cabinets, feeling old, wedding pictures

ah, finally, the cabinets are in! whew. that took a lot of time. if you are planning to redo your cabinets, let me just warn you of what you need to do:

1) clean your cabinets of all dust (we used mineral spirits on a rag, and that did a pretty good job).
2) apply wood conditioner with a rag (this prevers you from getting dark patches on your wood, so the stain comes out evenly). wait about 10-15 minutes before putting on stain.
3) apply stain with a rag. (this can take awhile, depending on how much you have). wait about 8 hours before you put on polyurethane coat (it protects the wood).
4) apply polyurethane coat with a brush. this takes about the same amount of time as the stain. you want to make sure you do not shake the can, or you get nasty bubbles that will be extremely hard to get rid of. by the way, this stuff is STICKY. i got it in my hair, twice. not fun.
5) wait 3-4 hours for 1st coat to dry. then sand those babies. many, that took a long time, and my allergies got aggrevated from the dust (which had probably not so nice things mixed in because of the polyurethane, stain, and mineral spirits. i wonder how much i shorten my life span?).
6) polyurethane again. this time, make sure you see no bubbles. bubbles = bad.
7) if you are completely insane, you may repeat steps 5 and 6 for a third coat. i heard 2 is enough for protection, the third coat is just for smoothness. man, we were singing "hallejuah" with the ending of coat 2!

so how long did it take us to do the top and bottom cabinets you ask? well, i estimate more than a weekend's worth of work. we put in about 3 hours a day for about 6 days, and that doesn't include waiting for those things to dry.

but alas, Praise the Lord, we have a kitchen we can work in starting today! i can't believe it! i really hope/pray that our stove works!

on a side note, i realize how old i am when i read my cousin's (michelle and debra) man, i'm old. they're young and experiencing HS and college life, i'm in grad school for a second degree, married, and writing about cabinets. what's that all about?

oh, here are the pictures of the wedding. i hope you enjoy them. if you want the password, e-mail me!

moving my heart

Movies have a tendency to make me moved and cry (maybe because of the stories), but real life doesn't seem to have same impact on my emotions. But recently, I noticed that God has been moving me and impacting me with my emotions.

I've connected very much with "mourn with those who mourn" as it says in Romans 12:15. God has really moved my heart to such sorrow, mourning, melancholy, and sadness. So many times in the past few weeks have I been moved to weeping, tears, and just shaking over different things. Just some examples, when I heard my husband praying for his best man's (Joe's) dying father (Papa Joe) on the phone, I couldn't help but hold Nat while he prayed and weep. I was struck by the beauty and sadness in that moment hearing Nat praying for someone he loves so much. I was also moved to tears when later I found out that Papa Joe had been taken home to heaven. I just felt such a deep sorrow and sadness for the family, and Joe's family. I felt that it was so unfair, but at the same time felt peace and joy that he was in heaven. It didn't take away my grief and just the sense of loss of hearing the news though. And then, as I was visiting air 1 , I found that they have links to two songs ("Rescue" and "Cry Out to Jesus") that have been remade for the hurricane relief. As I heard the songs and hearing the people interdispersed in the music, my heart was so moved by the large impact of the hurricane on so many people's lives.

Through all this, I give praise, that God has given me the ability to "mourn with those who mourn". It is such a comfort to know that Jesus too, experienced this verse in such a real way. I think it has just opened my heart more to love those that need love and prayer in their time of mourning.