From the Inside Out

Well, as much as I enjoy checking my blogline feeds each day, thank you Phillip, and reading everyone else's posts, I can't seem to get to mine too regularly. Sorry, we have been very busy this summer but I will try to do better at making regular posts.

I finally finished reading Andy Stanley's book, It Came From Within. In it he describes 4 negative conditions of our hearts and how to turn them around. The over riding theme is that no matter how you try to dress up the outside, what is on the inside has a way of always coming out--usually at the most inappropriate times. Thus the need to make sure our hearts are in good condition.

I guess God wants to make sure I really get the point because He is giving me some real life illustrations. Remember the problems we were having with the Greensboro house--the leak on the main floor from the toilet, we thought, that was right above it? Remember how we sent Brian up three times to make MAJOR rennovations in the house? He replaced toilets, rebuilt seals and upgraded everything--remodeled the laundry room screened porch, and family room, replaced a ton of stuff. Then we had the wooden floors sanded and refinished, cleaned the carpets, cleaned the house and had it staged. It is gorgeous! The landscaper did his thing and we signed up with Help u Sell and scheduled the first Open House for July 13th.

On July 11th we got a call from the Realtor--the ceiling in the front hallway was leaking and the water was running down the wall--WHAT?!?!?!

To make a long story short, we had him turn off the water and electric and had a roofer check to see if the roof vents were leaking--they have had a lot of rain. All that checked out so we sent Brian up for a fourth trip. He turned everything on and waited--no water. He thought it must have been the A/C condensation. So he repaired the damage and came home. We rescheduled the Open House for this Sunday and yesterday got a call--this time with very ugly pictures--it is leaking again!! Only now we are 24 hours from our first wave of summer guests and our vacation right before school starts, so we can't go back up there now. We have contacted a local man our house stager knows and he will look at it Friday morning. I think he will need to tear out the wall, oh my I don't want to think of the mess that will make!

The moral of this story: No matter how good it looks on the outside, if there is a problem in the heart of the home, it will show and must be dealt with! Okay, Lord we are trying to get at the source of the problem, and if you are trying to tell me something about my heart, could you just come out with it and let me let you fix it? I really need to sell this house. Amen.

Summer fun

We had a great week with my niece, Anita, and her two girls, Savannah and Rylee. They drove over from Charleston so that we could enjoy some summer memories. The time went by too quickly, but the weather was awesome and the kids enjoyed some great times at the pool and at the park. We were surprised to see how well they were all swimming and learning to dive. Having Rachel and Brando there to play in the water was a nice break for we adults. Thanks to Anita, we also got some great picutes!! Hope you enjoy!

out for a drive

Since moving from Fl, one of the things Edgar and I really enjoy is going for rides in the country. I know, I know the price of gas is making it an expensive hobby, but both here in GA and while we were in NC we love to do it. The other day we were driving and had an interesting thing happen. Here, we made a video to share:

Plan a Date

I think the longer you are married the more you have to schedule dates with your spouse.  It is not intentional, it is just that kids, jobs, life can take over your calendar and before you know it you can't remember the last time you had a real date.  Edgar and I work together, from our home offices, so we have a lot of time together, and often by the end of a long work day we are just too tired to 'go out', but we are working on changing that.   

A friend sent me this link to a new movie that is coming out in September and I have marked my calendar to go out with my husband to see this.  Take a look at the trailer, and maybe you will want to mark your calendar too, and set a date with your spouse!

A Little Americana

There is something nostalgic and refreshing about a small town celebration.  The whiff of barbecue in the air, the site of babies in strollers, moms and dads walking hand in hand, and youngsters with balloons; it is nice to see a little glimpse of Americana in your own backyard.  We began the celebration Thursday evening with blankets, lawn chairs and meeting up with friends to watch the fireworks.  Had a great spot and the weather was perfect.  Then we got up relatively early Saturday morning to go back for the parade.

We got front row seats and enjoyed watching people set up their camping chairs, umbrellas, blankets and get settled in for the show.  There were a few clowns, several police officers on motorcycles.  The city of Cumming has this parade annually and most of the participants are old steam engines or restored antique cars.  Rachel and Ashley rode with Brandon and some of his cousins on the family steam engine, while we watched from the sidelines.  Most of the people on the engines or floats threw candy which is OK, but you can really see the greed in people as kids and adults fight over who can take home the biggest sack of bubble gum and tootsie rolls---why??

Other than the rude lady and her equally rude little girl who sat beside us, it was a great experience.  Having spent so many Independence Days in south Florida where it is way too hot to go outside for a parade, this was nice.

Those Lazy, Hazey, Crazy Days of Summer

Summer is supposed to be a time of leisure, at least that is what my 17 year old daughter keeps trying to tell me.  Sleeping until noon, spending hours at the pool, hanging out with friends until the wee hours of the morning, thus the need to sleep until noon.  Actually all of this sounds quite attractive to me also, but this little issue of trying to earn a living keeps interrupting my plans for leisure.  And as if that were not enough, our 8 year old son has an internal clock that seems to be in sync with the sun.  He is ready for sleep about the time the sun goes down, 9:00 pm, and is wide awake when the sun comes up, 6:30 am.  Edgar and I find ourselves  awake and waiting to know that the teenager is home and nestled in and then up at the crack of dawn to try and monitor what creative things the boy is up to so early.  We are exhausted; I am ready for more leisure!

It is the second day of July for pity sake, the kids have been home from school for 40 days.  Biblically speaking the number 40 represents testing--it rained for 40 days and nights when Noah was on the ark, the children of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years, Satan tempted Jesus for 40 days, etc.  Does this mean that beginning tomorrow my testing of trying to be calm, pleasant, encouraging, and supportive while in a state of zombiehood (spell check does not consider that a word, but you know what I mean) will be over and I can just SLEEP?!?!?

Actually I do enjoy having them home for the most part.  I even sneak down to the pool with them occasionally and momentarily forget my many responsibilities awaiting me once I come back to reality, I mean home.  Ryan and I enjoy playing baseball or bowling on the Wii, and Rachel keeps trying to teach me how to play guitar hero, but it is rather futile.

This weekend we do plan to just chill out a little.  Ryan and I are hoping to get everyone up and out of the house so we can enjoy the Parade downtown on Friday and Saturday is the annual cookout/hangout at our neighborhood pool.  There are a couple of Independence Day musical celebrations on TV this week that I hope to view also.  I don't want to ever forget that the reason we can take a few days off and enjoy some leisure time is because of the men and woman who served and died for this country.  We have friends and family members in Iraq right now who will not have leisure time because they are actively protecting our freedom.

What will you be doing this holiday weekend?  Do you have plans to relax and chill out?  How will you honor those who have served and are serving our country to give us this freedom?