March Blessings!!

First off, March marks one year of being homeowners for the two of us!! Our humble abode has served us well this past year, and we pray that continues. Nate and I have learned more about houses in the last year than ever before. Some of the credit may be due to our obsession with HGTV shows. 



We have realized several advantages to owning our own home. Advantages such as the freedom to paint the walls whatever color we want, or the privilege to take down walls at our leisure. Doubt we would have been too popular with our land lord had we tackled a wall in our rental home. It is also beneficial to be making an investment instead of putting money toward a rent check every month. A few disadvantages that I never thought much about were home insurance, property taxes, ect. No doubt that the positives outweigh the negatives.

I put together a house tour for anybody interested in seeing the changes that we have made in the last year. Click here or click "House Tour" in the header above to be directed to that page.

Next topic....
We have been blessed to have some amazing company to our home lately. Doug and Brooke came from Toledo to hang out with us one day. That evening we had a neighbor and her four boys, which who Doug and Brooke are good friends, over for supper. There was much energy in our house, but we enjoyed it.



Two weekends ago, Arika got baptized. Being the fun-loving girl that she is, several girls came out to support her on her special weekend. I have personally been blessed by her friendship and find myself always smiling when we are together.

She told me yesterday that I was not allowed to put a picture of herself on my blog. I broke the rules 
though. Yikes!!



I had four lovely girls stay with me that weekend.



If you do not know these girls personally, you probably think that I cannot count. I am aware that there are five of them in the picture above, but Shelby (coral cardigan) lives down the way and came for breakfast.

We had some lovely chats and I would welcome these girls back to Ohio any time. I am so proud of each of these girls and I am excited to see how God will continue to use them.



This past weekend, four of us Latty couples hosted a mini invite-a-friend. Randy, Jenae, Katie, and Matthew were able to come as our guests. We really enjoyed being with these couples, along with all of the couples.

We did a progressive dinner, and it kept us all moving throughout the evening. Appetizers started at our house, next we headed to another location for soup and salad, next was the dessert stop, and lastly we hit the snack station. Eating over the span of two hours really fills a person up.



It was a blessing to be with so many couples in the same stage of life as us. These weekends are always so uplifting. Thankful for friends who are willing to travel!!



So thankful for the punishment that Christ endured in order for us to have peace and ultimately the hope of salvation. Have a blessed Easter!

Project Almost Complete

Some people blog about their children, others might tell a funny childhood story. Since I do not have any children of which to write about, nor do any childhood stories come to mind, you get to hear and see more about our house. 

If you recall, from my last post, we were in the process of tearing a wall down.

Taking the wall down was the easy part. It was the patching, drywalling, electrical, and painting that took the most time, and we still are not quite to the finish line.

I was able to paint a couple weeks ago. I tested several Sherwin Williams colors. I wanted a neutral color that was a mixture of gray and beige. According to my research there are colors such as "greige." That was news to me.

After testing a few, I chose a color called "accessible beige." I have been happy with it. For anybody wanting to attempt with a greige color, I have four samples of Sherwin Williams paint for you to try.

Here is a picture prior to painting. I was so anxious to say goodbye to those red walls. I do not see many more red walls in my current or future home(s). I like red in the homes of others, but I did not know how to handle it or tie it in with my style of decorating.

Painting this room was so much fun, and not only because I enjoy painting. The paint I used was a dream to work with. One gallon of Sherwin Williams Interior Super Paint was all I needed, and that included two coats.

Don't mind my frog culottes. I went through a major "frog" stage prior to one of my mission trips to Mexico, which I mad the culottes for. If you ask my husband, he may say that I am still stuck in the frog zone. Let me tell you, frog fabric made sewing much more fun back in the day. At least I got rid of the frog pajamas and slippers. Anyways, back to the topic at hand.

Here is the finished product. Some lighting makes the walls look gray, other lighting shows more of a beige color coming through. I guess I got my "greige."

Starting this project, I knew that I did not want to spend much money on decorations. My only splurge was the rustic looking clock, which I feel I got at a reasonable price. Inspired by my love for the TV show Fixer Upper, I had this exact clock in mind for the space. When I found it at Hobby Lobby, I wasted no time carrying it up to the register. Not only was I excited to have found it, but I did not want any other items to tempt me. I had come for the clock, and I would leave with the clock, and only the clock.

We still have a few finishing touches we need to make on this project, but we are getting closer to the ending point. I am excited to make use of the openness of this room.

Here are a few pictures from our February.

Once again another month has flown by. We started February off by an entertaining evening to the rodeo, at the Hat Creek Arena in Van Wert. 

My brother's family has been to this rodeo multiple times. We met them for supper ahead of time and enjoyed the rodeo together.

Bonnie came along as well. What a fun, likeable gal she is. Briggs enjoyed hanging out with her too.

I was impressed by the show. There were some intense moments, but all was well. I can't think of a worse way to go than by being trampled by a bull. Thankfully the riders have much quicker reflexes than myself. Crazy to think that people do this for a living, or for fun.

I had some cute visitors on Valentine's Day. My sister's family came out Sunday for church, and then back to our house for supper.

My good friend Kendra was telling me, the week before, how she had made heart-shaped meat balls when she had company the previous year around Valentine's Day. I had been planning to have meatloaf, and decided to try it. They turned out pretty well, and they even looked like hearts after they were baked.

I made little treat bags for the kids. I will do whatever it takes to lure them back to our house in the future.

Here is the pie that my sister made. Pretty cute if you ask me.

Oh, and here is my Valentine. It was technically our third Valentine's Day together. We were engaged during the first one. They just keep getting better with this amazing man. I am blessed beyond measure to spend each and every day with him.

That is all for now. May your March be filled with much joy from above.

Demo & Dear Friends

One of my goals for the year of 2016, is to be more hospitable and/or make an effort to get together. Whether that includes hosting a potluck, having family or friends out for the weekend, inviting couples over for supper, or maybe just a coffee date with friends, it all counts. I find that I really enjoy having people into our home or planning an outing, but at times I lack confidence when it comes to inviting those that I do not know all that well. 

We have actually been working on a house project that will hopefully promote more gatherings in the near future. We really did not have a spacious room to set more than one table up or have a singing in, that was until New Year's weekend when my husband needed a project. He had been talking about removing a certain, non-load-bearing wall for some time. I was a bit hesitant for him to get his hammer out and start going at it, especially since there was quite a bit of electrical involved. My husband really impressed me though, he is more of a handy man than I ever realized.

An addition was put on our house several years back. This red room jets off of our kitchen and we used it as a dining room when we would have guests.

There is another room connected, similar in size, that we used as an office. Neither of us spent much time in either of these two rooms, and it felt like wasted space. Although, I'm not sure how much space two people can use. The office would never have made a good bedroom since it had such wide doors, and would have only accommodated a twin-size bed.

Nate made several trips to the attic, removed doors and trim, and did plenty of measuring before he was ready to demo. 

Things happen pretty quickly when you give a man a crowbar, hammer, and a wall.

That morning I went to the local grocery store to grab a few things, keep in mind that the wall was still fully intact before I left. I was gone for half an hour, at the longest, and I came home to this. WHAT.A.MESS.

We cleaned things up and soon realized what a difference had been made. We are far from finished, but Nate has made some good progress. He transitioned the carpet and flooring together, put in two new ceiling fans, re-routed all the wiring by himself, and has been patching the walls and ceiling with drywall.

This picture is a bit out of proportion, but it gives you a better idea of what it currently looks like. I cannot wait until we are ready for the painting stage. Goodbye red-colored walls, you are not welcome any longer.

Although my house is under construction, I have tried to not let my perfectionism take free course. It would be easy to use this as an excuse to not host, but it is not worth it.

I invited a few of my single cousins over for supper last Saturday. I did not get any pictures, but when I went to unlock my phone at the end of the night, this picture was welcoming me.

I.HAVE.NO.WORDS.

This past Thursday, I arranged to have lunch with a few of my married friends from this area. I cannot believe that the little girls endured our three hour conversation. They were so good.

This past Saturday, I had the privilege of having four of my closest childhood friends come visit Ohio. We had brunch together, and I enjoyed every minute with them. We are all now married, attending four different AC churches, residing in three different states.

Sometimes I wish that life would not have taken us all so far apart. I also know that if any of them were close by, I would not put as much effort into creating new relationships. So I guess there are two sides to just about everything. We talked about how perfect each of our husbands are for us, which is the biggest reminder that we are exactly where we are meant to be.

We really have not changed, in appearance, a whole lot since 2009 (see picture below).

So that has been our January thus far. Nothing extremely exotic or exciting. Just life as we know it.

Thank you for stopping by!!

Our December

Our December started off with a last-minute, quick four-day trip to Ft. Meyers, Florida. I had never been to Florida. Although we barely got the pleasure of seeing the sun peak through the clouds, nonetheless we had a nice time.

From this picture it looks like we saw quite a bit blue sky, but do not let it fool you. Must have been good timing.

We stayed at the Westin Cape Coral Resort.

One perk of cloudy weather is that it makes perfect playing conditions for tennis.

This was the view from the balcony of our hotel room.

Nate and I have a goal to go to as many Pizza Hut's as we possibly can. Most of our getaways involve searching out the nearest Pizza Hut. Not only is it tasty, but it also holds sentimental value. Pizza Hut is where a very important meeting took place. Before I gave my answer to his proposal, my parents and I met Nate at the Pizza Hut in Celina, Ohio.

Thanks goes to my husband for planning the entire trip. Our retreat to Florida conveniently fell over my birthday. Quite the birthday gift I would say.

We lit our wood-burning fireplace for the first time. It was romantic, but a lot of work to get started. A gas log fireplace is definitely on our wish list, but not our main priority right now.

We did not make it to all of our Christmas gatherings this year. When they each involve 1-3 hours of driving, it takes a little extra effort. Some people might think we have it made, only having to drive that short of a distance. We got just the right amount of celebrating in.

Please check out the videos below for a snippet of our immediate families during our Christmas gatherings.

Fiechter Christmas Video

 (FYI: different from the video in the previous blog post)

Zollinger Christmas Video

December was good and busy. I am looking forward to a new year with fresh beginnings. Excited to see what God brings our way! Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas!!

What a blessing it is to celebrate the reason for the season, Jesus Christ. Wishing each of you a wonderful and warm Christmas day!

Nate and I put together a video of our gathering with my family last night. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas from the Zollingers.