Happy Saturday!

Hello everyone! The Harp household is going at warp speed and there is much to write about but I thought it was time for another kitchen update. At the moment not much is being done in there, well, that isn't true, I am cooking and canning up a storm. But work wise, things are on hiatus. As I went back through the pictures I have posted of this journey, I realized that the last one I showed you was pre-sink. We have gotten further along than that.
Here is a shot of the beautiful black sink Dad and Dick Pappa installed for us. I love this sink!! It is really deep with straight sides so it holds a good amount. So far the black hasn't been too bad to keep clean either.
Dad and Greg also finished installing the rest of the lighting. It is good to be able to see!! We have 2 pendants over the island and a matching light over the table. They also put in several more can lights in the key work areas. I still haven't mastered all the switches yet. Oh, and look, we have handles on all the drawers and doors. I didn't realize how much I missed handles until they were on. Way less finger prints now too, lol!
The kick plates and back panel to the island are now in as well. Greg tackled that a few weeks ago. There is also an end panel to the left of the fridge. The outlets on the island are so handy!! Greg often uses his laptop while he is eating his breakfast in the morning.
When my mother was here we found this old buffet at a yard sale. Our plan is to buy more cabinets to make a built in china hutch but the budget for now is spent. When we saw this we knew it would go nicely in the space and serve as our buffet in the mean time. We will stain a couple of shelves to install over the buffet for more display and storage space. The buffet has some repairs that need to be done on it but I really like the character it adds to the room. You can see it is holding some of my recent canning.
One of my favorite things in the kitchen is the garbage cabinet. A silly thing really, but in our old house we stored our recycling in the garage which was off the family room. Here, the garage is detached and we had no good place for the recycling. Who wants to run out in the dead of winter to put an empty milk jug in the bin?? The garbage is a pull out that houses 2 garbage cans, one for trash and one for recycling. Makes me happy!
The valance over the sink and the crown molding are still not up. The doors and windows need their casing put back on and the baseboards are still missing. And we haven't hung anything on the walls yet. Technically we still have the second coat of paint to put on. The first coat covered so well, it may never be done. Greg said my Christmas present will be a finished kitchen. But for now it works and that is a good thing.

Today at 5:07 we are adding a second worship service at church. The goal when we came was to add another service that would meet the needs of those unable to worship on Sundays as well as attract the traditionally unchurched folk. We could really use prayers! I am not even able to go tonight as Kaleb has a 5pm game.

We went to see the new movie "Fireproof" yesterday. It is by the same company that made "Facing the Giants". This one stars Kirk Cameron and is about a couple in a marriage crisis. It was really good and I encourage you to see it if you have the chance. These movies are put out by Christians and they have a definite Godly message. Powerful stuff. The budget for this film was $500,000. (Facing the Giants was a mere $100,00) The entire cast and crew were volunteers. This kind of movie making is so anti-Hollywood. I got a kick out of the credits when they showed screen after screen of thank you's for all the people and business's that donated towards this project. It is in limited release and will only get more air time if people go out to see it. I know people often complain about the lack of good movies, how the selections are so heavy into violence, sex or such. Here is a movie that IS good, IS uplifting, IS funny and without any profanity or sex or violence. Have I convinced you yet? Just go! Make a date this weekend, you will not be sorry. And if you haven't seen Facing the Giants yet, rent it, it's a good one. My boys watch it over and over and I can feel good about it.
Until next time...