Growing Girl...

One of the biggest blessings of my job (and really the only reason why I work outside the house) is the fact that my kids get to be with me. While my class was playing volleyball for gym, Allison and I tossed the football. It is so cute to watch her precision in throwing the football "just like daddy says." She wraps her pudgy little fingers around the laces and attempts a perfect spiral. Then she giggles with excitement as she catches the ball that I throw to her.  And I tuck the memory away to be remembered when she's off on her own...throwing the football to her little one.
 

She just had to show me how she could go all the way across the monkey bars by herself.  Such an independent little critter.  We love her so much!

Remodel Progress

If you want to keep up with what's happening in our home remodel process, visit here, and then read all of the following updates that begin with "Day..."  We have 24 days until the new owners get possession of our house, which means we will be bustin' it for the next 20 days!

Ryan's Mission Trip Day 2

Early Saturday morning, long before daybreak, Ryan and his grandparents boarded a small plane for the flight from Antigua to Dominica. 

Dominican scenery...

Riding {in luxury} to the mission house...

The mission patio is a relaxing place to enjoy nature.  More pics of that later.

Preparing food for Sunday dinner...

Putting together a cake mix...
\

Check out the bananas!

Ryan had fun teaching the Dominican people to play Dutch Blitz.

Doing laundry at the mission is a little different than at home.

Furniture and rug for the mission house made by one
of the church ladies.  Beautiful.

Some of the tiles were cracked in the box, so the
missionary went ahead and used them.  Unique.

Rev. Don Raines created this beautiful rock fountain on the
mission patio.

Documenting the events of the day.

Day 2 was spent settling into the mission house, preparing food for Sunday, and relaxing.  Stay tuned for Day 3!

Ryan's Mission Trip Day 1

Remember waaaay back in February when Ryan went to the Caribbean?  I wasn't joking, he really went.  And I finally have the pictures to prove it!  We had photos on two cameras and two cell phones, and they eventually were transferred to my mom's laptop.  Last week I made myself take the time to get them so that I could make him a memory book, share them on the blog, and put together a power point for the presentation at church.  I have felt really bad about not sharing these earlier.  I have lots of excuses, but I won't bother.  :-)

Leaving Indianapolis airport for Dallas, TX - 4:30 A.M. Day 1

Beautiful flight - Dallas to San Juan

San Juan, Puerto Rico to St. John's, Antigua

St. John's, Antigua - 10:30 pm
Very long day of flights, but excited to have this experience!

A Special Gift...

was born today!



Emma Jean - Our new great-niece

Congratulations, Amanda and Scott!

posted from Bloggeroid

Is It Really Monday...Already?

I think we ask ourselves this question at the beginning of just about every week!  Don't the weekends just seem to fly by?  This week we had our school's fall picnic on Tuesday night, and then a fabulous ice cream social hosted by one of our young adult couples at church on Saturday night.  In the meantime, we continued to get the house ready and squeezed in a little time helping with two of our nieces on the weekend.  I didn't take any pics (probably because my hands were pasted in paint most of the time), so I don't have much to share.  Our ice cream social hostess blogged about that event here.  Take time to visit...I know you'll enjoy reading it.  She is pretty amazing!

My grandmother had her 2nd chemo treatment on Friday.  She is beginning to have some of the negative side effects, and I wish you would remember her in prayer as you think about it.  She has two weeks off now, which should help her to recover somewhat.  It's not a comfortable road, that's for sure.  Her official diagnosis is Stage III Ovarian Cancer.

This afternoon, Greg and I head to the attorney's office to sign away the house, so reality is setting in and we are preparing ourselves and the kids to acclimate to a different town, neighborhood, house, etc.  It's not always easy to let go of what is comfortable, but we know it's best.

Maybe I can post some pics soon...depending on this week's progress!

Savoring September...

Fall is our family's favorite time of year, and the weather so far has been amazing!  It's supposed to be a chilly 45 degrees tonight (brrr-it's only like 55 right now) and we're wishing we could go camping rather than paint, drywall, etc!!!  Oh well, this too will pass.  :-)  Here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks.

Hangin' at Aunt Valerie's house!

Best Buds

Kaitlynn racing Papa at Grandma Yount's house.
(Kaitlynn won...lol)

Special times.  Grandma on day 3 after her first chemo
treatment.  She tolerated it very well.  Praise the Lord!

Aubrey, Kaitlynn, Alli

Best Buds...sometimes...haha.

Grandma hadn't seen Ryan since January.  She couldn't
believe how he towered over her!

Grandma hadn't seen Evan since March...he's passed her up, too!

The girls stayed an extra night at Aunt Valerie's house.
Here they are making Grandparent's Day cards to take
to Mama and Grandma Yount.

The girls weren't prepared to stay over Sunday, but thanks
to Valerie's GBS connections and a closet of extra clothes,
they looked fantastic as they stepped out to church!  :-)

Last weekend, we decided to halt house progress for a few hours and go to Cincinnati.  Grandma had experienced her first chemo treatment, and she hadn't seen the boys in forever.  It was time.  We were able to stay in Valerie and Adam's spacious campus house, and enjoyed being with family again!  My sister's home is such a cozy welcoming place, and she has it decorated so cute!  I'm sure it wasn't easy to do (12 foot ceilings and windows almost that long), but she did it. 

So here's to a great weekend for you and your family!  I received a phone call at lunch time saying that our buyers would be closing on our house on Wednesday.  That is much sooner than I anticipated, but I'm not going to complain!  God has worked this out.  Period.

Happy Friday!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Burley!

Greg's mom celebrates a milestone birthday today, and we hope she has a very special day!

House Update...

You may remember a post back in the spring where I wrote that we were putting our house up for sale and beginning the process of fixing up a rental house.  If you didn't read that, here is the link.  That seems like such a long time ago, but we have been slowly moving things and renovating as time permits.  Our house is under contract, and after it is appraised this week, things should begin moving very quickly.  We chose to sell without a broker, and are praying that things continue to go smoothly. 

We are working as hard as we can (after we leave our day jobs) to get the rental ready, and things are progressing steadily.  A couple of the big jobs that remain are hanging drywall in the dining room and the playroom, replacing one bathroom floor, refinishing the hardwood floor in the living room, and laying laminate in the kitchen/dining room.  Of course, there is still quite a bit of painting to be done, and we are stalling Lowe's on laying the carpet until I am done slinging paint.  If you would see me every night when I come home from there, you would understand how carpet just would not survive.  :-)  I was picking out my hymns for morning worship prelude this morning, and I heard the gentleman behind me say to his wife, "Does Stephanie have a white hair?"  I laughed to myself...if he only knew that it's actually Valspar one-coat coverage randomly splashed throughout my mop of glory...lol. 

The current goal is to have things wrapped up by the end of September so that we can have a relatively normal fall. 

And that's the update!