Saturday, January 5th from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. we will have an Open House to share our new home with any who would like to see it. So many of you have had a hand in this new house that we would love for you to come by and visit.
Since this blog is a public forum, I will not be posting my address, e-mail or phone number. If you attend SCPC, you can get my contact information from the church office or CCB (church database). If you are a friend with my e-mail address, please drop me a note so I can rebuild my lost electronic address book. If you are a friend without my contact information, you can probably find us via the Internet somehow. :)
Hope many of you can join us to celebrate this momentous occasion.
Sheryl for Jon and Joshua
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Yipee!
We got to sleep in our own beds in our own house last night!!! Escrow didn't close till today, but the funding was transferred yesterday and that is what counts, so our loan officer gave the thumbs up for our first overnight.
Today Joshua got to go to Knott's Berry Farm (a local amusement park) with my brother's family. Joshua and his cousin Evan are only 6 months apart and really enjoy each other. It was a nice gift for me to have an entire day to run errands and do chores around the house by myself.
Just wanted to let you all know that we are officially in our home and loving it. Thanks for all the help and prayers that so many of you provided during the past 6 weeks and two days. It is very good to be home. Feel free to drop by and visit any time.
Sheryl
Today Joshua got to go to Knott's Berry Farm (a local amusement park) with my brother's family. Joshua and his cousin Evan are only 6 months apart and really enjoy each other. It was a nice gift for me to have an entire day to run errands and do chores around the house by myself.
Just wanted to let you all know that we are officially in our home and loving it. Thanks for all the help and prayers that so many of you provided during the past 6 weeks and two days. It is very good to be home. Feel free to drop by and visit any time.
Sheryl
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Life goes on
I was told once by my brother and sister-in-law that new houses can end up being as much work as old ones. Having never owned a brand new home I must confess that I didn't believe them, even though they were current owners of a new home. Well, now I believe.
This morning when we arrived at the house we found a minor flood in our utility room. Of course the contractor is on vacation today but assured us that they'll be here first thing tomorrow morning. Jon got his shower before he headed to work and then we turned off the water. I was a bit stressed and then Joshua got nervous and was worried that we'd have a flood that would ruin all of our stuff. What a morning.
I spoke with our loan agent this morning and she assured me that escrow will close today. However, I still haven't gotten a call, so now I'm getting nervous again. I know the bank is on the east coast, so it's already 3:30 there. Please pray that escrow closes today and I will relax and trust the Lord while I'm waiting. Thanks.
Oh, I can finally post pictures cause I have a computer. I think I forgot to mention that I discovered yesterday that the computer that was donated to us is a brand new Dell Lap top. Wow! What a great Christmas gift that was. Here's a picture of us in front of the tree my brother's family brought on Sunday. There will be more to come.
Sheryl
This morning when we arrived at the house we found a minor flood in our utility room. Of course the contractor is on vacation today but assured us that they'll be here first thing tomorrow morning. Jon got his shower before he headed to work and then we turned off the water. I was a bit stressed and then Joshua got nervous and was worried that we'd have a flood that would ruin all of our stuff. What a morning.
I spoke with our loan agent this morning and she assured me that escrow will close today. However, I still haven't gotten a call, so now I'm getting nervous again. I know the bank is on the east coast, so it's already 3:30 there. Please pray that escrow closes today and I will relax and trust the Lord while I'm waiting. Thanks.
Oh, I can finally post pictures cause I have a computer. I think I forgot to mention that I discovered yesterday that the computer that was donated to us is a brand new Dell Lap top. Wow! What a great Christmas gift that was. Here's a picture of us in front of the tree my brother's family brought on Sunday. There will be more to come.
Sheryl
Monday, December 24, 2007
Gift, gifts and more gifts
Yesterday, December 23rd was Joshua's 8th birthday. After church we were able to do a little unpacking in the house before my family arrived for his birthday party and our family Christmas celebration. My brother Steve, sister-in-law Sandi and kids Elena, Emma and Evan, arrived with a big surprise -- a huge Christmas tree. It would not have fit in our old house, but it looks great with our new vaulted ceilings. What a fun surprise. All of our ornaments were packed away in bins that had been piled in our living room waiting to be stored somewhere. We all had fun decorating the tree.
Joshua, of course received many gifts for his birthday and then we were off to geocache -- see link to the left to learn more. We were only able to find two sights, but one was in a part of San Juan that we had never visited before. With our recent rains the hills were green and the air was clean and fresh. We are so sorry for those of you snowed in right now. We love our 65 degree Christmases. We went back to our house and enjoyed a ham dinner with all the fixings, thanks to my generous family. There were more gifts, for everyone this time and then games and lots of sweets until about 10:00 p.m.
Before I tell you where we went after everyone left for their homes, I have to go back to the morning when we were at church. This was probably the sweetest gift of the day. We told a few friends about our situation -- escrow not closing and us not feeling comfortable breaking the rules and sleeping in the house. Kellie, who helped us move on Saturday overheard and immediately invited us to stay with them. Her husband agreed and I gratefully accepted. About 30 minutes later I had a message on my cell phone from another good friend. She decided to use part of a recent inheritance to put us up in a suite at the Double Tree Hotel in Dana Point for three nights. She thought (rightly) that I might enjoy just having family time and not living with anyone else for a few days. Wow! What a blessing. Our rooms have an ocean view with a king size bed (Ahhhh!) and a pull-out couch for Joshua.
The amazing thing is that for the two days that I was looking for a place to stay and everything kept falling through, I had this thought that God must have something better for us. That is not my normal response to disappointing circumstances, but God is so good and he has blessed us so much that I figured He must having something special in store. Wow! I never would have guessed this.
Today we are moving the last of our belongings out for Kristin and Rani's house and Lord willing, escrow will close on Wednesday so we can officially move into our new home.
May you see the many ways God is blessing you this Christmas,
Sheryl
Joshua, of course received many gifts for his birthday and then we were off to geocache -- see link to the left to learn more. We were only able to find two sights, but one was in a part of San Juan that we had never visited before. With our recent rains the hills were green and the air was clean and fresh. We are so sorry for those of you snowed in right now. We love our 65 degree Christmases. We went back to our house and enjoyed a ham dinner with all the fixings, thanks to my generous family. There were more gifts, for everyone this time and then games and lots of sweets until about 10:00 p.m.
Before I tell you where we went after everyone left for their homes, I have to go back to the morning when we were at church. This was probably the sweetest gift of the day. We told a few friends about our situation -- escrow not closing and us not feeling comfortable breaking the rules and sleeping in the house. Kellie, who helped us move on Saturday overheard and immediately invited us to stay with them. Her husband agreed and I gratefully accepted. About 30 minutes later I had a message on my cell phone from another good friend. She decided to use part of a recent inheritance to put us up in a suite at the Double Tree Hotel in Dana Point for three nights. She thought (rightly) that I might enjoy just having family time and not living with anyone else for a few days. Wow! What a blessing. Our rooms have an ocean view with a king size bed (Ahhhh!) and a pull-out couch for Joshua.
The amazing thing is that for the two days that I was looking for a place to stay and everything kept falling through, I had this thought that God must have something better for us. That is not my normal response to disappointing circumstances, but God is so good and he has blessed us so much that I figured He must having something special in store. Wow! I never would have guessed this.
Today we are moving the last of our belongings out for Kristin and Rani's house and Lord willing, escrow will close on Wednesday so we can officially move into our new home.
May you see the many ways God is blessing you this Christmas,
Sheryl
Sunday, December 23, 2007
A slight change in plans
Life is full of opportunities to learn flexibility. Does that give you an idea of what this post is about?
Friday was a busy day with the house walk-through that I did with the contractor Frank. There are many things that a crew will need to come out and fix. The paint crew seems to have used semi-gloss to spot paint the living room and dining room, which were done in flat paint. Ah, its great to know the paint crew is so knowledgeable. :) But overall the house looked great and Frank noted all of my concerns. It will probably be the new year before they are all fixed, but that's okay. Jon was able to get off work a little early to attend a special scholar assembly at school where Joshua received an award from his teacher for being a math scholar. Yes, his former-math-teacher mother is very proud, as is his literary father. :) Then there was the Christmas, I mean Holiday class party, where the kids decorated the store-bought gingerbread men I bought with frosting and candy -- what fun. I was going to bring cupcakes, but the kids seemed to enjoy this more since they got to decorate AND eat their treat.
So the opportunity to learn flexiblity came when I called the Claudia, the woman who is coordinating our loan and found out that she was not in the office and no one else had our case or could help me. UGH! I called Lydia, our sales rep. and she was shocked to hear that Claudia was not avaialbe. But Lydia had Claudia's cell phone and promised to call me back. Turns out the bank, which is located on the east coast, didn't get the appraisal until Friday morning and they had told Claudia that they needed one day to review it. All of our credit stuff was done, but this final issue was the hold up. What is very difficult for me is that I spoke with Claudia twice Thursday afternoon and she never told me the truth that escrow could not close on Friday. Well our sales rep. and her boss felt terrible and said if we signed a hold-harmless form and promised not to tell anyone, we could move in and live in our house until escrow closes on Wednesday (delay due to a weekend and Christmas). Unfortunately, neither Jon or I feel comfortable doing something that we "are not supposed to tell anyone about." It feels shady, unethical, something. We had been told that right before escrow closes its okay to move stuff into the home, but we cannot sleep there until the papers are signed, sealed and delivered. It was all very anticlimactic.
But our friend Pati Toole had arranged for a moving crew, so we went forward with our plans for Saturday. We had an awesome team: my dad and mom, sister Sandy and brother-in-law Sonny, Jim Craft who organized the loading of the trucks, Ryan Romberg who is just a great funny guy who overloaded his truck to get everything to our house, Kellie Bieber who helped my mom, sister and me to put down shelf-paper (that Pati bought for me) and unload the kitchen boxes, Jack Bieber who played with Joshua all morning, Jim Toole who came to be part of the unloading team and then, with Pati, Jake and Conor took Joshua to the local petting zoo in the afternoon when Jack had to go home. What a team. We got everything moved out of the storage shed and into our house. It will be a while before everything is put away, but it is great to have it all there. Actually, we still have some of our outdoor sheds and tools on Heidi's driveway, but she has been so generous and is not in a rush to have her clean driveway back.
We worked all day and then came "home" to Kristin and Rani's to watch a move and go to bed. We were all asleep by 8:30. We have one final opportunity for flexibility. Kristin and Rani have friends coming. Since everything seemed to be on scheduled for us to be out this weekend, they went ahead and invited some friends to come stay with them -- yes, they are very generous and hospitable folks. So now we are looking for a place to spend our final nights before we can sleep in our own beds in our own home on Wednesday. But we know that God will provide.
Thank you all for your prayers and the many, many of you who participated in helping us move. We are so blessed.
Sheryl
Friday was a busy day with the house walk-through that I did with the contractor Frank. There are many things that a crew will need to come out and fix. The paint crew seems to have used semi-gloss to spot paint the living room and dining room, which were done in flat paint. Ah, its great to know the paint crew is so knowledgeable. :) But overall the house looked great and Frank noted all of my concerns. It will probably be the new year before they are all fixed, but that's okay. Jon was able to get off work a little early to attend a special scholar assembly at school where Joshua received an award from his teacher for being a math scholar. Yes, his former-math-teacher mother is very proud, as is his literary father. :) Then there was the Christmas, I mean Holiday class party, where the kids decorated the store-bought gingerbread men I bought with frosting and candy -- what fun. I was going to bring cupcakes, but the kids seemed to enjoy this more since they got to decorate AND eat their treat.
So the opportunity to learn flexiblity came when I called the Claudia, the woman who is coordinating our loan and found out that she was not in the office and no one else had our case or could help me. UGH! I called Lydia, our sales rep. and she was shocked to hear that Claudia was not avaialbe. But Lydia had Claudia's cell phone and promised to call me back. Turns out the bank, which is located on the east coast, didn't get the appraisal until Friday morning and they had told Claudia that they needed one day to review it. All of our credit stuff was done, but this final issue was the hold up. What is very difficult for me is that I spoke with Claudia twice Thursday afternoon and she never told me the truth that escrow could not close on Friday. Well our sales rep. and her boss felt terrible and said if we signed a hold-harmless form and promised not to tell anyone, we could move in and live in our house until escrow closes on Wednesday (delay due to a weekend and Christmas). Unfortunately, neither Jon or I feel comfortable doing something that we "are not supposed to tell anyone about." It feels shady, unethical, something. We had been told that right before escrow closes its okay to move stuff into the home, but we cannot sleep there until the papers are signed, sealed and delivered. It was all very anticlimactic.
But our friend Pati Toole had arranged for a moving crew, so we went forward with our plans for Saturday. We had an awesome team: my dad and mom, sister Sandy and brother-in-law Sonny, Jim Craft who organized the loading of the trucks, Ryan Romberg who is just a great funny guy who overloaded his truck to get everything to our house, Kellie Bieber who helped my mom, sister and me to put down shelf-paper (that Pati bought for me) and unload the kitchen boxes, Jack Bieber who played with Joshua all morning, Jim Toole who came to be part of the unloading team and then, with Pati, Jake and Conor took Joshua to the local petting zoo in the afternoon when Jack had to go home. What a team. We got everything moved out of the storage shed and into our house. It will be a while before everything is put away, but it is great to have it all there. Actually, we still have some of our outdoor sheds and tools on Heidi's driveway, but she has been so generous and is not in a rush to have her clean driveway back.
We worked all day and then came "home" to Kristin and Rani's to watch a move and go to bed. We were all asleep by 8:30. We have one final opportunity for flexibility. Kristin and Rani have friends coming. Since everything seemed to be on scheduled for us to be out this weekend, they went ahead and invited some friends to come stay with them -- yes, they are very generous and hospitable folks. So now we are looking for a place to spend our final nights before we can sleep in our own beds in our own home on Wednesday. But we know that God will provide.
Thank you all for your prayers and the many, many of you who participated in helping us move. We are so blessed.
Sheryl
Monday, December 17, 2007
Moving forward
Today I am feeling very encouraged about our home. We were able to sign the loan docs today and do an initial walk-through with the sales rep. to point out things that need to be fixed before we move in. The carpet was in, but still waiting for the linoleum for the dining room and hall way. The outside is amazing and made a huge leap today. The porch is finished and this evening they were painting the wood railing. The awning also went up today so now there is a covering over the front porch and the driveway. The contractor assured us that the porch and steps on the back of the house will be finished tomorrow and Jon's shed will start going up.
I am starting to allow myself to really believe that we will be using that U-Haul truck on Saturday -- this Saturday the 22nd. Tomorrow I'm going to start packing up the stuff we brought with us to Kristin and Rani's. Wow! It's hard to believe that next week at this time we may be living in our own new home and celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. How cool is that?!
May the rest of this advent season be filled with anticipation not just of Christmas day but the return of Jesus to this earth to rule in peace.
Sheryl
I am starting to allow myself to really believe that we will be using that U-Haul truck on Saturday -- this Saturday the 22nd. Tomorrow I'm going to start packing up the stuff we brought with us to Kristin and Rani's. Wow! It's hard to believe that next week at this time we may be living in our own new home and celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. How cool is that?!
May the rest of this advent season be filled with anticipation not just of Christmas day but the return of Jesus to this earth to rule in peace.
Sheryl
Friday, December 14, 2007
Blessings
The past week has been crazy. Without access to my computer, my life has felt very disorganized, but I have survived. Wednesday we received an e-mail from the pastor of our church letting us know that another member of our church had purchased a Dell computer for us and that it will be delivered early next week. We are so overwhelmed by this blessing. With the water heather going out at our house in Orange, repairs that had to be done on Jon's truck and Christmas shopping, the computer was just another expense we couldn't handle very well right now. God is so good and we are so blessed to be cared for so well by God's people.
The house is moving forward and yesterday I was able to go inside for the first time. There has been lots of craziness surrounding the house as just about every day I have found mistakes being made. Wednesday I informed 6 construction workers that they had framed up our porch in the wrong place -- 3 feet off of our plan. I was so proud of myself for staying relatively calm, calling the contractor and figuring out a way to solve the problem of the corner of the porch being too close to the road, which was why they had moved the porch down. I still do not know why they didn't call to ask us what we thought of this alternative. Today I need to go talk to them about the brick work around the property which isn't quite in the right place yet. Wow! I never thought I would be this directly involved in putting our house together. But everything is coming together and looks great. The sales reps. still assure us that they'll be done next week and we can move next Saturday. A friend from church is recruiting others to help us with the move on the 22nd. What a blessing.
Sheryl
The house is moving forward and yesterday I was able to go inside for the first time. There has been lots of craziness surrounding the house as just about every day I have found mistakes being made. Wednesday I informed 6 construction workers that they had framed up our porch in the wrong place -- 3 feet off of our plan. I was so proud of myself for staying relatively calm, calling the contractor and figuring out a way to solve the problem of the corner of the porch being too close to the road, which was why they had moved the porch down. I still do not know why they didn't call to ask us what we thought of this alternative. Today I need to go talk to them about the brick work around the property which isn't quite in the right place yet. Wow! I never thought I would be this directly involved in putting our house together. But everything is coming together and looks great. The sales reps. still assure us that they'll be done next week and we can move next Saturday. A friend from church is recruiting others to help us with the move on the 22nd. What a blessing.
Sheryl
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Waiting mode
The house is in place and put together. We have been waiting since Thursday for the inspector to come and deliver the Certificate of Occupancy (CO), so the rest of the work can be done on the house. Next comes the outside portion of the house along with the finishing touches -- flooring, etc., on the inside. Our sales rep. is still saying that we'll be in by Christmas. I have reserved a U-Haul for Saturday, December 22, but we'll see if I need to reschedule or not. We cannot move in until the entire house is completed and an appraisal has been done. Pray for patience.
Our computer is also in waiting mode -- it is not working at all and we are waiting for a miracle or someone who can help "heal" our machine. We are able to check e-mails on Kristin and Rani's computer, but every day we think of something useful that we cannot access because our computer is not working. I am driving to Stanton at least once a week to do my job for FSEA. It's not convenient, but not the end of the world. Again, please pray for patience and wisdom to know what to do now.
Trying to patiently wait,
Sheryl
Our computer is also in waiting mode -- it is not working at all and we are waiting for a miracle or someone who can help "heal" our machine. We are able to check e-mails on Kristin and Rani's computer, but every day we think of something useful that we cannot access because our computer is not working. I am driving to Stanton at least once a week to do my job for FSEA. It's not convenient, but not the end of the world. Again, please pray for patience and wisdom to know what to do now.
Trying to patiently wait,
Sheryl
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
We have a house!!!
Monday, December 3 between 11:00 and 11:30 a.m. our new home was delivered to space #73. We are so excited and feel so blessed to be supported through this process by so many of you. Kristin, Rani, Emma and Claire have been the biggest blessing as they have shared their home with us for three weeks and anticipate three more weeks to go.
I have about 30 minutes of video tape and lots of pictures of the new house being brought in. Unfortunately our computer is not yet up and running enough for me to post pictures to the blog. Hopefully soon! If you know where our house is, feel free to drive by and take a look. Today they are supposed to be "putting it together." It will take a few days to get the house assembled and up on blocks with earthquake bracing, etc. Then our contractor Herman will begin on the "outside package" while others complete the inside of the house -- flooring, touch-up painting, etc. We are very hopeful that we can be in the house by Christmas. We anticipate renting a U-Haul to move our stuff out of storage at Camp Pendleton and bring it home on Saturday, December 22. If you would be willing to help us with this endeavor, let us know.
We are very encouraged and blessed by so many of you. Thank you.
Sheryl
I have about 30 minutes of video tape and lots of pictures of the new house being brought in. Unfortunately our computer is not yet up and running enough for me to post pictures to the blog. Hopefully soon! If you know where our house is, feel free to drive by and take a look. Today they are supposed to be "putting it together." It will take a few days to get the house assembled and up on blocks with earthquake bracing, etc. Then our contractor Herman will begin on the "outside package" while others complete the inside of the house -- flooring, touch-up painting, etc. We are very hopeful that we can be in the house by Christmas. We anticipate renting a U-Haul to move our stuff out of storage at Camp Pendleton and bring it home on Saturday, December 22. If you would be willing to help us with this endeavor, let us know.
We are very encouraged and blessed by so many of you. Thank you.
Sheryl
Sunday, December 02, 2007
When it rains, it pours
"When it rains, it pours," someone said and it has been true for us these past couple weeks. Jon had to spend all day Saturday at our house in Orange. The water heater started leaking -- not sure when -- but long enough to ruin the new flooring we had installed in the spring. We will for sure have to replace the floor in the dining area, not sure if the kitchen portion will need replacing as well. We were thinking of a tankless water heather for the house, but the difference between a water heater ($1,300) and a tankless ($3,000) was just too much with anticipated expense of replacing the floor.
Jon spent all afternoon today (Sunday) getting our computer back up and running. We don't have the Microsoft Office software yet, but at least we have a "clean" machine and can access Outlook Express and the Internet. That is a big help. I am so grateful for Jon's tenacious work to get us back up. We hope to get the Microsoft software installed Tuesday night, so hopefully we'll find all of the documents we have created on our system by the middle of the week.
The new house is supposed to be delivered Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. I have not been happy with the work in preparing the lot -- long story -- but I have stayed on top of the contractor and sales person. Jon has gotten permission to go to work late so he will be there with me in the morning to make sure the new house gets put where it is supposed to. Then we have a couple weeks for the "outside package" to be built (porch, stairs, widen driveway, etc.). After that, we can move in -- hopefully the week before Christmas. I still think that is possible.
Thank you for your encouraging words and prayers. By the way, both Jon and I will need to rebuild our e-mail address books, so if you read this, please send each of us an e-mail. Thanks.
Sheryl
Jon spent all afternoon today (Sunday) getting our computer back up and running. We don't have the Microsoft Office software yet, but at least we have a "clean" machine and can access Outlook Express and the Internet. That is a big help. I am so grateful for Jon's tenacious work to get us back up. We hope to get the Microsoft software installed Tuesday night, so hopefully we'll find all of the documents we have created on our system by the middle of the week.
The new house is supposed to be delivered Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. I have not been happy with the work in preparing the lot -- long story -- but I have stayed on top of the contractor and sales person. Jon has gotten permission to go to work late so he will be there with me in the morning to make sure the new house gets put where it is supposed to. Then we have a couple weeks for the "outside package" to be built (porch, stairs, widen driveway, etc.). After that, we can move in -- hopefully the week before Christmas. I still think that is possible.
Thank you for your encouraging words and prayers. By the way, both Jon and I will need to rebuild our e-mail address books, so if you read this, please send each of us an e-mail. Thanks.
Sheryl
Thursday, November 29, 2007
If you can believe it -- now the computer is gone
We got a virus. Hopefully none of received bugged e-mails from us. Jon spent Sunday trying to fix the problem and by Monday night it was all over. It has been a strange week without the computer. I actually "went back to work." The FSEA office is located in Stanton (just south of Knott's Berry Farm) about 50 miles from our current home in San Clemente, but the drive had to be made as I've had about 8 hours of work that needed to be done this week. I have the added benefit of being able to check my personal e-mail once my work is done.
Things are progressing with our house, but not in a quick or as orderly a fashion as we saw the first week. I have had to stay on top of a number of people and today I will take the plans to the site along with my measuring tape to make sure things are really set up right for the delivery of the house. It was supposed to be delivered this week, but due to some of those people I have been keeping tabs on, it won't go in until Monday. Oh, well, what would my life be without a construction project to stay on top of? We still hope to be in the house before Christmas, but we'll see.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I had a great time with friends where we currently live and then a couple days with my immediate family -- all of us, including our newest member -- Madeline McKenna France (almost 3 months). We all had an extended slumber party at my brother Steve's house in Escondido. If I had my own computer, I could post some pictures of our time together. :) I know, you are releaved not to have baby pictures to look at.
All for now,
Sheryl
Things are progressing with our house, but not in a quick or as orderly a fashion as we saw the first week. I have had to stay on top of a number of people and today I will take the plans to the site along with my measuring tape to make sure things are really set up right for the delivery of the house. It was supposed to be delivered this week, but due to some of those people I have been keeping tabs on, it won't go in until Monday. Oh, well, what would my life be without a construction project to stay on top of? We still hope to be in the house before Christmas, but we'll see.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I had a great time with friends where we currently live and then a couple days with my immediate family -- all of us, including our newest member -- Madeline McKenna France (almost 3 months). We all had an extended slumber party at my brother Steve's house in Escondido. If I had my own computer, I could post some pictures of our time together. :) I know, you are releaved not to have baby pictures to look at.
All for now,
Sheryl
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
And now the bike is gone
Last night Jon sold his BMW motorcycle. He owned it for 3 1/2 years and was able to get hours of enjoyment out of it. He fulfilled a life-time dream of biking around the US with his two brothers in 2005 and has loved driving it to work just about every day since he bought it.
But it was time for the bike to move on to another owner so we could save about $10K in interest on our new home. I'm not sure if Jon will post a eulogy on his blog, but here is a picture of his baby with the load bearing system that he created and built himself.
Farewell, good bike.
Sheryl
Saturday, November 17, 2007
It's Gone
We moved out of our house Monday evening, November 12. Tuesday morning I drove by to check it out and men were already working stripping down the awnings, carport, etc. I took the picture to the right that morning. We salvaged a few items we realized we'd forgotten. Wednesday they were still hard at work putting axels and wheels under the house. By Thursday morning the two halves of the house were separated and prepared to be driven away. I took Joshua by after school to see the two halves and the house was gone. Amazing!
Ready to go. Notice that the street sign/stop sign is still in place, but did not survive when the house was pulled out.
Same corner from reverse angle this past Thursday:
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Lots to celebrate
Last week was crazy with Jon and I cleaning out, packing, organizing, packing and moving all of our "stuff" out of our old house. As of this morning, we are out and the old house is being dismantled. I'll try to get pictures up later this week.
On Saturday Jon and I were able to get away for another overnight date. My brother and sister-in-law watched Joshua this time and he had a great time with his cousin Evan. They are 6 months apart and great friends. Joshua even lost another tooth while he was there.
Jon and I arrived at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe around 4:00, so we were able to relax and enjoy the picturesque inn while getting ready for the ball that evening. This town was about the last community blocking the fires from getting to the ocean. The burned areas we drove through were stark but it was amazing to see surviving houses dotting the burned landscape. Numerous "thank you firefighters" signs mark the driveways along that road.
The ball was great fun because we had 12 friends join us. We were also with a unit that Jon used to be connected to when he was a Reservist. Many of the "old guys" showed up for the ball, so it was fun to see familiar faces. I usually don't know anyone at the big MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) balls.
It was very nice to spend the night at the inn and sleep in a bit Sunday morning. Jon wore his uniform on Sunday in honor of Veteran's Day and we took a little walk into town to find some breakfast -- we were trying to save a few bucks since the breakfast at the inn was a little more that we would usually spend. Well, we were stopped by many people and Jon was thanked for his service. One man stopped his car, got out and came over to shake Jon's had. He invited us to the local church and then handed Jon $40 for breakfast. Everyone insisted that the best breakfast was at the Inn, so we headed back and enjoyed the delicious meal immensely. What an encouragement as we prepare for another deployment in two months.
When we got home Sunday, we spent the rest of the day and all day Monday getting our stuff together. It is amazing how long the final day of packing took. We fell into bed around 11:00 p.m. after going all day. But we got everything we wanted out and we are settled at our friends' home in San Clemente. My proudest moment was getting my computer set up all by myself last night. When I saw my e-mail popping up, I felt like I was home. :)
We are so grateful to have a comfortable, beautiful place to live for the next month or so. God has been very good.
Sheryl
On Saturday Jon and I were able to get away for another overnight date. My brother and sister-in-law watched Joshua this time and he had a great time with his cousin Evan. They are 6 months apart and great friends. Joshua even lost another tooth while he was there.
Jon and I arrived at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe around 4:00, so we were able to relax and enjoy the picturesque inn while getting ready for the ball that evening. This town was about the last community blocking the fires from getting to the ocean. The burned areas we drove through were stark but it was amazing to see surviving houses dotting the burned landscape. Numerous "thank you firefighters" signs mark the driveways along that road.
The ball was great fun because we had 12 friends join us. We were also with a unit that Jon used to be connected to when he was a Reservist. Many of the "old guys" showed up for the ball, so it was fun to see familiar faces. I usually don't know anyone at the big MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) balls.
It was very nice to spend the night at the inn and sleep in a bit Sunday morning. Jon wore his uniform on Sunday in honor of Veteran's Day and we took a little walk into town to find some breakfast -- we were trying to save a few bucks since the breakfast at the inn was a little more that we would usually spend. Well, we were stopped by many people and Jon was thanked for his service. One man stopped his car, got out and came over to shake Jon's had. He invited us to the local church and then handed Jon $40 for breakfast. Everyone insisted that the best breakfast was at the Inn, so we headed back and enjoyed the delicious meal immensely. What an encouragement as we prepare for another deployment in two months.
When we got home Sunday, we spent the rest of the day and all day Monday getting our stuff together. It is amazing how long the final day of packing took. We fell into bed around 11:00 p.m. after going all day. But we got everything we wanted out and we are settled at our friends' home in San Clemente. My proudest moment was getting my computer set up all by myself last night. When I saw my e-mail popping up, I felt like I was home. :)
We are so grateful to have a comfortable, beautiful place to live for the next month or so. God has been very good.
Sheryl
Sunday, November 04, 2007
A busy long weekend
November has started off with our usual crazy busy schedule. Thursday Joshua was home from school (elementary schools were having parent/teacher conferences) and I needed to attend a meeting at the district office. Jon got home from work around 1:30 -- early because the MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) was having their Marine Corps Ball that night. We loaded up our truck to take more of our stuff down to the storage bin at Camp Pendelton. Then we headed south. This was my first sight of the burned area in Camp Pendelton along the 5 freeway. 
It was awesome to see 8 miles of burned hills. I took this picture while I was driving north on the 5 freeway. For me the fire has already become history but I know there are families who only just got to go home this weekend and of course the families who lost their homes will be rebuilding for a long time. Later in the weekend we drove a short way down the 15 freeway to get a glimpse of the burned area in Rancho Bernardo -- we could see places where the fire jumped a freeway that is at least 10 lanes wide -- those were powerful winds.
Thursday evening we were able to drop Joshua off with my sister Sandy and her husband Sonny. He had a wonderful time and was introduced to Wii. Oh, great, a new expensive toy to add to his wish list -- thanks, Uncle Sonny. This Marine Corps ball was held at the Pechanga Casino -- 1,200 Marines and their guests and it seemed like the majority were about 18 years old. I started feeling old when the music started and I didn't know many of the songs and my head started ringing -- that was loud music. Jon and I had a wonderful date night together and I got to meet many of the Marines that he either worked with the last time he was deployed or who he will work with next year. It was just fun to be out for the night together.
Friday we got back home in time to run over to school to our conference with Joshua's teacher. We learned that Joshua is quite smart -- tested at the 3rd grade level in English and Math. Of course he is being taught in Spanish and his Spanish reading is lower than it "should" be so he will be having some after-school "enrichment" classes for the next few months. We also are supposed to work with him to get him to memorize the addition and subtraction facts. Unfortunately, his math major mother never memorized those facts. I have been known to use my fingers while balancing my check book. So I know for a fact that Joshua will be fine without being able to complete 100 addition or subtraction problems in 5 minutes. Oh, well, we'll try to find a fun way to help him memorize them.
Our craziness was in full swing on Saturday. We had soccer at 8:00 a.m. -- Joshua played and Jon was the ref. Then we headed to our house in Orange to unload the nearly-new oven from our current mobile home, a dishwasher in fairly good shape and mirrored sliding glass doors. We also helped our friend and tenant Lauri pack up her stuff as she was moving out. Then we were off to sign the revised papers for our new home. We rushed home so Jon could show his motorcycle to an interested buyer. We loaded the truck again so Jon could take another trip to our storage unit at Camp Pendelton. I headed off to Jumpin Jammin with Joshua for a friend's birthday party. What a day. The extra hour of sleep last night was greatly needed and appreciated.
Next weekend we'll be moving and I'm not sure how long I'll be without a computer. The friends who are hosting us for the next 6 weeks have said I can get connected to the Internet, so hopefully I'll only be off for a day or two. Thanks for all your prayers.
Sheryl
It was awesome to see 8 miles of burned hills. I took this picture while I was driving north on the 5 freeway. For me the fire has already become history but I know there are families who only just got to go home this weekend and of course the families who lost their homes will be rebuilding for a long time. Later in the weekend we drove a short way down the 15 freeway to get a glimpse of the burned area in Rancho Bernardo -- we could see places where the fire jumped a freeway that is at least 10 lanes wide -- those were powerful winds.Thursday evening we were able to drop Joshua off with my sister Sandy and her husband Sonny. He had a wonderful time and was introduced to Wii. Oh, great, a new expensive toy to add to his wish list -- thanks, Uncle Sonny. This Marine Corps ball was held at the Pechanga Casino -- 1,200 Marines and their guests and it seemed like the majority were about 18 years old. I started feeling old when the music started and I didn't know many of the songs and my head started ringing -- that was loud music. Jon and I had a wonderful date night together and I got to meet many of the Marines that he either worked with the last time he was deployed or who he will work with next year. It was just fun to be out for the night together.
Friday we got back home in time to run over to school to our conference with Joshua's teacher. We learned that Joshua is quite smart -- tested at the 3rd grade level in English and Math. Of course he is being taught in Spanish and his Spanish reading is lower than it "should" be so he will be having some after-school "enrichment" classes for the next few months. We also are supposed to work with him to get him to memorize the addition and subtraction facts. Unfortunately, his math major mother never memorized those facts. I have been known to use my fingers while balancing my check book. So I know for a fact that Joshua will be fine without being able to complete 100 addition or subtraction problems in 5 minutes. Oh, well, we'll try to find a fun way to help him memorize them.
Our craziness was in full swing on Saturday. We had soccer at 8:00 a.m. -- Joshua played and Jon was the ref. Then we headed to our house in Orange to unload the nearly-new oven from our current mobile home, a dishwasher in fairly good shape and mirrored sliding glass doors. We also helped our friend and tenant Lauri pack up her stuff as she was moving out. Then we were off to sign the revised papers for our new home. We rushed home so Jon could show his motorcycle to an interested buyer. We loaded the truck again so Jon could take another trip to our storage unit at Camp Pendelton. I headed off to Jumpin Jammin with Joshua for a friend's birthday party. What a day. The extra hour of sleep last night was greatly needed and appreciated.
Next weekend we'll be moving and I'm not sure how long I'll be without a computer. The friends who are hosting us for the next 6 weeks have said I can get connected to the Internet, so hopefully I'll only be off for a day or two. Thanks for all your prayers.
Sheryl
Thursday, November 01, 2007
A Happy Halloween
Jon and Joshua were out trick-or-treating for 2 hours and came back with the most candy Joshua has ever collected. And unknown to me, Jon did dress up. He put on his coat and hat because in past years he had discovered that this favorite outfit of his looks like Freddy Kruger to everyone else. You can decide.
Sheryl
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Getting caught up
It has been nearly a month since I last posted to my blog. Many thanks to those of you who read my blog regularly. I am humbled when you tell me in passing that you are keeping up and praying for me. Wow! What a blessing. Thank you.
After the marathon we became very focused on packing and making decisions about our new home. We had a great time picking out the specs for our new home and only had to make a few cuts (nothing critical) to stay within our budget. Then came the meeting with the contractor who will do the "outside" package -- porch, work shed, brick work and any cement that is needed. We had no idea of the cost, so we made our wish list, knowing that it would probably be more than we could afford. Sure enough, our initial requests put us at double what our sales rep. had estimated we would spend. So we quickly cut back on the brick work and came up with a smaller porch, etc. The final result will be just fine. October 20th we met with our sales rep., gave her our down payment (what a huge cashier's check that was) and signed the papers. She reviewed the time-line with us and the plan is for us to move out of our current home the weekend of November 10-11, the old house will then be removed, the site prepared and the new home placed the end of November. It will then take 2 weeks for the house to be put together, carpet and flooring installed, etc. and the "outside" package completed. Hopefully we'll be in our new home the week before Christmas.
Then we hit a "little" glitch. Friday, October 26, about an hour before Jon left to lead a group from our church to Mexico for a weekend work project, we got a message from the manager of Advantage Homes. We knew that he would be reviewing the paperwork and expected that he would order the house that Friday. Well, there had been a $30,000 mistake made by the sales rep. I will not go into the details, but suffice it to say, we were very disappointed. Jon and I spoke briefly about the situation and decided to spend the weekend praying and make a decision on Monday. The manager was able to find some savings and dropped the mistake down to a $20,000 increase over what we expected to have to borrow. What a weekend. I am a budgeter, saver, planner and this was a big hurtle for me. Both Jon and I prayed and when we got together Sunday night he said he would sell his motorcycle and that would help to cut our loan amount by another $10,000. Unfortunately the Marine who had been interested in buying his bike is now considering buying a home, so he doesn't have any extra cash right now. Jon has posted the bike on a couple online sites and we'll see what happens. There are always lots of bogus online offers but today someone did call and said that he lives in San Clemente and would like to come by and see the bike. So who knows how the Lord will provide, but we are confident that we have made the right decision and He will take care of our needs -- He always has.
I hope Jon will post on his blog about his trip to Mexico. He led a team of 8 to work at the church in the community of El Nino where our family worked over spring break back in April. Jon and the team had a wonderful time working and connecting with the church community there.
If you checked Jon's blog last week, you saw that we were not directly effected by the fires. School was closed for two days due to the bad air quality from the ash in the air. It was hard to breath and since I was recovering from a cold my cough was pretty bad, but of course that is nothing compared to the loss of homes and some lives caused by the fires. Joshua and I were able to get quite a bit of packing done while he was home from school.
Tonight Joshua (the werewolf) is out trick-or-treating with Jon (not dressed up) and another friend from the neighborhood (a zombie). What fun -- more candy than we need. :) Tomorrow and Friday there is no school due to parent/teacher conferences, so we'll be able to sleep in after our sugar high.
Thanks again for caring about our lives. Blessings and Happy Halloween!
Sheryl
After the marathon we became very focused on packing and making decisions about our new home. We had a great time picking out the specs for our new home and only had to make a few cuts (nothing critical) to stay within our budget. Then came the meeting with the contractor who will do the "outside" package -- porch, work shed, brick work and any cement that is needed. We had no idea of the cost, so we made our wish list, knowing that it would probably be more than we could afford. Sure enough, our initial requests put us at double what our sales rep. had estimated we would spend. So we quickly cut back on the brick work and came up with a smaller porch, etc. The final result will be just fine. October 20th we met with our sales rep., gave her our down payment (what a huge cashier's check that was) and signed the papers. She reviewed the time-line with us and the plan is for us to move out of our current home the weekend of November 10-11, the old house will then be removed, the site prepared and the new home placed the end of November. It will then take 2 weeks for the house to be put together, carpet and flooring installed, etc. and the "outside" package completed. Hopefully we'll be in our new home the week before Christmas.
Then we hit a "little" glitch. Friday, October 26, about an hour before Jon left to lead a group from our church to Mexico for a weekend work project, we got a message from the manager of Advantage Homes. We knew that he would be reviewing the paperwork and expected that he would order the house that Friday. Well, there had been a $30,000 mistake made by the sales rep. I will not go into the details, but suffice it to say, we were very disappointed. Jon and I spoke briefly about the situation and decided to spend the weekend praying and make a decision on Monday. The manager was able to find some savings and dropped the mistake down to a $20,000 increase over what we expected to have to borrow. What a weekend. I am a budgeter, saver, planner and this was a big hurtle for me. Both Jon and I prayed and when we got together Sunday night he said he would sell his motorcycle and that would help to cut our loan amount by another $10,000. Unfortunately the Marine who had been interested in buying his bike is now considering buying a home, so he doesn't have any extra cash right now. Jon has posted the bike on a couple online sites and we'll see what happens. There are always lots of bogus online offers but today someone did call and said that he lives in San Clemente and would like to come by and see the bike. So who knows how the Lord will provide, but we are confident that we have made the right decision and He will take care of our needs -- He always has.
I hope Jon will post on his blog about his trip to Mexico. He led a team of 8 to work at the church in the community of El Nino where our family worked over spring break back in April. Jon and the team had a wonderful time working and connecting with the church community there.
If you checked Jon's blog last week, you saw that we were not directly effected by the fires. School was closed for two days due to the bad air quality from the ash in the air. It was hard to breath and since I was recovering from a cold my cough was pretty bad, but of course that is nothing compared to the loss of homes and some lives caused by the fires. Joshua and I were able to get quite a bit of packing done while he was home from school.
Tonight Joshua (the werewolf) is out trick-or-treating with Jon (not dressed up) and another friend from the neighborhood (a zombie). What fun -- more candy than we need. :) Tomorrow and Friday there is no school due to parent/teacher conferences, so we'll be able to sleep in after our sugar high.
Thanks again for caring about our lives. Blessings and Happy Halloween!
Sheryl
Sunday, October 07, 2007
More update from Jon
Jon called around 2:00 p.m. and it was great to hear his voice. If you've checked the web site you know that the marathon was canceled before most people could finish. Here is the official statement, "Due to the rising heat index and higher than expected temperatures, LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Executive Race Director Carey Pinkowski and Medical Director Dr. George Chiampas, in cooperation with city officials, have implemented a contingency plan, as a precautionary measure, to effectively close the Marathon course at the halfway point. Runners who have not reached the halfway point by approximately 12:00 p.m. will be diverted back to Grant Park via Halsted and Jackson. Jackson will be closed to automobile traffic and the participants will be provided with additional support along this route. Participants who crossed the halfway point prior to the shut-down will continue to be fully supported along the standard course to the finish line. Participants are asked to take advantage of medical personnel, cooling buses, runner drop out buses, water, Gatorade and other means of support en route back to Grant Park."
Here's a video clip http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=36199@wbbm.dayport.com that tells about the closure of the marathon.
Jon was at mile 22 when the announcement was made and everyone was directed to walk the rest of the way in. They were told that their time would not be recorded. But he checked his watch and ended the race in 5 hours and 5 minutes -- a little slower than he had anticipated. Jon thinks that 5 or 6 of the 17 members of the team from our church were able to finish the race. He noted that the race organizers were very unprepared for the heat and were running out of water early. Those runners behind Jon did not get water until mile 6 and no Gatorade until mile 9. Jon said he really needed the water he got at mile 3 and the Gatorade he got at mile 6. Jon was on a bus heading back to the hotel when he called. Their team is going to meet in a couple hours and go out for dinner.
After hearing the really sad news about some of the marathon participants I am so grateful Jon and my other friends are fine. I'm sure Jon will post his perspective on the race on his blog when he gets home Monday night.
Sheryl
Here's a video clip http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=36199@wbbm.dayport.com that tells about the closure of the marathon.
Jon was at mile 22 when the announcement was made and everyone was directed to walk the rest of the way in. They were told that their time would not be recorded. But he checked his watch and ended the race in 5 hours and 5 minutes -- a little slower than he had anticipated. Jon thinks that 5 or 6 of the 17 members of the team from our church were able to finish the race. He noted that the race organizers were very unprepared for the heat and were running out of water early. Those runners behind Jon did not get water until mile 6 and no Gatorade until mile 9. Jon said he really needed the water he got at mile 3 and the Gatorade he got at mile 6. Jon was on a bus heading back to the hotel when he called. Their team is going to meet in a couple hours and go out for dinner.
After hearing the really sad news about some of the marathon participants I am so grateful Jon and my other friends are fine. I'm sure Jon will post his perspective on the race on his blog when he gets home Monday night.
Sheryl
He finished
The website that tracks the runners is not working due to too much traffic, but I did get the e-mail confirmation that Jon finished the race a few minutes ago in 5 hours 15 minutes and 59 seconds. Amazing.
If you want to see a map of the course, go to: http://www.chicagomarathon.com/CMS400Min/uploadedFiles/Chicago_Marathon/Runner_Information/07_Course_Map_Vert_RGB.pdf
Thank you for your prayers.
Sheryl
If you want to see a map of the course, go to: http://www.chicagomarathon.com/CMS400Min/uploadedFiles/Chicago_Marathon/Runner_Information/07_Course_Map_Vert_RGB.pdf
Thank you for your prayers.
Sheryl
Jon is racing
If you want to keep track of Jon's race, go to http://livechicago.mikatiming.com/ and type in his name or bib number #45192. As of 7:30 a.m. California time, he was at a slightly less than 11 minute/mile pace through the first 10K. Based on the times of others from our church team, it looks like Jon is running with our pastor Tod and at least one other team mate. Right now it is 77 degrees with 70% humidity but by noon when he finishes it is supposed to be 85 but feel like 89. UGH! I'm sure glad I'm not running. Thanks for your prayers.
I'll post his stats when the race is over.
Sheryl
I'll post his stats when the race is over.
Sheryl
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Marathon update
Okay, the marathon has not started yet, but Jon did make it safely to Chicago yesterday. His brother Greg road his motorcycle over from Detroit so they were able to enjoy the evening together. Today Greg heads out and Jon will join his team for all of the pre-marathon activities.
A huge THANK YOU! to many of you who made donations to World Vision for the Nkhoma ADP in Malawi. As of this morning, over $2,005 had been donated via Jon's efforts. We are so grateful for your participation.
Keep the runners in your prayers as they are anticipating a high of 88 tomorrow. The nonprofessional runners won't start the race till 8:00 a.m. and with humidity in the 70s, I imagine it will be pretty miserable by the end of the run.
We did have our own excitement at home yesterday. When I picked Joshua up from school, I found my boy with a missing tooth. We had been waiting for this for a number of weeks now. The tooth has been "mostly dead" but Joshua didn't want to pull it. He ended up being accidentally hit in the face and out came the tooth. The tooth fairy visited last night, so all is well at home.
Some of you may be wondering about our new home. Last Saturday we picked out the specific items for inside and on Monday night we met with the contractor about the outside package. Now we are waiting for a final quote on the whole thing and approval from the mobile home park management and the city. Hopefully we'll have more news next week.
Sheryl
A huge THANK YOU! to many of you who made donations to World Vision for the Nkhoma ADP in Malawi. As of this morning, over $2,005 had been donated via Jon's efforts. We are so grateful for your participation.
Keep the runners in your prayers as they are anticipating a high of 88 tomorrow. The nonprofessional runners won't start the race till 8:00 a.m. and with humidity in the 70s, I imagine it will be pretty miserable by the end of the run.
We did have our own excitement at home yesterday. When I picked Joshua up from school, I found my boy with a missing tooth. We had been waiting for this for a number of weeks now. The tooth has been "mostly dead" but Joshua didn't want to pull it. He ended up being accidentally hit in the face and out came the tooth. The tooth fairy visited last night, so all is well at home.
Some of you may be wondering about our new home. Last Saturday we picked out the specific items for inside and on Monday night we met with the contractor about the outside package. Now we are waiting for a final quote on the whole thing and approval from the mobile home park management and the city. Hopefully we'll have more news next week.
Sheryl
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
One more call for marathon sponsorship
As you all know, Jon will be running his first marathon this coming weekend -- in 4 days. I can't believe it. He was injured in August, but did the "work" of resting and caring for his ankle and has not had any pain during the past few weeks that he has been running. He has not done any of the really long runs (over 16 miles) but he is in good shape and I think will finish well. I am so proud of him!
The most important thing is that he has been able to raise almost $1,000 for a cause that is very important to us -- the World Vision Area Development Project (ADP) in Nkhoma, Malawi. Thank you, if you are one of the many who have joined Jon's "team." I was able to visit the Nkhoma area two years ago before the ADP was started. We have since begun sponsoring two children in the area and have been blessed to be part of a work that is bringing long-term, life-saving changes to this community. If you would like to join the team, please click on this link and make your donation. I know it will really encourage Jon as he prepares to head to Chicago.
http://www.firstgiving.com/jarhedjon
Thanks.
Sheryl
The most important thing is that he has been able to raise almost $1,000 for a cause that is very important to us -- the World Vision Area Development Project (ADP) in Nkhoma, Malawi. Thank you, if you are one of the many who have joined Jon's "team." I was able to visit the Nkhoma area two years ago before the ADP was started. We have since begun sponsoring two children in the area and have been blessed to be part of a work that is bringing long-term, life-saving changes to this community. If you would like to join the team, please click on this link and make your donation. I know it will really encourage Jon as he prepares to head to Chicago.
http://www.firstgiving.com/jarhedjon
Thanks.
Sheryl
Saturday, September 22, 2007
A rainy Saturday
They say "it never rains in Southern California" and for the past year or two, they'd be right. Not sure what is happening to the weather, but it is raining in Southern California today.
Today was supposed to be Joshua's first AYSO soccer game and picture day. He had been praying that it wouldn't rain, although Jon and I pointed out that farmers, plants, animals and all of us that live in this desert need the rain. So when I woke up at
6:00 this morning and heard the rain I started thinking of ways to defuse some of the disappointment. We had homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and right now Jon and Joshua are out playing in the rain. They even had the bright idea of getting the key to the jacuzzi so that after they are wet and cold (its 64 degrees) they can go get warmed up. This should give me an hour or so to pack a few more boxes.
Yep, we are proceeding with our plans to get a new pre-fab home. Great financing has come in through the company we are working with to get the new home, including a $30K credit for the old house. Not sure why a bank would offer us that, but we are very grateful. Next Saturday we'll be out at the factory picking out some of the specifics for our home.
Hope you all enjoy your Saturday whether you have rain or sun.
Sheryl
Today was supposed to be Joshua's first AYSO soccer game and picture day. He had been praying that it wouldn't rain, although Jon and I pointed out that farmers, plants, animals and all of us that live in this desert need the rain. So when I woke up at
6:00 this morning and heard the rain I started thinking of ways to defuse some of the disappointment. We had homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and right now Jon and Joshua are out playing in the rain. They even had the bright idea of getting the key to the jacuzzi so that after they are wet and cold (its 64 degrees) they can go get warmed up. This should give me an hour or so to pack a few more boxes.Yep, we are proceeding with our plans to get a new pre-fab home. Great financing has come in through the company we are working with to get the new home, including a $30K credit for the old house. Not sure why a bank would offer us that, but we are very grateful. Next Saturday we'll be out at the factory picking out some of the specifics for our home.
Hope you all enjoy your Saturday whether you have rain or sun.
Sheryl
Saturday, September 15, 2007
A sick boy and a pre-fab home
Well, this week didn't turn out to be what I had expected or planned. I was called to the school on Tuesday morning to pick up Joshua who was in the nurses office with a headache and sore throat. To be honest, I thought he was faking, because he didn't show signs of being sick when we got home. Wednesday I assumed he'd be back at school, but during the night the cough started and by the morning he had a bad cold. He ended up home all week. His teacher told me in an e-mail that "it is going around." Ah, welcome back to school....
On another note, I have been researching possible financing options for a new
pre-fab home and it looks like we might be able to afford to replace our 32 year-old mobile home for a nice new one without going too far into debt. Of course "too far into debt" is all relative. This afternoon we will get to walk through a model of the home we are interested in. Here is a picture of the floor plan, if you are interested. The home will fit nicely on our lot and we may end up with a wrap-around porch that starts at the end by the dining room and goes around the side to the living room. We're hoping to make decisions about the details of our home in a couple weeks. Then, assuming the financing all comes together, we'll be packing, moving out, moving back in and unpacking between now and Thanksgiving. Some friends of ours from church have offered their recently remodeled upstairs bedrooms for us to use during this time. What a blessing and an answer to prayer.
Sheryl
On another note, I have been researching possible financing options for a new
pre-fab home and it looks like we might be able to afford to replace our 32 year-old mobile home for a nice new one without going too far into debt. Of course "too far into debt" is all relative. This afternoon we will get to walk through a model of the home we are interested in. Here is a picture of the floor plan, if you are interested. The home will fit nicely on our lot and we may end up with a wrap-around porch that starts at the end by the dining room and goes around the side to the living room. We're hoping to make decisions about the details of our home in a couple weeks. Then, assuming the financing all comes together, we'll be packing, moving out, moving back in and unpacking between now and Thanksgiving. Some friends of ours from church have offered their recently remodeled upstairs bedrooms for us to use during this time. What a blessing and an answer to prayer. Sheryl
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
A new France
I am excited to introduce you to my newest niece. Madeline McKenna France was born Sunday, September 9th at 2:22pm! She weighed 6lbs 15.3 ounces and both Renee and baby are doing great. Labor was fast and furious and Renee did it all natural. Very impressive!
Maddy is the first-born to my youngest brother Scott and his wife Renee. They live in Seattle, but are planning to come down to So. Cal. for Thanksgiving, so we'll get to meet Maddy in two months.
Sheryl
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Good news, Bad news
The insurance adjuster came out Friday evening and did a very thorough job of investigating our mold situation. I'll try not to go into too much detail, but the good news is that the pipes below Joshua's room do not have a leak, so there isn't any bacteria soaking up into his room. The bad news is that the water source seems to be coming from the water heater and based on the evidence or lack there of, our insurance will not be covering any of the costs to fix the problem. There is evidence of a large water problem that could have occurred a long time ago and caused the mold to grow in the flooring under the water heater. The smell of the mold and maybe mold spores probably went straight into Joshua's room through the cold-air exchange vent which is in the corner of his room right next to the water heater. We pulled up the carpet and the stain on the bottom of the carpet indicated that water had come in through the walls by the water heater. The insurance adjuster was able to get pictures of the "inside" the sub-floor by getting his digital camera into the air vent and some holes underneath the house. It was helpful to see exactly what the damage is inside the floor.
Once again, the good news is that the problem isn't quite as big as expected, but we still have the problem in the bathroom probably caused by a leak under the shower and the damage caused by the water heater to the corner of the house is pretty extensive. So, we've got to decide if we are going to fix the problem in our 32-year old mobile home or get a new one. Thanks for your prayers for wisdom.
Sheryl
Once again, the good news is that the problem isn't quite as big as expected, but we still have the problem in the bathroom probably caused by a leak under the shower and the damage caused by the water heater to the corner of the house is pretty extensive. So, we've got to decide if we are going to fix the problem in our 32-year old mobile home or get a new one. Thanks for your prayers for wisdom.
Sheryl
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Mold and back to school
I realize that I never reported on our lives during August. After being gone for a month, we were busy, like everyone else. I am looking forward to getting back into the routine of school, although Joshua is not excited about homework. Here he is with some of his buddies today on the first day of school.
Unfortunately our lives will not be slowing down any time soon. I am PTA President at Joshua's school this year and involved in leadership at our church. And then on Friday we got some news that will effect our lives in ways we probably can't even imagine yet. We had a mold inspector come to our house. I have been concerned about a moldy smell in Joshua's room. When we got back from our road trip, maybe since the room had been sealed up for a month, Joshua was unable to sleep at night without coughing really hard. We've moved him into our room. The inspector confirmed our worse fears. There is a leak in the bathroom shower, right next to Joshua's room, however that does not seem to be what is causing the mold in his room. There is mold in the wall of that bathroom, so the shower will need to be removed probably along with the wall and floor. Then we found that there is a leak in our water heater, which is in an outside panel that backs up to the corner of Joshua's closet. So we will need to replace the water heater and have the moldy wood, etc. removed from that corner of the house. However, that does not seem to be what is causing the mold in Joshua's room. Finally, the inspector found a wet spot on Joshua's floor. The wet spot is a circular area about a foot in diameter and after looking under the house, he realized that it is right above where the drainage pipes in the house meet and go to the outside drain. All the drains come together, so the leak includes mold and bacteria. He confirmed that Joshua may not do anything in that room again. There are many studies that show a raised chance of children developing asthma when exposed to mold. I spent all day Saturday doing laundry since everything made of cloth needed to be washed or thrown away. We will need to wipe down all his toys, furniture, etc. (Heavy sigh!)
I called our insurance company today, placed a claim and they have made it a level one claim. The lady who took the information over the phone was very compassionate. So now we'll wait to see what insurance will cover and how much. Then we'll need to decide what to do next.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during this stressful time.
Sheryl
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Road Trip 2007 Stats
We have been back from our road trip for almost a month, so I apologize for the delay in getting this final posting up. Thanks to the many of you who have read my trip reports and kept up with us. It is an encouragement to hear from many of you and to know that you were praying for us.
I am borrowing an idea from my brother's trip blog and posting
a picture of the map of our trip. Following are some interesting (in my opinion) stats from our trip.
Miles driven: 6,598
Length of trip: 30 days and 10 hrs.
Driving days: 21
States we traveled through: 19
Cost of gas: $729.75
Average miles/gal: 29 (We love our Escape.)
Average price of gas: $3.21 per gal.
Overnighted:
- 9 nights in 7 hotels
- 16 nights in 10 homes
- 5 nights at 3 campsites
Nights rained on in campsite: 2
Friends and Family we visited: 84 (spent the night with 36 of these)
US state license plates: 48
(Where were the folks from Rhode Island and New Hampshire? We figured we wouldn't see Hawaii.)
Canadian Provence license plates: 5
Support the Troops Ribbons: 197
Penske Trucks (Joshua's favorite): 75
Tumble Weeds (Jon's selection): 6
Denny's Restaurants: 33 (They don't have these east of New Mexico.)
Cars stuck due to heavy rain: 5 (Not us -- thanks to Jon's great driving.)
Universities we visited: 4
National Parks we toured: 3
Harry Potter books I read or we listened to on CD: 5 (We finished book 6 when we got home, bought book 7 and finished it in 4 days.)
Some of our favorite sites and activities:
- Oatman, AZ -- you gotta love the wild burros
- Grand Canyon Caverns, AZ -- ask Joshua about this place some time.
- Meteor Crater, AZ -- Amazing!
- Butterfly Exhibit at Houston Natural History Museum
- World's Largest Tree house -- visit the Morans in Crossville, TN
- Canoing Chain o Lakes near Ft. Wayne, IN
- Lincoln Museum, Springfield, IL
- Driving through south central Utah
- Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
- Zion National Park, UT -- hiking the Narrows as a family
- Hoover Dam, NV/AZ
This was an amazing experience for our family. We were able to spend time with Jon's entire immediate family as well as his grandpa, 5 cousins and their families. We visited with great friends that we haven't seen in many, many years. What a great way to spend a month -- we highly recommend it, if you get a chance.
Sheryl
I am borrowing an idea from my brother's trip blog and posting
a picture of the map of our trip. Following are some interesting (in my opinion) stats from our trip.Miles driven: 6,598
Length of trip: 30 days and 10 hrs.
Driving days: 21
States we traveled through: 19
Cost of gas: $729.75
Average miles/gal: 29 (We love our Escape.)
Average price of gas: $3.21 per gal.
Overnighted:
- 9 nights in 7 hotels
- 16 nights in 10 homes
- 5 nights at 3 campsites
Nights rained on in campsite: 2
Friends and Family we visited: 84 (spent the night with 36 of these)
US state license plates: 48
(Where were the folks from Rhode Island and New Hampshire? We figured we wouldn't see Hawaii.)
Canadian Provence license plates: 5
Support the Troops Ribbons: 197
Penske Trucks (Joshua's favorite): 75
Tumble Weeds (Jon's selection): 6
Denny's Restaurants: 33 (They don't have these east of New Mexico.)
Cars stuck due to heavy rain: 5 (Not us -- thanks to Jon's great driving.)
Universities we visited: 4
National Parks we toured: 3
Harry Potter books I read or we listened to on CD: 5 (We finished book 6 when we got home, bought book 7 and finished it in 4 days.)
Some of our favorite sites and activities:
- Oatman, AZ -- you gotta love the wild burros
- Grand Canyon Caverns, AZ -- ask Joshua about this place some time.
- Meteor Crater, AZ -- Amazing!
- Butterfly Exhibit at Houston Natural History Museum
- World's Largest Tree house -- visit the Morans in Crossville, TN
- Canoing Chain o Lakes near Ft. Wayne, IN
- Lincoln Museum, Springfield, IL
- Driving through south central Utah
- Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
- Zion National Park, UT -- hiking the Narrows as a family
- Hoover Dam, NV/AZ
This was an amazing experience for our family. We were able to spend time with Jon's entire immediate family as well as his grandpa, 5 cousins and their families. We visited with great friends that we haven't seen in many, many years. What a great way to spend a month -- we highly recommend it, if you get a chance.
Sheryl
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Road trip update #13
After breakfast in Boulder City, NV, we got a pretty early start and were at Hoover Dam a little after 9:00. Little did we know what a good move that was. When we left 3 hours later the traffic snaked almost 5 miles back to Boulder City from the dam. It would have taken about an hour just to get to the dam. Since 9/11 there has been a lot of security at the dam -- cars are checked and there are metal detectors in the visitors center. They are also in the process of building a huge new bridge that will cross the Colorado just downstream of the dam. I think they said it would be 1,000 feet above the water. It looks like it will be very high. If you look at the top left-hand corner of the picture to the right, you can see the base of the cement pillars that will hold up the new bridge. The bridge itself is much higher up.
Jon and I visited the dam many years ago and were pleasantly surprised by the new visitors center. They have great displays and lots of hands-on activities for kids. They also still have the tour that takes you down inside the dam. You can see Joshua in front of the generators. It is awesome to see the inside of the dam and realize that it was built during the Great Depression. Amazing.It was very warm and so after taking the tour, watching a couple videos and viewing the dam from both sides of the bridge, we were ready to go. It was Friday, July 27 and we had decided to get home that day. It was a long drive, but we only hit a bit of traffic coming into Riverside. We jumped on the toll roads off the 91 and were home by 7:00 p.m.
I have one more entry I want to make with stats from our trip. But I don't have all of my numbers figured out yet, so you'll have to wait for next time. Thanks for reading.
Sheryl
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Road trip update #12
Monday, July 23, we packed up our wet camping gear and headed the short drive to Bryce Canyon to see this amazing natural work of art. We listened to a great presentation by a park ranger explaining how these gorgeous "hodoos" were formed. The National Park is called "Bryce Canyon" but technically it is not a canyon because the hodoos were not formed by river erosion but by rain, ice, wind, plant roots, animals, etc. In Bryce they have 200 days a year where there is a freeze/thaw cycle. That means that at night is gets cold enough to freeze and in the day time it warms enough to thaw. That extreme temperature variance has been the major cause of these formations even though they don't get a lot of rain. Amazing. We took a short hike along the Rim Trail and enjoyed the exercise and the views. After a few hours we were ready to drive to Zion National Park.
This drive on country road 89 and 9 was another awe-inspiring drive. I had not entered Zion through this route two years ago and so I was surprised by the Mt. Carmel tunnel -- a mile or so through the rock -- and then the awesome view of the Zion Canyon (a real one formed by the Virgin River).
One of our goals of visiting Zion was to hike The Narrows. This is a path that follows the Virgin River upstream until the path becomes the river. Unfortunately due to the combination of the fires earlier in the month and the rain that had arrived just before us, there were flash flood warnings the day we arrived. In fact, that morning at 8:30 there had been a flash flood. The river was moving at 146 cfs (cubic feet per second) which is dangerous for an experienced hiker. So we spent Tuesday and Wednesday taking other hikes in the park -- there are many. We toured the valley in the shuttle bus, attended a Junior Ranger program on beavers, walked the Pa'us Trail, hiked to the Emerald Pools and just relaxed around our camp site. 
After three days without showers, we found the Quality Inn in Springdale where you could pay $4 for an 8 minute shower -- that was wonderful. We did laundry, bought groceries and enjoyed the local town.We got rained on the first night, which helped to cool things down a bit and since we were staying for two more nights, we weren't worried about our tenting getting wet again. Tuesday we had a few afternoon sprinkles but Wednesday we didn't get any rain. The river rate was also slowly returning to normal (40 cfs), although the water was an ugly grey color due to dirt and ash from the fires upstream.
Wednesday night we rented our gear -- special boots and extra tall poles -- for a hike in The Narrows on Thursday morning. We had to pack up our vehicle that night since we were checking out on Thursday, but all the work for worth it.
We got to the trail head at 8:30 and hiked for 5 hours. Joshua wanted to hike in the river the entire way. This made for very slow going, but was cool and fun. After a couple of hours in the water, he agreed to take some of the paths along the side of the river whenever possible. This allowed us to make it back in half the time it took us to go up. The path was closed at a certain point due to the fire damage upstream, but the hike was still well-worth it. You can see from the first picture the color of the Virgin River. When we reached the turn-around point, we headed a short distance up a tributary that obviously did not have ash run-off. There the water was clear and you could see the rocks below the water. Two years ago the water was clear and so the hike had been a lot easier since you could see most of the rocks that you were either stepping on or over. Hiking in a rocky riverbed without the aid of clear water was quite a challenge, but we all loved it. This final picture is of the narrowest part of the river that we were able to reach. 
Maybe next time we can go farther up and see the "real" Narrows.After the hike we made a quick change into clean clothes -- no time for a shower -- and hit the road for Boulder City, NV, (next to Hoover Dam). We had been planning to camp on Lake Meade, visit Hoover Dam Thursday afternoon and head for home Friday. Instead we drove to Boulder City, found a cute, family-owned motel that was very nice, got showers, had dinner and went to bed exhausted. Next entry -- Hoover Dam.
Sheryl
Monday, July 30, 2007
Road trip update #11
Saturday, July 21st we said goodbye to Chris and left Pueblo driving on a beautiful road that followed the Arkansas River (how did it get that name in Colorado). There were many people rafting down the river and it was beautiful country. Jon did most of the driving during our trip because I was the navigator and can read and do many other things in a moving vehicle that Jon can't. However, that day Jon was getting tired and I wanted a chance to drive through the Colorado Rockies. We switched places right before we drove around Blue Mesa Reservoir. It was gorgeous and it was just fortunate that I didn't drive off the road while trying to catch the awesome views.
We stopped in Junction City, CO, and did some grocery shopping since the next five days we would be camping in Utah. It was 100+ degrees and the wind was blowing hard -- quite a change from the mountains.
Green River is a small camp site right on the river and just off the I-70 in eastern Utah. It is quite an oasis in those desert lands. This was our first time to get all of our camping gear out, set up the tent, break out the cook stove, etc. Everything worked fine and we enjoyed a simple meal in a nearly empty campground. This may have been due to the fact that it was 100 degrees. After the sun set it cooled down a bit, but inside the tent it was very hot and it was the first night I slept very poorly. We were glad to pack up and head for Bryce Canyon the next morning.
Once again we avoided the freeway and took county roads 24 and 12 down through south central Utah.
It was an amazing drive and I highly recommend it. Here are a few shots I took as we drove. Every few miles the geology changed and the colors were just phenomenal. You'll have to go yourself to get the full value since my camera could not do it justice.
We found our camp site at Pine Lake, about 5 miles north of Bryce Canyon off a dirt road. It was more beautiful than the pictures on the web site. There were free-range cattle grazing all around the campground and they kept us awake mooing till about 10:00 p.m. and started again around 6:00 the next morning. The cliffs behind our camp site were breathtaking and the small man-made lake was so peaceful. Joshua was able to ride his bike and Jon and I enjoyed walking around the lake on the dam. The afternoon was restful and we enjoyed chicken and pasta for dinner. After our evening walk I noticed some dark clouds and was a little concerned. Sure enough at midnight I woke up and needed to go to the bathroom only to discover that it had started raining. We were under some pine trees so the wind in the trees sounded much louder than the actual rain. After about half an hour it died down a bit and I made a dash for the out-house. Got back to the tent before another down pour. 
Fortunately we have a good tent and Jon had pitched it well cause we didn't get wet during the night. The next day it took a little while to clean up, but we weren't in a hurry, so we enjoyed the sun that was coming in and out of the clouds. I was up early and so got some great shots of the cows that had jumped the fences and were grazing in our campground. This mama posed nicely for me.
This entry is getting pretty long, so I'll save Bryce Canyon for the next update.
Sheryl
We stopped in Junction City, CO, and did some grocery shopping since the next five days we would be camping in Utah. It was 100+ degrees and the wind was blowing hard -- quite a change from the mountains.
Green River is a small camp site right on the river and just off the I-70 in eastern Utah. It is quite an oasis in those desert lands. This was our first time to get all of our camping gear out, set up the tent, break out the cook stove, etc. Everything worked fine and we enjoyed a simple meal in a nearly empty campground. This may have been due to the fact that it was 100 degrees. After the sun set it cooled down a bit, but inside the tent it was very hot and it was the first night I slept very poorly. We were glad to pack up and head for Bryce Canyon the next morning.Once again we avoided the freeway and took county roads 24 and 12 down through south central Utah.
It was an amazing drive and I highly recommend it. Here are a few shots I took as we drove. Every few miles the geology changed and the colors were just phenomenal. You'll have to go yourself to get the full value since my camera could not do it justice.
We found our camp site at Pine Lake, about 5 miles north of Bryce Canyon off a dirt road. It was more beautiful than the pictures on the web site. There were free-range cattle grazing all around the campground and they kept us awake mooing till about 10:00 p.m. and started again around 6:00 the next morning. The cliffs behind our camp site were breathtaking and the small man-made lake was so peaceful. Joshua was able to ride his bike and Jon and I enjoyed walking around the lake on the dam. The afternoon was restful and we enjoyed chicken and pasta for dinner. After our evening walk I noticed some dark clouds and was a little concerned. Sure enough at midnight I woke up and needed to go to the bathroom only to discover that it had started raining. We were under some pine trees so the wind in the trees sounded much louder than the actual rain. After about half an hour it died down a bit and I made a dash for the out-house. Got back to the tent before another down pour. 
Fortunately we have a good tent and Jon had pitched it well cause we didn't get wet during the night. The next day it took a little while to clean up, but we weren't in a hurry, so we enjoyed the sun that was coming in and out of the clouds. I was up early and so got some great shots of the cows that had jumped the fences and were grazing in our campground. This mama posed nicely for me.This entry is getting pretty long, so I'll save Bryce Canyon for the next update.
Sheryl
Road trip update #10
Thursday, July 19th we left fairly early from St. Louis. We had a long drive ahead of us along with a visit with some friends for lunch.
We had a rather uneventful drive to Higginsville, MO, where we met our friends Paul, Melissa and Mary. They are friends from our days at Trinity Presbyterian Church and moved out to Missouri a number of years ago. It was fun to reconnect with them, but due to the impending rain (yes, it was still with us) we met for lunch at a Chinese buffet instead of at the local fair. Sure enough, about half way through our meal it started to pour. But it had stopped by the end of our meal, so we walked over to the 4-H booths and checked out the pigs. They were waiting for the sale later that evening and who knows, maybe one of them will be someones bacon soon (no offense to any vegetarians reading this).
We headed on our way into the wide state of Kansas. It actually has a lot of variety in its scenery and was beautiful. We took some country roads to avoid Kansas City and the toll roads. We followed the Oregon Trail for a while. Jon wasn't too tired and so we pressed on driving 2/3 of the way across the state before stopping at a Days Inn in Russell, KS. I had considered camping, but with the rain clouds following us, we decided to drive a little longer and stay at a hotel -- a wise move that night. By driving farther than planned this also allow us a shorter drive the next day as we headed to Pueblo, CO.
If you saw our original agenda, you know that Pueblo wasn't on it. We were hoping to see friends in Boulder, up off I-70, but they were out of town.
When Jon's cousin Chris Moran heard that we were driving through CO, he invited us to dinner. What he didn't realize was that I would then ask if we could spend the night. He very graciously allowed up to use his empty guest room, which was a great place for our air mattresses. Chris was at our wedding 15 years ago, but that was the last time we had seen him, so it was great to get reconnected. He treated us to dinner and gave us a great tour of the quaint town of Pueblo, CO.
We had a rather uneventful drive to Higginsville, MO, where we met our friends Paul, Melissa and Mary. They are friends from our days at Trinity Presbyterian Church and moved out to Missouri a number of years ago. It was fun to reconnect with them, but due to the impending rain (yes, it was still with us) we met for lunch at a Chinese buffet instead of at the local fair. Sure enough, about half way through our meal it started to pour. But it had stopped by the end of our meal, so we walked over to the 4-H booths and checked out the pigs. They were waiting for the sale later that evening and who knows, maybe one of them will be someones bacon soon (no offense to any vegetarians reading this).We headed on our way into the wide state of Kansas. It actually has a lot of variety in its scenery and was beautiful. We took some country roads to avoid Kansas City and the toll roads. We followed the Oregon Trail for a while. Jon wasn't too tired and so we pressed on driving 2/3 of the way across the state before stopping at a Days Inn in Russell, KS. I had considered camping, but with the rain clouds following us, we decided to drive a little longer and stay at a hotel -- a wise move that night. By driving farther than planned this also allow us a shorter drive the next day as we headed to Pueblo, CO.
If you saw our original agenda, you know that Pueblo wasn't on it. We were hoping to see friends in Boulder, up off I-70, but they were out of town.
When Jon's cousin Chris Moran heard that we were driving through CO, he invited us to dinner. What he didn't realize was that I would then ask if we could spend the night. He very graciously allowed up to use his empty guest room, which was a great place for our air mattresses. Chris was at our wedding 15 years ago, but that was the last time we had seen him, so it was great to get reconnected. He treated us to dinner and gave us a great tour of the quaint town of Pueblo, CO.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Road trip update #9
Tuesday, July 17, turned out to be a very long day since we tried to travel a little farther than was reasonable and see more people then was realistic. But we had a wonderful time in Detroit -- Joshua didn't want to leave his cousins Baker, Regan and Riley -- so we were very glad to have added that portion of our trip.
We left Detroit around 9:00 a.m. and headed to South Bend, IN, where our friends Bill and Lisa live. I have known Bill since I was in 3rd grade in the Philippines where both of our parents were missionaries. I met Lisa in the 80s when we all attended Trinity Presbyterian Church together. They have lived in South Bend since Bill was accepted for his PhD at Notre Dame and then became a prof at St. Mary's. We had a quick driving tour of the Notre Dame campus and a great late lunch on a restaurant patio overlooking the river while the clouds threatened to rain, but didn't. Joshua has been thrilled to wear his Notre Dame T-shirt once he found out that he is part Irish, but our die-hard USC friends here in Southern California may not be as pleased.
We left South Bend around 2:00 and headed for Bloomington, IL. We drove south of Chicago and were fortunate not to hit too much afternoon traffic. With the added hour -- driving from the eastern to central time zone -- we were able to get to our friends Jeff and Pam's home for a late dinner around 6:30. Jeff and I were math majors together at Biola, but I didn't really get to know him until after college when we were both involved at Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton. That is also where Jon and Jeff became good friends as well. Jeff and Pam have four children and Joshua was thrilled to learn new games and run around in the backyard even when it started to sprinkle.
We had a few hours Wednesday morning to hang out in Bloomington before Jeff headed to work -- he is a prof at the University of Illinois and is actually using his math major -- amazing. We headed back to route 66 but got lost in some corn fields looking for Funks Grove, so we headed on down the road to Springfield, IL, where we truly enjoyed walking around down town and touring the Lincoln Presidential Museum. Can you tell which person in the picture does not belong to the Lincoln family?
We ended the day in St. Louis, MO, with Bobbie and John Lautenschlager -- great name, isn't it? Jon met them when he was a Marine Security Guard in Sierra Leon, West Africa, and they were missionaries there. I had met Bobbie and John in 1991 when I drove with Jon out to Southern California. We had discovered then, but I had forgotten, that John, who grew up in Terra Bella, California, a few miles from where my dad grew up on the France Family Farm, was actually taught to fly by my uncle Paul France. Talk about a small world. Oh, yeah, and my OBGyn when Joshua was born knew John from when they both were interns at the same hospital in St. Louis. So we have lots of connections to this wonderful couple. They treated us to a home-cooked meal and then a driving tour of St. Louis. We discovered that there are many great kid-friendly activities in the city and so need to plan another trip out some day.
We left Detroit around 9:00 a.m. and headed to South Bend, IN, where our friends Bill and Lisa live. I have known Bill since I was in 3rd grade in the Philippines where both of our parents were missionaries. I met Lisa in the 80s when we all attended Trinity Presbyterian Church together. They have lived in South Bend since Bill was accepted for his PhD at Notre Dame and then became a prof at St. Mary's. We had a quick driving tour of the Notre Dame campus and a great late lunch on a restaurant patio overlooking the river while the clouds threatened to rain, but didn't. Joshua has been thrilled to wear his Notre Dame T-shirt once he found out that he is part Irish, but our die-hard USC friends here in Southern California may not be as pleased.
We left South Bend around 2:00 and headed for Bloomington, IL. We drove south of Chicago and were fortunate not to hit too much afternoon traffic. With the added hour -- driving from the eastern to central time zone -- we were able to get to our friends Jeff and Pam's home for a late dinner around 6:30. Jeff and I were math majors together at Biola, but I didn't really get to know him until after college when we were both involved at Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton. That is also where Jon and Jeff became good friends as well. Jeff and Pam have four children and Joshua was thrilled to learn new games and run around in the backyard even when it started to sprinkle.
We had a few hours Wednesday morning to hang out in Bloomington before Jeff headed to work -- he is a prof at the University of Illinois and is actually using his math major -- amazing. We headed back to route 66 but got lost in some corn fields looking for Funks Grove, so we headed on down the road to Springfield, IL, where we truly enjoyed walking around down town and touring the Lincoln Presidential Museum. Can you tell which person in the picture does not belong to the Lincoln family?
We ended the day in St. Louis, MO, with Bobbie and John Lautenschlager -- great name, isn't it? Jon met them when he was a Marine Security Guard in Sierra Leon, West Africa, and they were missionaries there. I had met Bobbie and John in 1991 when I drove with Jon out to Southern California. We had discovered then, but I had forgotten, that John, who grew up in Terra Bella, California, a few miles from where my dad grew up on the France Family Farm, was actually taught to fly by my uncle Paul France. Talk about a small world. Oh, yeah, and my OBGyn when Joshua was born knew John from when they both were interns at the same hospital in St. Louis. So we have lots of connections to this wonderful couple. They treated us to a home-cooked meal and then a driving tour of St. Louis. We discovered that there are many great kid-friendly activities in the city and so need to plan another trip out some day.
Road trip update #8
Here are some pictures of our time in Ft. Wayne, IN, with Jon's brother Matt and family as well as our short time in the Detroit, MI, area with Jon's cousin Steve and Jon's brother Greg and family.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Road trip #7
We had a wonderful time in Ft. Wayne. The weather was perfect -- sunny but not too hot. They did finally get rain Sunday evening, which they were in need of and for once it had stopped the morning we left.
Monday we were up fairly early so we could drive to the Detroit area to meet the 3rd Baker Brother -- Jon's cousin Steve who he had not seen in decades. We took the scenic route through north western Ohio so we could add another state to our list of states for this trip. We met Steve, Michelle and their three kids at a Chinese buffet in the Detroit area and had a great time getting to know their family. After lunch we headed to Greg (Jon's youngest brother) and Sharon's home north of Detroit. They have three children around Joshua's age and since we visited them last summer the kids all reconnected very quickly. Jon and Greg took the kids swimming while I relaxed at the house with my book and Sharon got a nap -- a perfect afternoon.
Today we head for Bloomington, IL, via South Bend, IN. We are waiting to hear from our friends Bill and Lisa, so hopefully we'll be able to connect with them around lunch time. This evening we'll be visiting a friend Jon and I have each known since the 80s but haven't seen since the 90s.
This is the furthest northeast we will get on this trip, so I guess today we are officially heading for home, although we still have about 10 days left of our trip. All for now.
Sheryl
Monday we were up fairly early so we could drive to the Detroit area to meet the 3rd Baker Brother -- Jon's cousin Steve who he had not seen in decades. We took the scenic route through north western Ohio so we could add another state to our list of states for this trip. We met Steve, Michelle and their three kids at a Chinese buffet in the Detroit area and had a great time getting to know their family. After lunch we headed to Greg (Jon's youngest brother) and Sharon's home north of Detroit. They have three children around Joshua's age and since we visited them last summer the kids all reconnected very quickly. Jon and Greg took the kids swimming while I relaxed at the house with my book and Sharon got a nap -- a perfect afternoon.
Today we head for Bloomington, IL, via South Bend, IN. We are waiting to hear from our friends Bill and Lisa, so hopefully we'll be able to connect with them around lunch time. This evening we'll be visiting a friend Jon and I have each known since the 80s but haven't seen since the 90s.
This is the furthest northeast we will get on this trip, so I guess today we are officially heading for home, although we still have about 10 days left of our trip. All for now.
Sheryl
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Road Trip #6
We had a great drive from Crossville, TN, to Louisville, KY. We drove through the country for about half of the drive and enjoyed an authentic lunch at the Big Moose Smokehouse BBQ in Glasgow, KY. In Louisville we were able to enjoy the hospitality of our dear friends Bill and Valerie, but unfortunately they were out of town. I lived with Bill and Valerie for four years just prior to marrying Jon so it was an odd sensation to arrive in a strange home where the furniture, pictures, dishes and many other items were so familiar. It felt like going home. We spent the afternoon relaxing while I finished reading the third Harry Potter book to Jon and Joshua. We have the finally three books on CD, so I won't have to read out loud any more. In the evening I enjoyed a cup of tea while I read my book -- the perfect activity for this home.
Of course it started raining in Louisville on Friday morning, but fortunately it stopped before we needed to load the car. We had an uneventful drive to Ft. Wayne, IN, and are enjoying ourselves with Jon's twin brother Matt, wife Brenda and daughters. Today we went to the Chain O Lakes and took canoes out for a a couple hours before enjoying a picnic. We are having gorgeous weather -- dry and in the 70s -- although there has been a strong wind blowing all day.
We'll enjoy another day here tomorrow and head to the Detroit area either Sunday night or Monday morning -- haven't decided yet. Hope you all are having a great July.
Sheryl
Of course it started raining in Louisville on Friday morning, but fortunately it stopped before we needed to load the car. We had an uneventful drive to Ft. Wayne, IN, and are enjoying ourselves with Jon's twin brother Matt, wife Brenda and daughters. Today we went to the Chain O Lakes and took canoes out for a a couple hours before enjoying a picnic. We are having gorgeous weather -- dry and in the 70s -- although there has been a strong wind blowing all day.
We'll enjoy another day here tomorrow and head to the Detroit area either Sunday night or Monday morning -- haven't decided yet. Hope you all are having a great July.
Sheryl
Road Trip #4.5
I was just going to write another update and realized that I missed posting pictures of our weekend in Tennessee.
Here is Jon with his cousin Mark, who he hadn't seen since Mark was a teenager. It was great to reconnect at his and Teresa's home in Memphis.
We always enjoy visiting with the musical relatives in Nashville. This past year Jon's Grandpa Baker moved to Nashville so we were thrilled to visit with him on this trip to Tennessee. Here are Jon and Joshua with Tim, Angela, their daughters and Grandpa Baker who is 97 years young.
Before we left Nashville on Monday, we had a delicious breakfast with Jon's cousin Dave, wife Julie and son Nathan. It had been decades since they had seen each other.
Here is Jon with his cousin Mark, who he hadn't seen since Mark was a teenager. It was great to reconnect at his and Teresa's home in Memphis.
We always enjoy visiting with the musical relatives in Nashville. This past year Jon's Grandpa Baker moved to Nashville so we were thrilled to visit with him on this trip to Tennessee. Here are Jon and Joshua with Tim, Angela, their daughters and Grandpa Baker who is 97 years young.
Before we left Nashville on Monday, we had a delicious breakfast with Jon's cousin Dave, wife Julie and son Nathan. It had been decades since they had seen each other.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Road Trip #5
Sure enough we had rain yesterday (Tuesday, July 10). Joshua really wanted to miniature golf and it wasn't that cold, so we walked the half mile to the course and played in the rain. I have to admit that when it started coming down really hard, I hid out under the porch roof.
Jon and his dad took our Escape in to a dealer for the 5,000 mile servicing. When they got back the sun was out so we went down and took the paddle boats out on the lake for a short run. Then Jon and I headed into town for a date night.
We enjoyed an early dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and then enjoyed "Pirates of the Caribbean -- Deadman's Chest." It was an entertaining movie and a great night out for Jon and me. Joshua enjoyed time on the beach at the lake with his grandpa and grandma.We were able to miniature golf again today with only slight interference from the rain. We visited an amazing tree house -- 100+ feet high, incorporating numerous trees (see pictures below inside the tree house and a view from the outside). In the afternoon we took a swim in the pool. We stopped by a local church that has prayed for us while Jon was deployed and sent him a care package in Iraq. We are ending the evening with the movie that inspired this trip -- "Cars."
We've made a slight change in our plans and will be leaving Crossville tomorrow morning instead of on Friday. In that way we'll spend the weekend with Jon's brother and family in Ft. Wayne and then drive up to the Detroit area to see more family on Monday before heading to South Bend, IN, and Bloomington, IL, on Tuesday.
We've had a great time with Jon's folks and look forward to seeing more family in the next few days followed by lots of good friends. All for now.
Sheryl
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