Two Chimneys on Cherokee - Week One

Today marks owning our new home for eight days! We’ve had so much great progress and learned so much about our 110 year old home. We had to make the decision to gut it. That was so hard for me. We didn’t have any intention of doing that and that most certainly wasn’t in our completion time line or budget either. Once we got to peeling back layers, I was very happy with this decision. The hardest part about this was the trim! Every single window had different trim around it. I loved that! It was similar but not the same. We are trying to decide if we will recreate that aspect of the house.

As you will notice, as you look through the photographs, all of the exposed wood. The house appears to have been built out of old barn wood. The braces that hold up the corners are very unique too. It’s so interesting seeing how they built this place. There are NO headers over any door or window. It’s as if the structure above is so solid there was no need for them because we haven’t found any sagging anywhere. We do plan on having this checked out to confirm before we keep on trucking! After uncovering the walls, you will see they are covered in old boards of every kind. They weren’t picky at all. It’s as if they just used what they could find.

Other fun things we’ve found:
- knob and tube wiring that was still being used
- electrical problems galore! The house should have burned to the ground!
- no insulation in the exterior walls
- rotten windows
- rotten front porch
- news paper articles
- so much wallpaper

The MOST exciting thing about gutting the house, we will now have ELEVEN foot ceilings! Whoa! We were told that back in the day, houses had really high ceilings and they dropped them to 8’ or 9’ foot to cut back on the expense of their heating and air bills. We plan on restoring that feature in every room!

We’ve also found two door ways that were covered up. A fifth fireplace that was covered up and unfortunately partially removed. Also, the front door windows were covered up for some reason. We plan on restoring the front door sidelights! It’s going to bring in so much extra natural light.

We’ve had lots of progress in the yard too! My nephew and father-in-law stopped by to help us pull up the nandinas that had gotten out of control and all the overgrown shrubs are gone too. We can finally see all of the house! We also had an arborist take control of the trees! It was so sad, but one of the trees, a pecan, was growing right up against the house. It was so beautiful but was so unsafe and had to go.

I had to give our sweet new home a name. . .it’s so perfect too!

Two Chimneys on Cherokee

I created an Instagram account to document our progress. You can find it here if you would like to follow along.

Unexpected. . .

This year, Trey and I had plans to build our dream home on beautiful land that we found right here in our favorite town of Social Circle, Georgia. We were less than a week from signing the paperwork for our construction loan to build and then, our loan officer called to let us know that due to Covid-19 and the uncertainty of our economy, he was dropping our loan. Devastation doesn’t even give my feelings justice. Angry doesn’t even begin to describe how bad it hurt. It’s not easy selling a house filled with 14 years worth of memories, three babies, five goat girls, three dogs and two cats. It’s easier when you know you have a “dream come true” waiting at the end of all the hard work. When he dropped our loan, and our dream all seemed to disappear.

BUT, God had other plans for us!

That same week, I received a text from my mother-in-law, Taryn, and Trey, my husband, within a 30 minute time frame. They both texted me a photo of a house that had just come on the market and then Zillow notified me of this same house!! Before I could respond to their text messages, Trey messaged to let me know that we were going the next day, Saturday, to walk through the house with our agent.

The house had only been on the market for less than 48 hours when we looked it over for the first time. We walked outside and we both knew it was for us! The house had several other offers come through that weekend and when we placed our offer, I honestly didn’t think we would get it! But of course, we drew up the plans and got estimates just in case! That Monday, March 16th, they accepted our offer and we were UNDER CONTRACT!

I’ve been praying, pretty specifically, that God would place our family where HE needs us! In a place where we would be suited best for HIS needs. 434 S. Cherokee Road is the place! It caught us both by surprise and was totally unexpected. But, we welcome it and can’t wait to dig in!

You know me! I had a photoshoot planned out the day of our closing! I immediately ordered the cute door mat from Amazon (click here for link), swung by the storage unit and picked up all my lanterns and rocking chairs so that we could decorate for photos! I’ve been going a bit nutty not being able to do photography sessions or weddings for my clients. I’m a “non-essential” over here that’s going bananas! This was so fun, even if I had to take my own photographs! I hope you enjoy the tour of our “before” the restoring begins!!

Here is our 1910 Workingman’s Foursquare Revival!!

What do you think?! Do you see what we see?! I might have an obsession over all the door hardware! It reminds me so much of my Papaw’s house in Avondale Estates. I can’t wait to share the restoration of this home as Trey and I bring it up to code and back to life!!

P.S. Don’t judge my Covid-19 roots, the Covid-19lbs I’ve gained or the fact that it looks like I’m on my cell phone the entire photo shoot!! lol I used my phone as a wireless trigger and well the rest is Covid’s fault!

A Night of Worship and Prayer | Piedmont Newton

Smacking myself in the head right now!!! P-H-I-L-I-P-P-I-A-N-S!!! Two P’s, not one!! I drove all over town with a misspelled word on my car! Nooooooo! Can’t even handle it y’all!!

Today, as I prepared to attend this event, my emotions got the best of me! I had to phone my friend Cassie! For one, y’all, I got to put something on my schedule!! That was insanely exciting! Secondly, I knew I was going to see lots of my friends (6 feet a part!) AND get to worship and pray with them over the hospital staff and patients!!

This past Sunday during our online service, pastor Russ, spoke about how when Paul was in prison he was STILL praising his Savior! He was in the worst place ever and had a death sentence on his head. Yet, Paul CHOSE not to be anxious but pray, sharing how thankful he was to the Lord. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:4,

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.”

Is that speaking to you right now in this moment of time? We have a choice! We can choose to be miserable where we are OR we can choose to praise God even in this storm, finding whatever is lovely and PRAISE Him and THANK Him for it!

This is hard! Yes, it is. But, Paul did it and he was in a much worse place than we are. We can do this y’all!

CONFESSION TIME: Even tonight I found myself grumbling about the number of people that showed up to pray over the hospital. My focus was on the negative. Thankfully a friend of mine shared something so exciting. She texted me to let me know, during our prayer and worship night, her and her husband prayed TOGETHER. That was something very exciting for them to experience together! I know her heart was filled with so much joy! Also, I got to see so many of my friends, one of which was having a really bad day. With tears in our eyes she was able to share some of her burdens, giving us the opportunity to carry some of the weight for her! If we wouldn’t have met tonight, NONE of this would have happened!! And, we don’t even know what was happening inside that hospital! I have no doubt God was doing something even more magnificent.

I’m so thankful my gracious Father intervened and redirected my thoughts. I then asked for His forgiveness, CHOSE to see the joy and praise HIM for it - all of it!! He is so good and He is moving even when we don’t see His good works right away.

Let’s choose joy!

TRUST! | Lessons from a virus

Earlier this year, I chose a word. It was something that I wanted to work on for the rest of this year. I chose the word, TRUST. Wouldn’t you know that my bible study group started a bible study called Trustworthy by Lysa Terkeurst! We’re several weeks into this study and now here we all are, quarantined to our homes and homeschooling our children in hopes that we can flatten the curve of this virus from spreading. It’s been a strange year so far, huh?!?!

I’ve started my year off with four illnesses but with every sickness, God brings me back to Him. He reminds me that I need to TRUST in Him.

TRUST the controlled, faith producing, suffering.

-Holly L. Robbins

I know my GOD is at work!! I know so many miracles are happening and so many lives are being transformed in this time of stillness in the world. This morning I prayed that God would have HIS way with HIS people and continue to bring them to their knees as they call Him Father!

Even though, being away from our community, friends and family isn’t easy, we can hold strong in our faith through this darkness because we believe and have His light in us.

There are so many people suffering alone at this time. . .isolation is creating a gateway for the enemy to creep in and we are spiraling into dark thoughts and anxiety is weighing on our chests. There is so much hope in God’s Word. At this time I’m choosing to focus on what HE says instead of some of the anxious thoughts I create.

Nothing tests our trust like fear. But fear fades when we trust the strength and sovereignty of our GOD.

- Lysa Terkeurst, Trustworth

So, ask yourself, what are my fears? Write them down - IDENTIFY them. Let them escape your brain onto paper. Now that you know what is causing the anxiety, you can begin to work on it. You can now pair your fear with TRUTH!

THE FEAR: My fear is that we will not be able to pay our bills if we can’t work due to the shelter-in-place.

THE TRUTH: We are all in this same situation and God is in control of it. He will bless us with what we need and when we need it if I continue to put my faith in Him.

God put this on my heart to share with you! If you find it helpful please be sure to share it with someone! I love you guys!

The Boyd Family | Social Circle, Ga.

Sharing some joy and happiness this afternoon with my sweet friend’s family session! In a time that is weird, with this virus causing so much panic and uncertainty, it was so wonderful taking time out to laugh with Nathan, Katelyn, Sam and Ben! No hugs - which is sad but, just getting to be in their presence was so good for my soul! Katelyn and I usually see each other two or three times a week and spend several hours together working on Thrive, bible study and all things church. We both know we will get back to that life again soon! And we can’t wait!!

How cute are Sam and Ben?!?!? My goodness! These guys - I just love them! Rocco was so excited to see his friend, Ben, on my computer while I was editing their session. Rocco and Ben are Katelyn and my little sidekicks. When Katelyn and I are together the boys are too! Rocco misses you Ben!!

Also, I just want to add how proud I am of Nathan and Katelyn! Nathan is the pastor of our church. They are doing such a wonderful job uplifting our community and spreading so much positivity! If you ever need your spirits uplifted please go follow Church at the Grove and/or Thrive at the Grove on Facebook!