at the lakehouse...

it's peaceful this morning, a nice way to wake up. slept in late, despite the fact that we went to bed earlier than has become usual since i began my vacation time. forgot the eggs, but was grateful that matt was willing to run to the "country store" down the road to grab some. for some reason, i can't be at the lakehouse now without making fried egg sandwiches on bagels. so good.

it's raining just a bit, off and on. the baby ducklings who were cute and fuzzy the last time we were here are now much bigger and a little less downy. there are more lily pads on the water, and a ripple on the surface that resembles a current... can't figure out where it's coming from. the lake was so placid the last time we visited. matt's devoted himself to finishing the puzzle that the family started weeks ago. i look forward to a long day of peacefulness.

so while the earlier part of my week was "do nothing" time, (or "do whatever i feel like doing, on a whim" time) now it is study & prep time. nothing too intense, but i'm speaking to the "big people" on Joshua on the 5th and need to finish my message, and i have a few of those "never going to get done unless i put in some extra time" projects i've been wanting to finish. so here's to a morning of productivity.

"vacation" - day 1

i'm out of the office this week, looking to take a little "decompression" time. don't have much of anything planned, though i have a whole stack of books i want to get through, a little to-do list of projects in the studio, and plan to take a few days to go up to the lakehouse at the end of the week.

but i'm still finding it hard to keep myself amused. and it's only day 1. bad sign, eh? suddenly i have all this free time, so i'm doing things like planning the groceries we need for the lakehouse, messing with facebook's mobile update features, and well - updating my blog...

i should probably get out of my pajamas, huh? maybe it's time for a meandering through value village.

house update...

we hosted our housewarming party today, less because our house is "done" {far from it}, and more because we felt like if we waited any longer, we'd lose our window of opportunity. {it's been four months, after all.}

i hate that blogger won't let you upload multiple photos at once. lame.

so, here are a few, and if you want to see the rest, you'll have to go friend me on facebook:

felt the need to compile a list of "everything we've done":

• scrubbed floors, walls, appliances.
  
• ripped up carpet.
  
• pulled staples from the floor. (serious fore-arm workout.)
  
• painted walls, kitchen cabinets & existing trim.
  
• replaced sub-flooring in the bedroom.
  
• tore out utility closet shelves.
  
• installed new stove, washer & dryer - including rewiring and some drywall work.
  
• installed water heater timer & insulation blanket.
  
• shelf-papered over winnie-the-pooh lining on nearly every horizontal surface within the kitchen cabinets (and the bathroom window sill).
  
• put up curtains and rods on every window.
  
• scrubbed and scraped adhesive from hardwoods.
  
• successfully covered up the most severe burn spot i've ever seen, on our living room wood floors.
  
• replaced front door and back door (to garage).
  
• laid carpet in guest room and master bedroom.
  
• tore down wire shelving in guest room.
  
• ripped out baseboards (to be replaced).
  
• dug out dirt/grass around house that was too close to the siding.
  
• ripped out half of the terrible "structure" behind the house.
  
• cut down 5 cedar trees, measuring at least 25-35 feet each, limbing and sawing it for yardwaste disposal and firewood.
  
• mowed, wheedwhacked like crazy.
  
• replaced porch & patio light fixtures.
  
• installed "drawer-pull" style knobs as towel hangers.
  
• cleaned out & replanted {mostly} front flower beds.
  
• installed soaker hoses in front beds.
  
• installed compost bin.

i hate being such an undependable blogger, but rarely do i feel like i have something worth blogging about.

today, it's 90 degrees, and i think my house is at least that. about 5 weeks ago, we cut down the 5 giant cedar trees in our front yard. they were quite the eyesore... but they were also our only source of shade. this is compounded by the fact that all of our windows are, presumably, original construction, and open push-out style. only one set of windows are "new", and despite the double-pane, they radiate heat like crazy. tomorrow, we investigate roll-up solar shades.

so, i'm miserable. matt's miserable. the cats are miserable. here's to a high of only 76 tomorrow...

and, my new favorite kittens...

our friends adopted new kittens saturday - a 10 week old, brother-sister combo - and they were easily the highlight of my weekend. i adore matching sets. no real names yet, but i think they're toying with "dandy" (her) and "lion" (him - because he's fuzzy, and big-boned-ed).

her:

him:

sooooo cute.

sewing madness...

not blogging much, but i've definitely been sewing...

{a new lunch bag for kate...}


{a set of placemats and napkins for my stepsister who will be married next saturday...}


{and some cute little kitty toys for my new favorite kittens (another post in itself)...}

a big day...

nevermind my delinquency - it's a busy, busy season. today marks the last day our church will meet at our rented building in northgate. after church, we will walk to the new campus about 7 miles north and have our first real celebration service (which is more like a practice service for our launch next Sunday). all week - last Sunday through last night, i've been thinking "this is the last time i'll do that" with each task that is specific to our old campus. locking our old kids church room door, delivering the box of sunday "stuff" to the rented campus, setting up for kids church there. in fact, last night i made matt promise he'd never ask me to help with chair crew again. and truly, that is what i'm most relieved about - matt will never have to do chair crew again.

what a day.

giving thanks in ALL things

i left my Bible at church this week, so i've been depending on an old devotional bible for my morning quiet time. this morning, as i read, i came to 1 Thessalonians 5:16, and noticed a side-bar devotion about giving thanks in all things. the author discussed the feelings of the single who desires to be married, or the jobless who desperately wants to work - how are they supposed to be thankful? she lead her reader to the understanding that truly believing scripture - which shows us that God cares deeply about our circumstances - means being able to simply trust that whatever you're going through now is worth being thankful for now.

i pondered this briefly, but went about my day. flash forward - a friend approached me after kids church and said "did you hear what happened?" ... "uh, no?" he continued to tell me that a kid - let's call him "johnny" - snuck into the upper hallway during church, grabbed a roll of toilet paper, and sent it sailing down the balcony (while holding the loose end, of course).

my immediate reaction, besides restraining myself from repeatedly slamming my head into the cinder-block wall, was "wait a minute, one of MY kids did this!?" of course, knowing this kid's background, it wasn't impossible - i just was surprised that he'd go to such lengths.

humiliated, i swiftly dealt with the problem, but as i put the pieces together - including, his very late arrival to kids church (which i'd assumed had something to do with the DST time-change last night) - i realized that he hadn't even been in our care when this happened... which means he probably got to church on time, but was fooling around for 45 minutes before coming in.

so on the way home, i was reminded: give thanks in ALL circumstances. ok, Lord - how am i supposed to give thanks in THIS circumstance? ... well, i suppose i can be thankful that i'm not the kind of pastor that would expell a kid from my program, so he will get another chance to come to kids church - because i believe that's what Jesus would do. and i can be thankful that i have a good rapport with his guardians, so i know i can talk to them about this. and i can be thankful that ultimately, i have a chance to make this seemingly unlovable kid feel loved, and maybe - just maybe - i can make an impact on his life.

even more house stuff

so much has happened in the last three weeks, and i haven't really taken time to document it. we worked hard the week between closing and move-in - cleaning, scrubbing, painting, etc - not to mention, removing the sub-floor in our bedroom, replacing it, pulling carpet and staples, scraping adhesive from the wood floors... in fact, we worked so hard we didn't have much time for packing, which left packing day especially hectic... not that we hadn't packed at all, just that we hadn't packed as much as i had wanted.

and so our move help arrived saturday morning, 10am, and i had already had two mini-breakdowns. but we got it all, and in one trip... nevermind the boxes of smorgasbord varieties of possessions.

but we made it. happy valentine's day honey.

monday after was a holiday, spent together, with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law, cleaning the old place. man, am i glad that's behind me, and that's all i have to say.

so for the last two weeks, we've been living in the "office" (read: craft room) while we waited to find the best price on carpeting for the tv/guest room and the master bedroom. finally, carpet was installed mid-last week, and though it took us a few days to get our "stuff" together, we've now moved into our rightful bedroom, and the guestroom is together as well.

but we're far from done. faaar from done. there's still trim to be painted - not to mention my red walls which did not paint as easily as all the other colors (wish the home depot guy had warned me - i would've picked a different color). the office is still in boxes, with furniture strewn haphazardly around. i've purchased most of our curtains, but need to hem them as well, so bedsheets suffice in the rooms where exhibitionism would not be tolerated among neighbors.

and of course, there are lots of little things to accomplish. sometimes it feels like we'll be living in boxes forever. who am i kidding... it always feels that way. we know we got ourselves into a "project" house, and there are plenty of things involved in making this house what we want it to be, so i really need to lower my expectations... but i sure wish we could get these boxes outta here.

christmas comes early to the kids ministry...

the next six weeks or so will bring a pretty steady delivery schedule of all the miscellaneous fun things we're buying for the kids ministry wing at the new campus. amused by the variety and randomness of it all, i think i'll keep track here.

yesterday brought the delivery of:
*one VBS "paul and the underground church" starter kit, a free gift because of our membership to a new background screening service.
*five wall-mounted hand sanitizer dispensers
*an eight-pack of refills for the above dispensers
*five first-aid kits

today, we received:
*four handheld 2-way radios, complete with charging bases, etc for our security team.

i'm just waiting for the eight ladies dancing and the partridge in the pear tree.