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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Life Point Gives Back

What you say does Life Point Gives Back have to do with us moving?

Well my friend, a lot.

Jay and I moved some small things to our space on Friday night. It was lightening when we loaded up the car and then poured buckets and buckets by the time we got to our destination. That's how the weekend of moving began.

We woke up on Saturday morning to an odd sound. It was the sound of our POD being delivered at 7am. Jay got ready for a morning of work and I got ready to pack up the kitchen. Henry and Diane came over that morning and pack up all of our food to take back to theirs. We ran out of boxes at about 11:30am and the moving party started at 12:30pm. Jay got off work at 12pm and ran out for 5 more boxes while we had pizza delivered.

Because we were moving we were not able to participate in something our church was doing from 10am to 12pm something called Lifepoint Gives Back. The church plan was go out out and help in the community. In the words of our Pastor, "It's time for the church to stop telling everyone what not to be doing and go out and show people God's love through our service." They did things like hand out water at local parks, load people's groceries into their cars for them, taking sweets to local businesses and washing people's windshields at the gas stations. Just because. Jay and I really wanted to be involved in this but obviously we were pretty busy.

On Wednesday, we had told our small group that we would love any help anyone could give us moving. We had a lot of people tell us that maybe they could help us so we weren't sure what to expect, especially since everyone was already volunteering in the heat for two hours prior. At 12:30pm I saw Joe and Tony show up and thought, okay, more would have definitely better but any help we can get is great.

However, we were totally shocked when over 15 people showed up to help us. What an unexpected blessing and surprise. Because of this, we had our whole apartment moved downstairs (bless them it was three flights) and strategically stacked into a POD in about 2 hours. It went so fast I hardly knew how it happened!

We feel very lucky to be a part of a church and a small group that showed their love to us. Many people barely knew us as they had just started coming. And yet they came to help us anyway.

We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts and are so thankful that you sacrificed your Saturday to participate in the annoyance of moving, especially when it was for someone else. Thank you!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Mid-Night Post

So, we are almost finished with this week of transitioning. Otherwise known as the torture of moving. Oh how I hate moving. I feel like I've already completed my quota of moving in life but it looks as though there will be at least two more moves.

I've spent the whole of this week trying to cram 40 hours a week into M-Th. It worked, as of 20 minutes ago, I just completed 40 hours and then also 2 hours of overtime. Oh and that's not all, I have more work to do tomorrow. My brain is fried tonight though and my work needs to be quality so.....

Also up tomorrow, a much needed hair cut and highlight. My roots are pretty nasty. And that is the end of things that I am looking forward to in this weekend! After work and the hair appointment, I need to start taking some things over to our new residence, heirlooms, food, cosmetics, etc. Plus, I need to pack up the kitchen. I'm just praying that God will extend the day for me tomorrow as there is just so much to do.

Luckily, some of Jay's friends and then some of our small group from church will be coming over on Saturday at 12:30pm to help us pack up the POD we rented. I'm hoping for a good turnout and an easy move with minimal breakage.

Now to find our new digs......should be an interesting couple of months. Stay tuned for more blog-worthy adventures. Hopefully more good than bad. :)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

On This, The Longest Day of the Year!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

8am: wake up and get ready for church.

9:30am: Life Point Church, yet another great Sunday and sermon.

11am: meet up with Mae at Henry and Diane's for a Father's Day lunch

3:30pm: head home to our now messy apartment. Half packed.

4:15pm: Danielle comes over with the kiddos and they hang out our park across from our apartment.

6pm: come upstairs to the last week of our home and relax a bit in front of the TV.

Not much report today but I guess that is a good Sunday.

Happy Father's Day to all the daddies out there!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

T-Minus 1 Week

We are close, very close to the end of our lease at our apartment. June 30 is the big day to be out of our place. We started packing up everything today and it was really sad! This was our newlywed love nest! Oh well, on to bigger and better things.

But first....

As of next Sunday, we will be living with Jay's parents. I hope they know what they are getting into! We have a bedroom we can use there and also another room that I can use for my office since I work from home. From here, we will continue the house hunt.

We've put in 7 offers on 7 different homes. Only one is still active as a maybe. It is a very big house and I'm not going to hold my breath on this one as wonderful as it would be.

Today, we changed tactics. We are looking into townhomes. Although the yard could be an issue, some of the square footage on these places are bigger than the homes we've looked at thus far. And the price, so much cheaper!

Maybe townhomes are more our pace....we'll see.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Recycling

No, not going Green. Just my posted items. I posted the following blog on a previous blog but thought it encouraging for now....enjoy.

Why do we love the underdog?

I am watching Cinderella Man and just had to ponder this question. It's not only that the opponent is evil, or that the odds are insurmountable, or that good is supposed to triumph. It is because the underdog is a picture of us. Of me.


We desperately need odds that are so far against us to somehow swing in our favor. And yet, God swings those odds in our favor for us. It looks like we are going to lose, lose the battles to our faults, our shortcomings, our sins, our wants that control us, and our desires that cripple us.

We are the lame little child that somehow beats the swift runner. We are the David that slays the Goliath. Did David's brothers and fellow countrymen mock him for trying to beat the unbeatable giant? We all have giants that seem to beat us in our lives. They punch us, they kick us while we are already down, they give us the really low blows, they try to crush us.

And as we lay there, moaning in the failure of our defeat from somewhere, our beautiful redeeming Saviour of a husband jealously attacks our enemies. He lays them out. Faults, doubts, fears, angers, he conquers them! For us! The underdogs. And then what does He do? He brings us into the ring of victory and holds our arm up, like it was us that won the fight.

How does He do this? He accepts me for what He knows I'll be, not for what I am now. How does He fight for the ones that crucified Him? The answer is His love.

Why do we love to see the underdog win? It's simple. We desperately need to see the picture of ourselves. The ones never favored to win. But through some miracle of Christ, we win. Our opponent mocks us, and tell us we are not going to win, that it is impossible. I am thankful however for knowing my Father is the God of the impossible.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

One Last Lazy Weekend

Sunday
June 14, 2009

8am: Jay and I get up and make cinnamon rolls for breakfast! Yum! (As will be seen, this was a great day for eating!)

9:30am: okay we leave the house at this time for church, nevermind church starts at 9:30am, I made us late. Luckily we live 3 minutes from church!

11am: come home and try to think about lunch. We decide to go to Olive Garden! Yummy.

1pm: at home again and it is time for the pool. Sadly, we will soon be moving out of our apartment complex and will not have a pool for the rest of the summer.... :(

2:30pm: we go back upstair and relax in front of the TV. :)

4pm: the Johnsons come over with the kiddos and we head back to the pool. Lovely.

6pm: We all decide we are hungry and head to Outback Steakhouse where I got the teriyaki steak and a baked potato. Man, the food was good today.

8pm: Come home and shower.

9pm: Jay heads to bed and I plan on working a bit tonight to get a jump on the week.

So sad to see the weekend go.....

Friday, June 12, 2009

Hating on HGTV

So Jay and I have been looking at houses since the end of March. As many of you know, our apartment lease ends on 6/30/09. We just signed our 5th offer since March tonight. Because we have no house yet and our lease is up, we will be moving in with Jay's parents. While it is wonderful that we have that to fall back on, it poses some problems including our cat living with them and also the fact that I work from home. Talk about crowded!

Since May and our house hunting exploits, we have become huge HGTV fans. This has soured after watching multiple episodes of shows like "First Time Homebuyers", "Walk Into the First House You See And Buy It...", and "HGTV Makes It Appear Easy to Buy a Home", and my absolute favorite, "No One Else Will Ever Outbid You On Your Favorite House". The frustrations have definitely soured our experience, especially with our lease deadline.....

I mean seriously, who looks at three homes and then puts in a low offer and then moves in 3 days later? It's like false advertising making it seems so easy! I think I decided we will stop watching the home buying shows and stay just with getting decorating ideas from the staging shows.

Hopefully we will find something soon. :)

Monday, June 8, 2009

Sleepy Sunday

Sunday
June 7, 2009

8:30am: wake up groggily and get ready for church

9:30am: church at Life Point :)

11:15pm: Jay and I were in the nursery for the second service. So proud of Jay, he does a really good job with the kiddos who are toddler age.

1pm: lunch at the always classy Wendy's. I just wanted a baked potato and this seems like the best place

1:30pm: small grocery run

2:15pm: at home, nappy nap

5pm: wake up from said nap. Jay actually took a nap about that long too!

6pm: Cubbies game on TV (Jay) while I facebook.

7pm: ????

9pm: watched a movie

11pm: read a bit

12:30am: night night! :)

Maybe THIS weekend we will make it to the pool. We only have it for about 3 more weekends!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Busy Busy!

Saturday
June 6, 2009

7:30am: Jay and I both get up, he heads to work and I get to stay home.....

8am to 10:30am: I spend some time doing my fav, cleaning the house!

10:30am: I went to look at a potential house. I tried to force myself to like it because I think our realtor is getting really annoyed with us. However, just couldn't make myself do it...

11am: go back to cleaning and laundry

12:30pm: head downtown with Jay to meet his parents (for his mom's birthday) and Mae for lunch.

2:30pm: head home and change quickly!

3pm: head towards I-95 to go to DC to meet up with Katie and Mark

4:15pm: park at the Springfield metro station and metro into the District

5:15pm: meet up with Katie and Mark and head to the Nats stadium

6pm: get to stadium, get some food and watch the Nats whoop up on the Mets. It was a great game.

11:30pm: head back home to Fred-Vegas! :)

Sunday, 2am: why am I still up blogging???? I think a nap will be in order tomorrow, and I'm not going ANYWHERE tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Is it Friday yet?

I'm just wondering because this week seems to just be dragging on and on. This is my favorite time of year too.

Summer. Wow, when I was a kid, summer was a time just to waste time. I remember walking down to the Cedar Falls Library and checking out as many books as I could carry home. And then reading all day! And how can anyone forget Dad sternly admonishing us to turn the outside hose off and that no more water can be used to run through the sprinkler. Popsicles! And watching movies in the cool AC while it is swelteringly hot outside.

Oh how I miss those days. Alas, I am an adult now and am facing the reality of an early morning team meeting tomorrow. Will have to survive with my memories of carefree summers!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

House Hunting, Boo!

So many of you may know that Jay and I have been actively looking to purchase a home since about 3/08. (Our lease is up 6/30/09, yeah, I haven't started packing yet....)

In early April we put an offer on a home close to our current apartment. Everything seemed to be going well until after we got back from our vacay to Phoenix in early May. At that point we found out that there was a legal problem with the house title and the deal fell through. We went from thinking we would be in our first home the end of June to being homeless at the end of June.

Needless to say, we hit the ground running about a month ago. Looked at lots of houses but didn't see anything worth putting an offer on. (Yes, I'm from Iowa, I just ended a sentence with a proposition, so sue me....)

Last Thursday we found a gem. It is on an acre of land surrounded with trees, a pond in the back yard. It also has a front porch, a back deck and also a screened in porch. The inside of the house has tons of character (read: will be working on this for years to come, but is probably worth it) and is ridiculously large. However, this is a short sale and IF we got it (we offered below their asking price) it would be a while from now. Not before the end of June.

This time in putting in an offer, we decided to keep looking for houses so we wouldn't be out time if this didn't go through. Tonight we looked at another house and loved it. The yard and land is not as great but the house is better than the first. If I could put the land and outdoor area with this house, I would be uber aggressive about getting it. Anyway, this house was so great we also put an offer on this house. This is also a short sale so we would still be homeless at the end of June....

This is how Leta & Jay have two offers on two different houses. So now we just wait to see which one (if any) that we get. In the meantime (*spacehogs*), we will continue to look at more homes.

P.S. Don't worry Dad, we can get out of either contract......

Monday, June 1, 2009

Something New

A couple of weeks ago, my boss (also my friend) asked if the hubs wanted to play soccer in their coed adult league on their team. Jay is not keen on physical activity, however, he played soccer in HS and also played intermurals at Gettysburg College with his fraternity. He is also pretty competitive in life!

He agreed right away. Jay is an early bird to bed and doesn't like anything past 9pm on the week nights (to be fair, he gets up way earlier than I do so it's understandable) and last week's game was at 9pm. Despite the late hour for him, his team won! He is already into looking at the rankings of the teams one week into the season. :)

In the spirit of support, I agree to go out the field next to our apartment tonight and kick the ball around. I have never played soccer before and have a tendency to dislike things I am not good at. To my surprise, I had a lot of fun and plan on going out with Jay again to 'practice'. It helps that he is very encouraging and a good teacher too.

Just keep in mind, he originally wanted me to go out and kick it around with me because I was more likely to kick haphazard kicks and it would help him get back into the game. :)

So my future....running or soccer?.....maybe a little of both!