Studio Murphy Workbench: In Progress

08/24/2011

Jason and I came up with an idea for a murphy bed style work table in his music studio utility room. We didn’t want something that would eat up precious floor space but he needed a work surface besides his desk or the floor for changing guitar strings, repairing effect pedals and soldering. It’s a fairly simple concept but I think Jason did a great job implementing it. It’s not a finished project yet, as you can see. He still needs to add drywall, mud it, prime it and paint it; and finish out the workbench with banding and add built-in hidden shelving and a power outlet.

The legs fold out on hinges like a drop leaf table. The table top is unlatched so it can fold down and rest on the legs.

It’s standing height or stool height. I have a specific kind of stool in mind… one of these retro chairs that doubles as a step stool. I saw one at a vintage store once but one of these replicas look like a decent option.

My old acoustic guitar is serving as a test dummy. We plan to add some felt or a rubbery soft surface to the table top that can be removed when he’s soldering.

I’ll be back to share the finished project whenever it’s done.

2 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Being a foster parent

08/23/2011

1. Being a foster parent is so easy. Anyone could do this job. It’s as simple as loving and caring for a child who is in desperate need. These are sweet, beautiful, innocent children. For crying out loud, step up! You can do it! These kids need you!

2. There is nothing easy about about being a foster parent. It’s hands-down the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. We prepared for months… classes, home study, reading books and blogs. We’ve prayed and prayed and prayed. But nothing really prepares you for the Niagra Falls of emotions that come crashing down on you when you become a parent overnight, fall desperately in love with a child, learn his or her angering story, work hard to reverse the negatives in the child’s life and teach trust and hope and love, and to fear for the kid’s safety and future and want to do anything in the world to protect him or her yet to acknowledge you are for the most part powerless. Also, there is the matter of just parenting, which is no walk in the park. Just because we signed up for this program doesn’t make it less painful. There are good days and there are bad days. This is hard, really hard.

3. I have no regrets about being a foster parent. It’s amazing, wonderful, rewarding, life-changing and exciting. It also sucks. It just might lead us through a valley of heartbreak like something out of our worst nightmares. I do not want to go down that road. I do not want to be crushed. I do not want to do hard. But this child (any child) is SO WORTH IT.

PS. Please pray for us this morning. Important decisions are being made. Thank you!

5 Comments | Faith, Family, Family: Foster Parenting, Family: Jason, Family: Ladybug, Family: Me | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Not-The-Mama

08/03/2011

Jason is home. THANK GOD. He travels a lot for his career as a musician and I’m totally fine with that. I love that he gets to travel. However, becoming a foster parent and a parent for the first time while he was 4,000 miles away was not easy. After 3 days of carrying around a 25 lb. sweetie who loves to snuggle and needs lots of extra hugs these days, along with the up and down getting into and out of the crib, the high chair, the car seat, etc. my arms were killing me. I am so happy that Jason is home with his strong, sexy, man arms.

This is a strange way to become a parent, no doubt about that. We’re learning so much, having a lot of fun, and we’re pretty exhausted, too. Oh, and we’re still supposed to be earning a living too, right? My brother-in-law who just became a daddy in February promises that we’ll fall into a nice rhythm soon and be able to balance it all. I hope he’s right.

Regardless of the unusual circumstances, witnessing your spouse become a parent has got to be one of the coolest things ever. I could see his love and interest and excitement through their Skype interactions the first couple days but actually getting to see Jason scoop up this little girl and give her hugs and kisses was the sweetest thing. And to see her reach up to him, asking to be picked up and held in his secure arms was precious.

We don’t know a whole lot about little L’s family situation but the only relatives we’ve heard about are female, which leads us to assume she has never really experienced the love of a daddy. Another clue is that she keeps calling Jason “mama,” (which she is also calling me and my mom.) We keep saying, no that’s “papa.” And she says, “Papa.” But then if he walks out of the room, she calls out for him, “Mama!”

I’m so happy that Jason has been not just willing to fill in this gap for however long she’s ours, but that he is truly excited to be her dad. He’s excited to take her out to ice cream and to the park and to hold her hand while she’s toddling around. He’s happy to feed her and hold her as she’s falling asleep and to let her bury her face against his chest when she’s scared of a new situation. His desire to protect her stirs up a righteous anger, usually directed toward “the system” that would allow her to get bounced around from home to home.

Jason is doing an awesome job being a papa. I’m so proud of him for doing this, for agreeing to give himself so fully and to love someone so completely, knowing that she may be ripped away from us. And I say ripped away because even if we agree that her moving back with her original family is the best thing for her (and if we don’t agree, there isn’t much we can do about it…) it’s still going to be the most awful heart ripping pain we’ve ever experienced. We selfishly hope that she can stay with us longer… forever? We just don’t know right now. But more than anything, we want the best for her. We want her to have a hope and a future, a great life. We want her to always know that she is loved, precious, and wanted.

6 Comments | Family, Family: Foster Parenting, Family: Jason, Family: Ladybug, Family: Me | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Everything changes…

08/02/2011

when you love some, love some, love someone… (Cue the Kathy Troccoli song from the 80s)

In this case, I’m busy loving someone 2.5 feet tall. I can’t tell you her name or show you a picture, sorry. But trust me, she is absolutely beautiful! On Thursday night we were placed with a little girl. She is so sweet, silly, playful, cuddly and fun. She’s a great eater and a great sleeper. She really could not be more perfect. We’re not sure what the future holds beyond this week (we’ll find out more on Friday) but for now we are savoring every minute with her.

I’ll try to keep up with my blogging this week but no promises. There are more important matters to attend to, if ya know what I mean. And my posts might be a little bit centered around her, because, well, my brain is pretty consumed right now as I was just thrust into the world of being “Mama!” (that’s what little girl has been calling me) for the first time with an almost 1.5 year old, in a very unique way. Thank God for the wonderful support of my family and friends, especially my mom. Jason was out of the country on a short, week-long trip to Scandinavia when I got the call so the first 3.5 days I was on my own. On my own with my mom never more than a phone call or text away, and often with us, too.  I’m so glad Jason’s back now and he absolutely loves her and is a huge help! He’s an awesome daddy. I knew he would be.

9 Comments | Family, Family: Foster Parenting, Family: Jason, Family: Ladybug, Family: Me | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Call #2: Up in the Air

07/28/2011

On Monday we got our second call for a foster care placement. The placement worker left a voicemail for Jason. He called me as soon as his plane was on the ground and he got the message but it was already too late. It was for one little girl. We probably would have said yes. I am at peace about it—I’m believing she ended up in a good home and things turned out the way they were supposed to. But, it’s hard to wrap my brain around it all… one phone call can change everything. Missing a call (by 35 minutes) can change everything.

Instead of going over to a friends house for dinner, cake and a birthday celebration Monday night, I could have been fumbling around with setting up our car seat, running to Kroger for diapers and formula and baby food (and Googling what you can feed a 9 month old), calling my boss to let him know I may or may not be stopping in to the office tomorrow, texting my friends to start praying, calling my mama to say HELP! But tonight that little baby girl will be laying her head down to sleep at another house and I’ll be going about business as usual. Again, I have complete peace about how it all worked out, it’s just strange to think about how differently this week could have turned out. And “business as usual” feels a little lame.

Seeing as we’ve had 2 calls in 5 days, I imagine we’ll get a placement soon. I have a tangle of contrasting emotions: excited, scared, hopeful, sad… It’s beautiful thing, foster parenting, and also a horrible thing. I wish the need for it didn’t exist. I know I’m only seeing and understanding the tip of the iceberg at this point.

One of my co-workers aptly put it in an email the other day, This is truly a unique journey.

4 Comments | Faith, Family, Family: Foster Parenting, Family: Jason, Family: Me | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

The Garden: July 2011

07/26/2011

I take no credit for the piece of paradise located in my backyard. This oasis is all thanks to my husband’s love of plants, especially dessert and tropical plants.

We have yellow bamboo (left of the gate) and black bamboo (right of the gate, not pictured below) in neatly contained planter on our patio. We cut these blocks out of our concrete patio. (Anywhere I saw “we” just assume I mean Jason.)

The black bamboo was very determined… it’s roots spread under the patio and it shot up a bunch of runners into our cactus garden this summer. We’ve left most of them to grow because the idea of a bamboo grove sounds nice. Plus black bamboo is super expensive (the most we’ve ever paid for a plant!) and it spreads pretty slowly. It’s really neat to see how fast a new stalk grows. I’ll do a post just on that some day.

Most mornings while Jason and I are having bacon, eggs and toast at the kitchen table there is a couple of yellow finches having breakfast on our echinacea (cone flower) plant. I guess the seeds are tasty.

There is also a hummingbird that frequents the echinacea and the red yucca (tall finger-like pinkish plant in the center of the photo.)

Our patio needs repainted. Or stained. Or tiled. Or something.

This is a banana tree. It’s just ornamental, it doesn’t get fruit on it. But it’s huge and fast growing and definitely the focal point of the garden right now.

We love this pretty crepe myrtle tree.

There’s a sister banana tree in the corner of the garden.

Our key lime tree, which seems to be fruitless right now.

So there’s a quick tour around our garden paradise this July. It’s been hot and humid and the plants are lovin’ it!

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Posted by mahlbrandt

“The Call”

07/21/2011

We got our first call yesterday. The sweet placement worker called Jason, thankfully, because the adrenaline rush makes my ears pound. He talked with her for a few minutes on the phone, walking into the room where I was working. I raised my eyebrows as I heard him explaining that we’re only set up for 2 kids and that we have a crib and a twin bed. He held up 3 fingers to me and raised his eyebrows back.

He told her we’d discuss it and get back to her. Three young siblings. Outside of the boundaries we set up. It was an easy decision, really, an obvious answer, yet we still discussed and pondered and prayed about it all afternoon. Ultimately, we knew what we had to do. But it wasn’t easy.

I got her voicemail when I called back. It felt so petty and heartless when I heard myself say “I hope you do find a good home for them.” As if they’re puppies. My tears for those three little ones won’t do anyone any good but I do believe prayer works and I’m asking God to open up the perfect home for those three young siblings.

5 Comments | Family, Family: Foster Parenting, Family: Jason, Family: Me | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Front Garden Expansion: Phase 1

07/11/2011

Jason is tired of mowing our grass. I can’t blame him. It takes 2 hours with our push mower, it needs done every week, and it’s hot outside. So what is my green-thumbed garden-loving husband’s solution? Expand the front garden to create less lawn! Tirades about xeriscaping the whole front yard or killing all the grass (weeds…) and planting ground cover have also been tossed around after sweaty lawn grooming sesions. This crazy talk scared me a bit. (I don’t want the neighbors referring to us as “those people” with the gravel lot in front of their house.) One day I came home to find our front yard looking like this.

I present you with, Front Garden Expansion: Phase 1.

All that was done here was lowering the push mower to it’s lowest setting and scalping the lawn in the desired garden area, in hopes that the hot summer sun would do the rest of the work of killing the grass and weeds. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the area Jason plotted out was only about 1/3 of the front yard. He says “for now…”

Have you seen this timely article on Apartment Therapy, The Case Against the American Front Lawn?

5 Comments | Art, Art: gardening, Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

07/08/2011

These shoes represent two things to me: years of hard work done by a good man (my man) and thriftiness to the max. I think our raised-in-the-depression grandparents would be proud. Or embarrassed. After serving well for at least a decade, into the trash bin they go.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

07/01/2011

Special Edition: This is from Jason’s phone, though I took it. His mom found his and his brother Daniel’s Cabbage Patch Doll piggy banks recently. They were quite excited! I love how one has orange hair and one has yellow hair. It’s hard to tell now that they’re adults, but as little boys Jason’s hair was pretty red and his little brother’s was whitish-blond.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

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