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!