Chris' Sermon

Chris preached on Sunday as Pastor Troy and Lori went to Oregon to visit family (Lucky Ducks). If you would like to listen to his sermon, go to www.sonrisebc.org He designed the website as well; he is so talented.

Lots of Work and Some Play

Lots of Work and Some Play

Kit hen Pictures - After

Kitchen Pictures - Before

Update On Our Hosue

I don't know where to begin. We have been working so hard to get our new house ready to move in. It is just about there, with the help of our church family. We have been at the house every waking moment. Some moments we have had these last 14 days.... Last Saturday night we rushed to a party at the church, we were helping with, and Chris lost our one and only key to the house..... We had to turn the water off do to leaking when we were turning the valves off to take the sinks off for our new counter tops... it took us 6 days to get it back on.... We patched some holes after Kenny sprayed the walls, then painted the patches. The next day, we had shinny spots on 6 walls. We had gotten semi-gloss paint for the second 5 gallons (instead of satin) and we used two gallons of it. The paint was wet as the tile cleaners came to clean the tiles.... This morning Chris got up to take a shower and there was no hot water. They had already turned off the gas to heat the water; Chris had told them July 10th. They came out and fixed it tonight.... We have had many other hang ups. Defiantly many memories have been made. As I said earlier, we have had many hands helping us. Thank you to all that have helped with any aspect of our house.

Madi's Music Program

The kindergartners at Oakcrest Elementary had a program about the four season's last Friday. Chris was unable to attend, so I took the pictures; he is the better photographer. Anyways, it was so cute and well done. Madi did great; she had only 8 weeks to learn what the rest of the kindergartners had all year to learn. Her favorite song was the zoo song.

Working Hard

Steven and Chris painted our kitchen green. Tomorrow we are getting new counter tops in the kitchen and bathrooms. I am so excited.
note: Steven in the picture

Kenny, our realtor and friend, sprayed most of the rooms with his paint sprayer. Yesterday he finished. We still have some painting to do, but the bulk is done. This picture is of Kenny taping the wall getting ready to spray the ceiling. This cool ladder is actually on one of the stair steps that lead down to our basement and against the wall. I couldn't watch, it made me so nervous. I am glad it wasn't me on that ladder.

My Little Soaring Eagle

Madi had the opportunity to work to achieve a Soaring Eagle Award at her school. You guested it, their school mascot is an eagle. Since we moved so late in the year, Emma was unable to participate since the 2nd requirements had to be done throughout the year. Madi had to complete 15 out of 20 requirements to receive the award and she completed 17. She did all, but numbers 4, 17, and 18 of the following:

1. Write your first and last name with a capital at the beginning followed by lowercase letters.
2. Recognize and recite all 26 upper and lowercase letters by name fluently.
3. Recognize and recite all 26 upper and lowercase letters by sound fluently.
4. complete an oral report(created at home and recited in class.)
5. Recognize and recite 11 color words ( white, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, green, blue, brown, gray, and black)
6. Count to 100 by 1's
7. Count to 100 by 10's
8. Recognize and recite all numbers 0- 30
9. Recognize and recite the days of the week in order.
10. Recognize and recite the months of the year in order.
11. Recite 4 poems and /or Nursery Rhymes.
12. Recognize and recite the 25 sight words
13. Recognize and recite 4 shapes ( square, circle, triangle, and rectangle.)
14. Recognize and create at least 3 patterns ( ab, abc, abb, aab, etc. )
15. Participate in a Service Learning Activity ( picking up garbage, taking a meal to someone in need, etc.)
16. Participate in class.
17. Participate in the creative arts (dance, karate, art, etc.)
18. Create a science project to demonstrate in class.
19. Read number words zero - ten
20. Know personal information ( phone #, birth date, and address, (zip code not necessary)

The ceremony was set up like a graduation. There was about 400 students out of 1,000 that recieved this award. Madi was sooo excited to get a trophy. Good job Madi!

Every Moment

Since we got possession of the house we have spent every moment we have at the house working. I have pictures to share, but of course the camera is at the house. Friday was our first full day at the house. Our Realtor and friend, Kenny, has volunteered his time and tools to help us paint and do projects that need to get done. I was trying to clean the thick slime off the door frames and floor boards while Chris was getting hardware off (when he wasn't at work) and Kenny was painting. I had my worse headache since we've been in Utah and was struggling to get my prep work done for Kenny to paint. I called Chris in the early afternoon with a "I need HELP" plea. He said he would be there soon. Not soon after I got off the phone, Steven, another friend from the church shows up ready to help (not to mention he is letting us borrow tools and supplies as well). Not soon after Chris gets there, Glenn, another friend from the church (girls call him Papa), shows up ready to help. What a huge blessing they were to us. God pressed open their hearts to come and help when I felt so overwhelmed. We got done what we needed to do that day getting a huge lead on the work.

Earlier that day I had gotten to work on the house around 7:15AM. That night I was able to sit down at 9:45PM. I was in so much pain from head to toe. I had my feet in a foot bath, heat pad on my hips/lower back, back massager on my upper back, and a ice pack on my neck. Let's just say I was a site to see. Since then, with Chris' prompting, I have slowed down and taken needed rest periods. And with help, the house is looking so much better.

It's Official

 We got the phone call from our realtor yesterday afternoon that the house is officially ours.  I ran throughout the house to gather all the cleaning supplies I needed and off we went to Lowes to buy the paint.  I met Chris over at the house and we started prepping the house to paint.  And we are soon off to the house to clean and paint today.  Chris will head to work after a couple of hours.  Our realtor, Kenny, is meeting us there to help paint.  Thank you Kenny!  

Fun with Aunt Debra

Debra and Chris posed for one last picture before we took Debra to the airport.

Emma has been nervous to use her crutches. Aunt Debra helped her overcome her fear. She is doing great with the crutches. She has an appointment tomorrow morning to get a half cast.

The girls enjoyed Aunt Debra painting their nails today. She also braided Madi's hair.  We are all sad to see her go; we had so much fun while she was here and miss her already.

We signed on the house

Since we haven't had enough craziness with house buying, we had some more today.  From information for the money transfer being given last minute, to getting lost on the way to the appointment without able to contact anyone, and to some papers not being there ready for us, we signed the papers today.  Everything should be final tomorrow.  Just to be safe we are not buying the carpet or paint until everything is final.      

Tuesday?

As we were showing Debra our house we are in contract with, Chris got a call from... you guessed it, the lender. We are now scheduled to close on Tuesday. I will believe it as I am signing the papers.

Cutting it close

Chris got a call a few minutes ago... instead of signing today, we are signing the papers for the house late Wednesday.  The deadline is Wednesday, so they are cutting it close.  

Hogle Zoo

Today we went to the zoo. We had a fantastic day. Madi's favorite part was the elephant show; Emma's was the bird show. Aunt Debra bought us cotton candy and gave the girls a dollar to give to the bird to put in the donate box.  There was a sad time.  We stopped to look at a small owl. I quietly pointed out to Chris that there was a ripped up dead mouse on the rock. A few seconds later I notice that the owl standing on the ground was standing on a mouse ripping it apart. Then all of a sudden I hear my sensitive Madi bawling. She loves mice and was so sad that the owl was eating it. We calmed her down and moved on.  Enjoy these pictures.

Hogle Zoo (2)

Brownies

We picked up Aunt Debra, Chris' sister, at the airport yesterday. She is staying for a week. Madi and Aunt Debra made brownies last night; we had ice cream and brownies for desert. We are having so much fun.

Signing Papers on Monday

Shortly after I blogged about the house yesterday, Chris called.  We got a verbal yes on the addendum from the seller and a new appraiser (the other one was "fired" off the lender's company's list) went and appraised the house.  We got the information back today from the appraiser and the seller signed the addendum today as well.  The plan is to sign papers on Monday, although we have until Wednesday.  I'm excited to have the weekend without working on the house since Debra (Chris' sister) flew in today.  The girls are so excited they just can't hide it.

Emma is doing well

It has been two weeks since Emma broke her leg in three places. She is now pain free (mainly) and doing well. We saw the doctor last Wednesday and he said the x-ray looked good. The plan is to put a half cast (below her knee) on with a walking shoe next Wednesday, June 11th. Thank you for your prayers and all the phone calls, cards and gifts. It truly has put many smiles on her face.  

Note:  When they put the cast on, they cut the sides of the cast to give the leg room to swell.  The bandage is to keep it tightly together.  If you click on the picture of the cast, you can see where it was cut.

$2.61 for Gas

I was running some errands and thought to fill up on gas since gas shot up from $2.29 to $2.39, but a few went up from $2.25 to $2.29.  I only needed to fill less then half tank.  I fill up and get into the car.  Emma then says, "Mom, I thought you usually get regular, not super."  I whip my head around and look at the gas nozzle I used; Emma was right.  I spent $2.61 for gas.  What a savings!  I should have had her fill the car up today.

Not Getting Our House Today

Our realtor asked our lender how long it would take to have the house appraised and papers all ready.  He said 10 days.  We put in the contract to close in 14 days, which is today, and the appraiser has not sent his information yet.  According to new laws, the appraiser can't directly be contacted by the lender or realtor, so we don't know what is going on.  Our realtor submitted a new addendum to close by the middle of next week, but the seller hasn't signed it yet, and according to our realtor he is not too happy.  Since we broke contract, if the seller doesn't accept this addendum we don't get our house and we loose our earnest money and the cost for an appraisal.   The frustrating part is between the structural issue house and this one we are close to $2500 gone.  We know that God is in control and will guide us every step we take.  Thank you for your continued prayers.    

Screen Door

This evening, Chris and Emma went to get our free redbox (with code) and Madi and I took a stroll to the mailbox and played at the playground.  The wind started to blow and the clouds were getting darker, so I decided to take Madi inside and open the sliding doors to get cool air inside our townhouse.   I first open Chris and my bedroom sliding door all the way and then the living room one.  Madi was reading me a story on the couch and the wind was whipping the curtain, so I decided to shut it mostly, leaving a crack.  I also pulled the curtain away from the screen so it wouldn't tear it.  After Madi finished her story, I thought I should do the same to our bedroom sliding door.  I pull back the curtain and to my surprise the screen door was off the tracks, bent, and trying to fly down to the ground.  The only thing holding it back was a lip of the building that hung down just enough to keep it from doing a flip off the balcony.  I tried to get it  back on; that didn't work.  I tried to get it inside; that didn't work, either.  So I stood there holding the screen door on both sides trying to not fly off the balcony with the screen door as my hang glider (there were gusts of wind, but nothing too bad).  As the thunder started to rumble( about 5 min. later), Chris and Emma arrived home.  Chris and I (mainly Chris) got the screen door back on.  Then it started pouring.  What good timing; I would've gotten wet holding that screen door, not to mention Emma's cast on her way in.