Surprise, Jaybird!

My husband was gone all last week on back-to-back business trips.  And while he was gone I was VERY busy.  I tend to take on house projects when he's gone as a way to surprise him when he gets back.

Saturday before he left, I scoured the house top to bottom.  It smelled so nice and Pinesol-y.  There was a reason for my madness - a surprise visitor arriving that next week (more on that later).  Saturday night we finally got our TV mounted on the living room wall as well.  That felt great!

Then on Sunday we went to church, ran to Walmart for some travel toiletries for Jay, then back home for lunch and packing, and at last we were off to the airport.  From there, the story was a big secret.  My kids and I were on a mission.

Instead of going home, the kids and I drove an hour and half north to Austin to the Ikea.  Queue the Hallelujah Chorus!  I told L walking into Ikea that it was the land of my people.  Oh, Sweden!  One day I'll get there to see the land of my ancestors and hopefully meet an adoption friend and her handsome little China man too.  But I digress.

Oh my!  Did she ever ENJOY this place!
She climbed on everything and was so excited!
Giggles, giggles and more giggles.

Super C pretending to be a Financial Advisor.

They loved the orange couch under a loft bed.

My boys still love stuffed animals.
The boys begged me to take their pictures.

They wanted to bring every one of them home.
And at cheap Ikea prices, I almost wanted to as a reward
for making the trip with no complaining!

We picked up 5 Laiva shelving units for my husband's home office - my official project for the week.  For nearly a year we had been living with all my husband's ministry books in LARGE boxes in the closet of an empty upstairs bedroom.  Every now and then my husband would need a book from one of the boxes for his Bible study and the room would be left a shambles of books everywhere and boxes barely holding together.  With my husband's new office being located at the North edge of town, meeting with more local clients might be best suited from a home office, so it was time to get it ready and shelving was the first start.

I treated my kids to hot dogs, chips and drinks at the cafe near the exit and we drove home, missing much of the Austin rain storm.  No, we didn't get the Swedish Meatballs, I make those at home from scratch.  I should have picked up some Lingonberries though, as they are hard to find in San Antonio unless I go on base with my friend Brandy.

She ate a hot dog!  Last time I made hot dogs she refused it despite eating them in China.
She was either really hungry or she really likes Ikea dogs.

Sunday night the boys and I stayed up until midnight assembling shelves.  One set came out broken and I phoned Ikea for a replacement part.  Upsetting to say the least.  But 4 out of 5 shelves was better than none.  I just left space for the remaining one on the office wall.

Building until midnight.
And L slept through the hammering.

On Monday we did school, doubling up on curriculum, making it a very long day, but I had good reason for the extra work (our surprise visitor).  That night the boys helped me alphabetize all the books and I stayed up late again putting everything up on the 4 shelves that I had available.

On Tuesday we had our homeschool co-op, so the day was pretty much packed, but after dinner I went to sand and prime the desk that I received for free from another local homeschooling family.  Thanks, Nicole!!!  It was laminate furniture, but I followed this website and prayed for a good outcome.  Tuesday night before bed I applied the first coat of paint and it was looking good.  I would like a layer of polyurethane on top of the desk to protect against scratches or water.  I still hope and plan to do this in the days to come.  In the meantime, I need to get Jay some coasters!

Rolling out the primer late at night after a full day of school and co-op.

Super E loved to paint just like his mama.
The desk had some water damage to it, but I was able to sand it down for the most part.
At some point, we may put a glass top on it as our neighbor is in the custom cut glass business.

On Wednesday we did schoolwork and rolled out another coat of paint.  Then I did something weird.  When we moved to TX, some of the hardware came off our bedroom furniture and was never found.  So instead of buying new hardware for the desk, I took the hardware from my dresser and used them on the desk.  When I go to paint the dressers (maybe when my mom visits next) I'll get all new hardware for the dressers since some of the originals weren't found.  During the drying process, one of the desk drawers tipped over onto one of the others and peeled paint.  Oh, I was not happy.  Everything was looking so good and just needed more drying time.  I also decorated our house for Fall/Halloween and it was fun to see all that decor again after being in boxes for over a year.

Doesn't photograph well at night, but I love my monsters
in my upstairs windows for Halloween.
There are 2 more windows to the left, but hidden a bit by trees.
Thanks, Pinterest!

Thursday morning we did school and spent the afternoon putting the office back together.  I touched up the desk drawer from the mishap the day before.  It didn't come out looking perfect, but that would have taken sanding the whole thing down again and I didn't have ample time for that before Jay returned home.  We cleaned up the mess of other books and junk needing a place in our home.  I vacuumed and enjoyed time with a friend who came by that afternoon with her son.  Everything looked ready!

The office "before."
Hardly anything more than an empty room.

The office "after."
Still need an office chair and a sofa bed and maybe a coffee table.
You get the bonus of seeing my Halloween monster silhouettes in the window too.
Some curtains would be nice too for color, but I'll wait for my mom to find
the steal of the century at her favorite resale shop.  She has a knack for finding $3 curtains.

Still waiting on my 1 replacement piece for shelf #5 when I took his photo.
Thankful it arrived on time for the reveal.
We technically have space for a 6th shelf, but we don't have the need right now
and things look better in odd numbers, so I kept it at 5 shelves.

Friday morning was supposed to bring surprise #2 -- a visit from my father-in-law.  But he cancelled his trip because he wasn't feeling well.  Instead, we spent the day finishing up school with the boys, hoping our replacement bookshelf piece would arrive (IT DID!!!), enjoyed dinner, watched a movie, put jammies on and then picked up Jay at the airport at 11pm.

I wondered if we could keep Jay out of his home office until his birthday on Monday (not that he'd have any reason to go in there anyway).  We successfully kept him out just by telling him is present was in there and I hadn't wrapped it yet -- which was true because the kids had small gifts for their dad that did indeed need wrapping.

Monday was Jay's first day in his new office on the North side of town.  It was a good busy day.  When he came home the kids gave him his birthday treasure hunt.  I found used copies of Star Wars I, II and III and each child gave him 1 DVD.  The last DVD was on his desk in his office, so he opened the door and saw his office -- the thing I busted my tail to complete while he was gone for 5 short days.

Now all we need is an office chair and a sofa sleeper in there so that clients can sit on the couch, yet the room can still be used for overnight guests if need be.  I may even bring in an old coffee table up there once we get a couch.

And now I'm beat!

Happy birthday, Jaybird!  Hope you liked all your surprises!

The Office

Last night I asked my Facebook friends to pray for a family decision we had to make in a very short amount of time.  I thank you for praying!

The decision regarded where my husband's new office would be located.

You may recall that after 17+ years in ministry my husband lost his last pastoral role just weeks before I went to China for our daughter.  Since our Nebraska house was sold and awaiting closing, we decided it best to let the sale continue so that we didn't have a mortgage over our heads while facing unemployment.  So, we hightailed it to Texas and moved into my mother-in-law's condo.

After a summer of searching for ministry work and coming up empty handed, we decided it best to leave ministry and start a new career in the marketplace in the financial sector.  My husband trained for months and then his firm suggested we set up shop in San Antonio, sharing an office with a seasoned investor while my husband set up his business and proved himself profitable.

Jay has done a great job and has worked hard to make his business a success.  He has won a prestigious award from the corporate office and he has outperformed many of his fellow classmates to date.  And he has now left "level new" and is officially "level one," and soon to be "level two," and is ready for an office of his own.

We recently decided to take a day trip to the Gulf of Mexico to see the Texas coastline.  But this trip was not purely for family fun.  There is a branch office down there that my husband could take over immediately.  We owed it to ourselves to check it out in order to make a fully informed decision.  We drove around the area for quite a while, looking at the town, the office and the neighborhoods before enjoying a couple hours of family time on the beach.  An office by The Gulf was certainly a possibility.

The beautiful Texas coastline.  So beautiful and inviting -- except for the jellyfish!

This week, while we hadn't made an official decision about the office location at the Gulf, another office here in San Antonio became available for immediate occupancy.  This office possibility isn't on our end of town and would be a 24 mile commute one way (and in SA rush hour traffic, it won't be pretty).  The office is also known to be in a high rent area, which could make building a successful business a bit tricky and difficult.

But having an office of his own would mean Jay would get the administrative support he needs to be truly successful, something he gets very little of currently and isn't in his own gift mix.

At the same time, my husband knows that this move has been the hardest move for me.  He knows I feel trapped in the LARGE state of Texas and I'd like to be back in the Midwest closer to family.  So, Jay also did some calling to see if there would be any offices available in the Minneapolis area where I have family and lots of college friends and one of my very best friends who I miss terribly.  Right now, there are no offices available for Jay in the Twin Cities, but it doesn't mean one might not open up eventually.

So, The Gulf, San Antonio or Minneapolis/St. Paul?  That was our question.  We had only 1 business day to make our decision about the San Antonio office.  That's why I sought after your diligent prayers.

Today we have decided to let go of the idea of the office by The Gulf and take the San Antonio office.  While it may be a risk, Jay and his associates think this will be a great boost for Jay's career.  At the same time, it does establish us in Texas all the more.  That's not to say we can never move away, but it would be difficult to leave an office behind and then start "from scratch" in a new locale should Minneapolis come calling.

Since the office is located at a different edge of town from where we live currently, we can think about relocating to that area in the next year or two.  Schools are very good in that area and we can consider sending the kids back to public school.  We also have some friends who live over in that area and my boys would have a good friend nearby.

Downtown San Antonio at night.

I'd be lying if I said that I'm not sad to say goodbye to the dream of moving back home.  I am sad.  That's all I have to say about that.

So, I thank you for your prayers.  I'd appreciate it if you'd continue to pray God's hand of blessing on Jay's career.  Please pray for more clients and more successes so that we can afford more van repairs and some home improvements so that we're ready for market whenever God leads us to move onward.

Thanks, friends!  I really appreciate my prayer warriors!  How can I pray for you?  Comments section is open and I won't "publish" your comments if your prayers are of a sensitive nature.  But I'm happy to pray for you!