Summer Summary

This summer has been a roller coaster ride and as usual, seems over way too soon. It started with a high--all the kids and Rob home for a week. The trip to see Leah stands out as a high. Hanging out with Adelle was in itself a roller coaster ride but had some great moments--like hanging out with her friends at the fair and her getting invited to youth group. Teaching water jog was also a roller coaster but I enjoyed it. My favorite class at the gym turned out to be circuit--it seemed I was busy to make it to step or fit ball too often. The trip to Omaha was relaxing and fun. And then the bottom of the roller coaster, losing Kevin. Words can't even describe how hard this was. I don't really need to explain because all of my readers (you, my family) were affected too. It was good to have Hannah home even if it was for this sad occasion. Having Joel home had its ups and downs too. It turns out I was adjusted to having a quiet, non messy house. I have enjoyed spending time with him but the mess and noise (double due to Zeb being glued to Joel) was not always fun. I'm sure I will miss all of it as soon as he goes back to school. I am looking forward to having Jon here. And then the remodel. So interesting. I am discovering that this is not at all like the shows on TV. There is a social protocol for having a house full of plumbers and contractors. You just go along with your life and sort of pretend they aren't here and they go along with thier work and pretend you aren't here. The first day I greeting them in my pj's with my hair sticking up but I am now get up and take my shower before they arrive. Then I have my quiet (ha!) time with them traipsing in and out and up and down the stairs carrying huge pipes and equipment. Its scary and exciting and strange. I can tell it is going to be a total roller coaster, too. They decided that they have to replace the entire large pipe that goes from the basement to the top of the house and also found that the roof is still leaking. But it is all going to be great! It takes a long time, too. A week just to get Joel's room done--the corner sheetrock repaired, sanded, then painted. Oh, I was supposed to be summarizing the summer. I think it will be quite awhile until I can go throughout my days without feeling so sad about Kevin. I can finally concentrate again. I can't imagine what it must be like for Shari and the kids, or for Joyce. Today I got the letters for going back to school. There are always such surprises! Since Woodrow Wilson isn't done with the construction, apparently the 5th and 6th graders will be at Eisenhower! I have so many questions about how that will work! I am supposed to be working on the Hidden Curriculum that I will be teaching with Traci for the kids in the autism program. I have a general idea what to teach. I am soooo not ready for school to start. I am excited for Scott's MCC season to start. He just asked me if we can have a once a week game night with food over here. Yes! Just not Friday nights! Its going to be fun! Well, Scott and I are heading to the movie soon--a last late night out. Summer is almost over!

Beautiful

I've been really into two songs lately: Cloverton's Take Me Into the Beautiful and Gungors's Beautiful Things. So I have decided to do a Bible Study of the word beautiful and do it on my blog instead of in my prayer/Bible study notebook. I'll start with some of the lyrics of the two songs.

Take me into the mystery, gently lift me with Your grace
Make the chaos a chorus, with Yourself come fill this place
Cover me with Your mercy, come and cover me with love
Cover me so that all might see that it's You not me
It is You that I am singing of

Take me into the beautiful
Where the rivers flow
With a love that never ends
Oh I wanna go to the beautiful
lalalalalalala

Take me into the beautiful where the faces glow
With the lights that never dim
Oh I wanna go to the beautiful
Come on and take me again

A love that's brighter than diamonds when I'm with You
A love that always invites us to be with You
Your love is brighter than diamonds now that I'm with You

Take me into the beautiful
Where the rivers flow
With a love that never ends
Oh I wanna go to the beautiful
lalalalalalala

All this pain
I wonder if I'll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

(Chorus)
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

In Matthew 3:2, Jesus healed the man crippled from birth at the gate called Beautiful.

Song of Solomon 7:1 How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince's daughter...

Romans 10:15... As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" ...

Song of Solomon 4:1 How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves. ... You are beautiful, my darling, beautiful beyond words. ...

Matthew 23:27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you ...
... You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the
inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. ...

Genesis 29:17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form ...
Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful. ... There was no sparkle in Leah's eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face. ...

Psalm 48:2 Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, in his holy mountain. 2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is mount Zion, [on] the sides of the north, The city of the great King.

Ecc 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Isaiah 4:2 In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. ..

Did it!

I did it! I demolished the upstairs bathroom getting it ready to remodel. On Tuesday afternoon, I took off the shower surround and uncovered black mold. Tons of it! a It freaked me out and I wasn't masked so I sealed up the room and called it good. On Wednesday, I put on a mask, opened the window and removed as much of the yucky wallboard as I could until I had a headache. Last night I employed the Tom Sawyer method with Joel. He spent about 15 minutes and matched my two hours of labor easily. He loved it! "This is easy mom!." So with little cajoling and offer to pay him, he helped for about 1 1/2 hours today and we finished! Joel mostly pulled off the sheetrock and I scrubbed black mold, removed nails and toted the sheetrock out to the driveway. I also did the research on how to remove the toilet. And voila! Its done! I'll bet I burned some serious calories.

Letters from Adelle

The last two times I've picked up Adelle, she's written me a letter which she reads to me as soon as she gets in the car. Even though she has been pushing my limits lately, these letters are pretty cute.
This one was written on lined index cards:
Dear Ms. Clark: Nicki Minaj lost no. 1 in the eight-at-eight yesterday the same day Tim Cowlinshaw and Woody Paige were stopped cold. I like when I can do my twelve hobbies. If I do dance camp, I'm on the dance team. Sports--I'm out vellyball, basketball, and track this year. I can do volleyball and basketball at the DCC gym. The tennis clinic and Stagg Hill Golf club give me more to offer. I can do it all at once next summer--long as I add weight training to mix for a tug of war. Back to sports--If I'm into soccer and softball, that's fine next summer. According to some people, I can get lockers unstuck. Darby Price update--She wants to know if I can form a fan club and do girls club, which is nice. I helped her when she was hurt, and I wonder if she'll invite me over. Jackie Mac update--she hasn't won since June 29--a span of just one loss. She wins today, the Cowlinshaw and Paige woul do the same, and Nicki Minaj will get No. 1 back. I want a high GPA. The fair offers me a chance at the Idol and Fair Factor, and I have a good team. School activities--I had fun in Thespians, FCA, and Stuco, and will do the same in the variety show, Battle of the Bands, Art Club, Spanish Club, and I had fun in choir. Imagine doing volunteer work, right? Mentor news--can I work for it? I want to see if Darby can read my publications. See you in a bit, Adelle.
This one was written on the back of a peice of notebook paper--I couldn't read the other side. Dear Ms. Clark: Woody Paige won Friday, defeating JA Adande 2-0. Adande led 1-0, but lost his point in the final showdown. Both, along with Bonami Jones, scored 20, but Jackie Mac was limited to 19 and was out after Buy or Sell, so she would go on to never make a showdown this past week. I was watching TV at 4:00 Sunday. You know Around the Horn isn't on air on weekends. Something caught my eye, and there was...Nicki Minaj. A female rapper. I couldn't help but watch it all. When it was over, I thought, "This I could tell you about when we get together in a few days. Surely, I'd tell all my friends on Facebook and the E! Special. Here's what I'll upload for my friends: a video of Nicki Minaj performing "Super Bass." See you in a few days, Adelle. P.S. Can we see a movie or go swimming?

Cure for Melancholy

1. Ask God to search my heart for any unconfessed sin keeping us separate.
2. Cling to His words: example: Why are you crushed down, o my soul? And why are you troubled in me? Put your hope in God, for I will again give him praise who is my help an my God.
3. Resist the devil.
4. Make a list of all God has done for you--His blessings.
5. Do something for someone else.
6. Search you heart for any unforgiveness, confess, ask God to help you forgive.
7. Worship.
8. Cling to Phil 4:12-13
9. Psalm 17:15 As for me, I will continue beholding your face in righteousness (right standing) I shall be fully satisfied, when I awake, beholding Your form (having sweet communion with You.)
10. Confess your discontentment because it shows ingratitude and a lack of trust.

Lately

I've been fighting melancholy lately...or is it lonliness or do I just miss Scott? I can't predict when it is going to hit...Joel might be home when it happens and he might not. It usually occurs when I don't have anything planned or when plans don't work out. It always happens when I make big plans to go somewhere then decide not to, like Saturday when I planned to drive to Towanda for the funeral then to see Leah then home. I decided it was just too much driving since Leah worked til 6, so I didn't go. I felt good about the decision but then I'd done all my errands and by 1 I was bored and lonely and just, well, melancholy. I haven't felt that way since. Again it goes back to living a purposeful life. Every day I seek to be a blessing to someone else but it is so easy in the summer to fall back into self-focussed living. I go get Adelle but she is pushing limits, taking our time together for granted, and I end up feeling used. I know it isn't about me, but she only wants to eat my food and get on my computer. I can't seem to find things she really wants to do other than that and even then she pushes limits. I do plan to get her today and try to keep her busy. I offered to take her to the movie but she doesn't want to go. So we'll go to the grocery store and the library and come over here so she can snack and look at her facebook. I am looking forward to teaching deep water aerobics today (a little nervous but oh well). The bank appraiser is coming so I can start demo on the bathroom too! I am so anxious for this remodel to get started and I don't know what the hold up is! No melancholy today.

Remodeling!

Its really going to happen! Finally! It doesn't feel real quite yet but we've met with the contractor, the bank appraiser is coming on Monday, and today I went to the custom wood cabinet shop and "picked out" vanity/closet cabinets and kitchen cabinets and counters. Tomorrow I look at tiles for the bathrooms and then I'm supposed to start thinking about harware, lighting and shopping for appliances. Its crazy overwhelming! Today I spent time organizing the bedroom upstairs for Joel to move into temporarily and then as soon as the bank appraiser goes through, I can start demolition upstairs! Here is the total plan:
Fix the rotten bay window in front.
Replace the front door insert, repair the front steps, and build a small portico over the front door.
Repair the sheetrock in Joel's room.
Completely gut and remodel the upstairs bathroom (except for the tub).
Remove the closets in the master bedrooms and replace the floors where the closets were. Repair the ceiling and walls of in there and replace the ceiling fan and light. Gut the bathroom and remove the wall between the bathroom and small bedroom. Add a double vanity, tile three quarters of the room including a walk in shower surrounded by glass and a free standing tub, and build a large closet with shelves and dressers, etc.
Gut the kitchen and replace everything! Remove the built in cabinet opening up the space and add a kitchen island. Remove the back door.
Either replace the patio and extend it and add a roof over it OR remove the walls and enlarge the whole room.
Refinish all the floors and replace all the lighting.
Yahoo! I can't wait to get started but I'm overwhelmed and a tad freaked out about the details--where will we put all the stuff from the rooms we are working on? How will we live? Will we pick all the right things? EEK!