Some weekends there's not much going on, but then others, it's jam-packed. This may be a jam-packed weekend. Hopefully we'll still have SOME time to work on the house. I have my doubts though.

The first event is Saturday from 10-2. Initially, I thought it would be a fun Father Son date day, and I'd take Amara somewhere else. But I do think she'll love it, too.


Touch a Truck is a fundraising event for an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. The event will have all sorts of trucks: buses, construction vehicles, dump trucks, emergency vehicles -- all very hands on and interactive. They'll also have face painting and the live characters (for whatever reason, the kids LOVE these characters and totally mob them, rather than run away crying). So that's option one.

Option two is the reason Jon won't be able to have a Father Son Date at Touch a Truck. The Kansas City Barbeque Society (bet you didn't know there was one of those) is coming to the area for "Smokin' in the Ozarks."


I love me some good barbecue! :) Jon has to be there, because it's also a fundraiser, this one hosted by HomeAid NWA. This organization donates a portion of the monies raised at the event to Jon's organization, Seven Hills Homeless Center. I'm not sure the kids will have as much fun at the BBQ.

However... we do need to eat lunch.

So... the verdict.

Since Jon has to be at the BBQ anyway, and the kids are more fun if we're out DOING instead of home vegging, I think we just may have to do both. We can start at Touch a Truck, then go eat lunch at Smokin' in the Ozarks, and then head home for naps.

Wanna join us? ;)

Random...
That pretty accurately describes me most of the time! So welcome to my world. That (i.e. random) will be the theme of this post. There's lots of things I wanted to share -- probably would be worthy of individual blog posts, but I'm too lazy to do that. So hop on my wavelength and consider yourself randomized! :)

The Boob Fund
Ha! That feels weird to even write! However, it's completely serious, and I want you to check it out. My friend, Hugh (aka Dude to Dad) is raising money for Breast Cancer as a gift for his wife's (Amy) first Mother's Day. You see, his Mother-in-Law discovered she had breast cancer while she was pregnant with Amy. She died the day after Mother's Day in 1980. Hugh and Amy's daughter is named after Amy's mother. What a beautiful way to celebrate and honor a life -- and what a touching Mother's Day gift. Please go check out http://www.theboobfund.com/ and donate if you're able. You can watch the video and laugh and cry, just as I did.

So... now for pics from this weekend. I already shared pics from the Komen race we attended on Saturday. On Sunday morning... oh yeah, that was my other random thought...

We went to church, and the pastor spoke on the Church of Thessolaniaca (I'm sure I completely messed up that spelling). He talked about their misunderstanding of the time in which they were -- they believed they were in "The Coming of the Lord" and past the rapture. I'm not going to summarize the sermon, because I'm sure I won't do it justice. But it was one of the better sermons we've heard. Anyway, he went on to talk about the Rapture and how all Christians being taken up would leave the earth void of the Holy Spirit (because the Holy Spirit indwells all believers). Then he used a great quote from C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" illustrating non-believers who choose to believe in the Lord once He's plainly visible. It's the quote that just really stuck with me and that I wanted to share:

"God is going to invade this earth in force. But what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream, and something else -- something it never entered your head to conceive -- comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us, and so terrible to others, that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature.

It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we have really chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back, to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.." ~ C. S. Lewis "Mere Christianity"

I just thought it was SO powerful -- it's easy to put off believing and having faith when Jesus Christ isn't right there in your face saying, "here I am -- believe!"

Anyway... on to my next random and how we spent the rest of Saturday. It was spent here (or at least part of the afternoon following naps):

I had seen this park a few times as I drove past it, and thought it would be a fun new place to explore with the kids. And it was. Except it was sand. And we were intending to go out to eat when we finished at the park. And we weren't intending to go home first to clean up. Read: MESSY!

So, we instilled a "no touching the sand" rule. Yeah, that was successful! (please hear the sarcasm dripping).

Actually, it was pretty successful for Amara. She kept looking longingly at the teens building sand castles. Then she'd look up at me and say, "Look mommy, I'm not touching the sand. I'm building a giant sand castle with my feet." They didn't really play on the equipment at all -- they longed for the sand.






Dominic, on the other hand, not so good at the no hands in the sand rule. He plopped right down next to the teen girl building the castle and asked if he could join her (hey -- at least he asked!). She looked hesitatingly at me, and I granted permission for him to hold the cup and tip the sand castle into place. It was semi-clean. Of course, then he immediately took his hand and smashed the castle to the ground so he could rebuild it. Not so clean!

Now if you don't know me well, it's imperative that you understand that I AM NOT A NEAT FREAK. I truly love few things more than just getting totally sloppy dirty in the mud, sand, or whatever. I loved playing in sandboxes as a kid. The biggest challenge we faced on Sunday was the desire to go to a restaurant without first driving home. Wet wipes and restaurant bathrooms can only accomplish so much. Jon, on the other hand, is much more of a neat person. He's the only person I know who can sit down to a 4-hour crab-picking meal (think Baltimore Blue Crab covered in Old Bay) and come out of the event with not only clean hands and arms, but also a clean glass. Me -- I'm covered in the stuff!

So I expressed to Jon how much I used to love playing in the sand and that I wanted the kids to experience that, too. Jon said, "I used to love playing in the sand, too... until one of my friends got worms from it."

My instant response: "OK, kids, let's go to the restaurant." We'll find a new park next time! EW!!!

On the remodeling front, here's the photo of our Sunday efforts:

I do realize that the photo doesn't look much different from the most recent photo. However, the differences are significant -- about 3 hours worth significant! From the old photos, you'll see that the top left cabinet was filled with grey fluff -- that grey fluff was insulation. We removed all of that into a black plastic garbage bag to be returned to the attic. The other thing you'll notice about the earlier pictures is that there was a frame work of 2x4 studs and a sheet of wallboard framing off the area above the cabinets that used to be the soffit. Additionally, there was a frame around the door. Removing all of these pieces of wood and framework was a very tedious and challenging project. Not only did they continue in the immaculate design by the carpenter, but also their location and tight spaces made it very hard to maneuver the hammer and pry bar. And the nails were HUGE nails and at angles opposite each other to provide strength -- all making it challenging to remove them!

But we did! (or Jon did). Yay us! (Yay Jon!) :)

This week may be challenging to get time for renovation work. Monday night I started a new Bible Study called "Lord, Change My Attitude." I'll admit, it speaks directly to me. The first chapter last night was on complaining. Yep -- totally convicted me. Why is it that when I'm at a loss for what to say I can't settle for silence, and must instead complain about something (it's so hot, I'm so tired, etc., etc., etc.). As if people need to know a play by play of the negative things in my life. The convicting thought was this: our complaints of the few little things in our life that are "wrong" are a direct slap in the face to God, who has given us bountiful blessings. Why can't we focus on them instead and trust that God will get us through the "small annoyances." And if we choose to focus on the good things, and choose a positive reaction to the "bad" things -- how much more joy filled will our lives be!

Yep, it was a brick upside the head night last night. Stop complaning girl!

OK, I'm off my randomness now. Out of topics for today. At least I mixed it up with some pictures. :)

Today was the annual Komen Race for the Cure. We walked it last year and did it again this year. Rather, Jon and I walked it, the kids rode -- last year in the stroller, this year in the wagon. I think they could have walked the mile, but since we had to work at the event as well, I wasn't sure they'd be able to stand for as long as was necessary (7:30am to 11:30am).



















I always love this race. So much hope, energy -- it's fun to be part of "a cause" with the kids. It's fun to teach them to give back and to work to better things for others. We didn't have the official pink paper on our shirts, but we were racing in celebration of Great Grandma. Having a personal connection to breast cancer certainly makes the day that much more meaningful.

Amara wasn't much into the race until the end, when she discovered the finish line. Then she took off running towards it -- only she didn't really know where she was going, and instead was just trying to avoid all the people. So she ran straight into the street! Thankfully police and race officials were blocking traffic and it wasn't an issue -- but it did draw a few chuckles! Dominic, likewise, enjoyed running bits and pieces of the race. He'd take off, weaving in and out of people, just to see how far away from us he could get and still safely make it back. He never let us get too far out of his site, but he did enjoy himself as well. More than the race though, the kids enjoyed all the booths and freebies that were given out in the pavillion area. As my co-workers' wife said, " This is a little girls' heaven -- lots of free stuff, and it's all pink!"

On the home renovation front, we didn't get as much accomplished today, which is understandable, considering we were gone until noon. When we returned from the race, we were beat, so we joined the kids for a nap.

Following the nap, we decided to start on the house. Jon had been determining how to best get out the little desk area in the kitchen so we could remove the last of the "extra stuff" attached to the central wall. To begin that project, we determined that we first needed to get into the attic and remove all the insulation from the soffits. Because I'm the smaller of us, and the one with the "best" knees, I was nominated. Jon suggested that I put on long sleeves and long pants before undertaking the task, but I didn't want to be bothered with that, so just put on gloves and climbed into the attic.

Mistake!

I forgot that insulation is made of fiberglass. And our insulation isn't the pink sheets -- it's all the loose gray wooly stuff. I was probably up there for 1/2 hour pulling insulation out of the soffits. In the photo, you can see where there's still insulation in the cut-out area. That's one I could get to, because the air return duct was blocking it in the attic. But you can see what my project was -- I had to clean out the other areas above the desk area -- one handful at a time. And the area I was cleaning out was about 2 feet below where my feet were safely able to stand without busting through the ceiling. Nice and fun project!

The more "fun" part came later. As I got out of the attic, I realized that my legs and arms were fire-itching. All that crazy fiberglass deposited nice little fibers all over my skin. Duh! Should have worn long clothes, despite the crazy heat in the attic. Three showers later, and it's a little better, but definitely still irritated.















Anyway, because of my need for showers, that's all we got done before the kids went to bed. Once we put them to bed, we set out to remove the desk built-ins. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get them fully removed. As I've said before, the man who built our house did it right. The sheetrock was over the area above the desk/cabinets, and metal "corner" edges lined the bottom and each corner of it. And again, there were nails upon nails upon nails -- so Jon really had to work to remove all the sheetrock. Because there was really no "open space" behind it, we couldn't really just take a sledge hammer to it and bust out the sheet rock. So the photo illustrates the work we got done today. Unfortunately, the time and effort it took really isn't accurately illustrated by the photo!

This weekend's goal: to remove those wood built-ins!

Oh, and the tally....
- Fuses Blown: 0 (though we did see sparks once with that outlet above the built-in)
- "Whew" Moments: 1 - Jon stepped on a nail, but it stuck in the heel of his shoe and didn't reach his foot
- Lessons (Re)Learned: 1 - shorts & tshirts don't mix well with fiberglass. We're long sleeves and long pants when handling it!

Can I just tell you how excited this picture makes me!?!

I'm standing in the entryway, and I can SEE THE DECK DOOR from where I'm standing! Yippee!!!

Yes, there are still studs. Yes, there are still tiles to remove. Yes, there's garbage everywhere. Yes, the living room is full of "stuff."

But look -- through the studs to the left you see the living room. Through the studs to the right (beyond the brick fireplace) you can see the kitchen. The area that's still "solid" behind the studs will be removed this weekend. It's the "desk" area and broom closet, which currently is in the kitchen.

The steel beams have been ordered. As soon as they arrive, they can install them, build the support beam in the attic, and we'll be able to remove the studs. Then they'll build up the living room floor (the dip down area you see in this photo). Once that's all set, we'll pull out the rest of the carpet upstairs (including bedrooms) and put in hardwood or bamboo floors.

One bit of good news. We took Dominic to the allergist this morning. One of the things they tested him for was dust mites. Thankfully, that's not one of his allergies, so the carpet isn't as big of an issue as we thought it might be. The trees are -- which is what we expected. But at least his home isn't making him sick!

That's the end of the demo for tonight. Jon had to go to a concert fundraiser for his agency. So my "job" is to get the kitchen cleaned up. Demo work has made us lax in the kitchen. OK, that's not entirely true -- we're always more lax than we'd like to be in the kitchen. Demo work just made it that much more challenging to clean it!

You remember the built in cabinets from a post ago? This is where they were!




















What a project! (And yes, that's a major understatement.)

This photo is taken from the living room towards the kitchen. The cabinets filled the entire floor to ceiling wall where it's all white in the photo.

When the contractor came to assess the house, he said that because the cabinets were custom built IN the house and FOR the house, it was unlikely that we'd get them removed without totally demolishing them. Our goal for the cabinets was to move them to the basement and use them in the storage room -- remaking the storage room into a media room.

Long story short, Jon is a "surgeon" when it comes to demolition, and not only are they not demolished, they're still in perfect condition. YAY! Not easy, not quick, but we did it!

We began the evening with me giving the kids a bath. As I was doing this, I heard banging and sawing and all sorts of racket in the living room. I knew he had decided to attack something, but wasn't sure what. I had a long day work, and I really wasn't intending to do any demo that night. However, he reminded me that the contractors would be there in the morning, and if THEY had to move the cabinets, they wouldn't be done without damage.

So once the kids were snug in their beds, I went out to help them. And no, I'm not sure how they sleep through banging and sawing and all the racket we were making -- a mere 20 feet or so away from their rooms. But they did. And I'm glad!

So Jon's brainstorm to detatch the cabinets -- which were nailed through the drywall and into the studs -- was to simply use the reciprocal saw and cut through every single nail. Of course, that meant we had to first get to the nails. That required one of us (Jon) to use the crowbar (or prybar?) to pull the cabinets and drywall (easily 500 pounds) away from the studs to allow access to the nail. Then I had to get the reciprocal saw into that tiny little opening and cut through the nails. Not easy -- for either one of us. Especially when there were cross bars and/or wires in the way. Each stud had a minimum of 10 nails in it -- most had closer to 15. And there were at least 10 studs (not sure exactly the number). It was probably 10pm when we finally made it through all the nails.

Due to the necessity of moving the cabinets, however, we couldn't go to bed. So Jon reached up to the ceiling (yes literally) and started rocking the cabinets down. We discovered a few nails that we had missed. We discovered places where the cabinets were glued to the walls. I'm thankful for both his height and his weight, because there was no way I could budge that thing! He finally pried the top part loose and we were able to lift it off to the side of the room. Rather, he was able to lift it, I had to simply support it. I couldn't move it at all -- it had no hand grip areas, my hands were sweating, it was nearly as tall as me laying on it's side, and it was very likely 200-300 pounds. So I talked Jon into balancing my end on a little auto mechanics type scooter chair and I scootered my end into place while he heaved his end into place. Of course, the goal of saving the hard wood floor meant we couldn't simply scoot it.

So the top part of the cabinet was off and in one piece with no damage. We knew the base would be much easier. Just as heavy, but easier to move. We discovered several more nails that didn't go all the way through they dryway, therefore hadn't been cut. That made prying it away from the wall slightly more difficult (until we realized it was attached and pulled the nails out). But from there we were able to get the bottom set of cabinets also up and out of the way. Yippee! While I was (barely) able to help move the bottom set of cabinets (they were every bit as heavy, they just had hand-hold areas) -- I'm NOT volunteering to carry them to the basement. There's absolutely no way I'll be able to do that. We may have to recruit a few men for that chore!

So here's what the cabinets and family room look like right now. The cabinet removed and nails cut means the dry wall should come down easily. YAY! I think (hope) that was the most challenging bit of the demo work. It was definitely the heaviest part of it!
















- Whew Moments: no more. I suppose "Whew" that I didn't break my back!
- Blown Fuses: 1 -- guess I didn't fully learn the lesson last time (when Jon did it) -- because I repeated the exact same thing last night. So that tally is now up to 2.
- Fights: 0! To renovate without a fight is an accomplishment. I did pray for that, and ask my bible study ladies to pray for that as well. When Jon and I go at tasks from the complete opposite angle, disagreements often come along. But none so far -- yay!

Tuesday night, I had a work dinner I had to attend, so Jon was left alone with the kids. I fully expected to come home to them eating, playing, watching a video, or something to that degree.

What I came home to was something completely different:
















Jon had taken down all of the shelves in the built in cabinet, as well as moved the TV. Now the cabinet itself was ready to be removed. I complimented him on that -- reiterating that I had not expected him to do any work. But thanks! He told me that was the least of what he did.

As I rounded the corner, I saw the rest.















He realized that in order to get the cabinets out, he had to pull up some of the wood floor, but that meant that he had to first get an access point to the wood floor. So he started pulling up all the ceramic tile. Not an easy project at all. I confess, it's one I'm glad he did while I was gone. I definitely wouldn't have enjoyed that part of the renovation! It's hard to see in the above picture, but there's a distinct line near the hallway door on the left, where the tile stops and the "floor" begins. The garbage can is full of broken up tile. I'm definitely not going to move that bad boy! HEAVY! And yes, those garbage bags are full of sheetrock. Ugh!

The only "bad" thing from this is that the builders, for whatever reason, put concrete down under the tile instead of just the regular wood underlayment. We'll have to lay concrete over that again, we think, in order to smooth it out to prep for the hard wood floors. I don't think that there's any way to chip through all the concrete, and it doesn't appear that there is wood underneath. Oh well.

No "Whew" or "Fuse" issues tonight. Jon did cut through his glove with a ceramic tile though and cut his finger a bit. We'll call it a flesh wound.

When we bought our house in early 2007, we loved it for it's potential. It was built in 1982 by a retired couple. Its bones were (and are) amazing. It was meticulously built; they thought of every detail. The draw back is -- it was built in 1982 -- a time of small rooms and many of them. We live on a lake -- yet you can't see it when you walk in the door. What a missed opportunity! We've got a living room (like every house of the 80's) that absolutely NEVER gets used. Ever. Then add to it the fact that it was decorated in 1982 by a 50-60 year old woman. It was done with the highest quality everything -- and was very tastefully done.... for the 80's... and by a person twice my again. So again, beautiful -- but definitely not modern.

It took us over a year, but we've started the work.

Here's what you used to see when walking into the front door (except for the mess of furntiure, which we've cleared out of the way). You walk into the living room and look at a wall. The red curtains you see through the door open to the lake. And yes -- that's a load bearing wall.















We've made progress! We took up all the carpet, padding, and carpet tacks (not a fun project!). This was done on Saturday and Sunday. I was very nervous about my ability to help Jon carry a very large piece of carpet down to the basement. We were definitely able to salvage it -- it's in near perfect condition (just needs a vacuuming and a shampoo, and it looks new). For now, we've moved it to the basement just incase we need to relocate downstairs for a short time. But we'll eventually donate or sell it.















Here's where we left off on Sunday as we headed to bed. For those of you who believe orbs to be ghosts -- don't get too excited. That's how dusty it was in our living room! Yes, we were all coughing and hacking! It was a cloud, that's for sure. We opened as many doors and windows as possible to get things cleared out. The funny thing about the dry wall -- with every bit that Jon pulled down, Dominic had to run over and said, "Good job, Daddy! High five!" He had to do it every time -- and Jon HAD to high five him every time.















And we've got daylight! The first "through the drywall" view has been made! That was a fun wall to knock down. OK... I had to take a karate kick to it at one point. Mistake -- nearly fell on my tail! But it was fun to kick the wall! :) Perhaps a bit too fun!! We can't remove the rest of the dry wall yet, because there are floor to ceiling oak built-ins on the other side. Of course, custom built IN the house. They'll be a beast to remove.




















I probably shouldn't keep this tally, because my Mom will have a heart attack if she knows the "danger" we're putting ourselves and our kids in.... But here they are:

- "Whew!" Moments: 1
- Blown Fuses: 1

Whew Moment: Dominic wanted to help, so was alternately walking around with the hammer or the broom. At one point, he had 2 hammers and begun climbing the step stool you see in the photo above. I have no idea how it happened, but I heard a bang and as I turned, he was laying with his head/face on the floor/his arm, and his feet on the top seat of the stool. I was sured I'd pick him up and see a face full of blood, because it appeared as if he landed on the hammer with his nose and/or lips. I turned him over -- no blood, no marks, all teeth were there. Whew! That could have been SO bad. He must have landed on his arm and cushioned his own blow. It was definitely loud (thanks to the hammers), and we were all scared. He was totally OK though.

Blown Fuse: Lesson learned, don't take the plug-in out of the fuse box. Trying to put it in again will result in a loud pop, a nice bit of fireworks, and a blown fuse. Scary, but again, all is well!

Off and on this week, Amara has just randomly broken out sobbing, "But I don't WANT Him to die on the cross...."

While part of my heart shouts a HUGE Halleluia that my baby girl is learning about Jesus (and trust me, I can't write the word HUGE large enough, because truly, that's my most fervent prayer for both kids -- that they learn to love the Lord and give their lives completely to Him), the other part of my heart cries out to that same Lord saying, "Please give me the words to make it real for her."

How do you explain to a 4-year-old that Jesus HAD to die?

How do you explain to a 4-year-old that it's because of OUR sins -- hers, mine, Daddy's, all of us -- that Jesus went to the cross to sacrifice His life for ours?

How do you explain to a 4-year-old that it's God's plan?

How do you explain to a 4-year-old that hundreds of years ago, we followed the Old Testament Law, and animals were given as sacrifices...but now, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ paid it all, so that we no longer are under the law, but are under His grace?

How do you explain to a 4-year-old that the gift of Jesus Christ is a free gift for us all to reach out our hands and accept?

How do you explain to a 4-year-old that Jesus's death on the cross is the single most important and significant event in history. Check that -- that his RESURRECTION is the single most important and significant event and MIRACLE in history!

How do you explain to a 4-year-old something that I, as an adult and life-long believer, can't even put into words, because it's just that amazing and humbling and awesome and powerful and emotional?

My feeble attempt went something like this:
"I know you don't want Jesus to die, baby, but it already happened. Many years ago. But you know what the cool thing is? (They love the words "cool" and "not cool" right now.) The cool thing is: He didn't stay dead! And He's the ONLY one who can say that, because He's Jesus, and that's what makes Him so special. He had to die so that we could all live. He died for us, because He loves us that much, and He wants to be with us forever."

Oh that God would give me all the right words to make His life and His presence so real and so important for the kids. Truly, that responsibility brings tears to my eyes (yes, I'm at work misty right now). There is absolutely nothing more important that making sure they get that message. Nothing.

How do you explain to a 4-year-old why Easter is so important? I've not yet figured it all out. But I trust that God will lead me. And my first attempt at it has resulted in no more sobs. So next year I'll have to ask how to explain it to a 5-year-old. And through it all, I'll be SO VERY GRATEFUL that she wants to know!

We had a fabulous time in Mexico. It was so nice to get away, enjoy the company of our old neighbors, relax, sleep all night without interruption... :)

Our first official vacation made us realize we need to definitely take more!

The kids had a great time with their cousins, too. They got to go to school, Awana, the Zoo, Sea World, parks. They were very sad to have to leave them. We're SO thankful to Matt and Jessica for their willingness to add two more for a week so that we could have a nice vacation.

We also agreed that an all-inclusive such as this would be a PERFECT way to spend a family Christmas. Skip all the gifts, preparation, etc., and just go away for a week to somewhere warm, beautiful, and where you're waited on hand and foot. We'll have to start planning.

Unfortunately, upon our arrival home, D was coughing in his sleep. My first reaction: great, he's sick. He wasn't too bad, and was basically himself on Saturday. However, he woke up with a fever on Sunday. I was worried we'd have a smelly van by the time we got home, but thankfully, we made it home with no incident -- and thanks to Benadryl, he took two 2 hour naps! Monday, he still had a fever. What better way to end 8 days off work with having to take another one off due to a sick child! Jon stayed home with D on Monday. Tuesday, he still had a 100* fever. Great. My turn to stay home. I took him to the doc. Verdict: Strep Throat. Great! So antibiotics were ordered and meds began again. Unfortunately, he needed 24 hours worth of meds to be able to return to day care -- so Jon and I took turns on Wednesday staying home with him and working.

Thankfully during our vacation, we were able to relax and catch up on sleep. Often, you come home from vacation more tired and needing to relax. We're glad for the sleep we got, because we definitely were hit with stress and sleeplessness when we returned! But I think we're all on the mend again. Hopefully the rest of us are able to avoid the strep!