucson are ridiculously cheap. He then said that we could pay him to renovate and update the house (there was the pitch!). We talked about that for a little longer, but I wasn’t sold on that idea at all. I wanted a move-in ready house. Jason, on the other hand, was intrigued. We went home and Jason started looking online at some houses for sale under $80k. We talked about it some more and decided that it wouldn’t hurt to start looking at houses. We got back in contact with Alan and the next weekend went over to his house to talk about what type of house we should look for and how much money we should expect to put into a renovation. After our time with Alan and his wife, Stacy (my client), we were excited to look at houses and had one in mind to buy already! The next day, I got in contact with a realtor and so began the process of buying our first home!

The house that we had wanted initially was sold within days of listing because of how cheap the house was ($45k) and we didn’t get a chance to make an offer, but we were okay with that. It was Christmas time, so we decided to hold off on looking until we returned from the Midwest. The day after we returned, we had a scheduled appointment with our awesome realtor, Judi. We looked at a house that was a little higher than what we first thought we would go with, but it was not in as much need of renovation. When I initially walked through, I wasn’t sold on it. Jason had a great vision for it though, so I decided to trust him and we made an offer on the house that night. The more that we looked at that house and the more houses we walked through (even though we had an offer in, we weren’t sure if they would accept it), the more I felt like the house we made the offer on was a great opportunity.

A few days after we made our offer, we heard that they countered our offer. We accepted their offer and in theory the house was ours! We had a lot of other paperwork and lots of inspections before it was officially approved which took about 6 weeks to complete (FHA loans take forever and throwing a foreclosure on that made it even more of a headache!). On February 27th, 2012, we became homeowners! It was a surreal feeling!

We had decided that we would spend the month of March working on the house. We called the process of working on this house the Wood Renovation Project! We finished Phase One of this project in time thanks to our great friends, my sister Jessica and Alan & his crew! We couldn’t and wouldn’t have done it without them!

Wood Renovation Project: Phase One included

• New flooring and trim in most of the house
• Moving the Master Bedroom door off of the entry way and at the end of the living room
• Expanding the closet in the MB
• Capping off doggie door and filling in wall
• Hook up dryer vent and electrical for it inside the house (the dryer was outside…Arizona)
• Put electrical in storage shed and hang light
• New light fixtures for kitchen, dining room, entry way
• Move fan to MB
• Demo a whole bunch of stuff in the living/dining room area (that was first)
• Fixing the wiring for the Fridge
• Paint every square inch of the interior of the house

We have a lot of other dreams and plans for this house, but we are so thrilled to be living here! God has blessed us with an amazing home and we have so much to be thankful for!

Here are the pictures of before!! You will have to wait a day or two for the after pictures!!

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A New Year

As this new year began three weeks ago, Jason and I were able to spend some time processing what 2011 brought us and what our hopes and dreams are for the year of 2012. 2011 was one of the hardest years of my life, hands down. Yet it was also one of the most transforming seasons I have walked through. The year all began with a new name, Sarah Wood. Then two days later I picked up my wonderful life in Iowa that I honestly didn’t want to leave and move to what I thought was the worst place in the world at the time, Tucson. The first 5-6 months were months of many tears, but also sweet times of comfort and gentle discipline from Jesus. He began to show me that my identity was not found in Him, but in the relationships that I had back in Iowa. I sought social time, bible study with gals, and the comfort of being around familiar places/people more than I sought Jesus. Slowly, God brought me out of my depression and bondage of sin and opened my eyes to the beauty of Tucson and the amazing things He is doing here. God began the transforming work of finding my identity in my relationship with Jesus rather than in my earthly ones. I still love and deeply miss my friends and family, but God has transformed that longing to a deeper thankfulness for what He gave me in Cedar Falls/Albia and for what He is doing and forming for Jason and I here in Arizona.

The biggest crossroad for Jason and I in this season where we went from “we can do this for just 3 years and then we can move back” to “I think we should buy a house and stay in Tucson” was when we found Revolution Church. I had been doing some research on churches near the end of summer and came across Revolution. Jason and I decided to check it out in October after all of our Midwest travels and God did something big in our heart within a matter of weeks. The vision of Revolution is to see Tucson transformed for the glory of God and make disciples throughout all of the city through missional community groups and church plants. Our hearts resonated with their vision and their mission and we jumped in full throttle. God blessed us with great friends right away there, so we felt connected and loved as we searched for our place within Revolution. Now after only four months of attending here, we have decided that we want to make Tucson our home. We want to see the gospel go forth in our neighborhoods and in our workplaces. We pray and long for opportunities to love and serve those God has placed in our lives. Every day, Jason and I look at where God has brought us and laugh because we know it’s only by His GRACE that we can say that we are buying a house in Tucson! Yep, we are scheduled to close on a small, humble house that needs a lot of lovin’ on the 14th of February!

We are thrilled to see what God has in store for this coming year!

In Honor of My Dad

It’s been awhile and a lot has happened since I’ve last posted! Ran half marathons up mountains, traveled back to Wisconsin to see one of my dearest friends marry her best friend, and began praying about attending a church. BUT instead of blogging about current life today, I wanted to honor my dad. He turns 59 tomorrow and for one of the first times in a long time I won’t be able to go home for his birthday weekend. So instead, I’m writing this post to my dad (Mom make sure he reads it ).

Many people grow up with dads who were too busy to play or too busy to spend quality time with their kids, but my dad was and is not one of those. He may be a full-time teacher, head football coach (past), basketball coach(past), head soccer coach (current), baseball coach (past) and be the sports writer for the local paper, but he hardly ever missed out on anything and still doesn’t with my brother. When my sisters and I were little, he let us put barrettes in his hair and play “pretend” and he was good at it! He would go outside with us and play on the playground or play catch with a softball. When he would leave for work in the morning we always had the same ritual to say good-bye out the back door and then run up to the front door to watch him drive away and wave good-bye as he drove off  in his little Ford Fiesta. I remember running into his arms when he would come home from football, basketball, or baseball practice to welcome him home and he never told me to leave him alone. My dad also was a man not to be messed with. He was gentle, but also  knew how to discipline well. I remember after us girls would be “disciplined” by dad (it was often for me because I was a bossy and aggressive big sister), he would always come back into our rooms and remind us that we were to love our sisters and our parents because friends will come and go, but family will always be here. I also remember every year in grade school, dad would take a day off of school and us three girls (sometimes it was just Katie and me, depending on the age of Jessie) would skip school to go have a Daddy Date. We would go to Galena or other state parks to fish hatcheries or museums or Iowa City and just spend a day alone with dad. I felt so special and loved by him. There are so many other stories of dad, like how good of a story teller he is at a campfire (he forever made all three of his girls fearful of big black dogs), and how well he loves his wife, and how he wakes up every morning before 5 am to spend time with Jesus in prayer and reading the Bible. I could go on…

Not only was Dad present in my life, but he was invested. He coached us all in softball, basketball, and a little soccer. He was my softball coach till I was in eighth grade after I begged him to let me quit and he finally realized that I really couldn’t hit that stupid softball to save my life! He was not just my basketball coach, but he taught me how to play the game. He would take me to the gym to practice 3′s, my free throws, and my defense on a regular basis. He helped me get faster at the 400 meter dash and he encouraged me to be the best at anything I put my mind to. He never let me give up or get discouraged even when our varsity basketball team didn’t win a single game my freshman year, or the year we got hammered by Pella (which was about every year, but I remember one in particular). Not only was Dad my biggest fan (Mom was actually the queen of it) on the courts and in the field, but also in the classroom. He was always interested in school, well…partly because he knew everything I was doing since he was my teacher for two of those years in middle school and high school and worked in the same school! He believed in me and loved me through all of my ups and downs with friends, school, and sports.

Dad is also generous, kind, loving, and a joy to be around. You can always count on him telling a cheesy joke or sharing a funny story from the day. My dad has been involved in FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) for almost as long as I can remember. We have always had high school students over to our house for meals, games, and bible study. Mom would make the BEST brownies! I learned from my dad how to be generous to people and how to not judge a book by its cover. He has a real heart for the kids who just don’t always do the right thing and he is so gracious towards them…even when they TP our house! I remember a football season when I was probably a freshman in high school, maybe a sophomore. There was a kid on his team that had real potential, but he lived out in the country and the kid’s dad didn’t want to drive him to practice (or he had to work, something like that or the dad wanted him to focus on farming). So my dad, drove out to talk to the kid’s house to see if there was something that could be worked out. My dad knew that if this kid wasn’t involved in football, he would get into drinking and drugs because of the crowd he hung out with. Dad did not want to see that happen. Before dad drove out there, he asked me if it came to a point where the only reason this kid’s dad wouldn’t let him play was because of the driving, if I would be okay with giving him my car for the season. At first I was floored! “Heck no!” I thought, but then dad shared the full story with me and my heart softened. I ended up not needing to give my car away to him, but I learned a valuable lesson. Be generous to others, because we have been given so much. There are countless other times he helped people, that if I were to write them all down it would take a long time!

My dad the silly man!

Most importantly though, my dad taught me what the love of the Father in Heaven looks like. One of my earliest memories in childhood, more like a thread of memories actually, is my bedtime with mom or/and dad. I remember nights sitting on my pink floral bed surrounded by my pink walls and pink carpet (my parents went all out for their first girl!) and all of my pretty dolls and teddy bears with my dad curled up next to me reading the Bible. We had a storybook Bible of some sorts that Dad and I would read every night as a kid. He would read to me and as I got older, I would read to him. He did that for all of us girls growing up in Cascade. Then after we were all read to and prayed over, he would stand in the hallway ironing pants for the next day and sing “Silent Night” to us to lull us to sleep if there were nights when we couldn’t sleep. That song always brings back that memory.  One other very important memory that is forever etched in my brain was when I was around ages 4-7. Dad, you may not even remember saying this, but it changed how I viewed God forever. One night I had fallen asleep downstairs and dad was carrying me up to my bedroom. I must have whispered, “I love you Daddy” because you responded with ” I love you too Sar-Bear, so much, but I will never love you as much as God loves you.” As a little girl who sentence blew me away. How could God love me as much as my daddy? My daddy let me put barrettes in his hair for goodness sakes! That conversation stuck with me for years and I think that it fueled my desire to know God as my Father and His love for me. It was when I was 12 years old when I understood why dad said that God loves me more than he ever could. I knew Jesus growing up and I had put my faith in him as a child, but when I was 12 it was like the light bulbs went on in my heart and I fully understood the gift of salvation, the depth of my sin, and the sacrifice it took God to redeem me from the death of my sin.

My dad’s not perfect and we did butt heads quite a bit in high school (like the time I walked home in the middle of winter, right after an ice storm had hit, after basketball practice because I didn’t want a ride from him because he embarrassed me in front of my team mates by yelling at me…boy I’m stubborn and so are you!), but he and my mom both showed me that the best way to live life is for Jesus, with your family, and to make your life count for the kingdom.

On the day my dad walked me down the aisle, my heart was filled with joy to be walking towards my future, but I was also grieving the fact that I was leaving a season where my dad was the main man in my life. Our dance that evening was so special to me, as he told me stories of how we used to dance when I was little. I love my dad!

So, Dad, on your 59th birthday I want to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You have made your life count on this earth through your family and through the people you meet every day in school and in Albia. I love you and am so thankful that God, in His grace, saved you in your 20′s so that He would use you to change my life and so many others. I love you!

ps-sorry for any grammatical errors Mr. Gravert

Flying + Flu = The Life of the Wood’s

I just wanted to let all of my three subscribed bloggers that I am still alive and kicking (kinda)! The past three weeks have been filled to the max with preparing to go on a week long vacation to Madison for Jason’s work (I got the vacation, not Jason), a wedding, another wedding, and my job that still feels very new. We arrived home safely Sunday evening, but we both came home feeling miserable. I caught a head cold last week while enjoying the BEAUTIFUL Autumn weather of Madison and then promptly passed it on to my husband three days later.

At least he was able to fully enjoy his best friend’s wedding.

I fully enjoyed it too, but had to have a 2 glasses of wine to completely forget about how miserable I felt.

I’m sure that some of the reason to why we both ended up sick was because we threw caution to the wind and didn’t eat according to our diet (see below post). It was all worth it though!

Our time in Madison was wonderful! J got to see so many of his former work friends throughout the week and I got to spend some much needed alone time walking the downtown streets of Madison and people-watching at various coffee shops on State Street. We were able to have dinner on Wednesday night with Jennie and Dave (two of J’s favorite people) before their beautiful wedding. I love this couple! They are funny, smart, and so genuine. I’m pretty honored that I can call them my friends now! We also were able to spend some quality time with another one of J’s favorite people, Nate. He was a blast to be around. He gave me a tour of Epic (the company they work for/with) and opened his house to us over the weekend. He also introduced us to a very cool diner next to Camp Randall.

We also were blessed to have J’s parents come for a quick visit on Friday. We had lunch with them at Panera then toured the state capital with them. Thanks so much Robin and Dale for making the 6+ hour round trip to see us for maybe 3 hours! We love you!

The weekend of the wedding was wonderful! The weather held out and didn’t really rain (kind of spat a little). I was introduced to a whole new group of J’s old friends from Chicago. This group is hilarious! I definitely felt included and loved by the end of the weekend. I tend to be a little skittish around new people and so I act all awkward and quiet, but they were able to draw me out. That meant the world to me. So thanks guys (you will probably never read this…)!

We were happy to come home, but also very sad to leave our beloved Midwest (especially me). Nora was waiting with a wagging tail and an overpowering jump for us at the Bess’ so that made our day! She is getting huge! I will have to dedicate a post to her soon.

We’re adjusting back into a schedule again BUT WAIT! I am flying back to Milwaukee in 2 days! My close friend from college is getting married on Saturday and I could NOT miss this wedding. I will get to see so many of my college buddies and my sister! This will be so good, but so quick! I’ve definitely been missing my beloved friends (another post on that later). Friendships are the best, especially the ones I have with these ladies because we have been through so much together and have stayed friends through many many seasons.

Well, that was life in a nutshell the last few weeks! Here are a few pictures to fill in the gaps!

My Primal Lifestyle

Now I know that many of my friends who read this title are wondering what in the world am I talking about! Let me give you some back story into this new eating and living lifestyle I’ve adopted over the past 6 months. When Jason moved to Tucson a year ago, he was on the look out for a new gym to join. He had heard good things about the Crossfit workout style back in Cedar Falls from some friends and was interested in trying something new to help him lose weight for our wedding. He joined Wildcat Crossfit and began learning how to do their exercises and how to incorporate their diet into his life. It was this move that changed our eating habits forever! Crossfit gyms subscribe to a diet of meat, vegetables, and fruit. Or pretty much no grains, legumes, dairy, added sugar etc. The diet is termed Paleo. We  have incorporated dairy into our diet because we love milk and cheese (Jason is from Wisconsin!). Because we eat dairy, our “diet” is coined Primal eating. The idea of this diet is to eat real food that is high in protein and fat so that our bodies utilize the best energy resources for every day living. It also takes into consideration the idea that people ate from the ground and from their animals to survive during the Paleolithic time period. I was skeptical when Jason started eating this way because I LOVED grains. I would eat bagels at Panera every day, sometimes twice a day. I ate sandwiches and pasta for lunch or dinner. I loved tortillas and pretty much everything grains. BUT I often had headaches, stomach issues and was tired a lot.  I thought that this was just a part of me getting older because I saw it happen to my mom as well as she got older. While Jason was living in Tucson and I was still in Cedar Falls, I tried going a few days without my Panera fixes and ended up feeling even more miserable, so I thought he was just crazy (even though he was losing weight faster than he had in a long time)!

After we married and I moved to Tucson, Jason made it his goal to turn me into a Primal eater because he was convinced that my stomach issues and headaches were connected to my love for grains. I began to believe there was a connection too, but I didn’t want to change my lifestyle (I’m a very stubborn woman). Slowly I began to eat less grains, mainly because there was no Panera in Tucson (God thing!) and Jason wouldn’t buy bread or rice often. I began to notice that on days I ate more meat and vegetables I felt better and didn’t have miserable stomach pain in the evening that would make us leave friends’ houses early or leave me belching all evening (sorry if that was too much!). So I became convinced that this was a diet that I wanted to incorporate into my lifestyle, even though I knew it would be hard and I didn’t think I would be able to eat cookies or banana bread anymore. BUT then we found a great blog that has tons of awesome Paleo/Primal recipes on it that had…you guessed it…grain-free chocolate chip cookies and banana bread AND pumpkin bread! July started my 30 day Primal challenge and for 30 days we ate completely primal (all but on Friday date nights). And my result was that I stopped having my late night stomach issues, my headaches all but disappeared and I had more energy to workout and keep our house in order AND have fun with my husband! I lost about 5 pounds and gained more muscle through doing the crossfit workouts on Wildcat’s website. I have become a believer!

Currently, we slipped up a little bit with our eating habits since we got back from Jason’s brother’s wedding a few weeks ago, but on Monday we are starting the 30 day Primal challenge with Mark’s Daily Apple‘s blog. I’m excited to do it again and I know that this time I don’t want to make excuses for travel or being at a place where there’s nothing but grain food. I was able to do it in July, so I know that I can make this a continual habit and I want to feel better! Email me or message me if you want more information about what we are doing. I will be blogging along the way about recipes and new finds with paleo living (soon I will post my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!)

At the beginning of my post I said eating and living lifestyle. We have begun to make changes in our day to day life so that we can live a little more naturally. We have moved from two vehicles to just one (I walk to work), we practice natural birth control methods to keep extra hormones out of my system, and I’m looking into studying to become a doula for new mommas. Now I know that this isn’t for everyone and it may only be a season for us, but it has been a fun time of exploring the why’s of how we live our life. I’ve begun reading a book called Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. In it she writes:

“While I was single and in my mid-twenties, I traveled internationally and saw the way many other cultures lived. I was inspired by what I experienced, but I still didn’t know what I was made for. I knew I wanted to run a home that was full of kids, a husband, and love. But I felt like I didn’t know how to manage a home, a most basic life skill. My problem was, I didn’t quite know what that house full of love and family should look like. I enjoyed my childhood, so it wasn’t as if I wanted a 180 for my own kids. But I wanted more…intentionality in my life. More conviction. More certainty about the why behind the decisions I made as a home manager. I didn’t want life to happen to me; I wanted to happen to life.”

The last few sentences have been in my thoughts a lot lately. As Jason and I start our life together we have an opportunity to think about the why’s of our actions and decisions. We can make decisions on how busy we are as a family, whether we put our kids in public school, charter schools, or home school; whether we have home births or hospital births; how we discipline our future children in a way that they understand God; how we interact with each other and our neighbors in a way that is intentional and full of grace. I know we don’t have to have all of the answers now, but I do want to happen to life rather than let life happen to me.

I named this post my primal lifestyle, not just because of the new diet I am on, but also because the word primal makes me think of going back to the beginning and to what is important in life. What is prime for me? What is prime for you?

Hello Blog world!

Since I married the love of my life and moved across the country a little over 8 months ago, I have become an avid blogger! I’ve learned so much about life, love, marriage, homemaking, and everything in between through reading and learning from amazing, godly women who strive to glorify God in their every day life of being a wife and mom.

I’ve contemplated about starting a blog for months and decided that I need to just take the plunge and see what happens. This blog will mainly be about the goings-ons of life with my new hubby and our puppy, but I’m betting that there will be posts every so often that delve into the ponderings of my heart. Here I hope to challenge, encourage, and uplift souls to strive to live a life filled with Truth and Grace.

This Labor Day was a full day! Jason and I woke up EARLY to run in a Labor Day Race at the BEAUTIFUL Saguaro National Park. We logged 8 miles and sure have felt it all day! I was so proud of Jason since he hates running and hasn’t run that distance in ages! After our race, we got cleaned up and headed to Wilcox to cash in a groupon at a local vineyard. We had a relaxing afternoon of wine tasting and sitting in cooler weather! We had some friends watch Nora while we were away and just returned from taking them out to dinner. It has been a full, but wonderful day of friends, food, and the beautiful outdoors! I hope that you all (whoever reads this) had a great Labor Day!

Here are a few pictures from our day!

Before our Labor Day Race

At the Vineyard

Jason was tired after our race!

I felt great :)