swine flu mania

What is this craziness? Personally, I feel like many people are overreacting to this "epidemic"....and, maybe I just see all the crazies because I work in a children's hospital. But, seriously.....today I saw probably 100+ families come in all wearing masks (granted, I'm totally with it for those immunosuppressed kiddsos), many parents had CNN on in the rooms where it's 24 hour coverage of all 16 americans with "swine flu", AND as I was literally logging off my computer to leave when a code yellow was called and we were required to stay an hour and a half late at work (good think I'm an hourly employee!) . For what you ask? And, what is this code yellow you speak of? Well, my blog friends, our ER was overflowing with all the crazy parents wanting their kids tested for swine flu....so, they made a special "swine flu testing area" in the auditorium. That's cool, whatever. THEN, the auditorium overfilled because it seems like every kid in Dallas with a cough now is a suspect for swine flu. So, code yellow called, which means it's lockdown and all medical personnel are to be available to help hand out masks, do screenings, forms, etc. I was actually kinda excited to go see all the crazies, but they ended up not needing us. So, my productivity went from 60% to 50%. Too bad :).

Okay, that's my soap box :). Last night we went to trivia night and it seemed like 80% of the team names had "swine flu" in them. However, none of the names are appropriate for this family friendly blog, much less, my ears :).

On a slightly more positive note, maybe it was good I got home late today....remember all that bulk trash that we hauled to the curb? Well, I drove out front today and saw that they had picked it all up except for the 100 lb mirror. I was already heated up from the "code yella" (the way our announcer at the hospital says it, we joke it's like a SNL skit) so I just went and found those bulk trash men 2 streets over and told them to come pick up my "mirra" (haha). And they sure did come back and get it. Then my neighbor sticks her head out the door and says "you go girl! those guys are so lazy! way to call them on it!". Whew. Feel much better :)

Back on the blogwagon :)

I was perusing photos on the computer tonight for a 'lil house deco project and came across these that I thought needed to get on the blog :).

What do you think about blowing these up for the "Texas" themed gameroom upstairs? Hahaha! These are from a recruiting event when Caleb was a clerk. This is when the economy was doing well and the firm could just have a BBQ....and why not a live longhorn to take pictures with all the adults (as this was an adults only shin-dig). Cracks me up but so glad I kept these! Happy Monday Y'all!

I wish more weekends were like this

What a great combination of being productive, relaxed, alone, and with others :).

Friday night: Money and Marriage event at church, asleep by 11 pm :) Although I feel like Caleb and I are united on our thoughts of saving/spending/giving/investing, it's always nice to refresh my mind that all we have is really not ours, but the Lord's. Our time. Our money. Our gifts. We are to be good stewards of what He has given us.

Saturday:
1) "Run the Highlands" 5K in our neighborhood--I got our bibs/chips switched so Caleb was actually wearing "Julie" and I was wearing "Caleb". No big deal, right? Right, what I thought....until "Julie Wood" won 2nd place in the women's 20-29 division! Although Caleb wanted the silver metal to hang on the mantel, I frantically found the award announcer prior to announcements and the rightful owner when home with the silver :). My forever true runner buddy Shannon ran with me....as a bandit (shhh!) ! It was so fun and so encouraging to run with her again....I think we're going to start training for marathon #2! I also want to start running more races with Caleb, it was a great start to our Saturday.
2) Indoor/Outdoor house stuff:
-donned the workgloves and hauled all of our demolition/boxes/remodeling waste to the curb for bulk trash pick up--Caleb is convinced that my Bible study book is telling me to do things, because this was "the most I've ever done hard, manual labor without complaining". Haha, thanks for the confidence, babe!
-vacuumed house
-laundry
-clean out/sweep/hose out garage
-mow/fertilize front and back yard (again, Caleb...but, I picked up the sticks in the yard if that counts for anything!)
-dig out 15 foot tree with ~100 pound root and haul to front (I can take no credit, this is all Caleb while I was inside, showered, reading my new book! this is probably more like me!)
*there was a break in there that included Sonic (diet cherry limeades and burgers! yum!) and a Home Depot run!
3) Took the Cavalier to the shop....we had a scare on Friday as it overheated. Thankfully, we took it in about 10 am, they called us about noon saying some sort of fan that they replaced this past July went out, so they repaired it all FREE OF CHARGE and we picked it up! Caleb looked at his last receipt and it was almost a $500 bill. Yay! Caleb also repaired his rear view mirror...please read last post for explanation!
4) Watched the Mavs/read my book/chillaxed at home
5) Fun, relaxing dinner with friends
6) Asleep by 11 :).

Sunday:
1) Awake at 8! Yes! Sleeping in!
2) Einstein's for breakfast/coffee
3) Church--I love our church. Not the ins and outs of worship style, sermon style, etc but the honesty, vulnerability, and accountability that our pastor exhibits and encourages in us every week. We're doing a full year series studying the book of Mark and praying the prayer "Jesus, we want what you want". I will hopefully blog one day about what I've learned, as it's amazing to really study who Jesus WAS and how He still IS today.
4) Grocery shopping together--for those at church today, I was craving colby jack cheese and ham from the deli....so then we went home and had healthy, yummy sandwich lunch!
4) Read the Sunday paper together (well, each took different sections of course, but sat next to each other)
5) Met my Mom and went to see a movie and did a little shopping/Caleb went into work for a few hours then met up with ultimate guys for a finance meeting
6) And here I am.....clean house, relaxed, and it's only 6:45 :).

Ahh...what a great weekend. I'm refreshed to start the week :).

Is that you, Woody?

Yes, it's me Buzz.

I was just perusing blogs and realized a friend is "following" my blog on the side which said "last updated 2 months ago". Ouch. Then I remembered my friend Alison telling me about a month ago how she was looking at my old blog posts and how interesting it was to read from 2 years ago. So, after going back and reading things I had forgotten, I decided I need to keep this 'lil journal going. Even if I don't have pics. Even if I don't have anything to say. One of the funniest things I had totally forgotten about is that Caleb said when I'm ready to have babies he's going to set the alarm every 3 hours and make me hold a flour sack for 20 minutes! Ha, he's such a funny.

What's going on in the woodworks? Well...

We spent Easter weekend in Hot Springs, Arkansas. LOVED it. Seriously one of my favorite weekend getaways yet (like we do them all the time, right?). We stayed at fabulous bed and breakfast named Wildwood Inn that I would highly recommend. Experienced horse racing for the first time, during the Arkansas Derby of all days! Now, when I found out it was the derby I was like "Caleb, it's derby day! That means I have to wear like a dress and a hat" (my good friend Lindie lives in KY and I do think that's true for KY), but Caleb quickly reminded me "Julie....it's Arkansas.". Not to hate on Arkansas.....I'm just sayin, he was right :). We saw a little of everything! Not only did Caleb experience his first horse race, we also got a couples massage which was Caleb's first massage and I think (although he probably won't admit it) it won't be his last. Sabai Massage Therapy--great rec as well if you're heading to that area. We lounged, each read an entire book, played checkers, played Ticket To Ride (with our new edition, thanks to Ava!), napped, ate 3 course breakfasts on china, and most importantly....spent 3 whole days without checking the blackberry constantly. Bliss!

We're still loving the house, and the bed, as the angels still sing every night as I crawl into that big 'ol bed of love (please see post from april 08) :). Edil came in January and brought his friend Lorenzo with him and they stayed with us 3-4 weeks and remodeled upstairs. Speaking of him, I hear him upstairs right now laying tile in the bathroom :). That's right, he's here again remodeling the jack and jill bath upstairs. He plans on coming back in a couple weeks to make us a 'lil backyard patio and then, my friends, that list of ~300 projects will be finished :). I'm not saying we're done by any means, that decorating bug has still yet to bite and as all you homeowners know, the work is never done. We do have on our list to buy a baby gate.....community group will start meeting at our house and we got to be careful with those babies and the stairs! It continues that more and more of our friends are prego....and we love watching the babies grow and become little toddlers! I saw my post of Hudson on his birthday and that little guy is now 16 months and walking and talking like crazy! They grow up so fast! Hayden just turned 5 on Monday! Geez, I saw him on his birthday too......

Caleb's still doing ultimate, club season is about to start back up. I've taken a long hiatus from running, but ready to get back into it. I think I'm going to do marathon training again this summer. More for motivation and accountability.....we'll see if I do a 2nd marathon :).

Caleb' s still driving the Cavalier. He drove to lunch today with some guys from work and the rearview mirror just FELL off while he was driving. I'm stilling laughing out loud about that.

We planted bushes in the front yard about a month ago. They're still alive! Have yet to plant those flowers....

I'm now on a trauma/neurosurgery/hem onc rotation at work. It's a nice change of pace from the cardiac babies, but I do miss them. I like working with teenagers :). I do have some crazy stories though....there I things I see on the trauma unit that I could never even imagine or think up. Like....ATV vs. car (car always wins, please don't drive ATVs!), handlebars going through the chest wall and out the other side, and sadly, way too many "nonaccidental traumas" (or child abuse, shaken baby, etc).

Speaking of work, today I emailed Caleb and told him I felt like I was in a disasater area. We had a water mane break and it took out all the running water and air conditioning for all of the hospital. Sheesh. Just picture biohazard bags on toilets, very hot rooms, and people walking around providing bottled water. Granted, it only lasted 4 hours, but boy was it a sight. A nice little change of pace, I guess you could say :).

Caleb has a trial set for May. He's not working too crazy of hours yet, but we shall see.

I think that's...
all I got, how'd you like that?

Like father, like son

Caleb and I went to Sears tonight. This is how I found him:

Those of you who don't know his father, David Wood is infamous for finding things off the clearance rack at Sears. It made me smile. I caught him off guard and he was so engrossed in the clearance rack, he didn't even notice me taking pictures!

I have to give him credit....he has become much more handy now that he's a homeowner. In just the past week he has installed a ceiling fan (that's an " intermediate" project according to Home Depot), installed a shelving system in the garage (with one hand he drilled, I held it on the wall, please notice in the pic), and helped his Dad put together another shelving unit for the garage. If anyone has any projects, please call Caleb. He has a workbench :).

In other news, he has his 9 week appointment this week for his broken wrist. He's decided since he only has 1 arm, his leg works great as a 2nd arm for ultimate:

Now, since I finally updated pics from the marathon until now, here are just a few of my favorites:
The Kenyans running the marathon....

...and us right behind them :)

This cracked me up. My friend Stephanie hosted an "tacky Christmas sweater" ornament exchange party. Heather created this beautiful sweater with Christmas lights and ornaments....complete with a battery pack to turn the lights on "twinkle"!

Uncle Caleb reading to Sofia...


and sword fighting with Harrison. How true of those 2 personalities!

I love this picture of the kids praying before they eat at the "kids table":

And last but not least, the girls wearing the 3D glasses for the halftime commercials of the Super Bowl:



Shout out to my cousin Jenny for completing her first marathon yesterday! I'm SO proud of you!!

MARATHONER

So, of course I always start the posts with "I have so much to blog about..." and that still rings true. Unfortunately, I will unlikely ever get the TX/OU or Mexico pics up here. Sorry.

My training coach made a big deal today about journaling your marathon experience. I didn't think much about it. Then, I talked with Kimberly this afternoon and we were trying to recall different parts of the race and realized it's already becoming a blur. So, I need to get this down on paper. Why not the blog?

My marathon. I trained for 6 long months. Felt guilty about missing those weeknight runs on multiple occasions, but felt very prepared going into it. The 22 miler felt good; I could have definitely gone 4 more miles. Watching the news on Saturday and realizing the temperature was going to be in the 60s and 70s was 1 of 2 "worries" I had when I arrived at the AAC Sunday morning. The 2nd was that in all my training runs I ate 3o minutes before running, and still got hungry. I didn't know how to handle 2.5 hours before running....but, I had a plan. (I think it worked--cereal and banana at home, 1/2 cliff bar on drive to Shannon's, gatorade, 1 cliff bar ~30 minutes before race, 2 advil ~30 minutes before race). Shannon was worried if she had eaten enough (I don't think she did). Kimberly was worried about having to stop at the port-a-pottys (only had to go once! I'm so proud of her!). Chelsea was feeling pretty good, noticeably a little nervous, and Dane had a great supportive attitude for it being that early. There was a little pre-race stressor at the port-a-potty line, but that was quickly over once we all found our way to corral B. Butterflies in my stomach as I saw the flyover. It was finally here. This is MY marathon.

Gun goes off...don't hear it. Naked man flashing the crowd on the 10th floor of the Cirque apartments helps with the nerves. Start walking....hit the mat 8+ minutes after the gun goes off. DON'T RUN UNTIL YOU HIT THE MAT. Got it. Feeling good. Hear "Go Julie!" at mile 1....look over, Sterling and Caleb on their bikes. Little did I know how often I would see them and how needed they would become. Pass the handbell choir....very strategically placed early in the race :). It's still very crowded. Miles 2-6 were filled with lots of fans, bands, and excitement. Slapping hands. Making sure to run the tangents. Never had the ipod on, just chatting it up and soaking it all in. We hit the lake at mile 8. No more fans....wondering where my Dad is, as he doesn't know the lake. 1 minute later, Jolie comes out of nowhere, running beside me and handing me 2 Gu's. Hi-5 Dad, nice boost of energy.

Then comes the ipod. Less talking. It's getting windy. It's getting hot. Mile 11ish, my ankle hurts. Shannon's shins hurt. Kimberly's knees hurt. We have to stop and stretch. Keep going. Shannon hits a wall....I don't know how to handle it. She's my running buddy. We ran the half marathon together perfectly. The Tour de Fleurs together perfectly. She's hurting. I can't talk her through it, she's in pain. She says "go on". I go on.....then hate it, as I know she hates running by herself. Mental dilemma. Finally tell Kimberly to go on, I need to talk it out with Shannon. She insists. This happened once in training and later told me she was glad she ran by herself. I trust her and go on. I'm feeling good....pick it up to catch back up with Kimberly.

Those next 5-6 miles are pretty much a blur. Mom was around mile 15 in her burnt orange sweatshirt and ran with me about 2-3 minutes. Nice to have some fresh legs, even if it was my Mom :). The blue mile marker flags were well-welcomed. Kept me going, just a mile at a time. Waterstops were lifesavers--not only did my mouth feel dry, but those waterstations gave me an excuse to tone it down a bit and walk. The Clif Bar/Hooters waterstation at around mile 19 was a very fun, energetic station that gave me a little bit of energy. However, it was at that point that Kimberly and I went from "walking the water stops" to "walking to the trashcan after the water stop" ....and sometimes even 2 or 3 trash cans.

Then the Dolly Partons. We had trained for these. I knew that they were coming at mile 19-20. Winstead repeats, Big Thicket repeats, all helped me train for the Dolly Partons. I had run them once....and they weren't too bad....at mile FOUR. Seeing Caleb and Sterling at the bottom of those hills probably got me through them. I couldn't let Caleb see me WALK up the hill, like about 80% of the other people. Kristina ran them with us. "I did this last year. After the Dolly's it's all downhill". Those could quite possibly be some of the best words I heard all day.

It wasn't downhill. Don Lucas said Monday night that "the marathon is 2 races. It's a 20 miler and a 10K. The 10K will be a lot harder than the 20 miler. It's all mental, you've got to stay strong mentally and you'll get through it". Cue the Kanye song perfectly on the ipod...."that that don't kill me, can only make me stronger...". My legs are really hurting. My feet are hurting. I'm starting to have trouble breathing. Don't think about the pain. Push through it.

Thinking back, I was definitely playing the mental game those last 6 miles. Visually picturing rocking my grandkids someday and telling them about THIS MOMENT.....did I want to tell them that I walked in the last few miles because I was hurting so bad? NO! Keep going. Bible study girls on the corner...Aimee, Laura, and Heather jumping like a crazy woman. I felt her energy vibes. Keep going. See Alison at mile 23....barely get her name out to have her turn around, then keep going. Hear her yelling at me, I can't stop--she's watching. I lose Kimberly at this point, she's cramping and we lose one another. I spend some sweet time asking for the Lord's strength at this point, as I know that's the only way I'll go on. I have no more strength of my own left.

Wearing the blue bib with my name printed on it, the fans know I'm a first timer. "You've got this, Julie". "Julie, only 3 miles left...this is what you trained for". Or, for those of you out there wondering what not to say--"Julie, you're looking great!". That's not motivating because I KNOW you're lying! I appreciate the strangers cheering me on. Pass the Shig Shag "toast"...keep going, just keep going. Swiss Avenue turns into downtown and I KNOW I'm almost there. See Stephen out of the corner of my right eye "Go Julie" and clapping. I appreciated him so much, but I don't think I could even acknowledge he was there. 1 more mile. Visually I was picturing my "easy run" around the block....that's all that's left, and I feel good.

That last mile I didn't stop at the water station. I was in a groove, I was almost done accomplishing this lifetime goal. See the 26 mile flag, .2 more to go. The gates come up on the sides. Balloon arch. Tons of yelling and cheering. The pain for just a nanosecond goes away. See my Bible study girls to my right, my sweet hubby, Chelsea, and Dane to my left, my Dad, Jolie, and brother to my right, outstretch my arms and cross that mat. A marathoner.

Shannon brought this statistic to my attention....I guess I was feeling better than I thought:


From 20mi to Finish
You passed200runners
And 7 passed you
?

I thought I would feel extreme accomplishment and joy.....I really felt relief to be done and lots of pain. I had tears---think they were tears of pain, but possibly a little of joy and accomplishment. Chelsea finished her half almost 3 hours before I finished and she stayed to watch me finish. It meant so much to have her there, as we did all of our training "separate", yet talked about training every week.

I now have a new meaning to the verse in 1 corinthians about running like you're running a race, running for the prize. Finishing was my prize. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but I am so glad I did it. It's bittersweet that's it's done. I'm now heading out to the Luke's training party that will officially mark the end.

I feel like this should now be an Oscar speech....I couldn't have done it without the Lord, keeping me injury-free, healthy, and truly running every step with me...Shannon, my running buddy--I'm sure going to miss those long 2-4 hour chats every week, Caleb-who put up with me being "no fun" on Friday nights, taking naps on Saturdays, and going to bed early Saturday night for 6 months, and cheering me on, making it about me even though he broke his wrist (I'll get to this...) at mile 1; Luke's Locker training program was phenomenal and I couldn't have done it without their encouragement, expertise, and Coach Keri's weekly email encouragements; all my sweet friends and family who asked me on a regular basis how training was going, even though I probably gave you a much longer answer than you anticipated; all the people who came out on race day and waited over an hour, just to see me for a few seconds, it meant so much.

And to my faithful fans, who made race day even more of an adventure....Mom, who wasn't able to make it to the finish line, as she was picked up in an ambulance and in the ER for 8 hoursafter our 2 minute run together, after falling and dislocating her elbow......and Caleb, who fell and broke his wrist at mile 1, but didn't say a word, rode 30+ more miles with a broken wrist, a strong supporter and such an encouragement even 10 minutes after the finish before he even mentioned he hurt his wrist.

What a day. December 14, 2008. Won't forget the day I could finally call myself a marathoner.

Matchmaker!

So, I'm bad at blogging....and I'll get over it eventually. I had high hopes of great photo blogs of Puerto Vallarta with the girls and a fabulous TX/OU weekend....but those pics are still on my camera and not uploaded to the computer. So, they will (hopefully!) come. Until then....this happens to be my week of playing matchmaker.

#1: My friend from grad school and Caleb's friend from ultimate....date #2 in 2 days tonight! Now, I do have a reputation for setting friends up who have 2 dates and then it's over.....so, we shall see. I just love playing matchmaker, so I'm probably as excited as she is :).

#2: My doorbell rings last night during Bible study at our house. It's a girl's Mom....there may be a 13 year old girl in the Escalade, who knows? Anyway, a balloon bouquet, card, and ice cream treat were given to me and asked to take over to Brandon, the boy turning 13 today, in about 5 minutes. So....I did. Brandon's Mom answered, took the stuff, and all was good. I did my friendly neighborly duty. 3 minutes later the doorbell rings....it's Brandon. In his awkward, lanky, braces on his huge smiling face asks me to "tell him anything"....what was she wearing? what was her Mom driving? what did she look like? I promised not to tell. So, that sweet boy left with the biggest smile, thinking some girl is his secret admirer. I sure hope so for Brandon. It left me with a big smile, remembering those awkward middle school years....

Chicago

We went to Chicago last weekend for a little vacay/ultimate frisbee tournament. It was so nice to get away. We didn't have a whole lot planned, which I've decided is the best way to vacation.

THURSDAY:
We landed at 8 am, so we had the whole day in Chicago. I quickly realized why it's called "the windy city", as my umbrella broke from the wind after about 10 minutes. I was very happy the hotel let us check in at 9 am, as well as providing a complimentary umbrella :).

We had lunch at Gino's, a local joint, for Chicago-style deep dish:

Did a little exploring in the rain.... Relaxed at the hotel and decided at about 7 pm to go find some sort of theatre. A local recommended a local theatre show, but it was booked, so we ended up going to the Oriental theatre to see Wicked, the Broadway musical. It definitely exceeded our expecations! I'm still singing :).

FRIDAY:I had been looking forward to sleeping in and getting to watch the "Today" show for weeks, so I loved sipping my coffee and having a lazy morning. We then had a full tourist filled day, with helpful hints from our "Chicago for Dummies" book...A riverboat tour of the city, pointing out all of the architectural landmarks. Although it was very interesting, I will not bore you with the 45+ pics of buildings that Caleb snapped (and this post is long enough as is!). Here's us on the boat:

Played in Millenium Park:

Had a Chicago-style hotdog picnic lunch:

Explored the Navy Pier. Caleb thought it was like a fair, so he wasn't a big fan, except for the mirrors outside the fun house
I enjoyed people watching, as well as the gorgeous view of the city:

We went to Kaminsky Park to watch the White Sox/Angels game Friday night. Just a side note, I'm not typically one to make stereotypes. However, just think for a moment of the type of people that typicallly wear White Sox paraphernalia.....that's right. So, let's just say, it was a pretty "rough" crowd and I was glad that the subway was packed on the way back to downtown :). We bought our tickets from a scalper and as Caleb was trying to "wheel and deal" I was just thinking "just give him what he wants and let's get out of here!" as I think it was an illegal practice to scalp, as these people were the emblem of SHADY :). Thankfully, our tickets weren't fake and we made it into the stadium safely...


We had a great time at the game :). Hot dog #2 of the day:
White Sox win! We are so COLD here (see how pale I am...I mean, I'm normally pale, but...) .....we are still loving vacation!SATURDAY AND SUNDAY:
After a little drama with subway constuction and trying to rent a car, we made it to Naperville, IL in time for Caleb to warm up and start playing in the "Chicago Heavyweights" ultimate tournament. Although the team didn't do as well as they hoped, they played and hung in with the best of 'em. I enjoyed getting to watch a full tournament, as I typically only go out for a couple of games due to the extreme heat that is Texas :). In this tournament, I was actually wearing mine and Caleb's jacket at some points :). The weather was GREAT!

When Caleb get's on the ultimate field, he is oh so serious!
Caleb says he's "not a handler" (interpretation: better at defense), so although I do have pics of him throwing and catching the disc, he wanted me to represent his great defense:

(They were grey on Sunday, red on Saturday)

And, that was it! We caught our flight at O'hare and hit reality on Monday.

PS- I now realize I am so bad at blogging because I make these posts so complicated! Plan on a simple post next time....

After many requests....

and a 3+ month blog hiatus, we are back! Or, Julie is back :). We're really enjoying the house. We had friends stay the night this week and I said "we moved in not too long ago, so we're still getting settled" and quickly realized it's been 3 months since we've moved in! So even though I can't really say that we just moved in anymore, we really are still getting settled. Maybe it was all the decision making with remodeling, but we just haven't gotten the decorating bug quite yet. I want decorating to be fun, and not a compulsion to "get things done" so we're just chillin' until that bug bites :). We're having a blast in the house, and not letting the undecoration (is that even a word?) keep us from having people over to enjoy it with us! Here's a few pics..

Guys grilling out in the backyard. We bought the grill Memorial Day weekend, and we've enjoyed grilling out LOTS this summer!

The spread after grilling out. This is just to show how our wet bar really is functional now!
Wii tournament!

I'm really not sure what I'm doing in this pic, but it just gives a good, finished view of the kitchen for those of you who have yet to see it :).

Happy 77th birthday, Mamie! We had Mamie and Grandaddy over (and Stephen graced us with his presence...) and had a little family birthday party.

We've also planted grass in the front yard x2. The first time didn't work out so well, but Caleb has done an awesome job with the yard and it looks REALLY good right now. Especially for being August! We got an 8 foot fence in the backyard, so we no longer have the open feel to the backyard as the previous owners had hoped. We've bought a good amount of furniture for downstairs and hope to get the bottom half of our entertainment center (long story) here next weekend, just in time for college football season to begin!!! So, all in all, we feel settled. We love having people come over and I really hope and pray that this home is a place where people feel welcome and feel God's love. That sounds so cheesy, but there really are some homes that I stay at that just have that warm, welcoming feeling where I know the Lord is loved and central in that home. That's what I want.

So, friends, that was my last "house" post. Since January, that has been the subject of most blogs (well, Jan-May). I will of course keep you updated with any new additions, but I'm going to get back to posting about life. Instead of an attempt to update on where we 've been since May (that's just overwhelming), I'll attempt to update from here on and give a back story when needed. It feels kinda nice to get back to blogging again....

Picture Post

We are frantically trying to get everything ready for move in on Saturday, but after multiple requests for a picture update, here ya go:

Up close pic of cabinets, backsplash, and granite:

Wet bar area, minus the "wet". Sink to be installed manana:
View from the living room:
Painting is going to get finished up today/tomorrow, appliances are installed tomorrow, and light fixtures/final touch ups will occur Tues and Wed, and then we should be good to go!

Edil, our brother-in-law is doing an amazing job getting the place ready for move in. The living room is painted, the hardwood floors are stained, and the kitchen is caulked and ready for painting! We picked out a *fun* faucet tonight (I'm serious, yall are wondering how a faucet could be fun, but you just wait to use the guest bath downstairs!) and the remodeling of the downstairs bathroom is happening later this week!

This time next week we'll be in our house! CAN'T WAIT!