Home Remodeling

This last week marked one year for us in our first house. Mostly I hate our house because it steals any and all free time I get, but I can see a time in the very near future were we won't live in the basement and I will really enjoy what we have. On to some pictures of what we've been doing. You can go here to see some older pics of the remodel.

This was the least fun window to replace. And I did this one by myself. Up and down the ladder all afternoon! Our upstairs has 9 windows and because I have very generous friends, I only had to do three of them by myself, which was a huge blessing.
Jordan (my brother-in-law) came out and gave me a ton of help in January. We hung drywall in the bedrooms and refinished the bedroom and hallway floors. The picture below is after one pass over the floor on the right and nothing done on the left. After three or four passes we had a nice looking floor. Somehow I managed to not get any pics of the finished product and now it's all covered up with plastic and cardboard to protect it. So you'll just have to wait. But it really looks amazing.

This is the hole in the floor that my wife fell through in January. Her brother was helping me refinish floors and hang dry wall and we had taken out the floor grate and were just working around it. Shiloh chose to try to levitate over it instead, and through it she went into the water heater room. Luckily all she received was a scraped up hip. Here brother said she was there and then when he tuned around she had just vanished! That hole is now recovered with the grate as well as filled with plywood supported by a few 2x4's.

A few guys came over and helped me replace our ginormous 9 foot long window and finish hanging the drywall. To make the new header fit into the wall we had to use two car jacks to raise the ceiling up just a tad. Let me tell you, there is almost nothing worse than hearing the entire roof of your house creaking all around knowing you have to make it go just a little more. Big thanks on this day to Al, Richard, Jerry, and Josiah.

My dad helping pour and finish the concrete pad for the new shed

Our new shed all finished. I also built shelves and a workbench inside. My friend Daniel helped me for an entire Sunday afternoon and evening to get this thing up. I think it took about 25 man hours in the end

This last weekend I pulled the siding off of the house so it can be resided this week and next. The guys that are doing the siding are also building us a new front porch for a sweet price. Along with all this I got to jackhammer the front two steps off the old concrete porch. One piece of advice: DON'T EVER USE A JACKHAMMER. IT'S NOT FUN OR COOL. IT JUST BEATS YOU UP HOUR AFTER ENDLESS HOUR! Obviously, I enjoyed the jackhammering.

There are millions of little things that get done but that never get a picture taken. We replaced the screen door, I installed cable boxes, Shiloh has painted for hours, we planted grass and a tree and the list goes on and on. Finished pictures to come this summer!

Why my pastor is the coolest

This morning my pastor wanted to let me know he made coffee in case I wanted some. The following exchange ensued:

Richard: I made coffee if you want some.
Me: Cool, thanks. I'll go get my cup.
Richard: Oh and we're out of creamer, so I took some ice cream out of the freezer to let it melt.

So we're having our coffee with ice cream this morning!

April Showers bring...

May Snow? Although really it was April snow that brought May snow, which I really, really hope doesn't lead to June snow.

New Volunteer

Tonight I have a new volunteer staff person starting at youth group. I am so excited! First of all, she is a she, and that has been hard to come by in our ministry. Second, she has a real heart for the girls in the youth ministry. And last, she is the best looking volunteer I've ever gotten to work with! (I was going to post a picture, but blogger won't let me right now, so to end the suspense, the new volunteer is in fact my wife!)

Family Core Values #1

During Sunday School at church (where else would it be, I guess) we have been talking about our churches core value of "Building Strong Families." The teacher has encouraged us to be coming up with core values for our families and so, away we go.

#1: Love God

Jesus said it well in Mark 12:30: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." I hope my family lives this out together, individually, and through involvement in Christ's body, the church.
Together
We try to spend time talking about things we are seeing God do in our lives (or maybe what we want to see but aren't). We spend time talking with the kids about God and read through Bible stories with them. As the kids grow I hope we can openly and honestly talk about faith and life and doubt and God all together. I definitely struggle to lead this one in my house. I spend a lot of my job doing this very thing for a bunch of students and get lazy with my family. But I am a work in progress and God is full of grace.
Individually
Pretty obvious, I hope my relationship with Christ is not all that tethers my wife or kids to Christ. I pray that Shiloh will be continually drawn to have depth in her quiet times with God and that my kids will make the decision to follow Christ not because I do, but because they fall completely and totally in love with who he is.
The Church
God gave it to us to live in and know him better. It's easy to get disgruntled with the church (I have spent way too much time there) and just quit being a part of it. Love it or hate it, think it should stay the same or change radically, I hope my family always is a part of what God is doing to and through the church.

#2 to theoretically come tomorrow. Also, as this is about family I plan on showing off the cuteness that is my kids pretty much every time I post.

What do you think? What is a core value that guides your family?

Proud Dad

This morning as we were getting ready for the day Carsen came over and sat on my lap. He looked at me and then started chanting, "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" four or five times and then he went on his way to the next thing. At least he's learning something good from me! Hopefully I show him what it looks like to follow Jesus as well as I've taught him to love the Jayhawks and Broncos.

Casper

2008 has been complete and total insanity for my family. Our house is slowly moving toward finished, Shiloh is still teaching and I'm still staying home with the kids while she teaches and then trying to work 40+ hours a week. So this weekend we decided to run away for a night and go to the metropolis of Casper, WY. (Seriously, there are almost 50,000 people here, I tend to forget such large numbers of people can live in one place.) We have had a great day of being a family with nothing to do but spend time together, no drywall to be done or papers to grade. I wish we could convince ourselves to do this more often. I can't wait for tomorrow and more time with my family!