Bend The Light » Personal

always dreaming of africa…

Bend the Light — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:28:14 +0000

If you have been following our blog for awhile, you may already know about my husband, Chris’ and my journey to adopt an infant girl from Ethiopia. We are currently waiting to be matched with our daughter. The adoption process in Ethiopia has slowed significantly. While waiting, we’ve wanted to visit Africa, our daughter’s homeland. Last summer, we decided to finally make the trip! We visited Ethiopia and Rwanda, spending time in orphanages, loving on children, playing games and donating supplies.

I intended on posting about this a long time ago, but the end of 2011 was filled with weddings. I’m a believer that many times photos are better than words, so here are my favorites from our time in Africa. I did have a lot to say about our trip when we returned. To read all about it, check out my personal blog posts about it here, here, here, here, here and here. :-)
-Jenn

First Rwanda…

And the beauty that is our daughter’s country, Ethiopia…

happy 30th birthday Chris!

Bend the Light — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:25:17 +0000

My sweet husband, Chris, turned 30 last Friday. We had our family and friends over to celebrate. I may or may not have gone a little overboard creating things that I’ve discovered on Pinterest. It turned out great and we had such a great evening. Once again, my Mom came through by helping me complete all my big ideas. I truly am blessed to have been given such an amazing husband. I am constantly surprised with his unending patience, generosity and genuine love. Happy birthday to the man who God made perfectly for me. I love you!
-Jenn
The dessert table. Super cute flag banner by my Mom :) My favorite thing was the fabric scrap garland on our old washtub aka drink cooler. The handsome birthday boy :)Me and my sweet Mom.Chris and the boys.Chris’ younger sister, Casey, Chris and Chris’ older brother, Matt.Of course my little Romeo has to get in on the photos too.

my summer projects! {before and afters}

Bend the Light — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:42:58 +0000

If you’re a regular blog reader, I’m sure you’ve noticed that we haven’t posted many wedding blogs lately. That’s because we had lots of time off in August (people don’t like to get married in 100-degree heat, go figure!) :-) Our busy season is starting up again, so get ready for lots of wedding goodness in the next few months! In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few photos of what I did with my time off. :-)

For the past 5 years, my house has been decorated in lots of earthy tones – browns, greens, anything neutral… but lately I’ve decided I need more color in my life. :-) I don’t have the funds to completely redecorate, so thrift stores, garage sales and antique shops have become my new obsession. My goal: Find old, beat up (and sometimes plain ugly) furniture to refinish in bright, random colors. I didn’t want to start with anything too big (I’ve never painted furniture in my life, after all)… so I started with a small corner hutch and a nightstand. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Mission “More Color” is officially underway!
-Kaylinn

For starters, a corner hutch. Jenn found this shelf for me a couple of years ago, and it’s been in my kitchen (collecting dust) ever since. I couldn’t decide what to do with it until this summer. I’ve fallen in love with the mustard/grey color combo and decided to just go for it. My mom and grandma (who helped me with these projects) both said the color combo was ridiculous and would never work, but once I set my mind to something, there’s no talking me out of it. I’m glad I stuck to my guns. :-) We repainted with a golden/mustard color, decoupaged fabric onto the back of each shelf, and added turquoise knobs. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the finished product!

Project #2… I found this nightstand at Goodwill for $7. I’ll admit, the nightstand was so ugly I wasn’t sure if it could be saved. But a little bit of paint and one drawer pull later… ta da! I’m all about budget decorating, so I’m really proud of this room (my guest room). I got almost everything for free (doesn’t get much better than that)! The comforter came from my grandma, the lamp came from Jenn, the headboard came Tonya (my sis-in-law) and I already had the pillows around the house. Nothing was purchased to “go together”… but after throwing it all into this room, I think it’s a beautiful color disaster. :-) Annnnd just for fun… below are two shots of my dog (Libby) who just couldn’t resist being part of the photo shoot. She’s kind of an attention hog. :-)

i’m going to Africa!

Bend the Light — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:07:58 +0000

My husband, Chris, and I have recently joined a trip that will be visiting Ethiopia and Rwanda! The only way we could be more excited would be if this were the trip to meet our daughter. We do not know when we will be matched with our daughter, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do something for all the other children who will be left behind. Our hearts belong to the children of Africa and we cannot wait to love on them. We are going with a mission group of about 20 people, visiting 7 different orphanages in Ethiopia and Rwanda.
Before we jump on a plane to Africa, we have a few preparations to do. Some preparations are fun (shopping!), but others, not so much. In order to travel to Ethiopia and Rwanda, Chris and I needed to update our immunizations. We are required to have a Yellow Fever vaccine in order to go to Rwanda. In all, we each received 7 shots and over the next 6 months we will have to go back for 3 more. Ouch! Most of the shots were optional, but because we plan on traveling to Africa many, many more times, we figured the more the merrier. As a bonus, most of the immunizations last for several years. Here we are paying a nurse to stab us in the arm and make us sore for days :)
-Jenn

We were very well informed about all of the immunizations.So, I was a little nervous…wouldn’t you be? My sweet husband went first. And seriously, what is with him? Smiling while getting a shot!!I tried to smile. Mission not accomplished. Count them. Seven Bandaids!!!

our new website video!

Bend the Light — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:20:56 +0000

We are beyond excited to show everyone our new website video! We’ve always wanted a little video on our website to introduce ourselves and give our brides/grooms a feel for who we are. After putting it off for several years, we fiiiiinally did it! So, without further ado, here’s everything you ever wanted to know about us (packed into 1 minute and 46 seconds!) Enjoy. :-)