Basement Update

You may as well be warned: there will lots of house updates in the next while, our basement is in full get it finished mode. This week we have the crew here taping and texturing our basement. It is impressive how much work they can get done. I am thankful for these guys because I don't even want to guess how many hours/weekends/months it would take Marc and I to do this. And to be REALLY honest, there is NO WAY it would look as nice as what they are doing. Thank God for professionals who work with sheet rock. We currently have our house warmer than I would want and their two massive fans as well as a few of our own fans blowing full power down there in hopes that the walls are dry enough that they can work again today.

It is a hurry up and wait type of process. We REALLY want to get this part done because this weekend we would have time to prime the walls and ceilings if they are ready for us to do it. Fingers crossed we can work our tails off this weekend on this. Yes, I am sure there will be a plethora of pictures to follow after this weekends thrilling (hopeful) paint party. 

Do you like doing projects on your house?
What is your favorite house project you have done on your house?

MOVING DAY

It. Is. Finally. Here!

REJOICE.
   no more camping in the living room of our house
   no more lack of our stuff (yes, this is indeed a first world problem)
   a new house to fill with memories (and hopefully not too much stuff)
   new walls to paint, carpets to spill on, and neighbors to meet
   thankful for the ability to have a new house and the opportunity to move

We close this morning at 11:00 am. Both Marc and I have the day off (because we can) and so this morning we are going to load our stuff into our moving truck (seriously jazzed we got a free moving truck from our Realtor, we only have to pay the gas).

The sucky part is we won't close on our current house for another week due to their loan being stupid slow in coming through, however they are 99% certain it will still close next week. We are fairly confident of that and ready to be done living like we are camping and just want to get on with the process. The nice part is this does give us a little bit more time to move and get everything cleaned out. I have it mostly cleaned, however I would like to run the vacuum through the front room one more time, double check that all the poop is picked up in the yard, and wipe down the bathroom one more time and run a mop over the wood floors. So while in one sense it raises the stress level and on the other it lowers the stress level. Praying that everything goes through next week with the house to close and we only own two houses for a week.

We probably won't move a ton into our new house until Saturday, we have friends who have graciously volunteered to help us haul stuff. So until then we will probably just make small loads to the house and start to think through what we need to do and where stuff will go. The things on the to-do list for right away is: hang a shower curtain, put toilet paper in the bathrooms (yes, bathrooms with an 's' we have multiple), plug the deep freeze back in, we emptied it and put things in coolers but it needs to be plugged in asap), and put our refrigerator stuff in there so it doesn't get warm. Ridiculously exciting.

I am sure there will be a ton of photos to be coming at some point. Watch for them.
I am VERY thankful to be in the new house by Christmas!
I am not very excited to have to switch my address on everything again.


How do you feel about moving?
Do you like where you currently live?

Warrior Day of Service

I have the best job/call in the WORLD. Seriously. Don't even try to argue with me, today, you won't win (catch me on an off day and perhaps I will compromise with a tie for world's best job/call).

Part of having the world's best call is the fact that I have the world's best colleagues, both at the church I serve and in the area in which I serve. Once a month, we intentionally get together, drink coffee, commiserate, and think up brilliant plans. (Really let's be honest here, we hang out all the time, we just make sure once a month we actually do it during work hours, which what are those anyways, and see what God is up to.) A couple months ago some how, someone (I think Vicki is guilty here) came up with the plan of creating what has become known as "Warrior Day of Service."

During homecoming week, the kids are released from school at 1:00 pm. (I don't know whose brilliant idea this was to let all that energy out early - really the teachers probably think it is wonderful) We decided that we needed to channel all this beautiful energy into something good. So we created service opportunities for all kids 6 through 12th grade (yes we are nuts), feed them dinner, and then have a community worship service. We had high hopes of 200 kids signing up (this was our first go at this and we didn't want to dream too big, and weren't exactly sure what we were getting ourselves into with less than a month before the day).

Much to our surprise about 350 kids signed up. And it was AWESOME.

Wednesday we spent the day serving all over our community, enabling youth to use the gifts and talents they have to serve the community we live in. They painted community hockey parks, the football team painted elderly fingernails at a nursing home, we cleaned up yards, we organized for other nonprofit groups, we cleaned up a local park, helped at the local library, and sooooooooooooooo much more. IT WAS AWESOME. Kids from different churches, teams, and individuals came together, to work side by side, to love our neighborhood, to prove to the world that they are capable, able, and willing to make a difference in the world. They served with their whole heart, laughed those contagious laughs, smiled from ear to ear, served unconditionally, filled their bellies with pasta, and loved as they first have been loved.

It was an honor to walk alongside them as they made a difference in our world, one day at a time.



Do you volunteer anywhere?
Do you accompany young people to make a difference in the world?
Where is your favorite place to serve?

Crazy few weeks......

Life seems to be moving at mach speed and hardly at all. Life is on one hand settling down and at the same time spinning out of control. The picture above is of my sweet puppy a couple weeks ago as we were swimming at one of the boat launches around Brainerd, I think she looks so funny when she is wet, it is all that funny fur she has going on. Thank God for this little puppy to keep my sanity.

I went to Chicago with a group of youth from the congregation, it was a fabulous trip and an amazing way to get to know all the youth and other adults. The group of youth were outstanding. It was funny to see how some of them reacted to the big city as many of them had never been in a large city such as Chicago.

In projects at the moment I am currently ripping down wallpaper in my bedroom (this project has gotten old fast but  I can't wait to paint the walls). The problem with this particular wallpaper is it is old-ish and it was put up right on top of the dry wall, nothing in between, so I am currently having to look into what I can put on the walls to add a little texture to the walls and I will need to prime the walls really well before I am able to paint the walls whatever color I end up painting it. But I am excited to report that my kitchen and bathroom have both been repainted (pictures to come soon).

In random projects I have also been crocheting a blanket that I am pretty excited about, it is looking fabulous, just taking longer than I anticipated. I have a few books that I would love to finish but I just haven't yet found the time to finish them. Hopefully this winter when yardwork isn't occupying my time I will have a little time to read.

I also have begun to train for the 10k in October that I am excited to run. I need need need to massively get back in shape, it has gotten bad, so that is my other major project.