No...we're not adopting! :)
I keep up with a few of the IMB missionaries in Poland because I am interested in knowing what's going on there. Some of you may not know (or remember) that I spent a summer in Poland as a summer missionary. Anyway, one of the couples (Michael and Vicki Shattuck) have been trying to adopt three Polish children for quite a while now. They continue to run into obstacles...most of which seem rather ridiculous. Everyone that knows them and the kids (ie: the kids' case worker, the orphanage, etc.) believe that they should all be together. However, they keep running into problems in the courts. They thought they were going to have things finalized this week, but it now looks like that may not happen. Please be praying for them. Pray that they will have peace as they continue to try to move through the process. Also, pray that God will move things along to finalize the adoption. If you would like more information, you can check out Michael's Blog.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
I am so torn
I am so torn about flooring. Let me give you my thoughts...
- I go barefoot all the time so I prefer to walk on carpet.
- Hardwood floors look nice.
- It just seems "wrong" to cover up nice hardwood floors.
- I don't really want carpet in the dining room since I have kids.
- I don't know if I would want to leave the dining room bare if we have wood floors - and does it really make sense to put a rug on the floor when I don't want carpet.
- It would take longer to completely refinish the floors if they're wood and would probably be a similar cost to carpet.
- We have three rooms that will need a different flooring anyway - the carport addition, the back addition, the kitchen.
- Hardwood floors would increase the value of the house (in theory) whenever we decide to sell it...which we expect to be a good bit down the road.
- We don't even know yet how the hardwoods look.
- The one room that has been uncovered for a while looks pretty nice.
- The one room that has recently been uncovered and hasn't had much done looks like it could be nice with very little work.
- If we go with wood, I have to find and pick out rugs (this could be a pro or a con).
Ok. I think that's all my thoughts for the moment. If you have any thoughts or feedback for me, please let me know. I need help deciding this one. As a side note, I haven't really been able to go spend time at the house just looking around and pondering the issue. In addition, we don't know how the floors will look once the carpet is pulled up off of them. I'm just guessing based on the ones that are uncovered that they will look decent. I also don't have any real knowledge about hardwood floors, so I don't know how much it would take to get them looking nice and finished properly.
- I go barefoot all the time so I prefer to walk on carpet.
- Hardwood floors look nice.
- It just seems "wrong" to cover up nice hardwood floors.
- I don't really want carpet in the dining room since I have kids.
- I don't know if I would want to leave the dining room bare if we have wood floors - and does it really make sense to put a rug on the floor when I don't want carpet.
- It would take longer to completely refinish the floors if they're wood and would probably be a similar cost to carpet.
- We have three rooms that will need a different flooring anyway - the carport addition, the back addition, the kitchen.
- Hardwood floors would increase the value of the house (in theory) whenever we decide to sell it...which we expect to be a good bit down the road.
- We don't even know yet how the hardwoods look.
- The one room that has been uncovered for a while looks pretty nice.
- The one room that has recently been uncovered and hasn't had much done looks like it could be nice with very little work.
- If we go with wood, I have to find and pick out rugs (this could be a pro or a con).
Ok. I think that's all my thoughts for the moment. If you have any thoughts or feedback for me, please let me know. I need help deciding this one. As a side note, I haven't really been able to go spend time at the house just looking around and pondering the issue. In addition, we don't know how the floors will look once the carpet is pulled up off of them. I'm just guessing based on the ones that are uncovered that they will look decent. I also don't have any real knowledge about hardwood floors, so I don't know how much it would take to get them looking nice and finished properly.
Nathan's room
Ok. So...suggestions on Nathan's room. Here is a picture of his bunkbed and bedding. On the flooring...same choices as before. Wood with rug or neutral carpet. You can see most of the room in the two pictures. I don't know if the shelves would stay or not. Curtains will not be staying (there are currently curtains in every room, but most will not be staying). The closet is to the right of the window on the other wall.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
the living room
Ok all you decorating women out there...I need help! It looks as if all is going to work out and we are going to close on this house soon. So...I need to get to work figuring out paint colors and flooring. Here is the first room (with many more to come). Please give me your thoughts or suggestions. After I get some input, I'll let you know what I'm thinking at the moment.
This is the living room from the dining room door.
This is the living room from the far side. The front door to the house is on the left and the door to the dining room is on the right.
Here is the chair that will go in the room. The chair and couch are the same fabric. You can also look at the previous post to see what they look like.
This is a close-up of the fabric.
I am going to have to decide whether to go with the original wood floors (and a rug) or carpet (which would probably be a neutral color). Of course, that is dependent upon the condition of the floor. This picture is the floor in the room that will be Caroline's. It has been finished a bit (who knows how much) and appears to have been used as wood floor for a while. The other floors in the house have been covered with carpet (and all but one still is).
This is the living room from the far side. The front door to the house is on the left and the door to the dining room is on the right.
Here is the chair that will go in the room. The chair and couch are the same fabric. You can also look at the previous post to see what they look like.
This is a close-up of the fabric.
I am going to have to decide whether to go with the original wood floors (and a rug) or carpet (which would probably be a neutral color). Of course, that is dependent upon the condition of the floor. This picture is the floor in the room that will be Caroline's. It has been finished a bit (who knows how much) and appears to have been used as wood floor for a while. The other floors in the house have been covered with carpet (and all but one still is).
Thursday, May 24, 2007
calm in the storm
Except that Nathan isn't in this picture, I kinda feel like it represents "normal" life around here.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
no more aerobics
I have officially said goodbye to aerobics. After much thought and prayer, I decided that I needed to give it up. Since I have returned to aerobics, I have felt like I just couldn't give the time I needed to give to my family. It's only three mornings a week, but then, that's three mornings that are lost. I really debated about it for a while, but one thing after another confirmed that recapturing that time was the right choice. So...now I'm going to have to find a new way to be diligent in exercise. We're also going to have to be a little more careful about the money we spend since that little bit of income will no longer be there. I know it's the right decision, though, so I know God will help us work things out!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
the house
So I've been selected to write a description of the house...this will be interesting.
The basics -- it is 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. It was built in 1960 and has partial brick/partial vinyl siding (in quite good shape). The carport was closed in to make a second living area, and the back porch was extended and enclosed to make even more space (actually I think the porch was done before the carport). So the total comes out to something like 1573 square feet.
As Jennifer mentioned in the original post, the flooring needs replacing to some degree. It's got old carpet and original hardwood floors, plus vinyl in the main bathroom and kitchen. We don't know if we will keep the hardwood floors or put in new carpet over them. The kitchen has what appear to be original pine cabinets (in good shape), a fairly new range, and a decent refrigerator. No dishwasher, but being the dishwashing person, I am all about putting one in soon. We expect to have the house rewired before moving in, because the wiring (besides the addition areas) appears to be original -- ungrounded outlets, no outlets in the bathrooms, a fuse panel instead of breakers, etc. Doing that will provide some peace of mind about safety as well as allow things like entertainment equipment, computers, etc. to be plugged in, and make sure that the system can take the load that will be put on it. Paint...I think Jennifer is going to love getting to pick colors that are not the beige we've lived with for 6 years of being married.
The back of the property slopes downward some, enough so that the crawlspace at the back of the house has something like 5 feet of vertical room. There are two storage buildings in the back, plus a decent amount of space under the back porch addition to store things. The backyard has lots of plants, some that have taken over their planting beds after having not been tended to in probably about a year. Once some of that stuff is pulled out, it should be a good place to play for Nathan. There is fence almost all the way around - we'd need about twelve feet of chain link on the left of the house to close it off totally in the back.
Front yard area...there is an (unfortunately) rusty flagpole in the yard, which I intend to fly an American flag on. It needs a spotlight to be all-weather, 24 hour, though. The front porch is decent-sized, enough to put a couple of rocking chairs on if we want. Parking space is a little hampered by having closed in the carport, but we should be able to get both cars in side by side and still have room for a visitor. Anything more would end up in the yard.
The house is just down the street from an elementary school and a Presbyterian church. One set of neighbors is what Jennifer would call "cute old people." The location is pretty much central to Warner Robins, so we will be able to get to things without much delay. Sonny's is at most 5 minutes away...
Back to the interior. The front door opens into the living room, which is of typical size and shape for the age of the house (about 10.5' deep by 16' wide). Straight across is the doorway to the dining room and the rest of the house. The kitchen is to the right, separated by little counter-height shelf things. The dining room has plenty of space to have our table (with leaf) and all the chairs and still leave room for walking through. Out the back side of the dining room is the doorway to the enclosed back porch. It's about 15' by 11' and will probably end up being playroom space. It's got lots of windows. To the left from the dining room is the hallways to the bedrooms and bathrooms. The master bedroom is straight down (back left side of the house), and the other two are on the left (front side of house). The full bathroom is on the right side. The master bedroom has a small walk-in closet and a half bath. We are probably going to try to figure out a way to convert the closet space to a shower and have two full baths (at some point), but we'd have to figure out a good way to replace the closet space. To the right from the dining room and through the kitchen is the enclosed carport and laundry room (which was originally entered from the carport). This room will likely end up being the office/utility-type room. The computer, bookcases, sewing machine, and piano will probably all go there. For some reason, it has two doors to the outside -- one at the front and one at the back, both on the right side of the house.
Other random things: there is a scuttle hole to the attic (i.e., no pull-down stairs). It actually has a coat closet (we don't have one here). There is a window in the dining room (that now goes to the enclosed porch) that has no glass in it. The ceiling vents are circular -- I've never seen that before.
I think that's enough of a book now. Hopefully the inspections will go well and things will move along quickly for us. It's definitely nice to have our offer accepted with no counters -- I feel like we're getting a good deal, and we'll be able to get the main things fixed up before we move in.
Phew. I bet you're exhausted just having read this.
The basics -- it is 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. It was built in 1960 and has partial brick/partial vinyl siding (in quite good shape). The carport was closed in to make a second living area, and the back porch was extended and enclosed to make even more space (actually I think the porch was done before the carport). So the total comes out to something like 1573 square feet.
As Jennifer mentioned in the original post, the flooring needs replacing to some degree. It's got old carpet and original hardwood floors, plus vinyl in the main bathroom and kitchen. We don't know if we will keep the hardwood floors or put in new carpet over them. The kitchen has what appear to be original pine cabinets (in good shape), a fairly new range, and a decent refrigerator. No dishwasher, but being the dishwashing person, I am all about putting one in soon. We expect to have the house rewired before moving in, because the wiring (besides the addition areas) appears to be original -- ungrounded outlets, no outlets in the bathrooms, a fuse panel instead of breakers, etc. Doing that will provide some peace of mind about safety as well as allow things like entertainment equipment, computers, etc. to be plugged in, and make sure that the system can take the load that will be put on it. Paint...I think Jennifer is going to love getting to pick colors that are not the beige we've lived with for 6 years of being married.
The back of the property slopes downward some, enough so that the crawlspace at the back of the house has something like 5 feet of vertical room. There are two storage buildings in the back, plus a decent amount of space under the back porch addition to store things. The backyard has lots of plants, some that have taken over their planting beds after having not been tended to in probably about a year. Once some of that stuff is pulled out, it should be a good place to play for Nathan. There is fence almost all the way around - we'd need about twelve feet of chain link on the left of the house to close it off totally in the back.
Front yard area...there is an (unfortunately) rusty flagpole in the yard, which I intend to fly an American flag on. It needs a spotlight to be all-weather, 24 hour, though. The front porch is decent-sized, enough to put a couple of rocking chairs on if we want. Parking space is a little hampered by having closed in the carport, but we should be able to get both cars in side by side and still have room for a visitor. Anything more would end up in the yard.
The house is just down the street from an elementary school and a Presbyterian church. One set of neighbors is what Jennifer would call "cute old people." The location is pretty much central to Warner Robins, so we will be able to get to things without much delay. Sonny's is at most 5 minutes away...
Back to the interior. The front door opens into the living room, which is of typical size and shape for the age of the house (about 10.5' deep by 16' wide). Straight across is the doorway to the dining room and the rest of the house. The kitchen is to the right, separated by little counter-height shelf things. The dining room has plenty of space to have our table (with leaf) and all the chairs and still leave room for walking through. Out the back side of the dining room is the doorway to the enclosed back porch. It's about 15' by 11' and will probably end up being playroom space. It's got lots of windows. To the left from the dining room is the hallways to the bedrooms and bathrooms. The master bedroom is straight down (back left side of the house), and the other two are on the left (front side of house). The full bathroom is on the right side. The master bedroom has a small walk-in closet and a half bath. We are probably going to try to figure out a way to convert the closet space to a shower and have two full baths (at some point), but we'd have to figure out a good way to replace the closet space. To the right from the dining room and through the kitchen is the enclosed carport and laundry room (which was originally entered from the carport). This room will likely end up being the office/utility-type room. The computer, bookcases, sewing machine, and piano will probably all go there. For some reason, it has two doors to the outside -- one at the front and one at the back, both on the right side of the house.
Other random things: there is a scuttle hole to the attic (i.e., no pull-down stairs). It actually has a coat closet (we don't have one here). There is a window in the dining room (that now goes to the enclosed porch) that has no glass in it. The ceiling vents are circular -- I've never seen that before.
I think that's enough of a book now. Hopefully the inspections will go well and things will move along quickly for us. It's definitely nice to have our offer accepted with no counters -- I feel like we're getting a good deal, and we'll be able to get the main things fixed up before we move in.
Phew. I bet you're exhausted just having read this.
step three: inspections
Our offer was accepted today...with no changes! Yay!
So...the next step is to do all the inspections we want to do to make sure there are no major hidden problems. Depending on how all of that goes, we could be home owners in a couple weeks.
I started to write a description of the house, but it wasn't making such sense...at least not the way I wanted it to. So Matt is going to do it in a little bit.
So...the next step is to do all the inspections we want to do to make sure there are no major hidden problems. Depending on how all of that goes, we could be home owners in a couple weeks.
I started to write a description of the house, but it wasn't making such sense...at least not the way I wanted it to. So Matt is going to do it in a little bit.
Monday, May 21, 2007
step one: find a house
step two: make an offer
We have taken this step. Here is a picture of the house we have made an offer on:
This house is not such a fixer upper as the other one we posted. It needs some new carpet/flooring and paint and maybe to be rewired, but otherwise it is livable. Along the way, we would do some updating, but we could very well be in it in a month or two at most.
We have taken this step. Here is a picture of the house we have made an offer on:
This house is not such a fixer upper as the other one we posted. It needs some new carpet/flooring and paint and maybe to be rewired, but otherwise it is livable. Along the way, we would do some updating, but we could very well be in it in a month or two at most.
Monday, May 14, 2007
soccer game
Here is a picture of Matt coaching his Upward soccer team. They are 3rd and 4th grade boys. This past week, the game ended in a 2-2 tie. (The guy in the yellow is the ref.)
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Aunt Architect
Nathan, Caroline, and myself traveled to Atlanta this weekend for Aunt Erin's graduation. Here are a few pictures (the last is Nathan and his second cousin Lydia).
Thursday, May 03, 2007
weight update
So...I haven't been doing the best about what I eat and drink, but somehow I still managed to lose some weight. I have now lost a total of 3 pounds. It's not huge, but it's weight loss. My biggest problem lately has been that when I seem to be eating good I get to feeling bad/extra tired. I think it may be that I wasn't eating ENOUGH. Who knows. We'll see, though. I think I may end up gaining some back this week because I've bene really bad the last two days. I'm not going to stress over it, though. I have enough stress. I NEED to be able to eat what I want. I'd rather be fat and happy than skinny and insane. :)
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