DIY - Recovering Chairs

When I was up in Tennessee earlier this year, visiting my family, my mom mentioned that she was probably going to get rid of a couple bar stools because the seats were worn-out.  

My grandmother, who lives in the same house, also had some beautiful old German-made chairs with padded seats that were old and looked bad. So I asked my mom if I could recover the chairs.  She was a bit skeptical but gave me the okay.   So we went to the fabric store and picked out some new material that would match her decor.

This is what I needed:

1. Upholstery Fabric
2. Staple gun
3. Staples
4. Screwdriver

Then I got to work. My dad volunteered and was a HUGE help in this project.  This is what we did:

1. First, we turned the chairs over and unscrewed the chair pads.  The newer chairs had only 4 screws holding down the pads. The German-made ones had like 4,256. (or maybe just 20)
2. After we got the seats off, I cut a large piece of fabric for each with enough room to cover the sides and part of the bottom as well as the seats themselves. 
3. Then I wrapped the fabric nicely around to the underside and stapled.
4. Once the seats were re-wrapped, I put them back on the chairs and screwed the screws back in place.

It was a fairly easy project . You can see the before and after pictures below. - Rejoicing in the Present

Striving For Greatness

Many people buy books and read articles about becoming great. Many of these dear people are Christians. 

I think if we were all honest, we would say that we don't want to just live this life but we want to thrive. We want to be successful whether that is in our job or as a wife or mother. 

Jesus was talking to a group of people about a man that He thought was great in Luke 7. 

Wow, can you imagine being called great by the Son of God, the Son of Man!!! 

Below is the passage where he was talking about John the Baptist, a prophet of God.

Luke 7:24-28
What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 

But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously appareled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. 

But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. 

This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 

For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. 

There are at least three lessons here that we can learn about why John was great.

1. He was consistent. 

John pointed people to Jesus and stood for righteousness. He would not be moved from the truth. Eventually, he literally lost his head over this, but He stood firm on the truth and was consistent. He was not like "a reed shaken in the wind."

2. He denied himself.

Life was not about what he could get. The "stuff" that he had was mainly used for survival. He ate to live. He dressed because he had to. He was not living for this world. 

3. He was NOT great. 

In fact, John was actually "the least." He lowered himself. He emptied himself. He was nothing and so God filled him up and made him great!

THIS IS GREATNESS. Want to succeed? Then stand on the truth; don't falter. 

Deny yourself. What can we give up so that someone else can "have"?

Lastly, we must empty ourselves. Let God make us great. Don't try to do it ourselves, because eventually WE WILL FALL and will be what looks like a big mess of "self" lying on the ground. Let's God make us great!  - Rejoicing in the Present

Lulu's Tea Room, Powell, TN

I am so excited to introduce you to my all-time favorite restaurant, Lulu’s Tea Room, located in Powell, TN.

WAIT--before you click off my post and say that you’re not into “tea and scones,” let me tell you more.  Now, this restaurant can serve up some delicious scones; however, you must try the entrees and sides.  They are absolutely amazing!

The food is delicious and it’s all fresh!  I know this for a fact because, before we were married, my husband and I both worked there.  I worked in the kitchen and actually made many of the recipes, so I saw the way the food was handled and cooked.

The owner, Dena, is a friendly down-to-earth gal with a HUGE heart and lots of sparkle.  When Hubby and I got married, she threw us a wedding shower with the staff. She is just that type of person.

But let me tell you about the amazingly delicious food.  My favorite meal is the chicken salad with sweet bread, tomato dill soup and deviled eggs.  Hubby’s favorite is the chicken pecan quiche with tomato dill soup and fresh fruit.  My mom loves the spinach quiche and pretzel jello salad.  I could go on and on telling you about all the favorites in my family; by let me tell you this, Dena has a variety of sandwiches, soup, salad, quiche and sides--something for everyone!

In fact, you can come in just to enjoy one of her fabulous desserts.  I could write another complete post about her desserts; they are OUT OF THIS WORLD.

Just today, she offered blackberry, strawberry, coconut and red velvet cakes and a peanut butter pie.  She has so many different kinds of desserts.  You can even order a whole cake to take home with you.

Lulu’s is a busy operation.  She caters and takes reservations.  She hosts all sorts of baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties and so on.  Dena has also frequently shared some of her recipes on a local TV program, "Alive at Five at Four" (on WBIR-TV).

If you are ever driving through Knoxville, TN, there is a beautiful Victorian style house in nearby Powell that houses this quaint tea room.  Its appearance is adorable and the food is the best! Give it try;  for reservations, call 865-947-5858 or just stop on in. - Rejoicing in the Present

FI-NAL-LY

My chest was heaving for air and I was trying to relax while clinging to the side of the pool.  There were little kids swimming around like fish, while I was hanging unto the edge for dear life.

It all started back when I was a pre-teen. Since then  I have always LOVED the water, especially pools!  Water has always been so relaxing. Because of all my back problems, pools have been a place of relief for me.  So while I was recovering from my surgeries in high school, my parents installed a LARGE above-ground pool in our backyard.  It was 5ft deep but I could stand and be okay.  It was soooo much fun.  Some of my favorite memories involve that pool!

Ironically, I couldn't really swim. I did take some swimming lessons one summer but I never learned what I needed to.  I could hold my breath and swim across the narrow part but then I would stand up and that would be the end of it.  I never learned to come up for air and swim again.  In fact, I had this fear of swimming in water that I could not stand in.

So as soon my kids were born, I looked into swim lessons for them.  My 1 year old can float like a boat and my 3-year-old son can swim and rescue-float himself.  It's pretty amazing. To get where they are now, they had to go through some intense lessons. There were lots of tears but now we see the result! They are like fish in the water.

I personally have always wanted to learn, and even more than that, I wanted to beat my fear.  So this summer when I signed up my kiddos for lessons, I signed up myself too!  I figured I shouldn't expect my kids to do something that I myself was not willing to do.  So, there I was taking swim lessons and sneaking off to practice while my husband watched the kids.

It's been a journey.  I have not reached where I would like to be, but the day finally came!

I knew I didn't have much time. The kids were sleeping and their daddy was home for only a short time.  I had just enough time for a few laps.  I decided that "TODAY was the day."  I was going to swim half way across, take a breather and swim the other half.  I had done the first half many times. I would swim and come up for air several times until I got half way. I was comfortable doing this because I knew I could still stand if I needed ot 

So I did a little more then the first half and then swam to the side to get a breath.  I couldn't stand at this point so, with my chest panting for air, I clung unto the side of the pool and breathed.  Finally, a little girl came by and asked to go by.  I knew that I needed to finish the job.  So I took a deep breath and dove in.  I swam and came up for breath a few times until I could almost touch the wall.  It was a beautiful moment to reach out and grab the wall and know that I had finally done it.

29 years later, I beat the beast.  I still have a lot to do.  I want to get to the point where I am strong enough to do the full lap without resting, but I can now swim even when I can't touch the bottom!  YAY!

It was a big day!  What about you?  Is there something you need to beat?  Is there something you have always wanted to do?  It's not too late. You're still breathing. Give it a try :-) - Rejoicing in the Present

Ps. Since writing the above post, I have become quite comfortable with the deep end. I am even "trying to learn" to do flips. :-) (It was a flop)  ...so for now I think I will stick with Cannon Balls. :-)

bAHamas moment #5

Our time in the Bahamas was amazing.  We all had a blast serving with Liberty Baptist to try to win the souls of local youth.  We went out soul-winning in the morning, spent the afternoon planning, and put on a big youth rally at night. 

The church is in a poorer area.  The streets are very narrow and not always well taken care of.  The flowers and trees are gorgeous and the people seem to take care of what is given them. ...but it's a normal life to not have air-conditioning and to live with less. 

We spent over a week ministering, laughing, and enjoying the Bahamian people.  On the last day, a few of the people expressed an interest in seeing the Atlantis Hotel that you always see advertised on TV.  So we decided to go tour it. 

We went over a large bridge to get to it and almost immediately saw a difference. The streets were much wider and everything was well kept up.  The grass was perfectly green and cut in a professional way.   The buildings were painted and everything had a touch of elegance to it.  When we walked through the shopping area, you could see a fake portrayal of perfection. 

As we walked down the boardwalk to the hotel we saw yachts lined up next to each other, many of them worth over 100 million dollars.  I noticed a few people sitting on their decks; they were busy on their electronics. 


As I continued to watch people, I didn't see a lot of joy or peace. When we arrived at the hotel, we had to walk through the casino to see other parts of it and many in our group expressed a feeling of darkness while walking through. 

As we toured Atlantis, all I could think about was what Solomon wrote...

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."   The people looked empty; there wasn't real joy in their faces.  They all looked like they were trying to keep up with each other. 

Ahhh... it hit me.  #5.  Life isn't always what it looks like.  It may look like perfection, with extravagance, brand-name everything and people waiting on you, but it's empty. 

You may think that the grass is greener on the other side but usually that's because there is a septic tank right under your neighbor's lawn.  

That resort was trying to sell a perfect "Bahamas experience"; however it wasn't even the real Bahamas.  It was faux perfection. 

Interestingly enough, when we came out of the hotel we walked right past those yachts where some of the same people were sitting in the same spot, not interacting with each other but playing on their electronics.  They looked bored and unhappy.

Yet I saw more people laughing and giggling and having a blast at our youth rally on the "poor" side of town. 

After living there for a week, it wasn't hard to sniff out the falseness. 

However, I wonder if I would have seen it if I had gone directly to Atlantis.  The world will try to sell it to you. 

• Come; gamble; you will be the one to win. 
• If you look like us, you will be happy.
• Have a party. Get drunk on the beach; that will make you happy. 
• If you spend $$$ on ______, you will be happy. 

But, my dear friend, joy comes from the Lord and from salvation.  We had a hard week but a full week.  We had joy, real joy.  The joy that comes from your salvation and seeing the souls of others coming to salvation.  I would not have wanted to be on the other side.  I was blessed to be on the Fox Hill side of town.  - Rejoicing in the Present

bAHAmas moment #4

One of my favorite AHA moments is #4:  "Take away all electronics, stick a bunch of teens in a room with a beach ball and it can entertain them for WEEKS."

So there we were broken down on the side of the street. We found a blow-up bat and an empty water bottle and played baseball. 

Then at the church, we were stranded every afternoon because of the bus situation. Our teens found a beach ball and some hula hoops and we played every game you could think of. 

From volleyball to taps, to Hula Haphazardness to Dodge Ball to "make it up as you go along," the young people and some of us "not-so-young" people played, laughed, teased, joked and had good clean fun.  I'm sure those memories are going to last forever. 

Give a child an empty box and a spoon and he will play for hours. Give a child a room full or toys and she will come crying in 30 minutes that there is nothing to play with. 

The youth really bonded because they had to talk to each other face to face.  They played together.  They were a team.  They teased and laughed together.  They built forever memories. - Rejoicing in the Present

bAHAmas moment #3

When we arrived in Nassau, we got lunch and waited for the missionaries to pick us up.  We soon realized that something was amiss, as we waited for more than an hour longer than had been agreed upon. 

We found out that the church bus was having issues and they had to continually pull over.  Once we were picked up, we pulled over two times to give the bus a rest. Finally we continued on our way again; when we did, the driver opened the radiator cap which happened to be on the inside of the bus.  There was a small explosion of water and steam gushing out.  Someone yelled "everyone out" and we trampled over each other to do so.  A few of the guys just jumped out the windows. 

We laughed over our silliness.  The emergency evacuation was not necessary but our laughter soon turned into gravity when we realized that the bus was done for.  We waited on the side of the road for a few hours while the church rounded up some people to pick us up. 

This was the beginning of some "earthly" issues that we had.  One of our sweet ladies struggled with dizziness all week due to the heat and her blood pressure pills, while most everyone else just struggled with the heat. 


With the bus down, we were not able to pick up kids to bring them to our youth rallies.  We were discouraged by this fact but kept plodding along. 

Although I had always known this fact, my AHA moment #3 was a good reminder.  "No matter what life throws at you, remember there is a God Who is bigger."

Our youth rally had an incredible turnout.  Over the course of the week, we had 20 young people come to Christ.  The last night we had 100 attending.  We had two huge lists of contacts to leave for the church to followup on; the exciting part was that since we couldn't pick any kids up, their parents either dropped them off or they walked, which is unheard of there. 

Our lemons seemed a bit sour when they were handed to us, but God made the most delicious lemonade out of them. - Rejoicing in the Present