Spiritual Alchemy

Kitchen Renovation

2009-11-11T20:32:00.002-06:00

Here are some before and after pictures of our major home construction project. These are of the kitchen. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of the kitchen before we started the demolition. Although it was so awful I suppose it wasn't worth recording. It just had a very few cabinets a stove and a fridge that barely fit in the room and were always in the way and then the bathroom was in one corner of the kitchen, obviously added later because the house was built in 1902. The addition of the bathroom made the kitchen very tiny.

I will be focusing on the south and west wall of the kitchen because that's were most of the changes have happened. Eventually we will put in island on the north wall, but I don't have any pictures of that area. You'll notice that the stove and fridge move around in the pictures since Josh was constantly moving them as he worked.

Here is the south wall completely gutted. If you'll notice the ceiling, the tan part is where the kitchen was and the blue/green color is where the bathroom was.

Here is the west wall (which is adjacent to the south wall on the left side) completely gutted.

South wall with drywall up and some wiring done.

West wall with drywall and some wiring done. In this shot the stove is where the island will approximately be.

South wall with "tray ceiling" built in and can lights in and functioning. Also most of the electric boxes now have outlets.

West wall with "tray ceiling" in progress.

Now it's really starting to take shape. Here's the south wall painted. Unfortunately the lighting is not great in this shot.

West wall with tray ceiling completed and painted.

Here is the southwest corner. I am throwing this in merely for comparison with the next shot.

Finally it looks like a real kitchen! This is the southwest corner with cabinets, stove, and refrigerator in place. We still have to put crown molding on the cabinets, get a venting microwave for over the stove and a countertop but this is looking good, no? Hard to believe that this corner is where the bathroom used to be!

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My Veteran's Day Tribute

2009-11-11T16:10:00.001-06:00

I have been meaning to get this picture scanned in for a long time now. Unfortunately, my parent's scanner has been broken and it doesn't look like it is going to be fixed anytime soon, so I finally took a picture of this picture with a digital camera.

I took it ten years ago when I went with my parents to visit Washington D.C. We went to the Viet Nam memorial.

In this picture is my father touching the name of the man who took over his job while he was on R&R during the Viet Nam war. The man was killed. What gives me a weird feeling is that the names on the Viet Nam memorial are not in alphabetical order, but in the order each person died. So if that man had not taken my dad's place, that would have been my dad's name and I would not exist.

I particularly like that my dad's shadow is thinner, just as he was during the war. It's almost as if his present self was putting his hand on the shoulder of his past self. You can also see the reflection of the Washington monument and my reflection (just my legs) in the picture. In the 8x10 of it, you can actually read all the names on the wall in the picture.

(My dad's left hand looks white because when I snapped the digital picture of the picture the flash reflected there.)

Thanks for your service Dad! And thank you to a man named Michael Gehrt who died in his place.

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Free Makeover Pictures

2009-10-24T17:31:00.002-05:00

Back in July I saw an ad to write a paragraph about why you deserved a makeover and if they picked yours as the winner you got a free makeover. I wrote my paragraph sent it in and didn't hear back so I assumed I'd lost. For some reason they didn't pick the winner until October and it was me!

What I won was a free cut, color and style. No makeup or nail polish or anything like that. Here's some befores and afters.

Let me warn you that since I had the first appointment of the day I took a shower the night before and slept on my wet hair. I did nothing but brush it before the pictures were taken and it looks a bit rumpled. =)

Before Front View:

Before Side View:

Before Back View: (Wouldn't you know it just minutes before my hair gets dyed I notice lots of natural highlights in this picture)

I happened to take some pictures of myself with my cell phone while I sat there with all the crazy foil things in my hair, but I don't have a way to transfer them to the computer.

I asked the lady to give me subtle highlights and together we decided on a caramel color and a red color. My husband and parents tell me it indeed looks subtle but to my "never had dyed hair before" eyes it looked about as subtle as tiger stripes to me. Seriously at first I felt like she put ketchup and mustard in my hair and I said "Oh look it matches my shirt." I was not too thrilled with the style at first but since these pictures were taken I have washed out the "straightness" and am back to my natural wave and I like how my hair looks much better with the style having waviness to it.

After Front View:

After Side View:

After Back View:

So that's what a free makeover will get you. What do you think are the highlights subtle or not?

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Lydia's 5th Birthday

2009-09-21T18:51:00.002-05:00

My daughter turned the big 0-5 a few days ago. In some ways she is our miracle baby. After she was born she would not breathe. She had an Apgar score of 2. After she was born they put her in my arms for thirty seconds and then grabbed her back again and pushed the "code" button on the wall. Within moments, half a dozen people poured into the room, started "bagging" her so she would breathe and working on her to keep her going. Although it seemed like an eternity they finally got her breathing after a couple of minutes. They put her in the NICU for several days but she was already doing great. I was so thankful for the doctors and nurses that did such a great job on my newborn baby.

On the morning of her birthday we went to a farm where they made sorghum. Here is the old time machine pulled by a mule that they used to squeeze the juice from the sorghum cane. Although hard to see, the juice is pouring into the blue barrel. Later they will boil it for hours until it gets thick and brown. (It's actually green to begin with)

The girls also got to paint and take home a pumpkin from the sorghum farm and play on a playground there. They had a great time and we were pleased with our birthday excursion.

While Lydia and I were at the library a few days before her birthday we discovered that as well as books, the library lends cake pans! Lydia immediately chose the crown cake pan for her birthday cake. I was a little nervous about baking a shaped a cake because I have never been able to get a cake out of a pan without some of it sticking and ruining the whole thing, let alone a shaped cake. I looked up directions on the internet and learned the secret. Use non-stick spray with flour in the spray. It worked perfectly and the cake came out beautifully! The pan came with directions for unbelievably intricate decorations. There was no way I was going to spend hours frosting the cake and besides that, Lydia really wanted to help decorate it. After I baked it, I simply frosted the whole thing pink. Then I had Lydia and her little sister put M&M's all around the edges and gummy Lifesavers in the middle of each of the crown prongs for jewels. Then we put a candle in each of the five jewels. (The funny thing is I didn't realize the crown had exactly five prongs just like her age when we first got the pan) Lydia then used thin licorice to write her name and age on the cake.

Here is Lydia with the cake:

Here is Lydia in mid-blow:

Happy 5th Birthday Sweetheart!

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So, I guess I can sew.

2009-09-21T18:46:00.003-05:00

This blog is just to show you how darling and cute my little girls are in their new dresses I made them. It all started when we went to a "free" garage sale and Sophia picked out the ruby slippers. I decided she had to have the perfect dress to wear them with and found a pattern and some blue gingham material. Of course, I dared not leave Lydia out so I let her pick her own material and made her the same dress in a larger size. This is the result:

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Lydia Starts Preschool!

2009-09-10T16:25:00.003-05:00

Today was a great day in the annals of our family history. Lydia started school today. Her preschool is called Creation Station and is affiliated with the local Christian school. As we suspected, she loved it! We toured the school in May and it about broke her heart that she had to wait until September to go. She got dressed for school first thing this morning and kept bugging us about when it was time to leave. As I was walking to the car after dropping her off, instead of singing the Hallelujah Chorus as I expected, I started crying! I can't believe my little girl is off to school.

Here's some pictures to commemorate the event:

Here she is all dressed and backpack on at about 8 am and her preschool didn't even start until 12:30! Notice she has tennis shoes on. She learned to tie her own shoes in about an hour and she does it great. Each day for the first eight days of school the kids are going to study colors. Today is blue. Each child was supposed to wear something blue. Lydia picked this out fit out herself with that in mind.

Here's a closer view. You may notice that Lydia decided to boycott showing teeth today. There's not one picture with her pearly whites showing.

Next to the school sign.

The first thing we did was hang up her backpack in the coat room. Alphabetically by last name, she is the first student so she gets the most convenient position next to the door!

This is one of her teachers pinning her name tag on. Next stop is the sink behind to wash hands. You can see a classmate washing hands behind her.

30 seconds after walking into the main room and mom had ceased to exist. Oh well, at least she wasn't crying, wailing, and holding on to me for dear life.

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Our Newest Acquisition

2009-02-25T10:26:00.001-06:00

It's true we bought a 59 passenger school bus. Josh did such a good job renovating the old camper we thought we'd try and convert a school bus to an RV.

It has an extra side door and a bluebird body if that means anything to you. Isn't it a beaut?

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Yet more odd things about South Dakota

2009-01-19T19:03:00.002-06:00

1. I'll start with what happened today. I went into town this morning to take the kids to an "open gym" where they can run and play. We live 4 miles out of town, 1.5 miles of that on gravel road. For some reason the town or county or whoever rarely plows the gravel road. Literally there are two wheel tracks down the center of the road to drive on that 4x4 trucks have made. Whenever it is windy--like today--those two wheel tracks continually fill in even if other trucks drive through. It was a little scary driving in, but not too bad. While we were in town the wind really picked up. Getting back through that last mile and a half of gravel was a nightmare. At one point the car was almost perpendicular to the road, but somehow, God got us through. Let me mention one other thing. If another car is coming from the opposite direction you're in big trouble since there's only the "one lane" to drive in. Thankfully no one came from the other way. Josh was a few minutes behind me and I called him and told him not to come home for lunch (my hands were shaking as I dialed the phone because it had been so scary), he assumed I was exaggerating and came home anyway. When he got home he said "Woah! I almost didn't make it! There is no way I can get back to town for now." It's a good thing he did come home for lunch though because he never would have made it later.

I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment at 4:45 but I called and canceled since the road was so bad. At about 4:15 I was thinking I had made a mistake, in fact I saw a sedan (not a big 4x4 truck) drive by and I thought, "hmm...if they can make it then I probably could have." 20 or so minutes later there was a knock on the door. Two kids had walked half a mile back to our house from where their mom's car got stuck! Josh gave them a ride the rest of the way to their house so they could use the phone. Apparently the mom's car and someone else's car were going in opposite directions and got stuck trying to pass each other. No one else could get by. After an hour or so, someone helped the cars get unstuck. 30 minutes later the same thing happened to two more cars! We tried to call the city service that takes care of cleaning the roads...because it's a holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) no one was there and no one came to help.

Here we sit, trapped in the house. Josh isn't sure if he'll be able to get to work tomorrow and may walk to where the gravel road ends and have his boss pick him up!

My Observations:

-It blows my mind that a mom would send her (approximately 11 year old) kids to a complete stranger's house to ask for a ride. Absolutely incomprehendable to me. Obviously we're not in a big city anymore.

-Doesn't this city realize people need to get to work? That we need to get to town to buy groceries? What is up with not plowing?

2. There is only one famous person I know of who comes from South Dakota. Tom Brokaw. He's featured in ads and billboards everywhere. He's their only claim to fame.

3. A school teacher in this state had intercourse with a 16 year old girl. He lost his job but he is not in jail. That is because the age of consent in SD is 16! On several occassions in stores and other places I have seen what looks like an 17 or 18 year old girl with a baby and her boyfriend/husband is in his 30's! Yuck.

4. The law here is that you can't be pulled over for not wearing a seat belt. You can be ticketed for not wearing one, but only if the police pull you over for some other reason and find you are not wearing a seat belt. Therefore, in my mind, it is perfectly OK to quickly put on your seatbelt if you get pulled over because the policeperson wasn't stopping you for that anyway!

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10 years ago today.

2009-01-18T14:39:00.001-06:00

As we were getting ready to go to church today, it occurred to me that 10 years ago today while we were in college a handsome guy asked me out and took me to Perkins. 10 years later (today), that same handsome guy took me to Perkins again, this time with our two kids! It's amazing to look back and think about how life has changed since then. It's been a fabulous ten years since we've started dating!

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Various Christmas Stuff

2008-12-31T10:03:00.002-06:00

Josh and the girls put together a gingerbread house while Mom Christmas shopped.

Here's another shot with Lydia hamming it up some more.

Here are some pictures of the "Cursed Christmas Program". The person running it quit after the first rehearsal because of knee surgery, parts were cut and new people brought in. Then the day of the program there was a blizzard and it was canceled. We rescheduled it for the next week. Again another snow storm. It wasn't canceled, but the girls and I couldn't drive in because of the snow and Lydia didn't get to be in it after all. The following pictures are from a partial-dress rehearsal.

Here's Lydia the sheep with other sheep, shepherds and angels. She's in the center wearing pink.

Closer up of Lydia in the group.

More of the group. The girl who babysits Lydia is standing just behind and above her.

Here's more people in the play. You can see Josh between a lady in pink and a guy in red. (2nd person from the left) He was a shepherd who had a speaking part.

Josh and Lydia together. So sweet!

And now Present Opening Fun.

Here are the girls tearing in.

The following three pictures are of the baby dolls that a family friend gave us and the strollers that Josh and I gave them.

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Christmas Picture Rejects

2008-12-31T09:55:00.002-06:00

As many people do, we took a family picture for our annual Christmas card. Here's the one that got sent around the world to friends and family.

But really what fun is that kind of picture? Now check out the ones that didn't make the cut:

I think no one looks good in this picture except Lydia. Josh is too far back, I put my head up too far and Sophia looks drugged.

The kids have the funny looks in this one.

Lydia stole the show here.

Can we say cheeseball smiles?

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2008-11-23T19:56:00.002-06:00

Here's a few photographic highlights of things that we've done since moving to South Dakota.

We got this nice welcome when we pulled into the church a few days after our big move.

Josh bought a small game license and after a few unsuccessful attempts he got this pheasant in the overgrowth in our backyard. We ate it an hour later and it was pretty good!

We were given a pumpkin and carved it into a jack-o-lantern. Here the girls are "assisting" in removing the seeds.

We added a special effect to the pumpkin and these two pictures are the result.

We took the girls trick-or-treating for the first time. Here's Lydia all dressed up as a princess for the second year in a row. We didn't get any pictures of Sophia because she woke up late from her nap and was a total grump while we got her dressed. She was also a princess.

Here's pictures of the girls playing in the snow together for the first time. They had a wonderful time and we realized we need to buy snowpants and boots!

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Relocation Observations

2008-11-12T09:16:00.003-06:00

We have now been in South Dakota for one month. It is high time I wrote a blog about it. The differences between living in a big city in Texas and a relatively unpopulated state are very interesting. If I am not mistaken South Dakota is the fourth least populous state.

Comparing Dallas Texas to Aberdeen, South Dakota (In many cases this will be a comparison between Dallas and the entire state of South Dakota):

1. The population of the greater Dallas Metroplex is 9 million. It is the ninth largest city in the country. The population of the entire state of South Dakota is around 700,000. The largest city in South Dakota is Sioux Falls with 100,000. Our city is the third largest with 25,000. This city caters to the shopping/commerce needs of people in about a 100 mile radius. Most people think Aberdeen is quite the "big city" here.

2. There is one, just one, phone area code for the entire state of South Dakota. I believe Dallas had four all by itself. In Dallas you are required to dial all ten digits of any phone number, including the area code (even if it's your next door neighbor). In South Dakota I don't think you ever need to use the area code unless you are outside of the state. The whole phone book shows only seven digit phone numbers. We are so used to having to quote the area code when we give out our phone number that we've had a few people snicker at as for giving them the area code. Of course they know the area code! Everyone does!

3. In some ways it is so much cheaper here! Case in point: transferring car titles, licenses, and insurance. In Dallas it cost $25 dollars a piece for new drivers licenses in SD only $8 a piece. In Dallas it cost $250 to get Texas State license plates. In SD it cost $25. In Dallas insurance on one car cost us around $100 a month. As a result we had a funny experience here in SD. Josh asked our insurance agent for a quote. It was about $150. Josh said "Wow that seems pretty high per month!" The agent said "No, I was quoting you the rate for six months!"

4. In some ways it is more expensive. Living in the only "large" town for 200 miles means you sort of feel like you live on an island. It is more expensive to ship products here. Gas is routinely 30 cents higher here then in most of the midwest. Fresh produce seems to be higher as well. Also there are fewer stores and therefore less competition so the stores don't have to lower prices as much here. They know we can't go to the next town over for a better deal.

5. Dallas was such a center of consumerism. Dallas had more stores per capita then any other large city in the US. If you wanted something, and I mean anything, you could find it and have it within the time it took to get to the store. It was easier to spend money because you could always find exactly what you wanted somewhere in the area. Josh was dismayed to find that there is no shop that caters to Mac computers here. I am dismayed that there are no craft stores like Hobby Lobby or Michaels. (We lived less then two miles from Michaels in Dallas). Our condo in Dallas was within walking distance of a Super Target, a Home Depot and a Sam's Club. Now we are four miles from any store. Plus Aberdeen doesn't have a Sam's Club. The only Sam's Club in the state is in Sioux Falls.

6. Dallas was on the cutting edge of fashions and fads, here, thankfully, things go at a slower pace. Everyone has a new car and the latest fashionable clothes on in Dallas. In South Dakota people hold on to older cars. We are just now getting used to seeing much older model years around. It was much easier to find a used car in Dallas then it is here because people don't go looking for a new car so quick here. We've also noticed that the stores here stock clothes we like better. No joke! There are differences from region to region what kind of clothes they stock and I am so much happier shopping for clothes here.

7. The weather. So obvious a difference it's hardly worth mentioning. One thing though: the coldest it ever got while we were in Dallas was 18 degrees in the coldest part of January. We've already been to 8 degrees here and that was in October! The hottest we ever saw it in Dallas was 107 and that was the day we moved away. (Appropriate timing, I thought.)

8. We were driving along one day and met three Combines going in the opposite direction. The road was so narrow and the combines so wide that we could not fit on the road with them. There are no shoulders on these roads and our car can't hack driving into ditches so we had to turn around and find a side road!

I'll blog more later about other aspects of life.

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The Camper Takes Shape

2008-10-09T19:13:00.002-05:00

If you're wondering what progress we're making on our camper, here are the latest and greatest pictures:

Standing in the back looking toward the front, you can see a bench on the right, the sink/stove area on the left and the bench/table area farthest away. You'll notice some trim is starting to go up around the windows.

Standing in the front looking toward the back you can see the bathroom area in the rear. We have set the tub in place although it is not hooked up. It's the cutest little tub I've ever seen!

Here's a closer view of the table and benches

Closer view of the sink/stove area.

Closer view of the single bench.

Closer view of the tub in the bathroom area.

And this is as far a we've gotten. We've added some more panels, we are sectioning off the bathroom area, we covered foam cushions with cushion covers, Josh built a bunk bed over the single bench so we can sleep both of our girls in that area (we will put railings around it before we are finished)and I made some curtains out of some similar (although not exact) material. This is from the front looking toward the back.

Here's the view from the back looking forward.

Here's a closer look at the sink/stove area. We also were given a fridge that perfectly fits in!

Here's the view through the doorway of the bathroom. Josh built in a small counter at the back.

Here's the left side of the bathroom. We are working on building in a closet next to the toilet.

Here's a closer look at the table/bench area. We decided to cut down the table from what you see above.

Here's a closer view of the bench and bunkbed. You can also see the curtains I made a little better.

Finally, while pulling layers of material off the cushions here's the three separate layers I found. On the left is the original cushion covers, then the first remodel to the right of that and the second remodel on the farthest right. We are keeping most of the most recent covers.

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Rebuilding the Camper

2008-09-30T12:43:00.002-05:00

If you saw the previous blog you know we bought an old nasty camper with lots of water damage. Here is the progress we've made in the last week and a half.

Looking right from the door in "mid-gutting"(At this point I still wouldn't set foot in the thing)

Looking left from the door in "mid-gutting"

Finally I'm willing to go in. Standing at the back looking toward the front, here's what it looks like totally gutted. Anything you still see in the picture (such as insulation and cute little girls) we are planning to keep. We now have to walk on planks laid across the floor joists so we don't put a foot through the aluminum at the bottom.

Standing at the front looking toward the back.

A better shot of the floor. Compare this to the "mid-gutting" pictures above!

Standing at the back looking toward the front, you see we have put in the floors, ceiling and walls.

Standing at the front looking toward the back. Just for fun we set the toilet in it to see how it would look.

View from the door looking left.

Standing at the back looking toward the front. Floor, ceiling and walls are now painted. Off to the left you see the table "legs" and some wood on the floor as we block out where we will be putting things back in.

Looking back from the front.

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Our New House

2008-09-19T20:05:00.003-05:00

Subtitled: Our most recent and insane purchase.

We've been looking to get one of these for awhile. And today we finally took the plunge. Here it is:

It's a 1975 25 foot camper. We got it for a good price. Yeah it does look pretty decent on the outside.

Now check out the inside.

Here's the view from the door looking right (you're looking at two couches without their padding):

Here's the view from the door looking left:

Here's the floor between the two couches:

Are you starting to see why it only cost $100?

Here's a better shot of the dilapidated cupboards and sink/stove area:

And last but not least the ceiling. There was a huge hole left when a tree fell on top of it. You can see the water damage:

Josh has spent the whole day gutting the thing and throwing out all the people's JUNK they left in it. There were dishes and empty beer cartons and even a pair of pants. Yikes! I hope we're up to the task.

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Off-line indefinitely.

2008-07-20T22:29:00.002-05:00

As you probably know if you've been reading these blogs, we sold our house. Well, our internet contract expires 7/21 and there is no point in renewing it since we close on 8/5. Josh will be looking for a ministry job and we will be moving to my parent's house. So any internet access I will have, will be few and far between. (My parents have dial up from the dark ages). I'll try and get on when I can.

Please pray for us as we finalize all our plans. Thanks!

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New Hair Cut!

2008-07-03T21:43:00.002-05:00

Here's some before and afters. Please note that the befores were taken without flash and the afters with flash so my hair looks like it's an entirely different color. This is not the case. I did not dye it. What do you think of my new do? I love it!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

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SOLD!!!

2008-07-03T13:45:00.003-05:00

Can you believe it? It's a miracle. Our condo was only on the market 2 weeks and we only showed it 3 times! Praise the Lord that Texas has the best housing market in the nation! I never even had a chance to blog about the fact that it was on the market! We were asking 69,900. The buyers offered 60,000. We countered with 66,900. They came back with 65,000 and we said "Where do we sign?" We are making a teeny bit on it but barely anything. However, I am not complaining considering most of this nation's housing woes!

Now pray for all the closing stuff that has to happen and that the buyers will get their loan. Also pray about what we should do next. We'd love to move and get out of Texas, but Josh has a decent job here and no job in the mid-west where we want to go. So pray we'll make good decisions and that Josh would get a job soon.

Woo hoo!

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Fun videos.

2008-06-27T11:54:00.001-05:00

Superman dates:

How to fit in at church:

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Sophia Turns Two!!

2008-06-24T09:07:00.005-05:00

June 23 was a very good day for Sophia, although it had some odd details in it. The celebration didn't really start until Josh got home and we ate supper. After that, we sang to Sophia and had cupcakes. After supper we drove over to a water park for the girls to play. On the way there we saw a police van in front of us. He turned down the same road as us and we joked that he was going to the water park. When we got there--to our surprise he and six other police cars really were there. Whatever had happened was over and two men were handcuffed in the back of one of the police cars, so we stayed and played. We came back home and changed clothes and then left again about 15 minutes later to go out for ice cream. In the 15 minutes we were in the house a huge branch broke off of a tree and blocked the entrance to our complex. Josh moved it and we were thankful we weren't under it when it fell. It was heavy! We went out for ice-cream and then came home and put the girls to bed. It was a good day.

Sophia is surveying her giant #2 cupcakes.

She seems to be taken aback at how big the 2 is.

Here is a picture of her while we sang to her right before she blew out the candles. I love the look on her face.

Now she's being shy and silly while we sing.

Here she is with Lydia and Daddy playing with her new bus from Grandma.

Same bus. The girls fight over this. Poor Lydia doesn't understand why she didn't get any presents!

After supper and present-opening we went to a small water park. Basically it's an area with non-slip flooring and lots of different things that squirt water. The kids love it and I don't have to worry about them drowning like I would at a pool. Here the girls are playing around as they wait for a bucket of water to "drop". There are four buckets suspended overhead that are constantly being filled with water. Once they get too full, they spill out on whomever may be below. I also noticed in this picture that I caught Sophia in mid-air.

The big splash! It looks here like the girls got soaked. Actually they weren't quite under the bucket and didn't get too wet.

Running around the edge of the park.

Daddy points Lydia to something fun.

Sophia being mischievous.

This is just a cute picture.

I threw the next two in for free. These are of Lydia at VBS. Here Sophia and I are picking her up and the girls are so glad to see each other that they hug.

They played some music in the church sanctuary right before the kids assembled for their singing time. Lydia's class was there early and she was busting a move right in church.

Think you're tough?

2008-06-20T11:31:00.001-05:00

My wonderful husband was working very hard last weekend to make our condo ship-shape so we could put it on the market Monday. He was standing on a chair working on something over his head. He lost his balance a little and quickly stepped backward to put his foot on the floor. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about some tools he had left on the floor. He stepped right on top of this with his bare feet:

He got several deep cuts on the bottom of his foot and has only recently been able to walk normally. My poor hubby had to shed blood to get our condo ready. He kept working even in pain! What a guy!

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Free Range Chicken Broth

2008-06-06T12:47:00.002-05:00

So I suppose it is high time I wrote something. For some reason I seem to be having a major lack of creative energy. Ever since Josh's graduation I've been in a bit of a fog. We could use some prayer since we have no idea what to do now that his education is over. We had planned to join a church plant in Georgia, but for various reasons that is no longer the plan. We have commented to each other that if we didn't have to worry about health insurance for the kids (cause you just never know what might happen) Josh would give his two weeks notice at work and we would move into my parent's house in the Midwest. We feel like we can't get out of Texas fast enough. However, it would be really nice to have a job lined up so if you want to pray for us or if you have any job leads we'd love to hear from you.

On a lighter note...I was in an organic food store the other day and I saw "Free Range Chicken Broth" I thought it was really lovely that they let puddles of Chicken Broth slosh light-heartedly around the prairie before humanely capturing and canning it.

I saw Indiana Jones 4. I liked that it had the same flavor of the previous movies (something I thought was grievously missing from the new Star Wars movies), but it was kind of corny in one particular plot theme that I could have done without. They had a lot of nods to the previous movies and it was fun to spot them. What's really crazy is that I also saw Indiana 3 in the theatre...when I was 12! Most of the people in the theatre were at least our age or older. I noticed in older couple sitting next to us and it occurred to me that they were probably our age when the last of the previous movies came out.

Anyway, that's all for today...don't worry grandparents I'll post more pictures of the kiddos soon.

Dad the Grad

2008-05-14T10:00:00.002-05:00

On Saturday after five years of toil, Josh finally graduated with his Master's in Christian Education from seminary. Here are a few pictures of the event.

Here is one of the few photos of Josh actually wearing his robe although he is not yet wearing his "Master's Hood"

This is graduation chapel which happened last Friday. It was held in a decent sized church which was only a five minute drive from our house. They had this so they could take care of all the things they don't have time to do during the actual graduation ceremony.

This is a neat tradition. The faculty (note all their "Doctorate Hoods") come around all the graduates, lay hands on them and pray for them. Josh happened to be at the end of the row so actually had hands laid on him!

On Friday evening on campus they have a BBQ dinner for the graduates and their families along with rides and games for children. I actually had several pictures of this, but this is the only one that my photo hosting site would save for me. The rest were too big or something. Lydia rode this pony and had a great time, but Sophia wanting nothing to do with it!

The actual graduation ceremony on Saturday. You can see Josh in the lower center filing into the GIGANTIC church auditorium behind a blonde girl. This church probably holds 5000 people at a time and boasts a membership of 20,000!

I just took this shot to give you an idea what we were looking at the whole time. There is a giant screen so you can see what's going on more clearly. The staff and faculty of the seminary are sitting in the choir loft. The graduates are sitting in the front rows. You see words on the big screen because we were singing a hymn.

Here's Josh filing up to get his degree. He's fourth in line behind the speaker at the microphone. Also he's still directly behind the blonde. If she hadn't sat next to him I don't know how we would have picked him out!

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Easter Dresses and Cowboy Boots

2008-05-01T12:29:00.002-05:00

Here's the girls in their matching Easter dresses.

My goodness, Lydia looks older in this one. You can tell she'll be a real beauty in a few years. Better start building barbed wire fences to keep the boys away!

Lydia is just about choking Sophia to keep her still.

Lydia loves her new pink cowboy boots. She wears them with everything!

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Older oldies

2008-05-01T11:04:00.005-05:00

I have noticed of late that I haven't been satisfied with my "oldies" listening experience. I often tune into the local oldies station and I find I don't like the mix of music at all. I really couldn't put my finger on the problem and figured it was just a lousy station. That is, until last night. I rarely listen to music unless I'm alone, but Josh had the radio on and since he didn't care, I changed it to the oldies station. To my delight, I thoroughly enjoyed the music they were playing and commented to Josh that I hadn't heard some of the songs in years. Then the DJ came on and said "I hope you're all enjoying 'Way Back Wednesday' where we only play 50's and early 60's music." Eureka! I had the answer to my problem. Oldies stations aren't playing as old of music anymore! They mostly just play the crooning whiners of the 70's and to my utter horror they are even dipping into the early 80's. The major oldie bands who played in the 60's still get air-time (Beatles, Rolling Stones) because everyone would notice their absence, but that's about it. 50's and early 60's music is so upbeat and fun! I was getting sick of listening to the 70's whiners and thrilled to hear the boppin' 50's again. I wish I could find an oldies station that only played 50's and 60's music. Anybody know of one?

C'mon baby! Let's do the twist!

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Diaper Free!!! (Well at least one kid is)

2008-04-24T08:44:00.002-05:00

The day has finally come! Lydia is officially Diaper Free! She has been daytime potty trained for several months now, but in the last two nights we finally gave up diapers and she has done great! We decided this is just the right time because The pajamas she was wearing when it was cold outside had to be completely unzipped and removed in order to go potty. Now that it is warm her pajamas are easy for her to take care of when she needs to go potty. Previous to the last two nights without diapers, she had been keeping her diaper dry every night for almost three weeks!

I can't celebrate too much, though. Sophia will be two in June and that means I have to start the whole cycle over again. *sigh*

Here's a couple darling pictures of them in their warm pink pajamas.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!

2008-04-17T20:38:00.004-05:00

Today, April 18, is Josh's mom's birthday. We hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks for being a great Mom, Mom-in-law, and Grandma!

The girls decided to have their own celebration and let her see the pictures. Some of the pictures we used flash and some we didn't. Sorry about some of the really bad red-eye!

The girl's made their own party hats. Also they have balloons but you can mostly only see the ribbons hanging down from them next to the girls.

Mom makes quick hat adjustment not knowing Dad was ready to snap pictures! Note there is already chocolate frosting on Sophia's face.

Red-eye and Lydia's homemade hat.

Lydia hamming it up with the cake.

Hats off to Grandma!

See how Sophia's eyeing that cake?

Just cute.

Sophia sees Lydia sneaking a taste.

Now it's a free-for-all on the cake!

Yum!

I'll have some more, thanks.

And some more.

Caught you!

Tastes good!

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Homeschool Families

2008-04-16T08:17:00.002-05:00

We're not a homeschool family, at least not yet, but both Josh and I were homeschooled growing up. I found this very funny video highlighting some great homeschool stereotypes. Enjoy!

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Sophia and Friends

2008-04-11T13:55:00.003-05:00

Today is Friday so I worked in Sophia's classroom. As you can tell these pictures are much more candid then the ones of Lydia's room because it's almost impossible to get all these kids to look at you at the same time--unless of course they're all strapped down!

Here is Sophia in the upper left hand corner. We are strapping the kids into a 6-seater stroller called a Bye-bye Buggy. You can only see four of the kids in this picture though.

Here are all but two of the kids. We actually had 12 but two were being so grumpy we put them in a double stroller by themselves so they wouldn't bother all the other kids.

Sophia is playing in a rocking chair. She was actually looking right at me and smiling until the camera took the picture.

The kids are all looking at and trying to catch bubbles but I don't think you can see any bubbles in this picture.

Finally Sophia is off the chair and grabbing at bubbles with the other kids.

Where's Sophia?

There she is!

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Lydia and Friends

2008-04-08T16:54:00.003-05:00

I have been working now for almost two years in a church nursery on Tuesday and Friday mornings. The church has a lady's Bible study on Tuesdays and MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers) on Fridays. On Tuesdays I work in Lydia's classroom, on Fridays I work in Sophia's. Today I'll post pictures from Lydia's class. Usually we have about 12 kids sometimes we've had 16. Wouldn't you know it, the day I brought the camera we only had 9?

Here's Lydia at the bottom right had corner. This is our story time rug. We sing a few songs and read a Bible story.

Here's Lydia and a few other girls playing with the "waffle blocks". They love to play with them!

The bright window behind the kids washed this picture out a little bit. Here's some girls on top an indoor playhouse/fort.

Here's the same playhouse from a different angle with a few different kids on it.

I hope you enjoy seeing a little bit of a day-in-the-life!

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Hallelujah! Almost done!

2008-04-04T10:02:00.002-05:00

Five years, two kids, and our first home later...Josh has finished everything he needs to do to graduate from seminary with his Masters in Christian Education! He still has to attend a few more weeks of classes, but graduates are required to turn in all papers and take all tests early so that grades can be calculated in advance of the graduation ceremony.

I am so proud of him and so excited to be done with school! Although this excitement may be short-lived as he has already begun to mention getting his PhD. =)

Graduation is May 10. We would really appreciate your prayers as we decide what to do next. We are interested in a variety of things and in some ways that makes the decision harder. If we were focused on one thing we could put all our attention in that area. We are interested in him teaching Bible, either in the states or overseas. He is also interested in church planting, being an associate pastor, or many other things.

We have been asked to help start a church plant in Georgia and while Josh is very interested in that, I am not thrilled about Georgia. I wouldn't mind church planting somewhere else, but for some reason Georgia just doesn't do it for me. Keep us in your prayers! Thanks.

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I'm Sold--It is Magic!

2008-03-30T19:14:00.005-05:00

Isn't it a thing of beauty? I had heard many good things about the mysterious Magic Eraser. A lady I know used this amazing product to remove dried lipstick marks from walls and cabinets that her young son had lovingly painted for her. I saw a sample size on sale and I bought it. I used it once or twice for marks on the wall but they were the kind of marks that I think a damp rag would have removed so I wasn't impressed. Months later the real test came. We replaced the countertops in both our bathrooms. J used the existing countertop as a template to cut the sink hole for the new one. He used a permanent marker to outline where the hole would be cut on the top of the countertop. Then he noticed that the old sink hole was off center by three inches and he drew a new hole exactly in the center. Unfortunately we still had the previous permanent marker line from the first attempt. J asked if I knew how to remove it. I grabbed the finger nail polish remover, which had never failed to remove permanent marker before. It failed this time! It lightened the mark some, but it was still obviously there. Our brand new beautiful countertop appeared to be ruined! I searched the web for some ideas and someone mentioned the Magic Eraser. I recalled that I had one hiding under the kitchen sink somewhere. We got it out and gave it a try and to our delight and amazement it came off perfectly! I am now a huge Magic Eraser fan! It saved us from ruining our brand new countertop!

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The Girls!

2008-03-29T10:00:00.003-05:00

I have gotten a few requests for pictures of the girls. Enjoy!

The girls being really silly. I think you can see all the way down to L's stomach the way she's got her mouth open.

Two sisters. S wouldn't let me do her hair like I wanted, thus the one pig-tail look.

OK OK I know we need to cut L's bangs.

Messy hair, gorgeous eyes!

Thinking up some mischief no doubt.

Cute hugs!

L, begged me to take a picture with her favorite magazine: Highlights. She wants me to read it constantly and even when I can't read it, she pages through it.

Thought I'd throw this in. L's bedspread has a "princess" theme and I made the pillows to match. She really seems to enjoy it.

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New Dining Chairs!

2008-03-26T12:37:00.004-05:00

I've been wanting dining chairs for about two years now! Ever since we bought our new table we had mismatched chairs. A couple of old wooden ones and folding chairs. My husband asked me what special thing I'd like to buy with a portion of our tax refund. Without hesitation I replied "New dining chairs!" We have been looking and looking but either they were too expensive or they weren't the right style or they weren't the right color. Last night my hubby looked at Craig's List and someone was selling exactly what we wanted at an awesome price! (So good in fact, that I got a fancy new toaster oven called an Infrawave too) Here's some before and afters:

BEFORE Notice that we have two different kinds of chairs plus a child's high chair.

BEFORE Same thing slightly different view

AFTER The gorgeous matching chairs (we actually have six total which will be perfect when we put the leaf in the table)

AFTER Same thing slightly different view

Side by side comparison, you can see some spots on the old chair on the left where the paint is gone!

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