weekend of craziness...

This weekend was an extremely busy one, but it was so fun and full of God's kindness to us. Friday afternoon, after class, I headed over to watch Emma and Peter B. Keith and Joanna were away for their 10th anniversary! Joanna's parents had been with the kids all week, and I took over Friday/Saturday. We had a great time hangin out, playing scrabble, running around outside, going on adventures to Starbucks, playing Webkinz...all kinds of crazy stuff. Emma and Peter are so cute and lots of fun to watch.

Unfortunately, Steve wasn't able to join us much of the time because he had the annual Weekend of Excellence with Integrity. That included Thursday night, Friday all day and evening, and Saturday til about 4. He had a great time hanging out with all the guys and was encouraged by the whole experience. But we were both pretty tired by the end of the day Saturday!

Sunday after church we had lunch with some friends from Church/Caregroup, Chris and Natalie. We went to Red Robin. It was delicious and we had a great time of fellowship with them. Thanks guys!

Then Sunday afternoon, we went home and cleaned the apartment and I made brownies for our community group last night! Which was, by the way, an incredible time of fun fellowship and interceding in prayer for people in our group. Thanks to everyone who shared struggles for your humilty and openness! The Holy Spirit was definately moving among us. I know that everyone left encouraged and uplifted by that time of prayer. It was amazing! I love our group and am so excited for all that God will do in the future!

I am so thankful for our church body and all of the amazing friends God has blessed us with! A crazy weekend like that turns out to be so fun and filled with God's blessings because we were surrounded by people we love and who love Christ and are seeking to serve him! Instead of being drained and overwhelmed as I start this new week, I am encouraged and refreshed by God's kindness to Steve and I. He is so faithful and gracious to us. I hope you all start this week looking to Christ and recognizing all his blessings and kindness!

Rot Repair, Ceiling Rafters and a Stop Work Order!

I should be studying for a test in Middle East History right now, but I've had about all I can take of school, so I figured I'd distract myself by updating you all on the progress of our house! Good idea, huh?

The one hangup lately has been the kitchen floor. There was some rot in the floor joists, so they all had to be replaced...plus some rot around one of the kitchen windows. So all of that has been more of a headache than Steve had foreseen. But it's almost done now.

Some of the guys in our caregroup helped Steve on the house last week and they removed the ceiling rafters in the dining/living room. We're going to make it a cathedral ceiling to open it up more.

Steve and some other guys got there Saturday morning ready for a long day of work when they found this not-so-friendly notice on the door. It's not that big of deal..hopefully we'll have the permit they want to see in a day or two, but it just prevented them from working on the house over the weekend which was somewhat frustrating.

Steve is over at the house tonight with Steve Schwartz. He is running all the electrical in the house for us which is a huge blessing! Thanks Steve!

So that's the scoop! Also some of you had heard that we may not be able to extend our lease for our apartment at the end of April until we get the house done, but come to find out we will be able to stay at our apartment until the house is all finished! This is a huge relief, and it really takes pressure off Steve feeling like he has to get it done as fast as humanly possible. Now he can take time to do things in good order and enjoy the process a little more :) We are so thankful for the Lord showing his faithfulness in this situation! He is so good to us!

Alright, it's back to the books for me :)

I LOVE THIS PICTURE...

Steve went on a couple of missions trips to Haiti during high school and college. This picture was taken during one of them. I think the little boy's expression is priceless. I love it. And it's of my favoritest boy ever...Steve of course :)

Lookin a little better...

Steve had help Monday night cleaning up all that nasty debris from the walls and ceiling. Thanks to George, Donny and Kevin (out-of-town Integrity trainees), my Dad, Brock, and Brian!! You guys are awesome...it would have taken Steve a looong time to get all of that stuff into the dumpster without your help. We really appreciate it.

So it's looking not quite as scary as before, but there's still some more demo and clean-up before they can start putting up the new stuff...Steve and Brian are going to reframe the bathroom and rip up the kitchen floor and put in a new subfloor...i guess it's a little uneven the way it is now.

living room and into kitchen

bedroom 1

bedroom 2

another FULL dumpster!

Home Renovation Part One: DEMOLITION

Exciting news in the lives of Steve and Abbey: we bought a house!!!! Yes, we will soon be moving to our new little home on the corner of Rokeby and Hazel in Chesapeake, VA. The Lord has been so good to provide such a great opportunity. We are very excited about this adventure. Leslie Crosby helped us start looking a little over a month ago and has been SUCH a huge help and blessing to us...couldn't have done it without her! We love the house we got...but there are a few little things that need to be done to it before we can move in...you know...minor things like rip down all existing dry wall, rewire all electric in the house, put in all new plumbing, insulation, new dry wall, lighting, cabinets and countertops, flooring, appliances...nothing that can't be done in a couple of months Lord willing.

No seriously, as adorable as this house is on the outside, it is pretty much gutted inside...nothing in it but the walls and they tore those down yesterday. It's pretty much down to the studs with mountains of debris covering the floors. The previous owner bought the house to renovate, but ended up needing to sell it before it was finished. He had already put up new siding, a new roof, new windows and a new heating/cooling system...so all that is left is the inside. We were able to get the house for a great price and, thanks to the assistance of Wayne and Les, will be able to finish all the renovations before we move in. So Steve, Brian, my dad, Brock, Jonathan Aumen, and Jeff Bradford worked on demolition most of yesterday morning and afternoon (Thank you guys!!!). We took pictures of the process for your enjoyment...but I'll warn you, these aren't for the faint of heart.

Here's a little video tour with Steve

Thanks for staying all day to help Dad! You're the best!

Steve, with the help and expertise of Brian (his brother) and many others I'm sure, will be working on the house over the next 2-3 months. We are sooo excited about this house. The sweet thing about it is that it will practically be a brand new house when it's all done...and we get to pick everything out just the way we want it. But there are a couple of unique things that give it that old house charm...like a tall brick chimney in the kitchen. It used to be attached to a furnace under the house, but now it's not really serving any purpose. But we love the look of it so we're going to leave it there. Also there are old hardwood floors in the living room and bedrooms that we are going to restore. They are one of my favorite parts of the house.

This house is such a blessing from the Lord and we are so thankful for it. I will be posting pictures of the renovation process as we go...should be an adventure!!

22 today...

Today is my birthday. Isn't it funny how as you get older holidays and birthdays and such lose their excitement and novelty. Yesterday I was thinking about it being my birthday, and unlike when I was little, their was no little leap of excitement and anticipation inside of me. I could only think about all of the things needing to be done today...3 classes to go to, reading for Thursday, grocery shopping, pick up car from the mechanic. Oh to be a grown up. Not to sound depressing...I do still enjoy birthdays and love the holidays, it's just funny how your perspective changes the older you get.

Steve has been so sweet and great at making my day feel special and making me feel loved and honored. He woke me up this morning whispering happy birthday in my ear, he surprised me with flowers and a love note, and he made me breakfast and coffee. I am looking forward to going out with him tonight as well. I think we're going to Bravo, my favorite Italian restaurant. He is so kind and thoughtful and I'm so glad to be able to spend this birthday with my best friend and love.

My parents also gave me some beautiful flowers as well. Steve dropped me off at their house this morning so I could borrow their car, and my dad came in with flowers for me. They are so sweet. I feel very blessed today. The Lord has given me so many good gifts.

Our car is being worked on right now. We can't seem to figure out what's wrong with it. It keeps dying on me..sometimes it doesn't start to begin with and sometimes it dies once it's already running. We've already had one guy do a diagnostic on it, and he couldn't find the problem. So another guy has had it since yesterday and he's doing a couple things to it that might fix it...but it's hard to tell. So pray for the car if you think of it. We're not sure what to do about it.

Hope you all have a happy Wednesday!

katie's shower...

There was a shower for Katie Dowling yesterday at the church hosted by Sharay Hunt. It was so fun to get to celebrate with Kates and shower her with love and LOTS of fun gifts for their home. Sharay planned several fun games and had lots of yummy food and a delicious cake! It was all very special.

We played the toilet paper wedding dress game...but we had to use paper towels this time.

The "brides" were Maggie, Katie, Bethany Herman, Ashley Barrett and Jessica Hewitt

Our team's bride was bethany...she looked the best, of course, but katie's team won.

All Katie's bridesmaids lined up and Katie had to come in blindfolded and try and guess who was who by only touching their hands and their feet! hehe...i think she only guessed 2 or 3 right.

Adorable centerpiece...

A really sweet fruit basket

Katie opening gifts!

Love you Kates. It was an honor to be there and share in your joy. We're all so excited for you and Wes. Can't wait for the big day!

Happy Valentine's Day Friends!

Love is patient and kind;

love does not envy or boast;

it is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on it own way;

it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice at wrong-doing,

but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.

I Corinthians 13:4-8

Read this in my quiet time this morning...always such a good reminder! How good of the Lord to give us such a practical passage describing what love should look like.

Above all things let's let the love of Christ continue to rule our heart, mind, and tongue!