We Have Moved!

We have moved to www.godisup2something.com.  This old blog location will not receive any updates past this one.

Thank you and see you at Godisup2something.com!

Ben and Julie Agee

Currently Under Construction

We are up to Something BIG over here at God is up to Something.  We are in the process of a blog makeover.  My sweet man, my daughter-in-law Tricia, my niece Laura, and myself have all contributed to this process. We are moving this blog to Wordpress.   

We have goals y'all!  We are hoping to go live with our blog in just a few short weeks.  Hopefully by the middle of March.  My goal once we go live will continue to blog about once a week.

I will continue to give updates on Living with Ovarian Cancer, our family life, travel adventures, creative projects, adoption life, and how God is working throughout all of these things.

One of the funnest parts of the new blog was a photo shoot I had this past week.  If you know me personally, you know that I am not an overly girly girl, but I do like to dress up from time to time.  If you ever drop by unannounced at my house you may even catch me in my jammies with no makeup at 3:00 in the afternoon--just ask the UPS guy.  But back to the photo shoot.  I actually glammed up the hair and makeup and Tricia helped style my clothes.  So I was feeling pretty good about the pics.  But then yesterday I got to see some sneak peaks---Oh My GOODNESS!  My daughter-in-law is so good.  She was a great coach and even had to show me how to pose for some of the pics, but I did listen and WOW!  I was blown away.  What a fun treat!   A shout out for my neighbor Bridgette who agreed to let us shoot on their property by their fence and some beautiful flowers.  

So check back with us in a few weeks. 

And See what we have been up to.

Julie

Finding Something Beautiful

 My DIL Taylor, called me the other day all excited about some "project" pieces that her parents confiscated from their neighbors throw away pile.  We like to call these freebies future treasures.

They found a cubby for toys and books, 2 end tables for their living room and a bookshelf for their guest room.  All FREE!  AND all needing some TLC(tender loving care).

Tay and her dad spent an afternoon sanding,  gluing, and basically getting them structurally sound.

She loaded them up and brought them to our house and we tackled the cubby.  We primed 2 coats, rolled 2 coats, and polyurethaned 2 light coats.  Then we let them dry for a couple of days.

This past Sunday, Austin and Taylor took their finished project home and yesterday, she put it back together only to discover that her finished project and the extra paint made a few of the shelves hard to reassemble.  (And to our dismay--scratched up a couple of spots of the beautiful white paint job.)

Oops!

For a split second she almost gave in to the need of perfection and put it in the trash pile in front of her yard.

But she didn't.  She overlooked the flaws, placed it in the girls room and voila--it's beautiful even with a few spots shining through.

Finished project

Hailey and I took a nap together after all that painting

This got me to thinking about how easily we discount our beauty.  When we look at ourselves we can easily pick apart what we see.  We look at the size of our clothes, the imperfect abs, the "extra" weight we carry on our hips, or thighs, and the number on the scale as if any one of these, if they were "perfect", would make us beautiful.

Do you know what makes you beautiful?

I do.

You!  You make you beautiful.

Sounds overly simplified doesn't it?

But it's not really.  On the day that the sperm and egg that created you were joined together, you were made in the very image of God.  Genesis 1:27 says this, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

Y'all--does that just make you want to sit for a little while and take that in?  You, one of 7,714,576,923 people that are alive in the year 2019, were created in the image of  the Creator.

We could stop there-because that is amazing enough, but we won't.

Did you realize that no one else on this planet has your exact fingerprint or DNA?  Go back and look at that number of people alive.  That is a lot of individuality going on around us.  Unless you are an identical twin, there is no one that looks exactly like you either.

Did you know that the patterns of the iris in your eyes, your lips and your tongue are all unique only to you?  No one else has the exact same patterns.

Stop and look at your finger.  Did you know that there is an identification system based on a finger vein scan?  They scan the veins in your finger because no two peoples veins grow in the exact same way and they are individualistic.  This is actually a highly secure method of you prooving your identity.

Our uniqueness makes us beautiful.  There really is no one just like you.

You were created for just this exact time in the history of the world.

You have a great purpose, you are unique, you are created in the image of God.

You are beautiful!

Let that sink in today.

Julie

Finished Project!

First things first, this is Ben's parents, Ken and Margaret, meeting baby Hailey.  Isn't this sweet?  Of course, she will learn to call them Bum Bum and Granny Bum like the rest of their grands on our side of the family.  Leighanne gave them these names when she first started talking.  They are visiting from Alabama--we sure have enjoyed having them stay with us this past weekend.

Finished reupholstered chair

Finished valances for the kitchen

Another finished chair

Valances over the kitchen sink

Table being used at lunch today.  My parents came over to visit for a little while.

How the chairs and table and cushions all fit at the table.

Coffee/Tea Bar 
I wanted you to see how well the colors in here all go together.
I sure love a finished room!

I have really enjoyed (besides the seat cushions--😁) working on this kitchen nook, chairs and valances.  I feel like the room has a great blending of color and comfort.  Just the right mix for having over company, drinking coffee or tea, and playing a game. 

So now that I have finished this first project in the year of 2019.  What's on the horizon?  Not sure yet,  but I have some ideas floating around.

Come back and see.

That’s Good ... No, that’s Bad

Do you remember reading the story called, “That’s Good, No, that’s Bad”?  It’s a story about a little boy who has all of these situations occur back-to-back that either become “good” or “bad”.  For instance, he gets a balloon—that’s good right?  No, that’s bad—it takes him away from his family.  The adventure continues until **spoiler** he is reunited with his family in the end.

Well I have been having a few “good”and “bad moments over the last 24 hours.

Let me explain.

I snuck away yesterday to visit one of my best friends.  My college friend Sam. That was good on many levels.  I made it to her hotel—she’s attending a teacher conference nearby.  So that was “good”.  (Anyone going through the process of the healing after a colostomy reversal will appreciate making it to your destination with no problems.)

But literally the moment we got to her room, my tummy became active—for the next 3 hours.  So that was bad.

We needed to eat- so we ordered our food and Sam walked down to Joe’s Crab Shack and picked up supper.  It was delish!!! Grilled salmon, fresh steamed broccoli, and dirty rice.  Sam’s meal was a variety of fish and shrimp, and it looked yummy.  So the fact that we couldn’t go out didn’t keep us from a fabulous meal.  So that was good.

We had fun just hanging out in our jammies and catching up with our lives and our children’s lives.  You know it’s great to spend time with someone you have done life with for 30 years.  That was great!

This morning we said our goodbyes and she went off to her conference.  I on the other hand accidentally sideswiped a pole.  So now my van has a lovely dent and is missing paint.  So that’s bad.

I had to stop at the dentist and have 2 cavities filled. Not exactly sure how to rate that one. There was no pain, and my cavities are taken care of—so I’ll say that’s good.

All of these life events could effect our mood, get us down, or bring us happiness.

If we allowed our lives to be directed by the “good” and “bad”, we would be emotionally bankrupt by the end of the day.  Instead we need to realize that even though we may not be able to control “bad” things from happening, we can control our reactions.

I could have spent last night upset that we couldn’t go out to a restaurant, but instead we had a yummy meal in our hotel and had great girlfriend time.  I could have gotten upset at my accident with the pole, and while I’m not jumping up and down, it could have been so much worse, for that I am grateful.

Life is too short to waste it walking around angry and mad, look for the positives.

Find the “good” when life throws you the “bad”.

Julie

Project Progress: Week 3

The 1st thing I have learned about myself this week is that I do NOT enjoy sewing seat cushions. 

Nope!

Not even a little bit!

I will gladly pay the $20,000.00 they must cost to have custom seat cushions because that would totally be worth it!

Ok—less drama—but really, those cushions will probably be the last ones I ever sew.

I think they turned out alright, but I had to rip out, and resew more times than I want to mention.

Life is too precious to spend sewing seat cushions so I will just put a check next to that box and move on.

Now staining and polyurethaning the table was easy peasy.  I stained the table top twice and rolled 5 light coats of polyurethane. 

 It is beautiful! 

Sunday lunch was the first time we sat at the table and enjoyed our new kitchen booth and table.

I had high hopes of having the valances  completed, but I pushed that into this week.

I do want to give you a sneak peak at our 100 year old chairs—aren’t they pretty??

I’m hoping to get to stain them and recover the seats this week.

We will see.

So what projects do you have on the radar for your near future?  Let me know and share a picture.

And if there is anyone out there who enjoys sewing seat cushions—you have earned a highly favored gold star ⭐️ in my world.

Julie

White as Snow ...

It’s time for an update on our kitchen booth. We have been busy this week.  I say “we” because my hubby joined me in the fun.  Not the painting part, but the building part.  Just you wait!

I ended up having to prime this piece 2 times, yes, the lovely green and raspberry just kept shining through.  Then I painted 2 coats of this white paint called "snow cap".  Love the color--its has just a hint of cream to it.

Finally, I polyurethaned the booth and the table.

Then my hubby stepped in and did his part.  We knew we wanted a bigger table top because 48” x 30” was not going to be big enough for the crowds we have.  Ben got to work doing math and calculations.  Then he began the building process.

After cutting, gluing, filling in with wood filler, a lot of sanding, here is the new table top, waiting to be stained.

I Can NOT wait to get to that today.

And next week, hopefully, we will have the table in place.  I’m also working on the cushions, window valances, and reupholstering these beautiful antique chairs.  They were built in the 1920’s.  I am in love.  Nope-no sneak peaks!  😳🙄😍

Do you know what song popped in my head while I was painting away?

No guesses?

This old hymn called, “Nothing But the Blood”.

1) What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

chorus:
O precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow
no other fount I know;
nothing but the blood of Jesus.

The more I painted the white over the colors, the more the song just kept playing through my brain.   "O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow".  

Have you ever thought about how blood could be so very precious?  When I had the cancer debulking surgery in September 2017, I found out just how precious blood was.  I had to have 8 bags of blood during that 9 1/2 hour surgery.  In fact, the reason the doctor had to give me a colostomy was because my body was "weeping" blood.  It just couldn't handle any more surgery.  So yes, I fully understand how precious blood can be.  Blood saves lives.

This song however, is referring to the blood that Jesus spilt for us when he died on the cross over 2,000 years ago.   He sacrificially went to the cross to make a blood atonement for all the sins of the world.  Just like in the Old Testament times when the Jewish Priest would make atonement for the sins of the people with an animal sacrifice, Jesus made that sacrifice for each of us.

What can make us whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

The precious blood of Jesus is the reason I have faith to believe that I can trust Jesus with my life.  The precious blood is why I try to be obedient to God's call on my life.  It's why we moved our family to Honduras. He was willing to be the sacrifice for my sins.  The least I can do is to obey Him with my life.

As you reflect on how his precious blood affects your life.  Go to the link below and enjoy this beautiful hymn.

Nothing But the Blood by Hillsong

In Him who is Able,

Julie