New Chapter and GIVEAWAY!!

I have been working on getting my interior design business up and running for a while now. Starting in August it was made clear that I could make something of this. People started calling for help here and there and I started really brainstorming and praying about pursuing this full time. It has literally fallen in my lap and become more than I ever thought possible. I have been working with some amazing people these last few months and have some fun projects to show to you all. I hope you all will like the new content I have and will follow along with me on this new chapter in my life. I have been doing this for several months and have shown things some but have wanted to wait until I had my new blog and new website to show you some of my bigger projects. The blog will still primarily be the same just with a new address and more design.

I'd love for you all to please update your bookmarks to: http://designsbykatiegrace.com/blog so that you can stay updated. Im moving my blog to another platform and people who had followed me on blogger will need to re-subscribe to keep following. Sign up here... http://feeds.feedburner.com/PassystoParties. Also, I am slowly moving away from passysandparties.com and it will start forwarding to my new homepage in the next week.

I'm doing a really awesome giveaway on my new page so head on over there to see the latest!
Hope you will visit my new website at www.designsbykatiegrace.com and make sure and go enter the giveaway while you are over there!

Right now...

Right now I'm going to be completely honest.. I am having a hard time.
I have honestly not been blogging for a number of reasons. One of them being a fun reason. I am launching a new website and blog this week and I was going to wait until I had a "new look" to blog all my new content.
My second reason is b/c every time I sit down to write to you all I get stumped. We are going through so many things that are hard right now that sometimes when I sit down to write I feel like I want to be so eloquent in my writing so I portray positivity, so that people see me strong. I feel like I have to make sure God is glorified through my every word and I always want to make sure people know I trust Him.
 I feel also stumped b/c I want to feel understood and ultimately in life I feel alone right now.

I also constantly am comparing my life to others like Sarah's and other stories I have heard that are absolutely gut wrenching and then when I feel the need to talk about my hard situation I then quickly feel no right to act like I'm having a hard time with "my story".
Well tonight I am ignoring everything I just spoke about and I'm being COMPLETELY honest. I am not being positive tonight. I am being completely real with ya'll. Do I trust God? Duh! He is my rock and everything. But tonight I am struggling. Life is hard right now.

Sawyer was in the hospital a week ago for a few days for the 5th time. He is not even 4 yet and he has been in the hospital more than me and Andrew put together. He has had more IV's and more STRONG medicine than ALOT of adults. Is he worse off than cancer patients.. NO, Does he have a good life? yes. But the more we go on with his life the more we are realizing and seeing that he has it rough sometimes. He is allergic to so many things in our world that his triggers are so unpredictable.
 One minute he is playing totally normal outside and the next minute he is blue in the face and vomiting from low oxygen. We have been told in the last 10 days that it would be best to keep him inside for the remainder of the spring season. That he needs to play inside, skip recess at school, stay away from his triggers as much as possible and lay low for the next few weeks. He has been on steroids too many times for a kid his age and his extreme asthma attacks are too scary to even speak of. We are so sick of being in the E.R. and hospital with him that all three of his doctors are starting to see that we need to play it safe for a while to see if it helps. We are going to get caught up with his two shots a week and see if it levels his allergies out. It's not just asthma that most of you think of, it's extreme and his lungs are so weak. His asthma attacks are tricky, stubborn and in two hours flat he can be extremely sick and critical.

I am so sick of seeing him suffer. So sick of seeing him get pricked. So sick of seeing him have to sit on the couch instead of run around with his friends. So sick of doctors appointments. So sick of being scared constantly about his breathing and what he is being exposed to in his environment.
He is so normal and has such joy and zest for life but sometimes I get angry that he is held back by this.

I also miss Sarah. She is there and she is coming back, but I miss the Sarah that I talked to every other day. I miss her. I am sick of the unknowns and constant hardship with that situation. Life is moving on and I am so proud of her and her progress but gosh I'm ready to hear her voice and for things there to level out in our family.

Life is moving fast and sometimes I feel like it's so out of control and hard that I have to remember to breath. God is definitely taking us on a journey and I know that everything is worked for good but sometimes I feel like it's healthy to be completely honest with our human emotions. Don't hold this post against me in three days people!
So many blogs can be so fake and sometimes I look back at my own blog posts and see how most of the time I only write on the upside of my grief. I look back and see how I post only on the moments in hardship that I see God working and write about what I'm learning through a hard situation... Tonight I'm not doing that. Tonight I'm just writing to be heard and to tell you that sometimes I think life is sucky. Sometimes I feel like it doesn't make sense. I know you hear me out there. I also know that some of you are going through horrible and hard situations. Don't feel bad for thinking it sucks sometimes. Let yourself be sad and be heard sometimes.

That is my "right now". More on the fun stuff tomorrow! Love ya'll!

 So proud of this boy. This is from last week in the hospital. He is so strong even though his lungs are weak. 

Flea Market Finds

Here are a few finds from this week. I went to a new flea market in Lowell, AR and I don't remember the name. It's a red building off 71B towards Lowell. If you know what I'm talking about then comment so readers will know.

 Hope ya'll are having a good week! 

 Gold greek key large lamp, "The Rose" in Rogers

 darling white chair. at "The Rose" in Rogers

 This shelf was only 34$! It was at "the Rose"

 "The Rose"

 Darling table, Would be great behind a couch or in a small entryway. This is at the red flea market that I don't remember the name!

5X7 Rug, would be awesome made into an ottoman. 

Love this, It's at the same flea market in Lowell. 

 This is how I look when I'm shopping half the time.. Multi tasking at it's finest ;)

Happy Thursday! 

Brief update

When I get behind in blogging, it's so hard for me to catch up b/c SO much happens lately to keep up with. So instead of catching you up with the last month of news I will just start with this last week.

I have been in Austin for the last week. Greg and Jan went out of town so I brought Sawyer with me and I spent the week taking care of the kiddos. It has been so good to be with them. It was a hard week in an lot of ways but we had a ton of fun.

 Saturday morning me and all three kids hopped in the car and went to spend the weekend with Sarah in Houston. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive so me and Sarah's good friend Pam (who met us in Houston) thought it would be better to spend the night since we had all three kids. It was Sarah's 35th birthday on Saturday and it was such a good day. The kids had a wonderful day seeing their mama.
Sarah amazed me. Her peace is overwhelming to watch. We had an incredible time together and overall I was encouraged. I felt like my ache of missing her dissipated a little bit. I felt like I got to see the Sarah I know in the midst of our long visit with her. I got to see some of her opinions by her facial expressions and hand motions and I even saw the Sarah sass come out a bit. 

The kids were of course so good. They loved on their mama and Halle even warmed up to Sarah by the end of the trip. It was good for them to stay for two days because it got them more comfortable with the situation by the end of the trip. On Sunday we got to wheel Sarah outside because it was such a gorgeous day. We spent two hours just sitting outside and letting the kids play around us. She loved it.
Will talked everyone's ears off and loved on Sarah constantly. Ava has a little bit of a harder time with Sarah but I know she'll come around eventually. Overall the kids are doing well. They seem better than most of the adults! :) It's amazing what kind of resilience God has blessed them with. Their little worlds have been turned upside down and everything is different and hard, but in the midst of this hardship they are the same kids. They are the kids that Sarah taught them to be. They are strong, sassy and at the same time they live with such peace and joy. Just like their mama!

Pam and I got some good time with Sarah by ourselves on Saturday while the Thomas' hung out with the kids. I got to talk to Sarah vulnerably and tell her how much we miss her. I told her how many lives she is changing. I was honest with her and told her that I didn't understand or know why this was happening to her but that I have such confidence that she is going to come home to her kiddos. I told her about the mundane things going on like  business and my the shirt I bought the day before. We told her all about the kids, told her funny Ava stories and told her about everything they were doing. 

I can't imagine knowing what is going on around you and seeing your kids play and grow up in front of you but not being able to communicate. I honestly have nightmares about it sometimes b/c it seems like too much for one human being to handle. But God is granting her grace and peace and she does not seem angry one bit. She seems happy for each moment to be with her kids even when they don't pay attention to her and she can't talk to them. She definitely was sad at moments, especially when we talked about the future and the hard stuff but I think she appreciated me and Pam being real and normal with her. I think she appreciated me crying and being my complete self with her. We held hands and she intensely listened and responded with her facial expressions to everything I said. She is the same girl, fighting her hardest come back to her kids. I am so beyond proud of her. 

Ya'll keep praying for her to make progress in her speech and movement on right side. She is walking some and her right leg is doing good. She had surgery on Friday to put a shunt in her brain to drain fluid and she came through surgery well. We are praying for more progression after this surgery. I am so ready to hear her say something.
Pray for kiddos and the Henry's and Thomas'. Everyone is pulling such a heavy load and every person in this complicated story needs extra prayer right now. As life moves along and the talk about Sarah dies down I hope and pray that you will all continue to fervently pray for total healing. I still believe in a total miracle! God has already shown so many miracles in this story and I know huge things are going to happen in the future. Praying for patience in the in between time ;)

Here is a recap in pics!

Sorry Sarah, I gave Halle a fast food hamburger! 

One of Sarah's best friends made us this homemade cake for Sarah's birthday. It was delicious! Sarah even ate a bite :)

This is the devotion on Sarah's birthday! Thank you Lord for tangible encouragement and hope!

 Pamela and I took Ava on a shopping spree. This girl has some interesting fashion choices! Example, see next picture down ;)

We did our best Sarah! She would tell us, "I LIKE it, but I don't LOVE it..." She put together some INTERESTING things! 

Sweetest Halle Girl! 

Still can't believe I survived by myself with these four kiddos

Homework time, Will had homework every night and so the other two kiddos pretended like they had homework every night too. 

Lizard hunting

Beautiful day at TIRR with the kids and Sarah. 

Thank ya'll for praying!

Flea Market Finds!

Oh how I love these posts. I have been cramming in work while I'm home from Austin and have been finding some good stuff along the way. Let me know what you like! I've been shopping for a client, trying to find a queen or full bed for her 2 year old. You'll see lots of cute beds in this post! 

 This is a custom reclaimed headboard. Gorgeous. I would love this for a little boys room!

"somewhere in Time Antiques"

 "somewhere in time antiques"

 "somewhere in time Antiques"

Good drum table. "somewhere in time Antiques"

 large rustic coffee table. "somewhere in time antiques"

 Awesome side table

 Loving this accessory! 

This vintage chalkboard would be great in a kid's room. "somehwere in time antiques"

Look behind the clutter, this is a good shelf underneath all the junk! 

 Love this dresser! 

 This is Retrospect in Fayetteville. It's dainty and adorable!

 Bought two iron beds yesterday, I couldn't pass the deal up! They are the cutest things ever. I already have a spot for one of them in a client's house. Let me know if you need a full size iron bed. 

 Full size wooden bed. Only 59$, Daisies and Olives

 This is the other iron bed I'm using in a client's house. We are spraying it gold! 

Daisies and Olives