Classic Haskins Style

So give me the benefit of the doubt...I haven't gone 35 days since my last blog posting. 

It seems as if life is running by me at a very fast pace.  It is a busy season.  Every weekend is full of exciting events and even though I work the same schedule day-to-day there is always something coming up, making the days longer and busier.  Since the move Craig and I see each other less.  There just isn't enough hours in the stinkin' days!!!  But praise the Lord for invention of texts, cell phones, and facebook chat!  We are so grateful though to come home to our CUTE little house at the end of each day, knowing we will climb in to bed together -- er -- maybe not always at the same time.  But through the midst of the business and chaos that this spring season brings, we are still able to find time for fun projects, dinners, and friends. 

Two weeks ago we had the privilege of having dinner with a 92-year old man, Lester Ames.  I had befriended him at the gym at our old apartment.  He and I worked out daily together, usually for 1.5 hours.  He has an iPod that confuses him sometimes, so I was the faithful young blond girl who would switch his music to Josh Whitaker for him.  Some days he would beat me to the treadmill I liked to run on and others days I would beat him.  It was a race to see who made it there first.  I gained a loyal respect for this man, especially when I found out he was 92 years old, born in 1919.  I assumed he had seen a lot in his days so I desired to visit with him outside of the gym.  He had my husband and I over to his apartment for a very lovely dinner.  When we arrived the table was set, there was homemade chicken noodle soup on the stove, a Costco apple pie in the fridge, and a beverage corked open.  He was so excited to show us pictures of his 89th birthday present - para sailing in the Catalina Islands.  When you say a "go-getter" and "ambitious," Les comes to my mind immediately.  When he was 90 he walked a 12k (with his walker) and finished in just under 3 hours.  Nothing, absolutely nothing stops this man.  Life lessons learned after our visit with him?  Hands down...you bet!  Never stop moving, never stop dreaming, don't let age get in the way of what you want to do, fellowship with others, hang around others younger than yourself, and deal with what life has dealt you maturely.  At the end of the evening he called up his 70-year old daughter and had us pass the phone around and talk with her.  Les then called up his brother via Skype so that we could meet him.  He was so proud of us -- his new YOUNG (beautiful) friends he had made.  God bless this man.  Not to mention he loves the Lord with his whole heart.

This past weekend Molly came to visit!  It worked out well that Craig was in Arizona for a wedding -- it allowed for some quality sister bonding time without male influence :]  From the minute I picked her up to the moment I dropped her off we were knee-deep in PINTEREST projects.  I had hired her creativity and "eye" for design the moment I found out I had to decorate a house.  Yikes!  I couldn't even decorate my own bedroom, let alone a whole entire house!  We were both very excited for this opportunity.  We worked straight through the two days taking breaks here and there to refuel and enjoy each other's company...as well as Angela's and Caitlin's!  One of the first things we did was go garage saleing in our own garage.  Right off the bat we found four projects!  The previous renters had left a bunch of old stuff they had, which turned in to our treasure!

We then visited the Habitat for Humanity Restore, TJ Maxx, WalMart, and Hobby Lobby...spending a bit over budget.  But the majority of purchases were steals!  One of our favorite projects was a $1.00 picture frame we bought at the restore that we framed a cross with (a very significant cross that is!)

Craig and I had purchased a corner unit for our dining room that we didn't know what to do with.  So with the help of both Molly AND Morgan (via photo messaging and text) we came up with this:

And directly beside it, completing our dining room, was a $20 mirror and two previous apartment decorations.

We scored some really good deals at Hobby Lobby, two of which being a Christian fish and red candles that complimented the color scheme in our living room.

Moving on to our larger projects was a wedding gallery wall and an entry way table with a curtain rod holding frames!  (The table was another project found in our garage that we just spray painted).

[entry way table is not finished yet, therefore not pictured]

Our new centerpiece is compliments of Natalie Stiles.  She gifted to me a cake on a cake platter...and to my knowledge it can be flipped to be used as a punch bowl...or in this case beautiful living room decor

In our hallway we added a bit of floral touch.

(The tin can was found in our garage full of spiders.  We decided to wash it and reuse it).

In our bedroom we flipped our comforter, added a sentimental phrase above our bed, hung our marriage certificate and wedding shower photo, and hung shadow boxes with tea lights (a GREAT addition to our room)

(In case you can't read the inscription: "Take my heart & walk through this world with me"

The only addition to our bathroom was a photo Chelsie & Ben bought us for our wedding :]  Fits oh so perfectly there!

A quick addition to any door?  A cheap wreath with a ribbon on it...

The kitchen is where a majority of our "creative juices" flowed.  We first hung up kitchen decor we had at our old apartment...

Coffee signs...

...appropriately above our coffee bar!

And Molly found the head of an old rake in our garage and saw it to be a wine rack!  How genious and a neat addition to our kitchen.  We don't drive much wine (if any) so we only had 4 wine classes but it works perfectly.

My "SALAD BAR/VEGGIES" picture was appropriately hung for all to see!

And our most FAVORITE project was another great find in our own garage!  We found an old baking sheet (used as a drip pan) and modge-podged construction paper and Bible verses on the front of it.  We then hung it with the ribbon that came on Natalie Stiles cake and posted magnets on it for it to become our prayer board...post up prayers in a place where we often walk by.

Welcome to 503 W. 15th Ave :]

And lastly, another "in the haskins' garage find" were an old paint bench and a bird house that we took a can of spray paint to.  We are thinking when the weather gets nice we will put it in front of our little home :)

 

Molly and I had an incredible weekend.  We worked for about 8 hours on Saturday and 6 on Sunday...ending with a YUMMY turkey, potato, and asparagus crock pot dinner!  YES!  We both skinned, cooked, and carved our first turkey without male supervision!

Leap Day

Leap Day Tradition:  Women propose to their men

According to an old Irish legend, or possibly history, St Bridget struck a deal with St Patrick to allow women to propose to men – and not just the other way around – every 4 years. This is believed to have been introduced to balance the traditional roles of men and women in a similar way to how Leap Day balances the calendar.

In some places, Leap Day has been known as “Bachelors’ Day” for the same reason. A man was expected to pay a penalty, such as a gown or money, if he refused a marriage proposal from a woman on Leap Day. In many European countries, especially in the upper classes of society, tradition dictates that any man who refuses a woman's proposal on February 29 has to buy her 12 pairs of gloves. The intention is that the woman can wear the gloves to hide the embarrassment of not having an engagement ring. During the middle ages there were laws governing this tradition.

4 years ago, yesterday, I asked Craig to marry me.  Gutsy?...You ask...you bet!  I was a junior at Linfield, sitting in my roommate, Lesley's, bedroom, talking to Megan Neyens (a mutual friend to Craig and I).  Megan Neyens knows us both all too well, maybe better than we know of each other this far.  She was well aware of my 6 year crush on Craig Haskins.  She was also well aware that he was well oblivious.  Megan and I were catching up over the phone when she mentioned this Irish tradition, for she had just heard it herself!  And she encouraged me to take my chance and propose to Craig!  I thought she was crazy -- I hadn't talked to him in a few years!  But I didn't have to think twice about it.  I found him on MYSPACE (old school!!!) and messaged him.  Here is a transcript of how the proposal and following conversation developed:

Feb 29, 2008

m.e.g.a.n. ♥ says

so i was just informed my megan neyens that today, a leap day, is national girl asks guy to marry her day. so...

will you marry me?!!

please?!

megs :)

From: Craig

Date: Mar 3, 2008 2:18 PM

wow! of course i will marry you! ha ha i am honored that you thought of me to ask!

so whats the date?

indoor/outdoor

colors?

location

Im going to need some specifics! lol

-craig

p.s. how is everything?

From: m.e.g.a.n. ♥

Date: Mar 3, 2008 3:07 PM

I have set a date...

July 21st, 2009 (this is so we have a while to plan)

Indoor - you can pick the church, but keep it in WA

Colors - orange and red

You know...I would want no other man, of course you came to my mind!!! However, I feel like at least one date before the wedding would be helpful.

Need anymore info? Let me know!

Everything is going well. I have a pretty low key semester so I do a lot of "killing time." I am heading back to camp this summer so I am pretty excited about that. However, the rumor is 90% of the staff is right out of High School. Shoot! Come visit???

Megs

From: Craig

Date: Mar 3, 2008 6:35 PM

 did you just ask me out on a date? ...cuz i think thats my Job...

From: m.e.g.a.n. ♥

Date: Mar 3, 2008 8:16 PM

i've got a backbone and i'm not afraid to use it! lol. plus, i'm not here to wait around for men. so, if i want to get married, then by golly i will!!! ;)

p.s. remember that time i dated spike? now thats funny...

From: Craig

Date: Mar 3, 2008 9:23 PM

WOW some one has been listening to some spice girls! GIRL POWER!

and yes i do remember you and spike that was so random! so your working out at camp, thats great, My Jr. highers had a retreat this past weekend, so i got to do a little couseling, (sp) wow i miss it, maybe ill be able to come for a week or something? God willing,

so i hope all is good. And we should go out some time, it would be fun...

have a good one, craig

 

From: m.e.g.a.n. ♥

Date: Mar 4, 2008 1:56 PM

what are you up to these days? work? school? we do need to catch up and hang out but there is a slight problem...i go to school in oregon. but no fear, i will be in WA this summer. it would be fun to go out for a night - i remember the good ol days at camp when you would throw pudding down my shirt ;)

anyways...keep in touch! update me on life.

miss ya

megs

From: Craig

Date: Mar 4, 2008 2:42 PM

 

Just for the record you deserved every single drop of pudding! but any way, I am Interning at East Renton community church, its pretty amazing, i work at joes ( G.I. joes) and i am going to school at bellvue Community college, O and i live in renton, my life is pretty much busy, but fun,

I did know that you go to school in oregon, Lin...hood, or lin file something...right? how is that? what are you studying? i know my friend alex goes their, any way

hope your day is going great.

hey remember when the girls stole our beds? and then you broke the window!

From: m.e.g.a.n. ♥

Date: Mar 4, 2008 6:56 PM

You bet I remember that one time....we got you good! Those were the good times. But I think I remember breaking the window due to fear - very valid!

Sounds like life is going good for you my man! What are you going to school for? Ministry?

I go to Linfield, you were SO close. Lol. And every time I see Alex Smith on campus I think of you and want to blurt out "Craig Haskins" to see his reaction but always chicken out. I am studying psychology and sociology and will go get my master's in school counseling. I am actually interning with a school counselor this semester so I figure that it will make or break my future career (if I like it enough).

Megs

And thus began our communication and relationship.  WHO KNEW that from that day, February 29, 2008, 5 1/2 months later we would began dating, 1 year and 7 months later he would be asking ME to marry HIM, and 2 years and 5 months later we would be getting married?!  The answer is: The Lord.  And we appreciate the humorous story to go along with it!

36 Days

Why has it been 36 days since I have last blogged? (January 20th)

If this is a question you have regularly been asking yourself, I will give you a few reasons as to why:

1.  January 27th-February 10th we house sat, er...condo sat, for some friends of ours at church.  It was a really amazing time having cable, washer/dryer, more than 2 rooms, a back yard, front yard, and a place full of food!  However, this time also turned out to be way more hectic than planned.  We also tried to live in three places for a few of those days until we were officially moved out of our apartment on January 31st.  We had stuff at our apartment, more than half our stuff at our new house, and 80% of our stuff at the condo.  It was surely hard to find anything!  I gave up after a while!  But we used a lot of gas and time trying to cart our belongings around.  Come February 10th I was so exhausted and SO frustrated.  It had been so long since we had settled and lived with a routine.  I wasn't excited about moving anymore and I just wanted to go home...wherever that may be.  I learned that life is unsettling when life isn't settled.  During this time Craig and I barely saw each other, I got really sick, he got semi-sick, and I got SICK of my jobs!  But what we did appreciate was living at someone else's house while we cleaned our apartment and moved into our new house.  It has now been exactly 2 weeks since officially moving in to our home and we absolutely love it.  It isn't very big but it isn't too small...it's perfect and cozy and meant to be lived in by the Haskins!  Every spare minute we are working on a project.  I just knew that being a "house-dweller" would require more work.  We are taking it room by room.  It still takes some getting used to.  It doesn't seem real and we feel very undeserving of what we have been given.  Those feelings even take some getting used to.  But our first guest is here staying with us!!!  She is helping break in the new guest bedroom mattress!  Will you be the second guest?!

Some pinterest crafts that catch my attention for our new home:

2.  February 3-5th Craig and I went on our church's high school youth group retreat.  Craig ran the whole weekend and did an incredible job!!  From finding the speaker to hiring the band...he did it all!  I am so proud of him.  It ain't easy planning an event for 58 high schoolers.  But the weekend was beautiful.  I was thrown into a cabin with 8 girls and one other leader; none of which I knew.  And if you know me, that is NOT the way I like getting to know people.  I like the slow process of building relationships, but I didn't really have a choice.  I had decided to finally get involved in youth group with Craig so what better way to jump right in with both feet!  It was a fun weekend but exhausting.

3.  My husband forced me to go on the Women's Retreat with our church last weekend.  It was a good force though.  I didn't particularly want to go because we had just moved into our new house, living still in boxes, and we were expecting our first guest the following weekend...there was surely too much to do!  But I don't regret a second of it -- I am SO GLAD I went.  It was a weekend full of building new friendships, meeting new people, eating really good food, laughing until we cried, crying, healing, singing, snowshoeing, talking, praying, and barely sleeping.  It was a time of refreshment.  A time of nothing else getting in my way of me and my Lord...me and His Word.  No distractions.  Snow coming down all around us and one amazing view of a frozen over lake.  I am pretty sure I was the youngest woman there and there were 80 of us!  So, I got the privilege to hang out with people my Mom's age and older all weekend :]  They are more fun anyway, for I got to learn all about being a Mom, childbirth, mammograms, hysterectomies, etc.  Awww the joy of becoming an even more educated woman.

4.  Kate Roberts came to visit!  Enough said :]

This week's agenda?  

1. Back to work without any fevers
2. Youth group
3. Field trip to the HS with my 8th grade AVID class
4. Dinner with a 92 year old :]
5. Employee party at the casino!!
6. Love and be loved with my husband

*snow day*

Well, my prayer was answered.  "Lord, a snow day tomorrow would be REALLY really nice.  Can I have it?!"

Woke up at 5:30am with Craig to check the news and started getting ready for work when I didn't hear anything about the Mead School District.  5:59am...Mead School District: CLOSED.  Really?!  I got my wish!  Now what...

I can't go back to sleep because I have already had three cups of coffee.  So I made a to-do list that I am aiming to complete.  This snow might handicap Craig and I this weekend from painting rooms in our house so we will probably continue to pack up our apartment and get things ready to go.  Our goal is to be out of our apartment a week from today.  That's 7 days!  I am really excited but there is a part of me that holds to the bittersweet feeling of leaving this cozy little 1-bedroom box.  If you would like to come help us decorate, paint, move, etc...please let us know!  Once moved in we will be hosting a house warming party -- because it's pretty cold in there right now!!!  I might even attempt to make homemade bread in my bread maker 3000.  

Home sweet home in just a few short weeks.  There is some apprehension in me about the added responsibilities that come with a 1,200 sq. ft. home.  We will definitely have projects to last us through the summer!  

Now that it's 7:50am I will post my to-do list and get started with today's bullet points!!

• blog 
• vacuum
• RUN 5 miles
• go to Winco
• make a Pinterest recipe
• pack
• go through my clothes...purge!!!
• laundry (if i make it to Winco to get quarters)
• Bible study
• write some birthday cards
• and watch the movie RENT to prepare myself to see it on stage next weekend!!! YAY!
• anticipate my husband's safe arrival home tonight for boot camp!

Happy productivity day!  Thanks snow :]

this crazy little thing called life

fact: Life is short.

advice: Don't waste it.

how to: love, serve, sing, dance, laugh, cry, run, compete, worship, pray, meditate, exercise, befriend, drink, coffee, succeed, fail, and put your faith in the only thing that stands firm in this dark, sinful world: the Lord.  ["the Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still" exodus 14:14]

I have been deeply challenged to live my life for the Lord and to make decisions that I wouldn't regret later on.  I, more so, have considered this within my marriage.  Craig and I barely see each other during the week but when we do our time is so much richer if we are speaking kind words and performing encouraging acts of service toward one another.  If either of us were to go be with our Savior sooner than later, I surely wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life drowning in the regret of things said or my life lived.

Life is precious but the life we will live after this earth will be even MORE precious.  I can't wait to look into the eyes of the one who died for me and who gave me breathe.  I yearn to walk hand in hand with my creator; my potter.  I desire to see Him look at me and smile, saying, "well done my good and faithful servant [matthew 25:23]."  But I currently long to know that I am DAILY putting a smile on His face with what I am saying and doing.

No Words

Words are not coming easily to me today.  Been hit too hard with tragedies and trials.  I will let Christ speak through His words this morning...

"This is my command - be strong and courageous!  Do not be afraid or discouraged.  For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:9

"Dear brothers and sister, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when you faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.  If you need wisdom, ask our generous God and He will give it to you.  He will not rebuke you for asking.  But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.  Do not waiver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.  Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do."  James 1:2-8

"I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."  Philippians 4:13

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding."  Proverbs 3:5

"Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith."  Hebrews 10:22

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28

Dearest Katie,  you will forever be missed by Craig and I, but we rest assured knowing you are enjoying the presence of our Savior this very minute...

And thanks to Katie we will always have a beautiful set of engagement photos:

Katie Clark Photography 2009