Welcome to the Harshman Home...a fellow blogger is organizing a
"Tour of Homes". the blog phenomenon is an ironic concept--we write personal stories about ourselves assuming that our friends, family and anonymous readers will be interested in what we (or even our kids!) have to say and at the same time we, as readers, do enjoy getting a chance to peak into each others lives, hearts and homes. most of my blogging family and friends spend little to no time hanging out at our house, so i thought you might enjoy a tour...
family heritage room. the pictures on the wall, old and new, are of both sides of our families. the table, buffet and grand father clock were given to us by my husband's grand parents. the table, buffet and mirror were manufactured in 1943 (the chairs were a more recent addition). we found a plaque inside the clock that dates it back to january 10,1974-it was a birthday gift from grandma johnson to grandpa johnson. when the grand father clock chimes, the beautiful sound can be heard throughout our home and it is a reminder of our family heritage.
school room--or as my two year old says, "cool room". we have a lot of fun learning together here (the chalkboards on the map wall are a favorite!). this room is oversized and has a big three door closet that is organized with all our school supplies. this year is all planned out and we are ready to start school days on august 7th!
ella's ladybug room. last spring when we moved to prescott valley, ella was 1 year old. one of the first things we noticed about living here was the crazy amount of ladybugs! she loved to explore all the bugs with her brothers but she was very intrigued by catching ladybugs. it was the obvious choice when decorating her room in our new house. by the time she had turned two, she let me know that she wanted a "pink" room! my sneaky little girl is posing in this picture!
boy's army quarters. this room is unusually clean--the boys do make their beds but i should have taken this picture when it is filled with hundreds of army action figures, tanks and helicopters! my favorite and very best ($20) ebay find is the world war I army trunk found at the foot of the bed. on the inside of the trunk is a yellowed paper with typed (on a good old fashioned type writer!) instructions of how to pack your trunk. the army green "night stand" between the boys' beds is actually spray painted lockers that my dad bought from the high school both andrew and i attended.
the master bedroom. what you can't see in this picture is the reading corner, complete with oversized black shaggy lovesac and hanging light. black and white photos still to be hung above the bed someday soon! some great naps take place here.
the media room. this oversized room has french doors with orange velvet curtains and a projector screen on the wall. we designed it to look like a theater but it is definitely multi-use. we have a pull out couch for our guests, office with desk & computer, x-box games, and last but not least we love watching movies together here.
the kitchen and living room. the last two pictures are where we hang out by the fireplace and entertain our guests by sharing a meal. i love to cook and have made good use of the double oven and cook top stove.
come on over for dinner and a movie anytime!
dreaming of more naps...after a couple of days playing hard (and late) with friends, the kids and i all took a much needed nap today. i assume i was sleeping very deep because i was having a bizarre dream. andy was working out of the house this afternoon. damon was sleeping on the
lovesac and clay was sleeping on the bed with me. "sleeping beauty" was in her room.
the dream: i was awakened for a moment and heard damon and clay wake up and they quietly walked out of my room. i heard ella was awake too but and she was talking to her dad who was now home, so i drifted back to sleep (in my dream) knowing that he would take care of the kids. next, still dreaming, some time had passed and i heard the phone ring and nobody answered it--if no one answered the phone then maybe i was dreaming that andy was home and i left the kids unattended for who knows how long?? i jolted out of my dream, scared that i had slept too long and so confused. i sat up only to find that all my children were fast asleep. i think i need more relaxation time!
warning: love at your own risk
“Love anything and your heart will be wrung and positively broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.” - C.S. Lewis
...tonight my heart aches. i search to find a cure, i pray for a miracle, i wait for the pain to disappear, i hunger to be at peace but i'm scared, i dream of a day when the suffering comes to an end for all of us...
my prayer is that Jesus would teach me to trust Him more, to allow Him to reveal what He made me to be so that others will see His heart through me. Father, glorify your name.
mission impossible?...my goal is to cease being an infrequent blogger. i'm not sure if i can keep up with
doug but anything is possible. my husband tells me that i am really great at expressing my thoughts. my problem is that i contemplate a thought too long and too deep, trying to perfect it and i just need to start putting my fingers to the keyboard more often!
misc
...it hit me the other day that my family is not normal and to an outsider we might be considered outcasts. we believe in Jesus but we do not attend a church. we educate our children, although they have never attended a public/private school. we do not work 9-5 to get a paycheck (this is the illusion of security), we take "risks" and invest our money into building homes. we have a 9 ft projector screen in our theater room but we watch very little T.V. and we don't even have TiVo!
...i just finished reading the book, "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. when i opened the book to the first page, it read
Burwick and i realized that i had borrowed this book from my sister who knows how long ago....so, kelley, i will be sending it back to you soon! it is always intriguing to me to read about the way God created us, male and female. the other day, while cleaning my boys' room with them, i stopped counting at 35 weapons (mostly toys thus far, with exception of the bow and arrows)! at any given time if you stopped by our house, the odds are that the scene would play out something like this: damon and clay would both be dressed in a cape and holding a sword or in camouflage clothing, combat boots and amo in hand-- our princess, ella, would be dressed up from tierra all the way down to the sparkle high heel shoes shouting, "SAVE THE PRINCESS!" men have such a deep desire for adventure, they want a beauty to fight for, they long to be dangerous, they need to hear that they "have what it takes" to be a man (Eldredge). every woman has the little girl inside that says, "am i lovely, am i worth fighting for?" (Eldredge) the author discusses the "wound" that happens in each of us if we do not hear these words from our parents.
...summer has been much cooler living here in the mountains, so we continue to enjoy our outdoor adventures. the kids' have had swim lessons and clay trained for two weeks with the
Diamondback Baseball Camp. we visit my parents' and my
sister's family who are about an hour away as often as we can, we definitely love them because the weather is nothing short of
hell there during the summer! we had a great visit with our very best friends, the reinerts, as we celebrated lisa's birthday! my kids have become much closer to their grandma who now lives 8 miles from us. i have been very grateful for her desire to spend time with them each week--the kids
beg for us to go on dates and stay out late just so they can spend time hiking (and eating unlimited amounts of cookies!) at grandma's house! she has graciously volunteered to take the kids one day a week to allow me to balance my homeschooling and bookkeeping schedule with some sort of sanity! my friend, suzanne and i are also coordinating a co-op twice a month for our home school group--as if i didn't have enough to do! i am teaching a literature class for the younger kids and it is going to be a lot of fun!
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I am a
Snapdragon
What Flower
Are You?
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"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."
...my sisters started this and out of curiosity i took the short quiz. although i thought the questionnaire was very typical and the questions quite silly, i found the results intriguing for our family at least!
BED HEAD!!...i just want to go on record saying that my child would, without a doubt,
WIN the
Hampton Bed Head Contest if he was 13 years or older! the following pictures were taken just moments after getting out of bed, no joke! my daughter, a.k.a., "medusa", (not pictured) would be a close 2nd place winner!
