Prayer For the Home

There is a blog I read called "Life in Grace." It is written by a beautiful lady named Edie who also happens to be a fellow East Tennessean! Recently she posted an amazing prayer for the home. You can link to her blog here: http://www.lifeingraceblog.com/. With her permission I am re posting it to "The Avery House" blog. We are blessed with our new home and want it to be a place where all feel loved and blessed when they enter it. With this prayer we ask our Heavenly Father's blessing upon our home.

Prayer For the Home:
Lord God, our home is among the most precious gifts we receive in this life.
We realize this all the more as we remember our Lord Jesus. He set aside home and family. Having no place to lay His head throughout His ministry, he chose to sojourn among those He came to save. We prayerfully invite Him to dwell in our earthly abode even as He continually invites us by Word and Sacrament to dwell forever in our heavenly home, which He prepares for us.
Make us ever grateful for this shelter from life’s storms.
Keep this house always the home of comfort, joy, peace, and forgiveness.
According to Your will, protect this home from the spiritual assaults of Satan, but likewise make our home a fortress against the calamities of nature and the wickedness of sinful man.
Grant us the virtue of hospitality, the joy of harmonious living, and the blessing of gathering around Your Word and bringing our families’ prayers before You.
May all who dwell in our home be blessed by Your presence and Your peace,
and may all who go forth give thanks for the grace they receive from You, through us, Your dear children
We receive Your loving kindness in our home as a reminder of the eternal home we inherit through Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.Amen.{prayer taken from the Lutheran prayer book which can be purchased at Concordia Publishing House.}

A Bridal Shower

My beautiful sister Katie is getting married this year to her long time boyfriend now fiance of 11 years. WOW! Katie and Ryan have known each other their entire lives. Katie was two when they first met in Spain when both their moms were stationed at the same Naval Hospital in Rota, Spain. Over the years, the two families kept in touch and eventually ended up again in the same area near Washington DC. Ryan and Katie had always been childhood friends, but one summer the two families were vacationing in Outer Banks, NC and Katie and Ryan fell in love. The rest is history! Katie and Ryan have been together ever since and now are beginning their life together as a married couple. They will be getting married in St. Lucia on New Year's Eve 2010. Yesterday we had a lovely bridal shower to celebrate this wonderful couple with our Tennessee Family. Congratulations Katie and Ryan! We are so happy for you both and wish you many years of happiness and prosperity. May God bless and keep you in all your years together!
Katie and Kelly
Sharing marriage advice!
Beautiful toilette paper wedding dresses!

Aunt Theresa and Aunt Carol were serious about their fashion design!

Awesome slide show our sister Kelly put together for the shower!

Nicki, Emily, Katie, and Nicole, our beautiful toilette paper wedding gown models!

The beautiful bride!

Over the Mountain and Through the Woods . . .

to Uncle Harold and Aunt Carol's house we went! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We spent this wonderful day with my family on my Dad's side in Cookeville TN. It was wonderful to see all of my aunts, uncles, cousins . . . in one place. I always forget how big our family is until I see pics like this:
It is a true blessing to have family who you love with all your heart. To all of our family, friends and even those we may not know, we hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.
My Uncle Tracy, my dad, Aunt Sheila, Aunt Theresa, Uncle Barry, and Uncle Harold. Deceased, Aunt Phyllis, Uncle Ricky, Granny Bea and Granddaddy Harold.
Aunt Theresa with my cousin Leigh and her daughter Kailey.
My cousin Nicki and her daughter Aaleia.
My cousins Shane and Kevin.
A rare photo of me and Howie. Yep, my hand is still in a splint!
Beautiful cousins Maria, Joslyn, and Morgan!
Sophie and Taylor playing the piano!
My cousin Michelle and her husband Josh.
My Uncle Tracy and Cookie came all the way from San Jose, CA! We had not seen Tracy in so long and it was so great to see him looking happy with Cookie! Blessed we are to have such a wonderful family here, in Memphis and in New York! We love you all!
Give thanks in everything, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

My Little Turkey!

Kindergarten is such a sweet, magical time for children.I still remember the Native American drum I made out of a tin coffee can, the paper feather headdress, and grocery sack Indian vest I wore for our kindergarten class Thanksgiving play.

Emma-Caroline brought home her own Thanksgiving keepsakes complete with drum (plastic coffee can instead of tin), vest and paper feather headdress.
Of course, I had to take pictures of my little turkey looking so cute and who acted like a turkey for this photo op.
Gobble, gobble! Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Fall Leaf Fun!

Sunday afternoon Howie blew a large pile of leaves for Emma-Caroline and Sophie to jump in in the middle of the front yard
They had a ball jumping, rolling, throwing, and laying in the leaves.





Falling leaves and BIG, HUGE, leaf piles are some of the most fun things about fall!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Everyone!

Simple Gifts

Since my accident, I have been amazed at the life lesson God has taught me through this experience. As many of you know, my favorite Bible verse is "Every good and perfect gift is from above." No, I don't think God intended that I almost cut my finger off and that I would have to have surgery just to teach me a lesson, but I do think He intended to impart a gift to me through the experience. That gift has been hard to take for me, Miss I-Can-Do-It-All-By-MYSELF-And-It-Will-Be-Done-Right! Yes, I'll admit, I am type A to the max and the more anxious I am about it, the more type A I get. So becoming incapacitated, so to speak, and having to rely on others to HELP ME has been a tough little pill for me to swallow. But I'm a good girl, and I did take my medicine with a spoon full of humility and I have learned a HUGE lesson! My life has been simplified, only the necessary things have taken place. All superfluous activities and things I THOUGHT I NEEDED to be doing have been eliminated. That's not to say that I haven't figured out how to keep a clean house, make beds, fold laundry, etc., but it is to say that I have slowed the activity down. And through that I have been given the gift of simpleness, the gift of more time to really BE with my family in presence of mind instead of thinking of the million other things I "SHOULD" be doing while I am with them, the gift of allowing family and friends to really HELP me and to know they really do care about me, the gift of prayer and reflection that give me perspective. It's quite amazing really how awesome and humbling God's gifts are to us and how truly perfect they are for where we are in our life's journey. Through all of this, the same part of the song "Simple Gifts" has kept replaying in my head, "'tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free, 'tis a gift to come down where we ought to be . . ." Thank you God for giving me this gift!
"Simple Gifts" was written by Elder Joseph while he was at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine in 1848. These are the lyrics to his one-verse song:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Forest Brook House, Before and After

OK, so many of you have already seen this before and after pic since I posted it on Facebook, but I wanted to post here on our blog too. We love our new Avery House. When we first saw it, it was my birthday, March 13th. Our now neighbor and realtor told Howie when we came to see it, "Howie, you just need to tie a big old red bow around this house and give it to Amy for her birthday!" "Oh that seals it," I thought, "Howie is NOT going to like this house." We walked in, and I LOVED it, it was warm and felt like home. We especially loved the kitchen, back sun room and outdoor Pavilion, but I wasn't getting my hopes up. I prayed that whatever house we bought it would be the one Howie showed the most interest in. THIS was the house! After consulting with an architect, Howie was convinced this was the house for us and I whole-heatedly agreed. We bought the house from a wonderful couple, Gina and Paul, who are now friends and neighbors, and signed paperwork to take possession of it on Howie's birthday, May 6th. So in essence this house was a birthday present for BOTH Howie and I. We didn't tie a big red bow around it, but we did give it a bit of a makeover with our new addition. And so goes the story of the beginnings of the new Avery House. Seven months later, we are nearing completion of our project. It has been a long process of actual blood, sweat, and tears, but it has been worth it. We are thankful for our new home. We are blessed and happy!

A "Hug" House

On Monday, one of our neighbors and fellow parishioners at our church stopped by with a basket full of beautiful lillys that the church had sent me as a Get Well Soon! wish. I was so touched by their thoughtfulness and the loveliness of the flowers. I invited Beverly in and as we began to talk I offered her a tour of the Avery House since it is now near completion.
As we traveled from room to room, Beverly was so gracious in her words about our home complementing it's decor and asking if I were an interior designer. I blushed and humbly thanked her for the compliment knowing that I simply just decorate and arrange furniture to how it makes me feel in a room.
I will tinker with a room until I think it feels like home to me and to our family. But perhaps the best thing that Beverly said to me on her visit to our home was that our home felt warm and inviting to her as well. In her words she said our home "felt like it was giving you a big hug when you walked in the door."
As our house does finally near construction completion, I am thankful for the gift of it and I am thankful that it does feel like it is a "Hug" House. It is our home and we love living here, laughing here, loving here, and having fun here, and we are glad that others feel the same way!
This blog is a way of inviting our family and friends into our house even when we live far a way. We always hope you will visit often and even leave a comment or two when you feel like it. I have enjoyed sharing bits and pieces of our life with you and also sharing in your worlds as well. We hope when you leave "The Avery House" you always feel like you have been given a big hug!

Christmas Card Photo, Opinions Please!

As Christmas card time rolls around, I am in a dilemma over what I should use as our card picture. This may be a spoiler for all of you who enjoy the surprise of the Christmas card picture, but I need help deciding what I should use. I actually created two collages which would go on a card that I have ordered through Reese Street Designs. I'll not tell you what the card looks like so at least that will be a surprise. Here are the two collages I created, both with a Disney theme, since that was where we vacationed this year and had many good times!

Let me know what you think.

Surprise Visit From Friends!

Sometimes in life you meet a friend who you connect with on so many levels that she is like your long lost sister. And even though you may not see her for a long time, the next time you do, you pick up as if you just saw her yesterday. Over the weekend we got a surprise visit from our friends the Eatons!

They had moved to Charlotte, NC over the summer and we had not seen them since June. They stopped by for a surprise visit while on a trip to Knoxville and it was just like old times! Our girls had such a fun time playing together with our neighbor's daughter Lindsey and her friend while we gave Sarah and Nathan a tour of the new Avery House.

We will be planning a trip soon to see the Eaton's in Charlotte. Thanks Eaton Family for stopping by to see us!

It was great to see y'all!

A Emma-Caroline Left- Handed Photo Shoot

Yesterday afternoon, I pulled the Nikon D90 out to try my hand at taking photos with one hand. It's a bit tricky, as everything I have been doing lately one-handed is, but I did it. I actually think these photos turned out pretty good for one hand photo taking. Before I know it, I will be ambidextrous!

One Week Post-Op

This time last week, my tendons and nerves were being sewn back together by a wonderful doctor. The surgery was a success and I am glad I am one week past the surgery into recovery time. My left hand has become surprisingly more and more adept at typing, brushing hair, cleaning the house, making beds, etc., etc. When I was told I COULD NOT do things like fold laundry and make beds, my left hand said, "Don't worry, I got your back!" And so it has been. As my right hand recuperates and rests, my left hand has come out in full force and has not let me down. All kidding aside, I am not able to drive and do a lot of things I need to do like unpack our 2nd storage load of boxes, but that's OK. I am still ever appreciative of all the help and well-wishes I have received since my injury. I am blessed and humbled to say the least. Here's a one handed photo of the hand in healing process. Avert eyes if you don't like to see post-op stuff. It's not so bad though.

Happy Veteran's Day 2010

Thank you to all the men and women in my life and to those I don't know for your service to our country. We are proud of you! This is a picture my sister Katie found of our dad's Marine Corp squadron when he served in Vietnam. He is in the third row, third from left under the shadow. He was just a very young man, but so brave! I just downloaded the picture below and am adding it to my Veteran's Day post this afternoon at 3:30pm. So glad my sister Kelly posted this pic on her Facebook page as it is one of my favorites.
This is a picture of my step-mom Pam who is now a retired Commander in the Navy. I have always been so very proud of her for her service and leadership in our nation's armed forces. Thank you Pam!