New Pics Finally!

The months have been busy since moving and I haven't had time to post. Here are a couple of pics of Nathan with his pumpkin and in his Bob the Builder costume! He continues to amaze us every day with all he knows and says. Tonight we were singing a song and he told me the Kookaburra song is 22. The CD it is on is my mom's, so I had to call her and check which number on the CD the song is. Sure enough, it is 22. She said that they haven't talked about the numbers of the songs for a couple of months. It amazed me that he remembered that!

We did take Nathan to a few houses for trick or treating this year and once he got the hang of it, had a lot of fun and asks to go again every so often.

We're In

It has been a long time since I have posted. It's been busy and crazy lately, but we have been in our house now for one week! Yeah! It is such a blessing to be in our own house, not an apartment or a rent house. I finally feel like I can relax easier at home. Of course that will be better once all the boxes are unpacked and everything has found it's place. Until then the unorganization and clutter will stress me a little! Our house is amazing! Our builder did such a wonderful job. I will post the final pics soon! Now that we are in, everyone is welcome to come visit at any time! We have plenty of room!

Colors

We finally settled on paint colors for the interior of the house. We got to pick 2 colors and a neutral that would be put in most of the rooms. We settled on a taupe color for the neutral which I love seeing it up on the walls. We picked a green for the kitchen/keeping room area and a color called spicy hue for the dining room/powder bathroom. It is definitely spicy! Like the color of chili powder! They put the cabinets in and will finish with a second coat of paint. We are looking at being able to close the end of July.
Nathan and I spent the morning at the pool with some friends which was very nice. It is a public pool at Harrison Bay State Park, so you can see the bay from the pool area which is really cool. I love all the scenery around here! The summer weather has been nice so far. It has only gotten up into the low/mid 90's and still cools off at night. July and August are supposed to be the hottest months here so we'll see how they are. Brent and I are going rafting this weekend for our anniversary. I am so excited! It is nice to have those activities nearby!

The stairs and family room with the taupe color
The tile in the master bath. The red room will
be an enclosed shower.

Our "spicy" dining room

The island/bar where the sink and dishwasher

will be. It is looking into the keeping room.

Where the cooktop will be.

The refrigerator, oven and microwave will be on this wall.

New Pics

Master bedroom ceiling

Our stairs leading up to the loft/play area and

the upstairs bedrooms

Here are some new pics from the house. They are finishing all the inside trim and we are picking out paint colors which we hope look as good on the walls as they look on the computer or the little paint strip thing. After the paint, the cabinets will go in and we picked out all our light fixtures this past weekend. It is coming along nicely.

Healing

Last Thursday night I ended up in the ER with stomach pains. After having them for about 11 hours, Brent decided it was time to go make sure it wasn't serious. I have irritable bowel syndrome, so I am used to getting through the day with having a lot of stomach pain at times. So, even with the pain, I just kept working to finish the day out, then walked our dogs that evening before dinner, and kept debating on whether or not it might be appendicitis. After Brent read some of the tests to see if it is and tried them and caused an increase in my pain symptoms, we decided to go get it checked out. We spent most of the night in ER and finally after my first CT scan wasn't discernable enough for the ER docs to say "yes it is your appendix", we were transferred to a room to await another CT scan with contrast and the arrival of a surgeon. The surgeon wasn't one hundred percent positive that it was my appendix, but decided it might just be the early stages and he should look at it to make sure, so within 15 minutes of talking with him, I was headed for surgery. It turned out that my appendix was slightly inflammed, so I caught in the early stages of something happening to in and thankfully the surgeon was able to remove it laprascopically so it was a quick procedure and I was ready to leave the hospital by late Friday afternoon. For an unexpected stay at the hospital, I must say that it was a good experience. I wasn't sure which ER to go to about the couple in town, but I am glad that I picked the one we went to. The Memorial Hospital staff were great. I have actually worked there a couple of days for my company, but all I knew was the therapy side, but since I was a little familiar with that hospital, we picked to go there and I am thankful. You never know with hospitals and I am very picky, especially with working in healthcare. I am healing and haven't taken any pain pills today so that is a plus! And, they even send me home with pictures of my appendix! I do appreciate Brent who waited with me all night and day and didn't get any sleep. It was good to have him there all day. I am also so thankful that my parents were here to care for Nathan so he could go through his regular routine with Brent and I being gone. Our pastor came to visit after the surgery was over and our lifegroup called, brought me flowers, and brought us food. God has definitely blessed us here with people who care!

Another week

A couple more pictures of the house. The outside just needs paint on the siding and the columns on the front porch and posts on our back deck for the screened in porch area. The hardwood floors went in this past week and tile is going in next week. It is coming along and very exciting to see everything. We are definitely blessed with this house.

I have been back at work for two weeks now. It has been harder than I thought. I am primarily working with adults now, which is physically exhausting and learning all the new locations with my job is hard too. I've been in one hospital and two nursing homes and will start doing some home health this coming week as well as get oriented to another hospital. It is different not having the same clients as I just go where different places need extra help or coverage. I really miss working with kids. But, it is the way that God is providing for us right now so I am thankful even with all the challenges that have come with working again. I am learning about some aspects of therapy around here and I will be keeping my eyes open for a pediatric position.

I am missing being away from Nathan more. I thought that adjustment would be easier since I worked before we moved, and am continually thankful that he gets to spend each day with Nana and Papa.

I got to spend the morning stamping cards with some friends from church while Brent hung out with Nathan and now Brent is at the movies with some friends so it is good to not have to think about work and everything else for awhile. Everything is going good. We are continuing to get involved in our church and are so thankful for God leading us there and giving us opportunities to serve. The weather has been awesome. I think the hottest it has been so far is maybe the low 80s, but it has mostly been in the 70s and cool at night. We are really enjoying the moderate temperatures here!! Enough of my rambling, I have things to get done around the house while Nathan is napping.

Progress

The brick is finished and they have started the drywall this week. The exterior siding needs to be painted and the stone needs to be put on the front area that is not bricked. Brent and I have been picking out paint colors and need to go paint the two we like on the siding to see if they blend with the brick.

I go back to work Monday. Thankfully it is only 4 days next week and now that my parents are here they will be helping with watching Nathan. I am so grateful that they are willing to help with watching him. Leaving him again will be hard, but knowing he will be with my parents does make it a little easier. I am trying to decide what to do with him on our "last day". If I can get my act together here this morning, we will probably go downtown and ride the carousel he loves or do the aquarium again. Yesterday we went to the park with our dogs and Nana and ate lunch there and went and got ice cream. It was funny because we were blowing bubbles and I asked Nathan if he wanted to go get ice cream and he said "no, more bubbles" two separate times. I haven't ever heard a kid turn down ice cream for bubbles! I think he knew it meant leaving the park and he was having too much fun!

Coming Along

the back of our house- the area where the roof is extended

will be a screened in porch and we'll have a deck extending from

that to the side of the house.

The roof is on, the windows and doors are in, and we have electrical wiring in. The plumbing should be put in this week. We are so excited to be able to walk in all the rooms and see how they are coming along. Brent and his two accountibility partners went out to the house a couple of weeks ago and prayed over it, that God would continue to provide for it and that He would use it to His glory to minister to others once we move in. We want our doors to always be open and for our house to be a place of refuge where all who enter to experience God's peace and mercy. God is totally blessing us with this house and we want to give it back to Him.

I go back to work in 2 weeks, so I will have to readjust to being a working mom again. I am so thankful for the time I did get to stay at home with Nathan and I will always treasure it and am even more thankful for my parents being here to take care of him for us.

Nana and Papa Are Here!

My parents arrived here in Chattanooga yesterday and Nathan is thrilled to have them here. I think he will be very happy when he realizes that they aren't leaving. We took them out to show them the house last night. They are starting on the roof. It is cool because we know can walk into every room and get a good feel for the house. Have a great day!

BMW Ultimate Drive

I spent the morning at the BMW dealership here in Chattanooga (not a place I normally hang out!) with a group of ladies from our church. The dealership was hosting The Ultimate Drive which BMW donates a $1.00 per mile driven to Susan G. Komen for breast cancer research. Anyone with a valid driver's license can go and drive as many times as you want and pick the BMW you drive. I drove the X5 since I love SUVs, but the other ladies I was with drove convertibles and some others. I also got to drive 12-15 miles on the course they map out, so it was nice. I'll post a picture later when I get it from my friend. It was fun and cool getting to drive a very nice car and knowing I was helping a great cause. I know that BMW does this nationwide, so I would encourage you to check out to see if it is or will be going on near you! www.bmwusa.com/theultimatedrive

My First Trip to the Driving Range

We finally took Nathan to the driving range a cou[le of weeks ago. He loved it. And thankfully he only tried to go running out toward where everyone else was hitting only once. They had a practice hole with a flag that noone else was using so we hung out there most of the time so he wouldn't get in the way of the other golfers. Now Brent just needs to make him his own clubs. Nathan loves playing golf at the park. He would run around hitting his ball for hours if we would let him.

The Walls Are Going Up!

After 3 weeks of delays with our bank, we finally got things straightened out and our builder started framing this week. It is so exciting to see the walls going up and to get a feel for how the house will be. God is blessing us so much with this house and hopefully we will glorify Him with how we use it and spend our time in it. Visitors will be welcome at any time!! (once we are in of course, right now it might be a little cold at night! Ha!)

Everything is going well. We are getting involved in a great church, ChristWay Community Church. Brent is getting to help start the men's ministry and I am going to help in the preschool and have been asked to speak at a breakout session for the next women's event, so it is exciting to be used and involved again. We are going to a lifegroup and beginning to make some great friends. God is so good!

Enjoy the pics of the walls!

The side/front

The dining room

My Kitchen, which is going to be so awesome! And one of the reasons we why picked our builder. He came up with the design and I loved it after seeing it in his home.

The back of our house with a door to the storage area

or Brent's "tomb" as he is calling it.

The front of the house

More Pics

Here are some more pics of the crawl space/foundation area of the work that was done this week to finish up the foundation and get the house ready for framing. We are excited for the framing so we can see how the house feels. It is a different experience just picking out a house you like from a floorplan, not ever having been in it.

Nate throwing rocks into a puddle in the 'garage'

Brent standing at the tallest point, 11 cement blocks high

Brent standing on the wall between the garage
and what will be the kitchen.

Nate loves all the rocks!

Nathan and me on our future driveway

Up and Running Again

I haven't written in a very long time. We had to change our routine with living in a second floor apartment with a two year old and 2 large dogs and that routine pretty much consumed our time, so I had no time to write and share what God has been doing in our lives. We are now in a rent house, a huge blessing from God, and have begun building our house. That is another HUGE blessing from God. God has been doing so many awesome things in our lives lately and I can't wait to share all about them. However right now I really need a shower after working out and taking Nathan to swim lessons at the YMCA this morning and to spend some time preparing for the Bible study I am attending tonight. So, I will leave with a picture of the current status of our house, the cement blocks for the crawl space, exciting to us, maybe not to you, but here it is!! (It looks kind of like a prison at this point. This is a side view.)