The transformation of our apartment.

Jonerik and I are adjusting to our new way of life rather quickly. I am waiting for the wedding pictures to arrive anyday, so there are no updates on that yet. I did get my name changed on almost everything. I have only said Emily Brown on the phone once at work. =)

Here are a few pictures of our apartment. There are no bedroom or guestroom pictures because they are the least organized and unpresentable. That should change by the end of this week because we will be having some guests over.

For those of you who don't know, this building was once a funeral home, it was later used for ministries of Cornerstone Community Church and is now a private building with some space on the first floor that is still in transition for it's next phase (whatever that turns out to be) and the second floor is our beautiful 2 BR apartment. Frank, our neighbor, friend, fellow staff member, and Jonerik's best man worked very hard with some help to transform this space into what we now call home. I still have no idea how he did it, but here it is. I'll throw in some before pictures for the fun of it.

This is the back of the (now) apartment. Before.

They proceeded to take it all apart. They tore down a wall and built a new wall further back. In the pictures under that you see Jonerik working hard (he was a part of the process whenever possible). The picture by that is of the far back room which is the guest room.

This is the "finished" project so far. There is still a little tweaking to do with decorating (curtains, etc.), but what a transformation!

If you turn from that viewpoint this was the journey of our kitchen area. They completely tore out the bathroom (floor included as you can see) and the kitchen to put them back in the way they wanted them. I don't know much about construction, but that seems just incredible to me.

The door you see in the two pictures of the "before" pictures above are in the same place as the far door in the finished picture. That is the door to our bedroom. Hard to believe it's the same place, right?

And who can leave out this room?

As I said, no pictures of the bedrooms. You will just have to come visit to see those. We are truly grateful for all the hard work and time that was poured into this amazing transformation. We love coming home and being here. I thank God for a safe, warm place to call our own. I can't even tell you how excited I was/am to have my own kitchen (shared with my husband of course, he is quite the cook).

Sometimes I look at parts of my life or lives around me and think, "what a mess, how can things possibly change or be used for good?" And out of that mess and rubble, God creates a masterpiece of beauty as only He can do. When I lack vision and can't see beyond the wreckage, God looks through all of that and simply asks me to TRUST. He sees things that we are not able to see. Praise to a God who can transform the 'impossible'.