The Transformation

Over Memorial Day weekend, Amy and I set out to remodel our starter-home in Kirksvile with the best construction crew around: our family. My parents -- Scott and Sonia, Amy's parents -- James and Diane, and my grandparents made up the rag-tag team. We planned to clean up hte yard, finish painting the front rooms, lay wood flooring, and install custom cabinents. Our goals proved to be a little bit ambitious, but we still walked away with a totally different house.

There is still a lot of work to be done -- the cabinents are definetly a work in progress -- but here are some before and after pictures. They really don't do justice to the transformation that took place thanks to the hard work of family and the grace of God.

The Yard -- my baby....

The living room -- a group effort: Gramps, grandma, Dad, Amy, and I all helped lay the floors; Amy, Grandma and Mom took care of the painting.

The kitchen -- this is far from done, but James worked insanely hard to get it ready for the cabinents to be set in place.

The food -- this was Diane's taco meal. She worked all weekend to feed all these hungry laborers.

Office/2nd bedroom--pretty intense, eh?

And lastly, the porch swing -- Bobbie's perfect gift to Amy and I.

All Creation Sings...

Spring this year has been so rich and lively. I am constantly reminded of the delicacy and beauty of all that God has created. The way the robins lay eggs in Spring, the rains come, the worms rise to the soils surface, and then the birds can hop about the yard all day plucking worms for their hungry children.

My friends and I had a campout in my backyard last night. And right on schedule this morning, the sun rose and every bird in our woods seemed to have a thousand things to say. And although we all grumbled at the 5:30 awakening--it was still amazing to hear how their songs swelled with the rising sun.

And this little flower I found while out in my backyard. How amazing to think that God crafted those colors and shapes. All these things of Spring are singing praise to the Lord. They use what God has given them, whether it be a song or a colored petal--and they use it for the glory of God. It reminds me of all that God has given me and encourages me to join with the rest of creation in praising my Creator.

Chicago

Yesterday Zach and I drove up to Chicago to pick up Tyler from college. The day entailed loading up the car, eating deep dish Giradonos pizza, walking through the city and hanging out on the "beach." Weather was gorgeous, city was windy. It was a ton of fun getting to hang out with Tyler and get a personal tour. It was a very good day :) Hope you'll enjoy a few of the pictures....

To finish--here is a carrot I carved with my teeth during the 5.5 hr drive home. I was proud.

I risked my eyeballs for this blog

Yes--the title of this post is true. I shall explain.

There is a robin nest under our deck. We have had robin nests before and the parents always just fly away while if we walk close to it. I have taken photos of little birds and eggs this way. However--this nest does not house your ordinary robin couple.

If you get within 4 feet they will fly away, yes......but then they will circle back around and start divebombing you!! Seriously--I go to great risks to take photos but this was almost out of my league. Cute little robin parents with their claws out in front, speeding towards your eyeballs with fury in their wings!

See the evil in that eye? Sorry for the blur--this bird was after me!

I finally convinced my brother Shane to come out and distract/block me from the attack while I tried to take photos. We were both laughing, my heart was pounding--but I got a few photos. They aren't super amazing because I wasn't putting my eye in the viewfinder--had to keep it on the enemy.



They are cute in a very ugly sort of way :)

Notice: Despite their attempted violence--I do believe the robin parents were acting like any good parent should. And no robins (young or old) were harmed in the making of this post.

"Smells like cat urine"

This weekend the second bedroom/office got a serious makeover. Yesterday Zach and I painted three of the walls a super pale yellow color to brighten up the dingy brown. Then today, his Dad succeeded in pulling up the green carpet from the room. After we pulled it up we could see HUGE stains of various shades of yellow...and the room smelled like cat urine. You can put the pieces together. It was pretty disgusting.

There was some awesome retro flooring underneath, which we also took out. Then the floor had a heavy sweeping and spraying of various cleaning agents. From the pictures you can see some of the progress in the room--including windows.

Here is a before picture. Yes, Zach randomly does push-ups. I have seen him do them at the library, stores, and a number of other places.

Notice the stains on the carpet's underside, as wellas the retro linoleum (far right)

We're still not done--but it looks a TON better :)

And window cleaning. Before and after...

Another tid-bit of exciting news. I saw the mailman! (and I creepily snuck a photo) Zach and I have been wondering for awhile.