Planting a Church Is Like Buying a New Couch

Well, as you know, our precious toddler tot was diagnosed with a dust mite allergy recently, and we are scrambling to make as many changes as we can in our home to keep her from getting sick as often.  We have carpet out of one room and have three more rooms to go.  We have the laminate flooring for one more room but then have to find more for the other two.  Since money is obviously tight as we transition full swing into church planting, I have been praying like crazy for God to provide the resources we need to knock out the dust mites in our home.  Like a good Calvinist, I haven't just been sitting by waiting for everything to drop in our laps. We have been building websites like there is no tomorrow.  I have been scouring craigslist like a vulture waiting for the perfect deals on flooring and furniture.

This past week, God graciously provided the deal of a lifetime on a fairly new leather couch and loveseat set.  A lady was downsizing and needed to get rid of her lightly used furniture quickly, so she sold us everything for $150.  Is it 100% leather?  I doubt it, but it is 100% dust mite unfriendly either way.  For a mom that is sick of seeing her sweet girly whiny with one sinus infection after another, I jumped on the bargain and sent Bryan to pick it up.   Yay!

We quickly realized after moving the new furniture into our tight cozy living room that this was going to be a big change.  After shifting item after item around for about 2 hours like puzzle pieces, we figured out the best combination and locked everything in to stay.  The end result- we have much more room but realize that not everything we have is going to work well with our new setup.

The list starts like this... The chandelier is going to have to leave the room... ok.  It was getting in the way every time we rearranged furniture for launch group anyhow.  We are going to have to downsize our big table. No problem.  Bryan has what we need to build a smaller pub table.  And the list goes on... a necessary change (a.k.a our new leather furniture) has caused a cascade of smaller changes that are inevitable to make the whole thing work.

Welcome to my life now as a church planter's wife!  As we welcomed church planting in as the next frontier of the Cirlot household, so many other things about us are changing and shifting. More than ever, I know how much I need Jesus.  But... I am not complaining.

Just like our new couch, church planting is exactly what we need right now.  Living day to day seeing God's provision is a beautiful, challenging thing. 

I am thankful to be on this journey.  I like being His.

The Jesus Storybook Bible

I just wanted to share a link this morning of a book that we have been going through with Abby during our family devotional times.  I absolutely love this so far!  It does an excellent job of teaching the Gospel message in word imagery that even my two year old can understand.  Check it out!  I've also added a link to Amazon- so far the cheapest place I can find that sells it.

From Carpet to Foam Tiles

Life has been moving really quickly for us in the Cirlot household in the past month.  We've been to Birmingham to visit Audrie and meet her gracious host family.  We've met with church planters to learn how to do what we are doing now most wisely.  We have built several websites and logos for companies local and beyond.  We are quickly nearing the end of Phase 1 of the Acts29 assessment.  Bryan has taught a Dnow,  has had a guys retreat with old friends, and I have taught a VBS class.  Abby has had another positive doctor's appointment from her allergy doctor who just affirmed that our carpet and upholstered furniture has to go soon, and that the changes we are making are making a big difference with her dust mite allergy.  Here's where we are.  

I have been praying that God would provide us with the flooring we need to get rid of our carpet.  This weekend, I found a lot of foam play mat tiles on Craigslist for $30.  We had already bought several packs before to keep over the center of her playroom floor.  The extra tiles I picked up yesterday were EXACTLY the same type we had already bought and EXACTLY the number we needed to rip up the carpet and completely cover the floors.  Isn't God good?

The old gross carpet we had to start with minus the baseboards.

No wonder Abby is sick all of the time.  It is gross when you pull up carpet!  It smelled funky too.

10 hours later... Flooring is complete! Abby saw it for the first time this morning and said, "WOW!"

The Story

Check this out.  It tells the Gospel in a beautiful way that is easy to understand.  I shared it with my VBS class today, and they really listened to it well.  I hope you enjoy it too!  Share with your friends.

Silly Daddy!

Silly Daddy from Peripety Designs on Vimeo.

Daddy trying to get Abby ready for bed. He tried to take her dress off without unbuttoning it to begin with. Funny!

Laundry Room Redo & Turning Our House Into a Library

Here are the photos of the latest Cirlot family projects.

We had a problem with our dryer last night that ended up being a laundry room remodel.  I thought you would enjoy seeing the progression of how our closet/laundry room has changed since we moved in a few years ago.

This is our master bedroom's closet before we moved in.  It was huge, but we needed a space for our washer and dryer.

With help from Bryan's dad and our friend JJ, Bryan made electrical and plumbing changes, tiled the floor, built a false wall, added closet doors, and built a wooden half-wall to enclose the utility cords, plumbing, and etc.

Here's our finished project after last night. Bryan had to redo the half-wall and redid it with beadboard.  We added shelving (love having scrap wood in our shop!), and we used leftover paint from another project to make the walls fun! 

Now, I am finally organized in here and all of our cleaning stuff is out of Abby's reach.

Here it is zoomed out, so you can see how our closet is now lined with bookcases for Bryan's library.  We used to have a double-sided closet, but about a month before Bryan resigned, the left side fell.  It turns out to be providence.  We both just got rid of half of our wardrobe and joined it together on the right side.  Who really wears that many outfits anyhow?

Abby and Aslan decided to model in this one.  You can see how all of the bookshelves are maxed out!

We moved a desk into the master bedroom, so it could be a quieter place to study.  We added a short bookshelf on this side too.  

More Bookshelves in the Living Room/Dining Room area.  I do like how colorful they are!

Abby's makeshift bookcase and reading area.  You can see her artwork displayed above with repurposed table mats.

So, that's it for now.  More projects are always being cooked up, so I'm sure you will see something new soon!

Dyson is a Beast!

If you've been keeping up with my blog posts lately, you know that Abby has been diagnosed with a dust mite allergy.  Needless to say, I've been deep cleaning like crazy and really on top of keeping the dust away... or so I thought. 

I knew our vacuum, an old Eureka, was on its last leg, but I had no idea how bad it was until tonight.  I borrowed my mom's new multi-surface Dyson vacuum and vacuumed our "clean" floors to see what I would get.  I'm horrified and impressed by the results.  The photos speak for themselves.

I filled up the canister.  Yuck!

In case you didn't get how much dirt that was, I dumped it out on a full-sized paper plate.  It's a small mountain.

So... I guess we need a new vacuum, huh?

Maybe Dyson should hook me up for showing off their machine in this blog. *Hint, Hint*