Jon is getting settled into his room and I thought you might be interested in reading about his creativity in setting things up in a way that will work for him.
"I am getting my room set up more and more every day. Today I set it up with a sit-up bar, so I have something I can hook my feet under so I can do situps every morning before my stretching exercises. I also picked up some heavy wire mesh material that I can use to support the mattress on my bed instead of the piece of 1/2inch plywood, which is not big enough to do the job. I also have got a large swath of construction felt that I can use to insulate and cover the window in my room to prevent the transfer of heat and light (the heavy wire mesh and the construction felt both came from three discarded sides to a HESCO barrier that someone has abandoned adjacent to a blast shelter). I'm pretty stoked about getting my room more and more liveable every day."
Thank you for your continued prayers for all of us. Joshua is doing very well. I have complimented him on his great behavior and helpfulness around the house. That is a huge blessing to me. I still struggle with the overwhelming feeling of having to do everything on my own. Of course many of you offer your help, but I'm referring to just "doing life" on my own without my husband, partner, best friend... But overall we all are doing quite well as we finish up our second week of deployment.
Sheryl
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Getting settled
Just got this update from Jon:
"Now that the convoy with all our gear has arrived, I've got started on the NLT Chronological One Year Bible--I plain didn't have room in my "overnight" (which really had to cover six nights) bag for it.
Progress here continues at an almost astronomical rate, a couple of days ago there were ZERO incidents in the whole province over a 24 hour period. Yes, this is probably an anomaly, but the truth is that the people of the United States can be proud of the job our Service men and women are doing here.
I received my first snail mail exactly seven days after I left the States, a post card mailed by Sheryl and Joshua the day I left California! By mid February I should be assigned permanent billeting [housing], after which it will be a little easier to establish a routine (I will no longer be "living out of a suitcase")--which I find is the most contributing factor to my ability to practice discipline.
The weather here is about ten degrees colder than I remember it being during the same season in 2006, but given the indoors nature of my job and the reality that thin-blooded Californians have no credibility when it comes to their perception of what is cold, I will not complain about it...
Thanks for your prayers and support, I have as yet escaped the CRUD that typically accompanies arrival in country AND the bug that is going the rounds even among those that have been here for several months."
That's all for now.
Sheryl
"Now that the convoy with all our gear has arrived, I've got started on the NLT Chronological One Year Bible--I plain didn't have room in my "overnight" (which really had to cover six nights) bag for it.
Progress here continues at an almost astronomical rate, a couple of days ago there were ZERO incidents in the whole province over a 24 hour period. Yes, this is probably an anomaly, but the truth is that the people of the United States can be proud of the job our Service men and women are doing here.
I received my first snail mail exactly seven days after I left the States, a post card mailed by Sheryl and Joshua the day I left California! By mid February I should be assigned permanent billeting [housing], after which it will be a little easier to establish a routine (I will no longer be "living out of a suitcase")--which I find is the most contributing factor to my ability to practice discipline.
The weather here is about ten degrees colder than I remember it being during the same season in 2006, but given the indoors nature of my job and the reality that thin-blooded Californians have no credibility when it comes to their perception of what is cold, I will not complain about it...
Thanks for your prayers and support, I have as yet escaped the CRUD that typically accompanies arrival in country AND the bug that is going the rounds even among those that have been here for several months."
That's all for now.
Sheryl
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
He made it
I received this e-mail when I woke up this morning.
"Well, I got in last night (to my final destination) at about 2000 after an uneventful trip. I'm billeted in the same building as last time, but in a different room--which is going to need some major improvements if I'm going to be permanently billeted there. The heater does not work, there is no plywood base between the frame and the mattress (making the bed very uncomfortable to sleep in), and the curtains are not sufficient to keep out daylight. That being said, it was good to be finally done with traveling, and our stowed luggage should arrive tomorrow afternoon, though I'll live out of the day bag for now. This is because we've been told billeting is temporary until after the transition is complete, after which we'll take stock and allocate the rooms permanently. I'd really like my old room back (unless God has something better for me :), so please pray to that end.
There is definitely a sense of familiarity for me here, especially since I'm in the same building I lived in before. There is also a sense of huge unknowns as well, as I'm operationally spinning up in a totally different area than what I had experience with before. It seems I will have plenty of work to do, so boredom will not be a problem. However, it also seems like I'll be able to moderate my work to 12 hours or so a day, which will help with the whole burn-out thing."
Thanks for praying for Jon these past 4 1/2 days as he was traveling. Now the work begins for him and you can see from his message some ways to pray. We appreciate knowing that so many of you are praying for our family.
Sheryl
"Well, I got in last night (to my final destination) at about 2000 after an uneventful trip. I'm billeted in the same building as last time, but in a different room--which is going to need some major improvements if I'm going to be permanently billeted there. The heater does not work, there is no plywood base between the frame and the mattress (making the bed very uncomfortable to sleep in), and the curtains are not sufficient to keep out daylight. That being said, it was good to be finally done with traveling, and our stowed luggage should arrive tomorrow afternoon, though I'll live out of the day bag for now. This is because we've been told billeting is temporary until after the transition is complete, after which we'll take stock and allocate the rooms permanently. I'd really like my old room back (unless God has something better for me :), so please pray to that end.
There is definitely a sense of familiarity for me here, especially since I'm in the same building I lived in before. There is also a sense of huge unknowns as well, as I'm operationally spinning up in a totally different area than what I had experience with before. It seems I will have plenty of work to do, so boredom will not be a problem. However, it also seems like I'll be able to moderate my work to 12 hours or so a day, which will help with the whole burn-out thing."
Thanks for praying for Jon these past 4 1/2 days as he was traveling. Now the work begins for him and you can see from his message some ways to pray. We appreciate knowing that so many of you are praying for our family.
Sheryl
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
News from the Persian Gulf and San Juan
Last night as I was heading to bed I checked my e-mails for one final time and noticed that Jon had sent a message just a couple minutes previously. I got on my computer and sent a quite note to see if he was still online and saw a message pop up before I had even sent mine. We spent the next twenty minutes sending messages back and forth. It's a rather weird way to be connected, but it's better than nothing. Fortunately we both type fairly fast.
Sometime today (our time) he should be making his final flight to the destination where he'll be for the next 13 months. I'll let you all know when I hear that he has arrived.
I have received a few e-mails asking for an update on the mold situation. When the worker came out to address the problem he wanted to use a special solution to wipe away the mold. He showed me, "Look the mold is gone." Yeah, right! (deep sarcasm) When I didn't agree he asked, "So you want me to cut out the drywall and put in a new piece?" Yes, that was exactly what I wanted. He was eventually convinced when he took off the baseboards and saw the mold on the backs of them and that the wall really was damp. He cut everything out and left space under the walls so air could circulate through both cupboards. We'll wait at least a week and then see if things are dry enough to replace. I have also been instructed to keep an eye out for any signs of more mold. Everything is documented and I have been assured that if something shows up in the future, it will be covered, even if the warranty is over.
On to a lighter note. Two years ago, the night before Jon left the first time (February 16, 2006), Joshua lost his first tooth. Sunday morning (two days after Jon left this time) Joshua lost his 5th tooth. Maybe this demonstrates how we fall apart a bit when Jon leaves. Or maybe this is a reminder that losing baby teeth is a normal part of life so that a new big tooth can grow in, like it is supposed to. I'm not going to say that a family being separated for a year is a normal part of life, but everyone has times of great difficulty to deal with and THAT IS life. The trick is learning to allow a new healthy life to grow up instead of a bitter, angry one. So Joshua and I will both be losing baby teeth and growing new big ones this year. Hope you do too.
Sheryl
Sometime today (our time) he should be making his final flight to the destination where he'll be for the next 13 months. I'll let you all know when I hear that he has arrived.
I have received a few e-mails asking for an update on the mold situation. When the worker came out to address the problem he wanted to use a special solution to wipe away the mold. He showed me, "Look the mold is gone." Yeah, right! (deep sarcasm) When I didn't agree he asked, "So you want me to cut out the drywall and put in a new piece?" Yes, that was exactly what I wanted. He was eventually convinced when he took off the baseboards and saw the mold on the backs of them and that the wall really was damp. He cut everything out and left space under the walls so air could circulate through both cupboards. We'll wait at least a week and then see if things are dry enough to replace. I have also been instructed to keep an eye out for any signs of more mold. Everything is documented and I have been assured that if something shows up in the future, it will be covered, even if the warranty is over.
On to a lighter note. Two years ago, the night before Jon left the first time (February 16, 2006), Joshua lost his first tooth. Sunday morning (two days after Jon left this time) Joshua lost his 5th tooth. Maybe this demonstrates how we fall apart a bit when Jon leaves. Or maybe this is a reminder that losing baby teeth is a normal part of life so that a new big tooth can grow in, like it is supposed to. I'm not going to say that a family being separated for a year is a normal part of life, but everyone has times of great difficulty to deal with and THAT IS life. The trick is learning to allow a new healthy life to grow up instead of a bitter, angry one. So Joshua and I will both be losing baby teeth and growing new big ones this year. Hope you do too.
Sheryl
Monday, January 21, 2008
Another flight toward final destination
I just got a couple e-mails from Jon and thought I'd post parts of them for you all.
"We got away from [the first Persian Gulf country] with less than 48 hours there, but it was a near thing... We had a 1530 muster with all our gear, and were supposed to head out to the flight line for a 2000 flight, which we did, but the plane had a problem, and we sat there for an hour and a half while they tried to fix it... If you've ever sat in C-130 canvas seating for two hours, you'll know how hard that is on your buns, and two hours was longer than our flight was supposed to be. We finally transferred to another aircraft, and then endured the flight into country, our buns had totally had it by then. Made it into country at about midnight, and I went over and read a little while, then went to bed. I could have gone over to the transient area to watch the game, but didn't really feel like it--instead I read a little and then crashed. We'd missed the first quarter of the Patriot-Charger game anyway, standing on the flight line and dragging our gear to the transient quarters (I think I tweaked my shoulder a little, or maybe I just slept on it wrong--I'm in bad shape, having not PT'ed since early December, so I'm "looking forward" to getting back into a routine which I hope I'll have enough discipline to maintain). I slept pretty much through until 1100, and just finished chow, which was good. I've got one more leg of my trip to make, [hopefully it will be within the next 48 hours]. Well, some things have changed over here, but other things are the same. Generally, though, the changes are definitely for the better, even the little observable things to a Marine in transit."
Thanks for your prayers.
Sheryl
"We got away from [the first Persian Gulf country] with less than 48 hours there, but it was a near thing... We had a 1530 muster with all our gear, and were supposed to head out to the flight line for a 2000 flight, which we did, but the plane had a problem, and we sat there for an hour and a half while they tried to fix it... If you've ever sat in C-130 canvas seating for two hours, you'll know how hard that is on your buns, and two hours was longer than our flight was supposed to be. We finally transferred to another aircraft, and then endured the flight into country, our buns had totally had it by then. Made it into country at about midnight, and I went over and read a little while, then went to bed. I could have gone over to the transient area to watch the game, but didn't really feel like it--instead I read a little and then crashed. We'd missed the first quarter of the Patriot-Charger game anyway, standing on the flight line and dragging our gear to the transient quarters (I think I tweaked my shoulder a little, or maybe I just slept on it wrong--I'm in bad shape, having not PT'ed since early December, so I'm "looking forward" to getting back into a routine which I hope I'll have enough discipline to maintain). I slept pretty much through until 1100, and just finished chow, which was good. I've got one more leg of my trip to make, [hopefully it will be within the next 48 hours]. Well, some things have changed over here, but other things are the same. Generally, though, the changes are definitely for the better, even the little observable things to a Marine in transit."
Thanks for your prayers.
Sheryl
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Safely in the Persian Gulf area
I received my first e-mail (of hundreds to come) from Jon. He arrived safely in a Persian Gulf country that is not his final destination. He slept more on the flight from Europe to that country. He may be at this stop for a day or two before starting the final leg of his journey. Thanks for continuing to keep him in your prayers.
I don't think I mentioned that Joshua and I had a great time at the SD Zoo yesterday. Here is Joshua's favorite picture of himself with his favorite animal -- a Meerkat. Right after taking this picture a man with his family noticed Joshua's hat and jokingly asked if he'd been to Camp Fallujah. Joshua said no but that his Dad had been there and was on his way back. It was nice to receive the condolences from a family who truly understood. This Marine was only recently back and not sure when he might return. We are definitely not alone in this experience.
All for now.
Sheryl
Friday, January 18, 2008
Leaving the country
Jon called my cell this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. California time. He was in Bangor, Maine, where the citizens of that town have continued, for years now, to support the military personnel who come through their airport. There are community members at the airport at any time of the day or night to welcome military personnel who are headed out of country or coming home. They also provide free cell phones for Marines and others to use to call home. That's how Jon was able to reach me this afternoon. What a blessing those dear people are up in the northeast corner of our country.
Jon's flight out of March Air Force Base in Riverside, CA, left on time so they only had to wait there for a couple hours. Those of you who know Jon won't be surprised by this, but Jon was able to sleep for 4 hours on the flight from California to Maine. That is great news since he didn't get much sleep last night (an hour and a half).
By now he should be winging his way over the Atlantic to parts in Europe before heading south to the Persian Gulf region. Thanks for your prayers. I've included a few pictures of our Escape camp out and our final good byes.
Sheryl
Big Yawn!
It was a short night and an early morning. We were up and out of the house by 2:00 a.m. Jon had to check in at 2:30. He was done checking in and getting his weapon by a little after 3:00 but the chow hall didn't open till 5:00 and they weren't scheduled for final muster until 5:45. Well, I was prepared. The back of the Escape was full of sleeping pads, sleeping bags, comforters, pillows and lots of blanks. After half an hour of squirming around all three of us actually fell asleep for about an hour. Then it was breakfast in the chow hall and good byes in the freezing (okay, temperature is all relative, but it was in the low 40s and breezy and I forgot our warm coats). After muster the Marines boarded their buses and headed off at 6:30. They'll be at their next stop for a number of hours before flying out with various stops on their journey to the other side of the world. I'll keep you posted as I hear from Jon.
Joshua and I had plans to go to the San Diego Zoo today, but at 6:30 I realized they don't open until 9:00. Fortunately my sister lives in north San Diego county, so we stopped by her place at 7:00. Joshua is enjoying their Wii and I was able to get caught up with Sandy over a cup of tea and make this post to my blog.
All for now.
Sheryl
Joshua and I had plans to go to the San Diego Zoo today, but at 6:30 I realized they don't open until 9:00. Fortunately my sister lives in north San Diego county, so we stopped by her place at 7:00. Joshua is enjoying their Wii and I was able to get caught up with Sandy over a cup of tea and make this post to my blog.
All for now.
Sheryl
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
You won't believe this
For those of you who have faithfully read this blog for the two years that I have written it, you will not believe what I found in our new house yesterday. As I removed the table leaves from the closet in the utility room, I discovered that the wall of the closet was covered with fuzzy mold covering the bottom foot of the closet wall. As you probably remember, we got rid of our old home due to mold that was inside the walls and subfloor but never actually showed its furry face on the inside of the house. UGH! All I can figure is that the wall sucked up a lot of water when we had that leak prior to our move-in and the mold has finally sprouted -- or whatever you call it.
I have been assured by the company that we bought the home from that someone will be out, hopefully today, but I have not gotten any calls so far this morning. I don't know how they will get rid of it, but I they cut the wall out and replace it. I want to make sure there isn't mold beginning to grow in other walls. The other side of the closet had some mold showing.
And so the saga of our house continues. I just wish that I didn't have to deal with it by myself starting in a few days. Oh, well, the one upside is that the frustration of this house problem does help to cover some of those sad feelings.
To top it off, Joshua has been home sick all week. I thought he was having allergies on Sunday, due to the winds, but by Monday afternoon he had a temperature and was vomiting. Poor kid, he has been pretty miserable. I am keeping him home today but his cough seems to be getting better and he hasn't had any more problems with his stomach.
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.
Sheryl
I have been assured by the company that we bought the home from that someone will be out, hopefully today, but I have not gotten any calls so far this morning. I don't know how they will get rid of it, but I they cut the wall out and replace it. I want to make sure there isn't mold beginning to grow in other walls. The other side of the closet had some mold showing.
And so the saga of our house continues. I just wish that I didn't have to deal with it by myself starting in a few days. Oh, well, the one upside is that the frustration of this house problem does help to cover some of those sad feelings.
To top it off, Joshua has been home sick all week. I thought he was having allergies on Sunday, due to the winds, but by Monday afternoon he had a temperature and was vomiting. Poor kid, he has been pretty miserable. I am keeping him home today but his cough seems to be getting better and he hasn't had any more problems with his stomach.
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.
Sheryl
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Update
I am sorry that it has taken so long to get pictures posted of the house. We had our open house last weekend and so we were working hard to get everything ready for that. Since then there has just been a lot of work preparing for Jon's departure which is less than a week away.
But this morning I went out and took a couple pictures outside and a few inside so you can get an idea of what the final result looks like. We love it! There is a picture of the entire house from the north east corner and a picture of our huge 9'x33' front porch. I'll have to get a picture from the west side so you can see the car port and Jon's shed. Inside there is a picture of the living room (2/3 of it fit in the picture), dining room/library and my huge wonderful kitchen. Enjoy the tour.
But this morning I went out and took a couple pictures outside and a few inside so you can get an idea of what the final result looks like. We love it! There is a picture of the entire house from the north east corner and a picture of our huge 9'x33' front porch. I'll have to get a picture from the west side so you can see the car port and Jon's shed. Inside there is a picture of the living room (2/3 of it fit in the picture), dining room/library and my huge wonderful kitchen. Enjoy the tour.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Celebrate with us
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
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
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
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