Old Carpets Never Die

When you live in a house that is well over 100 years old, there is ALWAYS a project going on. Or Ten.

And I seem to add to these projects monthly, or maybe weekly. Surely not daily?

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I decided the carpet in my bedroom had passed the point of usability. Actually, it had past that a decade or two ago, but who's counting? It didn't help that just a few days prior to that, one of my beloved pets had lost the contents of her stomach right in front of my dresser. At 6:30 AM. What a way to wake up.

I made the decision right then that it had to go but I was just waiting for the right time. I certainly couldn't do it with house guests on their way.

So, when a couple of the youth girls were over one afternoon, I enlisted their help. (Being a Youth Pastor DOES have its advantages - heh heh.) We moved all the little furniture out and then pushed the bed way over to one side. We pulled up that yellow carpet. Or maybe at one time is was green, or yellow-green, I just don't really know.

Then we lifted the bed over the roll. (Thanks, honey for taking this five minutes out of your workday - at home- to help with this detail. I love your muscles.) And then heaved the carpet down the stairs and out the front door. It was no small task. But I had some serious Girl Power on my side. Including Abby. :)

THANKFULLY, the wood floor underneath is very nice: still has a finish on it, with no major flaws, a few paint drops and a couple of gaps between boards. But nothing that a rug or two won't cover-up. Yeah!!!

It even inspired me to lose the blue/white/floral room ensemble I've had since we got married (1994). No, I don't like change. So now, we're going with red and brown which couldn't make Hubby happier! Plus, we're using a quilt that one of his grandmothers made out of old ties. It deserves a picture, but sadly, there are none. Yet.

Hubby was so happy with the nice flooring, that he gave into my pleadings to get rid of yet another room of SERIOUSLY old carpet. The carpet in the office was in worse shape than the bedroom. This one is definitely yellow but with several black spots. Not at all in keeping with the red/white/blue patriotic theme I've got going on in there.

So, last Saturday, we pulled up a little of the edge and saw that it was not too bad - painted brown flooring. I could live with that. Once again, we started ripping up the carpet.

Only this time, we found that only the edges were painted and the rest needed some help in the finishing department. Oh, and as a bonus, in the very middle of the room is a piece of cardboard nailed on top of a board. I'm kinda nervous about pulling that up.

But, there are no major gaps between the boards. And, even though it's not the greatest, it still is better than the 30+ year-old carpet that was here.

So now, I have added finishing the office floor to the ever growing list of projects. If it's like all the other projects, I'll probably start a new one before that one is done.

P.S. (can you do that in a blog post?) Do not weep for the old carpet. Its life is not over... it makes a home in the garden. Stay tuned for THAT story.

New Friends

Whenever our church has a guest speaker, we are sometimes called upon to host them in our home for the weekend. During the second week in July, we were able to host Ray and Lisa from West Virginia. They came to help us launch our Cleansing Stream Discipleship program.

It should come as no surprise, but Abby loves having new people in our home. It takes her a few minutes to warm up, but then she has them eating out of her hand. Or I should say, drawing pictures of "Ballet Bob" and "Ballerina Bella." Playing dress-up and getting "fancy" are also favorite activities for visitors.

Billy and I had fun getting to know them, as well. We took them to all the regular tourist spots around here - Sheri's Coffee House and Lake Erie. I think they liked the coffee better than the sand. Hmmm. I think I do, too.

Despite the extra meetings in the schedule, it was a relaxing time we were able to spend with them.

Skipping rocks at the beach.

By Monday morning, Abby was definitely attached to her new friends.

Ray and Lisa, we can't wait until we're able to host you again. Thanks for ministering to the "least of these" as well.

Thank you, God, for your servants who breathe new life and show us your love and compassion.

Wordless Wednesday

These were taken at the farm in Kentucky and given a couple special effects in Kodak EasyShare software.

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

The Story Of The Traveling Sandbox

Last year, my dad built a frame for my sister's boys to have a sand box. The sandbox was new and shiny (as much as boards shine). It was happy to have trucks and shovels inside its four walls. Being the energetic boys that they are, the sand had a hard time staying in the box and dirt found it's way in. The water hose also got involved and tried to drown the sand. After one summer, Aunt Rachel grew tired of the mess. The sandbox was dismantled and put away for the winter. It was very sad.

At the beginning of this summer, the frame found a new home in my other sister's yard. It was screwed back together and had a renewed hope that it would once again fulfill it's destiny as a fun plaything. New sand was added and the new boys and girl had lots of fun. Abby enjoyed it as well. EVERY time we went down to Auntie's, Abby asked to play in the sandbox. Even while wearing her tutu. The sandbox was happy!

A few weeks ago, Auntie mentioned that the only time the sandbox was used was when Abby came to play. Then Auntie decided she would rather have a stone patio beside her deck than a sandbox. Was the sandbox once again doomed to be left in a garage with no one to play and no sand to sink little toes into?

You should have seen the little sandbox brighten when it was once again hauled to a new location, only this time, it didn't have to be taken apart. New sand was added! And new toys and seashells found their home within the little frame. Gone are the trucks and cars, but the little feet and hands that play are very joyful. The sandbox is happy. And so are the little toes who love to sink into the sand everyday.

Ready for some action...

Yeah! Seashells from Uncle Michael's Beach!

The Sandbox has a new friend.

The Call

On July 5, we packed up the family and the youth group and headed to Nashville to attend The Call (07-07-07). We had two vans full of people from our church for a total of 26, including children.

We spent Thursday night and Friday at my Granny's farm in Kentucky and then all day Saturday in Nashville at Titan Stadium with 70,000 other Bible-believing Christians. We worshipped, prayed, yelled, were silent, repented, fasted, sweat, and prayed some more for 14 hours.

Because we were staying an hour away, and we had heard that they were expecting over 200,000 people, we got up at 3 AM - yes THREE - and left at 4 AM. We wanted to be sure that we would be inside the stadium for the event. We arrived at 5:30 and waited in line till 8 AM when they opened the doors. The event officially started at 10 AM but they had worship bands starting at 8AM. The sun came up and the Son showed up and it was an AWESOME time!

This is what it looked like from where we were sitting. This is only a portion of the stadium.

We prayed about purity, abortion, adoption, covenant and many others: basically praying that our nation would turn back to God and have another "Great Awakening."

In the afternoon, Lou Engle shared a prophetic dream and interpretation concerning the book by Dr. Seuss, "Horton Hears A Who!" Click here to read about it in detail. It is truly amazing. He shared that the time is NOW for an end to abortion. He also shared about another Dr. Seuss book. Here is an excerpt:

Read "Horton Hatches an Egg." It is about a bird who wants to go play, rather than sit on her egg. So Horton, the elephant again, sits on the egg until the
egg hatches. When the egg hatches, out comes, not a little baby bird, but an elephant with wings.

The moral of the story is this: he who cares for the unwanted child--that child will take on the nature of the one who cared for it. It is the spirit of adoption! God is calling the Church to adopt and care for the unwanted children in the nation. We have got to be Jesus' love answer. We can't just be pro-birth we must be pro-life!

Well, you KNOW this topic is close to our hearts and this was so encouraging to hear Christian leaders standing up for adoption. We prayed for 1 million adoptions to take place! Amen!


Around 9 PM, there were 300 shofars blown together. We all released a SOUND into the heavenlies. It lasted over 7 minutes! Words cannot describe how awesome that was.


I'm so thankful to have been a part of this event and we're looking forward to going to DC for another The Call event on 08-08-08! Come go with us!

Happy Birthday, America!!

This picture is from one year ago.

We will be celebrating our nation's independence by watching the parade and having a cook-out. Maybe we'll be seeing fireworks.

How are you celebrating July 4th?