Progress

This was our house when we moved in last summer. It hadn't been lived in for a while and I think the weeds support that statement. We have slowly worked on improving our status from "trashiest yard in the neighborhood" to "decent yard in the neighborhood". For the record, this neighborhood has a lot beautiful yards. The people take great pride in their homes. So it's been hard to wait for planting season to come. But the day (yesterday) finally arrived. The piece of paper up in the window was a sign mentioning the name of the landscaping company who was maintaining the yard.--yikes!



And the end result...







Thank you Dad and Jill for your wonderful Christmas gift of gift cards to the nursery. Adrian and Eowyn went on Friday after school and bought the flowers. We are loving such a thoughtful gift!



We also pulled all of the matted pine straw and weeds off of the small flower beds around the shed out back. Eowyn bought three packs of flower seeds with some of her gift card money so they planted those seeds. It's not as impressive a picture--just dirt, but you don't see weeds. Hopefully, we'll have pretty, colorful flowers soon.



These other few are from inside the house. It's amazing that we have worked for so long inside the house, and really, a stranger walking in would never know it. What they notice is that they don't notice anything, meaning comments like "Wow, there's a lot of work to do here." should not be uttered. Avril asked if we are living in Antarctica now that everything is SO white. She's got a point, but our desire is to make the house appealing to any buyer. The hallway is the most noticeable change. It was so dark with all the dark wood trim and doors, but now it is very, very bright.

I am really happy with how nice the house is looking. I don't know yet where we will be come this fall. If Adrian is able to get a job locally and we stay, then I will be happy with all our hard work that we've already finished and can keep making the house look nice...and put some color on the walls. If Adrian gets a job out of the area, then I hope the work will encourage someone to buy the house.

Valentine's Day

It's been a while, but I wanted to put on our pictures from Valentine's Day. Adrian scheduled a weekend of activities. On Saturday we all went to the Botanical Gardens. It was so lovely out that day and we had a wonderful time. Then we ate lunch at Golden Corral. The girls thought this was Heaven--especially when they saw the self-serve ice cream bar. Can you say 'sugar overload'? Sunday after church was Jammies Day and we snacked and hung out all day. It doesn't get much better than that. Then Monday night Adrian and I went out to dinner. It was wonderful. So without further ado...here are the pics.


Rascal joined us (from Eowyn's class) for the weekend.


Eowyn has a talent for walking into pictures that she's not
supposed to be in. This one, however, turned out fabulous.

A pink and blue kind of day.


Avril and Maia wanted a picture with Rascal on the eagle. Do
you see who's trying to sneak in?



Avril posed us like this and took the picture--hehe--but
it's a great picture.


I think Maia took this one. He's so handsome.

Appalachain Thanksgiving

We had a great opportunity to travel out to Murphy, NC (Adrian's hometown) for Thanksgiving this year. Norfolk Christian's school schedule was such that there was some extra time that allowed for us to get out there without it being too compressed. So we headed west on Tuesday afternoon and got there without any difficulty. We are so blessed that the girls are amazing travelers. They sit very patiently for all those (10-11) hours. Typically, we stop for a long meal and let the girls play. It really helps. Our time in Murphy was--as always--very quiet and peaceful. There really is nothing to do so it is a very restful time and we love going out there. The girls have so much fun with much room to run and climb on the hills. The mornings were very cold but each day warmed up and was sunny and beautiful. We took walks down to the tressel bridge on the old train tracks that run (literally) right out of Sandra's yard. We played at the park and of course ate a lovely meal on Thursday. On Saturday mid-morning we headed back to Chesapeake. The best gift was that Adrian's grandfather, Mike, came down from Ohio to spend the holiday with all of us. It was a treasure as Mike is 92 now and we try to see him at least once a year. This usually happens at Christmas when we travel to Ohio, but this year Adrian is having shoulder surgery to repair damage resulting from a lifetime of sports. That is scheduled for Dec. 19 and we will not be going anywhere after that. The only surprising event came about 30 minutes before we left for home. It was then that we decided to bring a puppy that had been hanging around Sandra's house for three days back home with us.

So here's that story. On Thanksgiving the puppy followed Avril home as she walked up to Sandra's house. He'd been down the hill at another home and Avril assumed that was his home. She tried to return him, but no one was there. So it stuck around in Sandra's yard all day and was still there Friday morning. By late Friday afternoon Sandra had spoken to everyone nearby and all had assumed that it was someone else's puppy. He had a collar and looked in good condition. But no one had any idea of where he belonged. The thinking became that maybe he'd been abandoned. This is particularly amazing because this is a Rotweiller, not a mutt. Clearly, someone had paid good money for this dog. Perhaps an Atlanta family lost him. In Murphy though there is not a lot hope at the animal shelter. It's just different than the city. Regardless, it was heartbreaking to think of this tiny puppy left to survive on his own in the mountains. It may seem that all the while we were thinking about keeping him, but that really isn't the case. We don't want a puppy right now. That is not a responsiblity we're interested in. However, Sandra was also leaving on Saturday about hour after we left and after that the puppy was completely alone. Had she been staying, it would have not been an issue to leave him. She would've found someone to adopt the dog. We just felt like we could find a good home for the puppy so a few minutes before leaving we decided to take him with us. We stopped at Wal-mart (there is one there now) on the way out and got a little crate and bag of food. It'd certainly been a while since he had slept anywhere warm or eaten. We dreaded the thought of traveling with a dog in holiday traffic. But he seemed so happy to be somewhere warm and soft, that he never made a sound--for 11 hours! He was amazing. We couldn't believe it. We kept saying that he was making a strong case for getting a good home. On Sunday we took him over to my mom and Ron's house to see if they would like to keep him. He has been there this week and they will let us know by early next week what their decision is. If they choose not to keep him, we'll keep looking. He's a good dog. We all very quickly became attached. I hope we can find him a loving family. I'll let you know.

p.s. I know these pictures are small. If you double click on them, they will open up to a larger image.

Halloween

We decided to let our girls go trick or treating this year for the first time. They have been SOOOO excited for this day. They all chose their costumes a long time ago. Maia instantly knew she wanted to be a bride, Avril was Princess Leia and Eowyn was a ladybug. The excitement was overflowing and I had a fantastic time preparing them to go out. Adrian took them down the street to a friend's house. Grant is in Avril's class and we thought it would be fun to go together since we are new to the neighborhood. It was even cuter that Grant was Darth Vadar. We already had a wedding dress in the dress-up box. So Maia's costume didn't take any effort. Avril's really only required thought. But once I realized that my robe would make a very good white, flow-y gown, the rest was easy. Besides, it is really the hair that makes Princess Leia. Eowyn and my mom glued the dots onto a red cape that Adrian's mom made for the girls a while back. It turned out so much better than I had imagined. Adrian and the girls were gone about an hour and a half. I stayed home to pass out candy. They came home with their pumpkins filled with candy and enormous smiles. Eating the candy was its own reward. :) They had a wonderful time and I am so glad they had the chance to do it. Here's hoping their teeth don't fall out.

8 Years Old

We celebrated Avril's 8th birthday last Saturday, the 25th. This was her first real "friends" party. Six friends from her class at school came over to the house about 10am. It sounds early, but our original plan was to go to the park for the party and it's much emptier early in the morning. However, rain threatened most of the day so we changed our plans very early Saturday morning. It was really wonderful. We had such a fun time. The kids ran in the yard (because it didn't rain--HA!), bobbed for apples and played Pin the Ear on the Elephant (per Avril's request). Bobbing for apples was a huge hit as the kids thoroughly loved submerging their heads underwater. The elephant I made turned out pretty well. I am rather proud of this considering I have no artistic ability, but sometimes you're just feelin' it, and it turned out looking like a real elephant. :)
Adrian grilled out hot dogs to accompany our chips and veggie tray, caramel popcorn and apples to dip in caramel after the bobbing was finished. We had cake and presents. The kids, especially the boys, were duly impressed that Avril wanted a Star Wars cake. Several parents stayed and we adults really enjoyed visiting as the kids ran around. Avril was so blessed by the whole day. It was so meaningful for her to have school friends over and enjoy themselves at her party. She really loved it. It gave me such joy to see her so happy.
It astounds me that Avril is already 8. My memory of her birth is so vivid (perhaps it always remains that way) it seems just a few years ago. Am I really that old? Apparently so.
We have witnessed a lot of growth in Avril over this past year. God is clearly working in her heart. She has a lot of issues that will probably challenge her for many years, but there is grace also evident. For that I am grateful beyond words. She is a precious treasure and I am so thankful to have her.


Regarding the pictures: #1 & 2--the night before, after we finished decorating the cake;#3 Avril bobbing for apples. She got one too (sorry the order is mixed up); #4-6 Cake time!; #7 Playing with a cool toy--A Deep Sea Explorer Set (deep sea boat, man with tools and angler fish); #8 The reason that toy was bought. She chose an Angler fish for a project that was due the next week for school. It was the only I found. But it really is a cool toy that the girls will really enjoy playing with. And her project turned out really well. P.S. This was her gift from Grandaddy and Jill. Good job. :)