Furniture Shopping and a Trip to a FARM!

Hello everyone! :D  I've missed you.  ;)   Haha.  But seriously, sorry we haven't written as often.  We have been incredibly busy trying to get settled in, figure out town, furniture shop, go to church and have a fun adventure for the kids here and there.  Hopefully we will get you up to date on our lives and a little what we have been doing with this post.  

One of the big things keeping us busy is looking for jobs.  I (Robin) had an interview Thursday that went really well but at this point we are still waiting to hear back.  Brian is meeting with someone this week for a potential position.  We are hopeful that Brian's job will be just what he needs.  Please join with us in praying for both of us to find the right jobs that God has for us.  Thanks guys!  Now onto the rest (and more laid back part) of the blog:

One of our fun things we did for the kids (and us) was go to the mall and buy them some sunglasses.  They both needed a pair and so did Mommy.  The kids kept complaining on the trip out about the sun (even with sun shades) so we decided since they kept "borrowing" ours (asking for ours and then never giving them back OR dropping them on the floor) we would get them their own.  So we all went to the mall and picked out some shades. 

Hailee picked out a few she liked and Mommy made the final decision.  This pair was ADORABLE (right?!) and also I knew she could grow into them some.  :)  

My MAN!  :)  He loves his shades.  He posed for me quite a bit with them on.

Just give me a spoon because I could just eat him up right now.  *sigh*  So precious.

So when looking for furniture, we checked out Craigslist and some furniture places and couldn't find bunk beds.  So we were going to buy the lumber, stain or paint, etc, and make one.  However we went by a consignment shop and we found this one for a really great price!  We figured the lumber cost, labor and time saved made it worth the buy.  The kids LOVE it and Hailee is enjoying sleeping in her "princess tower".  (Pictures of their room to come when it's a little more **ahem** settled (read: clean). Nathaniel is still sleeping in his Pack N Play for now.  I went to the store the first night he was put to bed in it and Brian said he just came prancing down the hall just about 1 minute after being laid down.  Haha.  Maybe a few more months will do the trick.

The kids bunkbed:

So we have been looking around at furniture places and at the consignment store I found this gem below.  An antique sewing table!  It was SO beautiful.  The pictures don't even do it justice.  I really wanted a reason to have this in my house…  I just couldn't for the price.  And really, the $100 is probably a steal for one is such great shape, but on our budget, I had to pass.  :(

Here's a picture to drool at though:

So we have already met some great people we get along with really well.  One of the ladies gave our family all these awesome tips and info on Redding.  One of the things she gave us info about was some "U-pick it" farms they have up here!  There are all kids but she told me of some with peaches and another with grapes and pears right now.  I know right, grapes?!  I was sold right there- but then I thought it would be the coolest trip for the kids (especially H) to see where grapes come from and get to experience it like that.  So here is our trip:


Getting ready to go out.  Hailee didn't know where we were going yet.  We kept it a surprise!

So the woman who's house it was at was also named Robin!  Cool, right?   Spelled the same and everything.  She told us she hadn't been in the house but 4 months so she wasn't 100% on everything yet.  She just knew she had WAY too much food than she knew what to do with, so she let people she knew come on to her property to pick for a cheaper amount.  Awesome.  To boot, her and her family go to Bethel.  She told us pretty much to eat as we go and if something tastes good, just put however much in the basket as we want.  If we don't like it, throw it on the ground and move onto another tree.  Now before you think it's too wasteful, she has someone come and get the ones that fall or people throw down and they take them and give them to their chickens!  Resourceful.  I love it.  :)


Here's Brian tasting an Asian Pear.  Hailee doing her own thing in the back.  They are small.  Like plum size and they are sweet!  I am going to try and make some pearsauce in the next few days.  Hooray!

Nathaniel was grabbing them left and right and taking bites out of EVERY one he got.  We had to stop him at first.  Even now he will grab one right out of the bowl, hold the stem like a lollipop and start taking bites out of it.  He will usually finish most of it and then go back for more.

Hailee running towards me with one that she had picked.

Hailee reaching some of the tall ones with Daddy's help!

Next we moved onto the grapes.  Mommy and Daddy did all of the picking and cutting of the grapes.  We did let Hailee and Nathaniel help us choose which ones but we didn't want them using the scissors (for very, very obvious reasons).  

Hailee would walk with us and taste the ones we were tasting but Nathaniel found one cluster he evidently thought was good and stayed there a good 5 minutes just picking off grapes and eating them off the same cluster.  Haha, I wish I had gotten a picture but by the time I had gotten out my camera he had moved.  Of course!


Here's Hailee with our finds:

 Hailee and Daddy walking together out of the grapes.

Us weighing our finds.  We only had 3 lbs.  She was only charging .50/lb.  Yes that's right guys… fresh produce for so cheap.  You better believe we will be back here.   We only had a $5 so we got $2 worth of zucchini and called it a day.  

An overall picture of the farm.  The grapes are closest to us and the pear trees are in the far back of the picture.

Nathaniel loved getting on the mower!

We also saw cows in a beautiful meadow as we left the farms.  We pulled over for this picture.  It almost looks like a postcard, but funny enough there was no photo editing or anything done to the picture.  Just God's beauty.  Ahhh.

Another thing we have done a lot has been going to yard sales.  As you might remember we came with only a van load of things and no furniture.  That notion was a fun idea, until we got here and the reality that we had to find everything was a little overwhelming.  I can say now we have almost all our furniture.  We are doing a lot of face lifts to what we have, however, and I can't wait to show you.  In time, my precious people, in time.  Hehe.

I will share with you some of my finds though.

 I found these older kitchen set that was hand made for this woman who looked my age.  It was so awesome and I assured her that they would be loved.  I got these for $20 and I can assure you that you can't find any that inexpensive or well made in a Wal-Mart.  Psshhh.  Great find!

 We are going to be giving these (above toys) to the kids on their birthday.  Nathaniel's birthday is less than a month away!  Can you believe it?!  Hailee's just over a month away.  Wow.  Just wow.


We found this table and set of 8 chairs for $35!  I was very happy with that as we plan to have a lot of people over! :D  You know, when we have friends. Haha!

When we haven't been going to yard sales or farms, we have been giving all our furniture a face lift.  We bought a lot of wonderful pieces that are tongue and groove (look it up if you don't know) vintage wood.  And while they were sturdy and in great shape, they weren't very modern.  So we pumped them up a bit.  We are really happy with what is finished so far turning out awesome!  That blog post will be next!!!

One cool thing is while we were getting one of our pieces ready (what we are going to use as a TV stand) we found the receipt still in it from 1963.  How awesome is that!?  Look on the left where it says from "SEARS, ROBUCK and CO."  What a cool story.  Looks like the whole set that was bough was a whopping $28.87.  That was a lot back then, which is weird to think about, but still so fascinating.  I love the history already.

God has been showing us a lot of neat things since we have been out here to show us just how much he is watching over us, caring for us, loving us and providing for us.  We have no doubt that God is on our side.  One thing that is cool is pretty much from anyplace you are in town you see a gorgeous mountain sunset.  I hope I don't grow used to this and start to take it for granted.  It is just beautiful.  

I had to take this picture.  It wasn't that it was so amazingly beautiful (although it really is), but that I was just leaving Wal-Mart (YES, Wal-Mart) when I saw this view.  Note:  Just in case you aren't sure- this isn't usually ever what people see coming from Wal-Mart's where we are from.  Again, just a quick reminder that the Walkers aren't in GA anymore.  

This one was taking while we were driving down the street in town.  Again, just driving and suddenly there is a gorgeous mountain sunset in the background.  How awesome.

Back in Augusta when we would see a beautiful sunset, which wasn't often, we would tell Hailee that Jesus had painted with beautiful colors in the sky.  Cheesy I know, but we are just trying to get the point across that Jesus makes things beautiful because of who He is and His great love for us.  We are seeing them often here so now she says so nonchalantly, "Look Mommy, it's another beautiful sunset Jesus painted."  She says it just like that too, so adult sounding.  My almost 4 year old going on 15.


Well guys- I have written probably too much and somehow it doesn't seem like enough.  We miss all you Augusta people all so very much.  If you ever want to skype or call, just let us know and we can make it happen.  We love you and are praying for God's blessings for you all!

Love,
The Walkers