Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Announcing . . . Kira!



Okay, it's a little hard to grab a good picture of a moving kitten, but here it is. We were a little worried about her. She didn't use the litter box for about 36 hours after she arrived. However, a little warm milk did the trick!

Have a great New Years!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas





I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! I tried to pace myself and did pretty well. I made a centerpiece for the table on the 23rd that came out better than I expected. My family came down as well as Greg's mom, so we had 9 around our 8-seat table. We had great munchies before our early dinner and Greg made prime rib and ham while I made rolls, potato salad, baked potatoes, and peas. A warm dutch apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream and a pumpkin pie with whipped creme rounded out the menu. Yum!

We emptied our remodel bank account by purchasing our son's coveted item. He waited 6 months for this one thing from the remodel. He and I did our research and went shopping. We ordered a Sony Bravia 46" LCD flat screen TV and it arrived the Friday before Christmas. We updated our cable package to include HD and digital and a few more channels, but we might switch to Direct TV because it's cheaper and has more and better channels. Why didn't we do that in the first place? No clue.

Since my mom got to finally see the house, I'm sharing some pictures. We are still at the 'before decorating' phase. I want to do some lettering on the walls and add an entry table, entertainment center, pictures on the walls, candles, etc. It will be fun to find the time to shop.







Today we get our new kitty. The kids went to their dad's for Christmas Eve as usual. He and his wife and just put down their cat as well. Her sister wanted to replace their cat so she brought two kittens from their ranch as a surprise Christmas gift to her. She didn't think she was ready to replace the cat so soon, but one of the kittens really took to Kristen. It is 8 weeks old, has all it's shots, comes with a cat box, litter, and food. It's black with white tips on its feet, and white tummy,and a white upside-down heart on it's face. They're bringing it to us at 2:00 today. Kristen had found a cat on the Internet called Zenith that she wanted, but Zenith lives in Selma, a few hours away. Mark and I didn't like the name Zenith. Everyone liked the name Kira so she will be named Kira Zenith. K-Z for short. (K-Z kitty!) Can't wait.

It's been a very busy weekend. Leadership training yesterday, which ended up being a 3 hour board game because one member couldn't make it due to illness, Mark's friend Andrew coming for dinner to show us pictures of his first semester at Montana Wilderness Bible School, and friends from church coming over for lunch to hear about what we're doing with the church plant. Sure makes you keep your house clean!

We're planning our advance for our leadership team. (Advance, not retreat, because Greg doesn't like the term 'retreat'.) We're going through my favorite book of all time by Erwin McManus and might do my second favorite book of all time by him as well. At the advance we'll plan the calendar year, our pre-launches, and seek God.

Well, I better wash the windows. The dogs had a field day on Christmas with the mud and seeing my mom's two little Bichon Frises inside.

Blessings this sunny, clear, beautiful Sunday!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Sadness

Today I am reminded of a book I used to read to my kids when they were little. It's called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. What a title. When we have a bad day, I remember this title. It's fitting.

We had to put our kitty Sputters down today. She had been losing weight for over a year, vomiting regularly and starting to do things in places I won't mention. She went from 13 pounds to 6 in 6 months. It was time. The doctor even said she was emaciated.

Last week I had asked my daughter, who has had this cat for 13 years to think about putting her down. I wanted her to have some ownership of the decision, but didn't want to put the whole thing on her. She has wavered between the sadness of the thought of life without Sputters to the excitement of a new kitten. Saturday was the last straw. The cat lost more things inside her in one hour than I've ever seen. My daughter was even frustrated with her, as most of it was in her room this time. I made my decision. It was humane for all concerned.

She and I went together to the vet. I warmed up a towel in the dryer and wrapped her in it. Sputters didn't even seem scared. No shaking, no trying to get away.
She and I went together to the vet. One shot put her to sleep in about 7 minutes. The next stopped her heart almost immediately. We brought her home, where Greg had prepared a grave for her. We all went outside, gave her a last kiss, layed her on a towel inside, and covered her with another towel. She looked peaceful and content. Greg began to put handfuls of dirt on her, then shovel the dirt around her. Kristen and I went inside while Mark stayed a few minutes longer. Greg finished, put some heavy walking stones on top (so the dogs didn't dig), and put a storage bin on top. When we landscape the backyard, she'll be under redwood trees and her grave will be marked with whatever Kristen chooses.

I've spent the morning keeping busy putting Sputters' things away, cleaning, and now at my desk to get paperwork done. The kids are doing okay. Mark has a friend over and Kristen is asking for McDonald's for lunch. I'm thankful it is a sunny day. A dark rainy day would have made it seem all that much worse.

Blessings on this sunny somber Monday.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Scary Day and the Great Half Reveal

Yes, I'm still here. If you're still checking my blog, God bless you for your faithfulness!

Last Wednesday was a scary day. We were in Modesto working and had just finished lunch. I got out of the truck to head to the bathroom and saw this shimmering, red/pink flashing crescent in the upper left portion of my left eye's vision. I stopped. I looked around. It wasn't going away. I took a couple of steps, it was still there. It was kind of how things look before you pass out. I walked back to the truck and stared at Greg, waiting for him to finish what he was doing. He looked at me and I said, "I have a problem. There's something wrong with my vision." He came over and prayed for me and held me. I was getting scared and panicky. I had this about 15 years ago a couple of times and thought maybe it was happening again. We got in the truck and headed for our eye doctor in Modesto. I called as we drove and thankfully he was in and could see me.

We got there and as I was standing in the waiting area talking to the doctor, it went away. Greg says it always happens. When he prays for me, nothing happens right away, but 15 minutes later, I'm healed. The eye doctor examined me well, dilated me, and assured me my retina was still attached and everything looked normal. It was an ocular migraine. I've always called it a painless migraine. You're sensitive to light and sometimes have that drugged feeling afterwards but you also have these weird flashes of light that can be like stars on a black background, crescent shaped and multi-colored, or other varieties. I had had sinus pressure in my left temple that morning and was under a lot of stress last week, so that's probably what happened. I got to do easy work the rest of the day, raking leaves, then went home. All better.

The Great Half Reveal had to do with the stress of last week. We're coming towards the end of the remodel and I scheduled painters to do the cut-ins in the living room. We have high, angular cathedral ceiling lines and I didn't have the desire or confidence to paint straight lines up there. They did some trim work too, and painted our dining room for the third time, the correct color! Totally my fault for not being able to get the right color the other two times. Anyway, we were also getting our windows replaced. Greg and I had to paint the walls and the hallway and the trim and touch up the bathroom. Greg was sick last week and two nights he couldn't do anything. In one night he painted the whole living room, while sick! We still need to do a second coat, but it's passable if you don't stand too close! Kristen's bedroom furniture was all over the living room, as we were having baseboards put in her room. It was chaos. We had to put everything back together by Saturday afternoon for our leadership meeting and Sunday for family coming down. Here are some pictures of what has transpired over the last several weeks since the last shots.

The first wrong color in the dining room. New tile.

Tiling from the living room into the hallway. Our tile guy was great, always giving us a pathway to still walk when tile was drying overnight.

The concrete pour for our backyard and side yard. We extended the concrete through the side gate and along the driveway so I dont have to get out of the truck in the dirt anymore!





Greg and our neighbors replacing our side fence. All in one day!



Kristen was in her high school drama this weekend so we were making frequent trips to Denair (20 minute drive one way) all week. We put it all together, less decorating (not to that step yet). Family came down to see Kristen in the play, minus my mom who was sick (hence the half reveal, and all was well. I could finally relax! The next hump? Christmas here. Fortunately we finally got the tree up this week. We just need to move it. Still lots to do.

Blessings on this foggy, cold Thursday.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Behind the Eight Ball

Ever notice the older you get, the less you get done in a day? Take yesterday for example. My plan was to paint all the trim in the hallway and actually paint the hallway. Greg was supposed to finish the living room ceiling and paint the hallway ceiling. I got one coat of trim on the hallway.

My plan was to make turkey soup. I got the stock cooked. This morning I have to make the soup before work.

Perhaps going to the paint store, Valley Distributors, Target, Wal-Mart, the bank, and 2 trips to Kristen's school had something to do with it.

I did get the Christmas letters printed!

I started figuring out Greg's irrigation control system, but knew it was too complicated and too dark outside at 8:00 to finish that project.

I was going to clear out the area behind the wall unit to caulk the baseboards. I got distracted by other things.

I got the laundry done!

I did help Greg clean up the Cypresses he cut down out front!

Most of my Christmas shopping is done thanks to Amazon.com, but I can't wrap anything because we have no tree up yet and no where to put anything. Oh yeah, and it hasn't arrived yet!

Well, so much for a recap of yesterday. I've asked Greg to hire about 5 people from Labor Ready to help me get this stuff done in a day. He didn't go for it. If only I could wiggle my nose and make it all happen. Seems I got so much more done in a day in my 20's an 30's. Blessings of a productive day on this gray Tuesday.