in transition

Nikie and Chadd got word Thursday that they could start moving into the boys' dorm apartment. A bunch of us helped them get things put in boxes and started moving things over with Jeff's trailer and the school Suburban. What this really meant was that Ryan and I could soon move into Chadd & Nikie's old house! Ryan and I took apart my crazy bookshelf in anticipation.

Packing the refrigerator magnets

This stuff was mostly from bringing Ryan's stuff up from Collegedale. You think the apartment was a little small for us?

The apartment's exterior (plus the Watkins' golf cart that I killed off-roading with it)

Finally Sunday the house was empty. Ryan and I went up to check it out.

Kitchen (adjoins living room) with vaulted ceiling

Master bedroom

Me in the garage - we can fit both cars and the Sea Doo in here!

The first load that wasn't in a car

Moving the piles

Emptying the living room

Second load that Michael, Becky, Steve, and Janelle helped unload

The outside of the new house

Randy and Mary Jane offered to come help us finish moving and unpack, so we gladly took them up on it! They made the process much easier and quicker. We really appreciate it!!!

It pretty much looks like this now. See the new tables!!!

I'm getting the books organized.

The refrigerator was delivered yesterday. We're so excited to have a dishwasher!!!

The "office" where the second TV and couch will go, along with our computers.

I'm gonna try to put a video on this post too. I have to add a disclaimer that I didn't listen to the video before I posted it . . .

as promised

weekend journey

When we examined the calendar closely, we gasped and realized that the days, let alone weeks, are quickly evaporating before school starts again. We wanted to go to my parents' house before the summer ended, so I took off the 21st and we headed home on Friday afternoon.

One of the most exciting things (for me, not Ryan) was that we have two batches of kittens right now. We had lots of fun playing with the older bunch in the living room. We even got them to join in the tennis fun.






Lily currently has 5 kittens that were born June 3 and Sheba has 6 that are a couple of weeks behind. Weezer is the dad of all of them. He likes to supervise the kids on the cat tree.

Dad, Ryan, the dogs, and I took a hike around and through the woods. Maggie and Oreo like to run through the creek. Maggie runs down the middle and Oreo jumps from bank to bank with the hankety pank . . . Nevermind . . .

If the stars align correctly, a YouTube video along these lines will follow shortly after this blog. This is Mr. Fuzzypants on my head. He's the most adventurous of Lily's kittens.

Saturday night, after a quick trip to Dick's for Grant's back-to- school shopping (he's a PE minor), I took on mom and dad in Cities & Knights. Ryan and Grant went to try out Grant's new tennis racquet. Dad won, like usual, even though it was their first time playing it. Weezer strategizes with mom on their next move.

Sunday morning, not as early as we had planned, dad, Grant, Ryan and I headed to the nearby courts for some tennis. We had fun playing three sets mixing up the teams. The only bad part was the lingering sunburn . . .

Ryan was the only one who took any pictures of the tennis. Grant's taking tennis as a Pro-Act class this semester, so he's having to convert his racquetball skills a little. Ryan and I will have tennis courts practically in our new front yard. Unfortunately, they're cracked, severely faded, and barely have anything but a rough concrete surface. :(

We decided to try my dad and Grant's suggestion of going I-77 to I-81 through Virginia and over, but first stopped to see my mom at work. This is her and Wendy (?) at lunch.

The new route wasn't bad, but as you can see, a little confusing to be driving both north and south on the same road at the same time. We were pleasantly surprised to find gas for a mere $3.73/gal. in Wytheville, VA.

Driving through Knoxville was a trip! **insert awkward silence** After the gale-force winds, hail, power lines in the road, and miles of traffic jammed bumper-to-bumper, we made it through to the sunny side unscathed.

And behind us was the dark sky showing what we had just been through!

killing the flamingo throw-up

Becky and I decided to tackle the salmon beast that is our office. This was primer over the one pink wall in our office. We're going to cover the vertical part of the counter with steel/corkboard to make it practical for our workers.

Unfortunately, the pink was all the way to the floor under our countertop. We became contortionists to paint under there.

The almost-finished product. We painted all the trim white. We still have Becky's door to do and a couple of touch-up places on the wall. So exciting!

shopping . . . day 2

Ryan and I took off for civilization in search of our much-anticipated bedroom furniture. Success!! We returned with living room tables! Ok, so we found them marked WAAAAY down at American Signature Furniture. They match the wood on the couch legs and on the book case. New house, here we come!

come chill

In case you get a hankering for some cold water, maybe even with ice, come on over to our new house Monday and check out the new fridge.

blog from the holy land

This week I'm helping with our church's VBS by taking pictures at the elem. gym.

This is the third year of a series of VBS programs about Jesus. This year is about his crucifixion. Ryan's helping too, as Peter in the skits.

Each kid is in one of the twelve tribes. They have bandannas with their tribe names. We start divided into tribes then come together at the "gathering place" where Becky P. leads songs (1st pic). Lily [Zebulun] and her mom Bliss were getting into the music last night.

After the songs, everyone goes back to their tribe groups where the leaders teach them a lesson for each night. Then, they go to their rotations of crafts, snacks, animals, games, etc. There are 12 booths/activities.

Zebulun learning how to play with a dradle
See my feet?

The barnyard is a popular rotation. Gabby [Naphtali] posed with one of the horses from Monday.

Olivia [Issachar] looked a little nervous about the goat, but she wasn't really. I think she'd give it a run for its money!

Stephanie, this is one of those things that just looks funny when everyone's in costume. Will plays the Roman soldier in the skits. His daughter Samantha [Benjamin] was just tired. Did they have pacifiers in the Bible?

The goat

We also had a German shepherd named Sarge

And since I stayed until the (almost) end, I got some of the goodies the ladies in the kitchen made for the VBS volunteers. There were at least 4 kinds of bread with oil/herbs or honey/yogurt to dip it in, depending on the bread of course. The fruit was really good too!

Maybe I'll post more pictures after tomorrow of Ryan's acting debut . . . It will be my last night since we're heading to Winston Salem for the weekend!

lunchtime fun

Steve and Janelle invited us over for Sabbath lunch with the Patricks yesterday. It was a really HOT afternoon, so we were glad to be in the a/c for at least a while.

Janelle made lasagna, corn, broccoli, salad, and garlic cheese bread.

Their two dogs, Marley and Gatsby ran around and hoped we'd drop crumbs for them. Gatsby (right) just showed up last school year and we called him "New Dog" for a long time.

Gabby loves to take pictures with my camera, so I do have pictures of everybody, they just weren't in focus. And they were all of people stuffing their faces with pie!

After we ate, we sat around in the living room for a while. Gabby wanted to go outside and take pictures of Janelle's wildflowers.

























Olivia was mesmerized by the gerbil that Janelle usually has in her classroom. His name is Abednigo (sp?) and he's the only survivor of the original three.




Marley tried to make friends with Ryan. Gabby and Ryan couldn't take sitting anymore, so they went outside to play. :)




Gabby and Olivia loved Steve & Janelle's tire swing in the front yard.









Do they look hot?








I decided to try out the hammock. Bad idea. The hole in the middle quickly became larger. I think I saved Olivia, but I sure hit the ground!

Ryan eventually walked home to get a soccer ball. He and Gabby kicked it around for a while. She kept feeling sorry for him that he was sweating so much and would bring him ice water.

They also took a walk to the end of Faculty Hill Rd. while I pushed Olivia.

After we left Baughmans', we went to John & Anita's and swam in their pool for 45 minutes before coming back to get ready for Ryan's VBS drama dress rehearsal.