The Best Donuts in the World: A Dean Family Tradition

Ryan's culinary world (at least the breakfast part of it) was rocked awhile back when he discovered a local doughnut shop, Monroe's Donuts, that just might make the world's best donuts. Now, you have to understand that it is a BIG DEAL for this Krispy Kreme-loving man to admit he might have found a doughnut that tops his original fave (I mean, his groom's cake was a tower of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, people!).

Gotta love that logo :).

Monroe's is kinda off the beaten path, but ever so often (can't do this weekly b/c the sugar might kill us all!), Ryan & Evan will head out on Saturday morning to buy us a dozen of these delectable, melt in your mouth glazed donuts. Part of the tradition is that Evan gets to go in his pjs, and Mr. Monroe always greets him with a free doughnut. As you can see from the picture, Evan sometimes dresses to the nines for the occasion :).

Dressed & ready to go!

Those of you who are local Jacksonians, check out Monroe's sometime soon. I promise you, you will not be disappointed! For those of you out of towners, if you come visit us, we'll make a special trip to get some just for you :).

What Could've Been a Scary Day

I am not an overly dramatic person, in fact, I'm usually quite the opposite, generally pretty even-keel. Now, if you know me really well, you know this is by far not always the case. Seemingly little things stress me out like losing my phone, forgetting my coupons when I go to the grocery store--yes, trivial things often get the best of me. On the other hand, I tend to be calm in what others might consider high stress situations: fender bender, speeding tickets (yes, I admit it), managing special events, responding to tragedies, etc. What tends to happen in these situations is that I am calm in the moment, emotions in check, and able to take care of what needs to be done. The stress/reality usually hits me a bit later.

Tonight I am feeling the stress of what happened (or rather didn't happen) to me & the boys earlier today.

This morning was a beautiful one, so when Levi woke from his morning nap, I decided to take both boys on a walk to our local library, which is literally two blocks away. We had never walked there before, we usually drive, but it was a nice walk on the sidewalk of Northside Drive, a busy 4 lane road in the city of Jackson. Our visit at the library was pleasant, too. When I left I thought to myself how I'm really starting to feel as if I'm a part of this community because I saw & visited with three people who are my neighbors & that I know from our church. We returned home and had lunch at about 12:30.

I didn't know until a few hours later that at around 2:00 that afternoon, a man had been shot and killed, in broad daylight, right in front of the library.

Ryan had received an email about the situation & at first was a little panicked that it might have been one of the two young men I had seen at the library, Scott or Kenyel, both of which have been in our youth group & are really like family to us. Thankfully, he was able to contact them relatively quickly to make sure they were okay.

The identity of the man is still unknown at this point, and when I first heard about this, I wasn't too shook up. This evening is a little different. I have tucked my boys into bed & am praising God that today didn't go differently: that we are all safe & that we didn't have to witness it. But I'm also saddened that someone needlessly lost their life today.

You know, most of the time I honestly feel really safe here, we live on a quiet street, we have a monitored alarm system, but the truth is, living & working in urban ministry isn't always safe. But you know what? That's okay. I know that God has called us to live & to serve here. He is sovereign, & I completely trust Him with our lives.

Thanks for letting me share my story. I needed to get it off my chest, but at the same time, I wanted to praise my Father for His provisions for my family.

The Journey of a Dining Room Makeover

Our dining room has been a work in progress that is now pretty much complete (minus some artwork I want to create to hang in there, I mean, are we ever really finished with a room?!). When we first moved in, this is what the room looked like with our stuff in it:

Not terrible, just dark & boring...kinda blah!

Well, the first thing I wanted to do was lighten up the space by redoing the chairs. Our dining room table & chairs were a yard sale find before we moved to Jackson. Ryan did a great job of refinishing the table, but the chairs were really a little too beat up to be worth the effort of refinishing them. However, the beat-up look was perfect for the distressed look I wanted to accomplish! Plus, the more beat up they get, the better they look-perfect for a household of boys & dog!

So here's the chairs before & after:

I found the fabric in the remnants pile at a local home fabric store & fell in love. Obviously a white background is not kid or dog friendly, so I decided to cover the fabric with vinyl I purchased at Hobby Lobby. Granted, it's probably not the coolest thing to do (I know, a little reminiscent of Grandma's vinyl covered sofas from the 70's), but every time I wipe down the chairs after a meal of spaghetti, I inwardly give myself a pat on the back for being willing to go there with the vinyl.

The next step was to find a green for the walls. This was not an easy task. In our former house in Georgia, one of our bedrooms was yellow and the kitchen was green. I was unsuccessful in choosing the right shade of yellow & green the first time around for both of those rooms. Beware! Greens & Yellow are tricky! It seems they always appear much brighter on the wall than on the sample! To make matters worse, when we painted the nursery in our house here in Jackson a soft green, I also chose the wrong shade the first time. So, you can imagine my paranoia about choosing the correct color for the dining room after three previous failed attempts to choose the right shade. Plus, it's one of the first rooms you see when you open the front door. Oh the pressure!!

So, that history explains why 7 samples later, our wall looked like this:

See what I mean? Greens can look so different! Believe it or not, all of these shades seem to coordinate with the fabric on the chairs. So maybe it seems like a lot of trouble to buy that many samples, but it was worth it to me because I felt completely confident about my choice. I LOVE the final result!

So, here's the after shot:

One of my favorite additions to the room is the floor to ceiling curtains I found at Ikea during our trip to Atlanta over the holidays. They were $24.99 for a pair! What a deal! A great trick to make a room seem taller is to hang the curtains just under the molding (thanks Nate Berkus for that tip!).
All in all, I am very pleased with the outcome!

Construction Complete!

For the past year of our lives, we have had a front row seat to the major reconstruction of Redeemer's sanctuary & educational wing (seeing as we live behind the church). It's been exciting to watch (and hear), and Evan now thinks that any construction he sees around town is for a new church. I often hear him call out from the backseat, "Look, Mommy, they're building a new church over there." A typical PK response I suppose...

This is the demolition a year ago of part of the educational wing.

We have been worshiping in our new sanctuary for a little over a month now. Our old sanctuary seated about 350, and now we seat about 650, but since we have over 700 each week, we still need two services to accommodate everyone (hallelujah, not a bad problem to have!). It's very exciting to witness all that God is doing through Redeemer in our community. Can't wait to see what else He has in store!

This is our newly expanded sanctuary during our dedication service!

Also, I couldn't blog about our new sanctuary without including a link to the song "Son of Man" that Ryan & Redeemer's choir performed at our dedication service (I posted this on FB last month). It was a special time of worship for everyone there. If you have a free moment, be sure to check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksoEHo5ozE0&list=UUPbTgAzzqZ2HSOfURVEAXzQ&index=1&feature=plcp

Getaway to Rosemary Beach

I keep meaning to share pics of our recent (er, a month ago..) beach trip. We were blessed to get an early spring break in February thanks to a sweet couple in our church who let us go to their place in Rosemary Beach, FL, which is on the Gulf coast near Panama City. We had an amazing time, and my mom was able to join us too, which was a nice treat to have so much time with her! The boys love their Grammie, and Ryan & I got to go out on our own several times that week, be it a bike ride, dessert somewhere, or a nice dinner. We definitely came back relaxed & refreshed! Thanks to the mild winter, we even got to play on the beach a few days, but not the water, it was way too cold!

Levi loved the beach!

We were shocked Evan let us bury him (he hated getting sand on him last summer!)

Soaking up some rays!

Levi chillin' with Grammie

Loved the walking community at Rosemary!

The boys LOVED our daily wagon rides around town.

My Sweet Levi

This week Levi turned one year old! We celebrated with a birthday lunch with our immediate family & a couple of friends. We're going to have a party with our extended family in Georgia the end of this month while we are in town for a youth pastors' conference. Can't wait to celebrate Elmo style with party hats (per older brother Evan's request) & of course, a smash cake (wouldn't be a first birthday party without it)!

So a little over a year ago, I was a week & a few days past my due date when Levi made his grand entrance into the world. Before he was born, I had a fear that seems laughable now, but was a legitmate concern of mine. I wondered if it was possible to love another child as much as I loved our son Evan. For some reason I was afraid that it wouldn't be the same the second time around. Boy was I wrong! I love this little boy Levi with all my heart!

In case you don't get to be around him much (which is most of you, since he's pretty much always hanging out with me!), let me tell you a bit about this awesome baby boy. Levi definitely looks more like me than Evan does for sure, but I think he's going to have his daddy's outgoing personality. Whenever we're in the grocery store or out and about, he's always looking around trying to catch other people's eye. When he does, he gives them his cutest, big, open mouth smile and waits, expectantly, for their reaction, which, undoubtedly, is a big smile in return. And he's persistent about it! If at first they don't notice him, he tries again, and if that still doesn't work he'll use a cute squeal to get their attention. It really is hilarious to watch.

Other facts/milestones you should know about Levi:
1) He's very snuggly (my favorite thing!)
2) He has 6 teeth already, with 2 more on the way!
3) He's a fast crawler, but not too interested in walking yet.
4) His favorite snack is miniature Goldfish (he gets giddy when he sees the bag).
5) He wants to play with whatever toy Evan has (makes for interesting play times).
6) He loves to scream at the top of his lungs whenever he gets really excited.
7) He loves his family & life in general

What a blessing to have him for a son!

Bathroom Reno

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the house we live in, our church's parsonage, has been getting a bit of a face lift this year. After having the exterior repainted and some minor repairs made, our house's sole bathroom was next on the agenda.

The Before:

As you can see, it had a lovely mauve countertop in a unique swoop design and a huge mirror. Also, it might be hard to tell from the pic, but the counter/sink, it seems, was designed for the vertically challenged. Ryan and I had to squat to wash our face (although it worked out nicely for Evan, our 3 year old).

And now...ta-da!
The After:

Quite a change, huh? It doesn't even feel like the same space! I feel like I'm in a spa now :). The new vanity and wall cabinet came from Lowe's, and I was super excited to find the mirror at Kirkland Home for only $39! I think the mirror totally makes the room and it coordinates perfectly with the fabric i picked out from a local fabric store to make some curtains. Check it out:

Now to learn to sew or research a way to fake it :). After that, I'm going to try to create some artwork to go on the wall when you first enter the bathroom. I'll post a pic when all that's done (and I have no idea when that will be!). A big thanks to the deacons of Redeemer for approving all this work to be done on the house. We are definitely enjoying the upgrades!