Family Updates and Happenings~

Since our friends and family are literally scattered all over the United States, I thank God for the internet to post pictures & "Family Updates" now and again to keep everybody up with what has kept Kirk and I (and the kids) busy- here's a post that shares WHAT ELSE is up besides our ongoing "home renovation".

VT-35 Squadron Fun: Kirk is a Flight Instructor with the US Navy. On occasion, we have "get togethers" with other families in our Squadron.

The kids have a fun time seeing the airplane their daddy flies for his "work".

Kirk preparing for a new adventure:

Kirk is nearing the end of his 20 year career with the Navy and he's been spending time on the computer getting himself set up for the next adventure God has for him. Kirk's most recently been applying for civilian flying jobs with a variety of commercial and transport airlines. The application process is all done "on-line" and he is confident he'll get hired to fly civilian (he has over 5,000 hours of flying multi-engine).

I love my family!

More Texas Critters:

From rattle snakes in the summer, to wild javelinas in the winter!!! For a couple months in a row they would come to our front yard to eat acorns and some pear cactus. There is usually about 5-8 of them, but one time we saw a herd of almost 20! We scare them away with making lots of noise and shooting them with a sling shot & acorns. After we put a small fence around the pear cactus, we haven't seen any javelinas in a couple months.

...the pear cactus in our front yard the javelinas love to eat!

Kelsie preparing for college:

Kelsie narrowed her college selection down to Seattle Pacific University in Washington State or Lee University in Tennessee.

After much prayer and direction from God, Kelsie chose Lee University - a Christian college that is offering her a full tuition (4 years) academic scholarship.

...when we visited the school it was neat to see almost every student in the girls dorm had their own eraser board on their door with Scriptures written on them.

Kelsie making the most of her senior year of High School:

...surprising some friends for their birthdays, Kelsie and friend Maddy "kidnapped" Benji and Randi for a special night of Chinese food, a bon fire and hanging out (in our back yard!).

Andrew, our Swimmer:

We are so proud of Andrew and his commitment to swimming. As a freshman in high school, he was the only 9th grade boy to try out for swimming. On top of that, HE MADE THE VARSITY TEAM! He has never swam competitively before this year and did awesome. He made it to District Competition, then to Regionals. He placed in both competitions receiving a couple medals.Andrew's swim regimen dropped about 20 pounds from his 8th grade weight. He morphed from a boy last year to a young man this year.

Girl Scout Cookie Season:

Jessie is a Brownie Girl Scout; I lead the entire multi level troop (of 36 girls) at our school. We had a very busy and successful cookie season January through February.

...in addition to selling cookies, meeting at our troop meetings, crafts, and Girl Scout fun, the troop went to a NHL Hockey game that honored the local Girl Scouts.

Goofing around, hanging out and just being...

Our newest Kitty~

A stray kitty, we have not yet named. We will give her love and hope she "works" as an outside cat to keep mice and snakes away. Bruno, our black kitty is excited to have a new friend.

Function, Practicality, and Common Sense

We are still in the progression of our home renovation with only about 40 percent of the interior complete. A definate "work in progress". When working on a particular room in our fixer upper, these three questions go through my mind when evaluating our space~

• Does this space FUNCTION the way my family needs it to? (storage has been an issue)
• Are the changes we're making to this space PRACTICAL to the construction and era of the house? (since it's a 1930's home we don't want overly "contemporary" features.
• Are we exercising a level of COMMON SENSE when updating the space not to "over improve"?

Over the past 4 months we've been working simultaneously on updating the living room and two hallways. The light at the end of the tunnel for these spaces is getting brighter to actually seeing completion!!! I hope to have some "AFTER" pictures posted very soon. I know, I know, I say that all the time. For now, here's some more "IN PROGRESS" pictures.

Kirk working on crown moulding in one of the hallways-
it's harder than it looks!

Our living room carpet in the process of being taken out. When you live in the space you're renovating it's a bit harder to get jobs done; many obstacles!

O.K.~ since we've never laid laminate floor before, "how do we do this"?
Kirk reads the instructions.

...we're on a roll, now! (I'm actually enjoying this)

The kids think it's a new play area to slip and slide on. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Great Memory Verse! VERSE #6

I love the directness of The Message translation of Proverbs 18:21. I pray as I memorize these words of wisdom, God will continually remind me to "choose" life and fruit in what comes out of my mouth. (not just my words, but also my tone of voice)

Words kill, words give life;

they're either poison or fruit—
you choose.

Proverbs 18:21 (The Message) SSMT #6

As I memorize Proverbs 18:21, I will also refresh myself with a previous Scripture from several years ago -Ephesians 4:29. Thank you, Lord, for your Word!

Pray for Japan...

and ALL who are effected by the recent earthquake, tsunami & and continuing tragedies~

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the LORD has done,

the desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the shields with fire.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Psalm 46 (NIV)

MEMORY VERSE #5

I chose these verses for the next two weeks because I've been in a "funk" and know the enemy is trying his hardest to keep me there. The "funk" I'm talking about is lack of energy, confidence, self pity and the feeling of repetitious defeat. The Lord has convicted me in some areas of disobedience; for those I confess and repent.

Before I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior I was in ignorance and darkness. But now that He's in my heart and I am one with the Lord, I have His light and want so badly for that light to shine bright for His glory...

... for the Lord to show me His victory throughout each day and the fruit of His spirit (below as well as Galatians 5:22-23) to be reflected in all I am and do...

...I want to seek the Lord and not just find Him and find out what pleases Him, but also put it into action. As I memorize these wonderful verses from Ephesians 5 over the next weeks, I also will pray them back to the Lord for myself and my sisters and brothers in Christ.

For you were once darkness,

but now you are light in the Lord.

Live as children of light

(for the fruit of the light consists

in all goodness, righteousness and truth)

and find out what pleases the Lord.

Ephesians 5:8-10 (NIV)

SSMT Verse #5

MEMORY VERSE #4- SSMT Challenge

I love how God gives us His word as his direction to live life, as encouragement, and to give us complete strength and absolute truth as his children. He gives warnings to protect us, and promises to motivate us, all wrapped up in His overwhelming love.

For the past couple weeks the truth and promises in my memory verse #3 (Matthew 11:28-30) has sustained me and encouraged me. Finding "rest" in him has been awesome! (need to claim this more often!) THANK YOU, JESUS!

My next memory verse to write on my heart for Feb.15-28~

Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.

Psalm 63:3-4 (NIV)

Verse #4- SSMT Challenge

Living Room Remodel~ IN PROGRESS

We started the living room in October and have slowly been making progress. I hope to have AFTER PICTURES by end of February, but for now, here's some "in progress" photos.

OVERVIEW

of BEFORE REMODEL:

Dark wood paneling, dated carpet, oversized fireplace...

...damaged ceiling. Notice the tape by the ceiling trim on the fireplace? This tape is covering a crack in the ceiling.

FIRE PLACE~

The "monster hearth" as we referred to it, is too big for the space. The living room is small (11'2" x 17') and this hearth doesn't make sense in front of this door way.

The monster hearth has to go! With our furniture in place, it's a tight squeeze to get through this walk way space.

Demo time!!! Joe loves to help demo!

As we took the fireplace out, our original intentions were to drop the existing firebox to the floor. As we took the fireplace apart, we discovered that the existing firebox was cracked in three places with a small hole on the back side.

The hole on the backside of the firebox created a burn mark (hot spot) on the drywall behind it. SCARY for the previous owners and for us with the high risk of a fire starting; we hadn't built a fire since we'd moved in, so we are thankful nothing bad happened.

After considering our options, we decided to get rid of the "real" fireplace. We covered the hole and damaged ceiling with a reinforcement piece of plywood with the plan to create a new unit that would serve as much needed entertainment storage, a "faux" fireplace, more lighting, a focal point for the room and a backdrop for our flat screen TV.

I (Teri) designed the plan and built the framing while everyone was at school and work. Notice the duck tape? Since I was working the framing project by myself, DUCK TAPE was my extra pair of hands. In the photo above, the tape is holding the 2 x 4 so I can screw my other corner piece to complete the soffit.
What a beautiful frame job! Kirk did the electrical on this job, adding another circuit to the breaker to accommodate the extra lights (in the soffit) and additional outlets.

We installed the dry wall together, I did the mud and texturing, and Kirk did the painting... WHAT A TEAM we are!!!
No longer a "fire place", I have created a "candle place". No more "monster hearth"... you can see how far it had come out (where the wood floor shows) compared to where we have it now. Also included, an electrical outlet inside the "candle place" to plug in a string of lights during holidays or when ever.

I love to tile!!! Kirk and I had a hard time agreeing on how we wanted to finish our fireplace. We ended up deciding on slate- a natural stone that will add balance to the room and be a smaller scale tile than what was previously there. (I'll post AFTER pictures later!)

ELECTRICAL & LIGHTING ISSUES~

Three light switches by the front door; one goes to the front porch light, one goes to the dining room light, and the middle was a "mysterious" switch that we could not determine what it went to (it had live wires going to it). Notice the OLD wiring that is frayed out in places?
We got ALL NEW wiring!!! And the middle light switch, now goes to our two new ceiling can lights. Beautiful!

And God said, "Let there be light".

Two soffit lights on each side around the "candle place"... they are on a dimmer switch that make it real nice for the times when we're watching TV and don't want bright lights, but have them on as mood lights.

INSULATION~

This wall had no insulation. I pulled down dry wall and everyother board to fit in R13 Insulation. As we do each room of our fixer upper, adding insulation has been a priority.

CEILING~

...time to replace? YEP! Hummmm? why is that tape there?
As we took the fireplace apart, we discovered the "gaping crack" that was taped at the top of the fireplace; that's o.k., we can fix it...

A nice, sturdy piece of plywood screwed securely in the ceiling studs fixes our ceiling issues and creates a nice guide for the soffit framing.

I continue to be amazed at what a new coat of fresh paint can do!

Tired and worn out... I need MEMORY VERSE #3

Over the past number of months, I've felt weary and burdened. I'm continually overwhelmed by having too much to do and not enough time to do it. I feel as though I'm operating my life in "mediocrity mode" and am continually falling short of my best because of my many commitments. Perhaps it's the "people pleaser" in me resurfacing this year in my inability to say "no" when things need done. I don't want to disappoint people; I rationalize "I'm capable", "I can do it", "no one else seems to be stepping up...", "if I don't do it, who will?" Lately, I find myself on a perpetual motion of being extremely busy with different projects and demands on my time; I'm being pulled in multiple directions most of the time. As a result, the time I spend with my husband and children is not what it should be... it's like I'm giving them my left overs. That's not right or is it fair.

I'm in the realization that I need to prune back some of my commitments and simplify my schedule. I will give the Lord my weariness and burdens knowing that through him I will have strength as I endure the rest of this year and prioritize my time and commitments the best I can.

To keep me on track and encouraged, I've selected my upcoming memory verse for the next couple weeks (Feb 1-14) from the book of Matthew- Jesus speaking:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

SSMT VERSE #3

Ready for the week end!

Yes... "ready for the week end"... but not in the normal sense to get rest and relaxation, but in my case, to plunge toward a busy weekend with my Girl Scout Troop. This weekend (for our area), begins our "Girl Scout COOKIE Booth Sales"! YA HOOOOO! Yummy-nummy Girl Scout Cookies.

My troop will have two separate booth sales this weekend alone, selling a total of 8 hours not including the direct sales in neighborhoods they already have been doing. We have several more Booth Sales scheduled over the next several weeks enabling the girls to build confidence through interaction with the public. The girls have been having a fun time with cookie sales and I'm so proud of all 35 girl scouts... they've worked so hard to live up to the Girl Scout Promise~

On my honor, I will try:

To serve God and my country,

To help people at all times,

And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

(The Girl Scout Law)
I will do my best to be

honest and fair,

friendly and helpful,

considerate and caring,

courageous and strong, and

responsible for what I say and do,and to

respect myself and others,respect authority,

use resources wisely,make the world a better place, and

be a sister to every Girl Scout.

SUPPORT GIRL SCOUTS~

BUY COOKIES!

($3.50 a box)

MEMORY VERSE #2 ~ SSMT Challenge

With the new year, we all have a fresh start... but do you notice how everything from the previous year still follows us into the new year?

I finished the 2010 over committed to people and projects, feeling overwhelmed and anxious. I feel like a one man band, doing it all, barely having time to take a break! I try to delegate, but somehow, end up still having to do the brunt of things...

2011 is here~behold, I start the new year in the same manner- over committed, overwhelmed, anxious and doing it all. I know God is testing me, refining me, and leading me in a way to depend on Him more and less on myself. I praise him for Scripture, His encouragement, and His love. My prayer is that I make the positive changes for the new year to honor God with my time and commitments and be more at peace with all that I'm doing. Meditating on God's word & promises is one positive change for 2011 I am thankful for.

My memory verse for Jan 15-31:

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 NIV)

Same verse from the MESSAGE~

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

Verse #2- SSMT Challenge