Oh Anticipation...

So, I've got some really exciting things going on. Today I get a delivery of some clothes I ordered online. I'm looking forward to trying them on and probably returning most of them! I like the anticipation of getting these clothes but when they don't fit, I do dread the return. Tomorrow I get another delivery of books I ordered online too! Yay! I just get so excited about tracking packages online! It's so neat to have the box sitting at your door. I love the anticipation of opening it up. I get excited even when my husband gets things. So I'm eagerly awaiting the UPS truck pulling up. They say they deliver until 7pm! Yay!

So that excitement takes care of today and tomorrow. Thursday we have a meeting with our home builder to look at more layout updates. One night I asked Honey, "Where are we going to put your parents when they come to visit?" I'm looking forward to my in laws coming to visit us. They are wonderful people. Honey's reply to my question was, "hmm." The next morning Honey informed me that he has turned our 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath home into a 6 bedroom, 4.5 home! We had to have a reasonable place to house family when they come and visit! It helps with resale value too. We have been looking at lighting for the home. I found some brilliant pendants for the kitchen island we both love. It is amazing how much we like the same things. We are so excited about building our home together. When we meet with our builder he is going to give us cabinet and counter top samples. I love samples! I've been staring at the hardwood floor sample and carpet sample for days. Saturday we were out at the lot and I had this funny idea. Since we live within a golf course, I said, "Honey lets go see if we can get a golf cart and go around the neighborhood." He agreed to go ask. I love this man! Much to our surprise, they told us to go ahead! We rode the courses and saw the backyard of our house from down below. Honey is really happy with the course and the neighborhood. He is excited to play golf there with his dad and brother this summer. Here is a view of our lot from the course. Our home will be built on the empty lot to left side of homes there.



Friday, we leave for Disneyland!! Yep we are headed to California for some fun in hopefully the sun! The kids are so excited about it. To tell you the truth, it hasn't hit me just yet. Honey and I have both been to Disney World so we figured Disneyland would be good this time. One thing to take note of, if you have kids go before they turn 10 or you will pay the adult ticket price for them. I had no idea. I thought the adult ticket price would be for adults. Apparently the Disney folks beg to differ! It's not a drastic price jump but saving a bit helps. We'll go to Lego land and Sea World too! Oh and I'm oh so happy about going to The Coffee Bean again! Honey wants to go to In and Out. I'm really looking forward to this trip!

Man, God's blessings are amazing aren't they? So I'm excited! I'm going to go now package is here!

Dear Anti-Abortion Poster Holder

I would like to express my sincere concern. As I sat at a red light, I looked over to my right side to see you and your church members holding up these hand written Anti Abortion signs. Some of these posters read "Abortion Hurts" "Abortion Kills" yes I agree with both of those sayings. I admire your passion to save unborn children. What I question is how effective your posters actually are? Do they really help those that have had abortions and those that are contemplating abortion? Have you ever had anyone walk up to you and say, "Wow this really helped me?" Have you ever had anyone tell you that they felt Christ's love radiate from those signs?

My first mind is, I seriously doubt it. When I see those signs I wonder how Christ would look upon those types of signs. I think it makes people feel unworthy. Now, Christ never went around holding up a sign protesting things. He spoke against them yes, but he never made people feel as though they are filthy or unworthy. He was reaching out to those who need him. In fact people judged your very Christ like you are holding those signs. They gawked at him for having dinner with sinners. For the lady caught in adultery, did he tell her things such as "Adultery hurts" or "Adultery Kills Families?" No. He let those people judging her know they are not in any place to judge because they were not without sin themselves. He then told her she was forgiven and to sin no more.

Another curious question, why do you only pick that one thing to protest? You call it a sin, however you don't hold signs protesting Adultery, Pedophiles, Pornography, or Murder. Why not protest those too?

You see, protests like this don't convince people that Christians are loving. They make us look uncaring and judgmental. I know you mean well and want to save lives too but you don't save lives by making others feel less than. I'm sure that you bring back all the horrible memories for those who have had abortions. You see by simply holding a sign like that, you are bringing up a past for others. You are making them hurt all over again. It makes those contemplating abortion feel bad about the situation they are in. It does not offer a loving voice to them. It doesn't even offer an alternative to them. So in my eyes, you are just as bad as someone who is Pro Abortion. Your tactics are harmful. If you were to help people into the kingdom of God then offer a different alternative. Offer an encouraging positive voice to the troubled heart. Offer a safe haven for those who are scared of the situation they are in. Offer another option to abortion instead of beating them when they are already down. Hey maybe you could even offer to adopt the baby they are going to have!

Most of these ladies that go into abortion clinics are scared and don't see any other way out of it. They need help, not judgment. They need healing, not to be condemned. The physiological effects after having an abortion are life lasting. This is not a cut and dry situation. Women who have had abortions suffer greatly inside. Some less than others but there is some sort of effect. Who are you to make her suffer more? Shouldn't you be about your Father's business in helping the broken heal? Let he who is with out sin cast the first stone. Hmmm... casting stones by way of signs. When I see these people, I think of a modern day Pharisee.

These Anti-Abortion Poster Holders do not represent the true love of Christ. They represent the crowd shouting "Crucify Him!"

So How's The Home Building?

Some time late last year we decided to build our first home together. Since Rich works in St.Louis and has to drive forty-five minutes away we figured we would look to get closer to his work location. This decision started out exciting, frustrating and fun. The move to St.Louis has been a long process. It's hard to pin point emotions in all of this. Some days we are really excited, other days we find ourselves exhausted and frustrated. Overall we are excited for the future. It has been a great work in progress. So here goes the story of the progress we have made.

We started out looking online at the area cookie cutter home builders. After looking at different layouts, areas, price ranges we decided to take a look at Mayer Cookies, err um I mean Homes. We took a drive over to their Seckman Lakes location to see their array of models. They seemed to have a great reputation and they were quality builders who have been around for a while. We chose a location on their new cookie sheet to place our special cookie. It was a very nice lot. Our cookie was going to be in a cul-de-sac, forest area behind us and a great view out the front. It had everything that I wanted in a home location. The cookie cutter we chose had a laundry room upstairs. I thought this was just the be all and end all to home cookies. This home cookie was special, it had my kind of sprinkles! Our neighborhood of choice was in Imperial, MO. It was beautiful and it put Rich closer to work. It was all wonderful but for some reason I just couldn't get a peace about it.

I pushed those feelings aside and went forward. The plans to build there went forward. We planned this cookie home out to point of taking out walls, switching out layouts of bathrooms, and picking out the brick and mortar. We didn't realize how the color of mortar can make such a difference from brick to brick! We went to places and chose carpets, cabinets, counter tops, and all the works. Some of the choices were mind numbing. We ended up with two file folders when most of the people only had one. The lady we were working with was absolutely wonderful! We were loving it until we found out the home we planned out was going to be one of the four biggest homes in the neighborhood. As we started working on things we ended up changing the layout, adding things to the house, the house became more expensive. This could have been a great ego trip for us but it wasn't. It made us very uneasy. Being the "big fish in the pond" wasn't what we wanted to be. Again, throughout this whole process I just couldn't get a internal peace about it. I went through all of the pros of building there in my head trying, to assure myself that this house was it. We had a great lot in a cul-de-sac, nice view out front, forest behind us, a state park near, and more. Still in all its goodness, I had no peace about it.

So one day we were talking about this big fish in the pond scenario and figured that resale value would actually hurt us. So I confessed several concerns to my honey including that I didn't have a peace about it. He was unsettled at hearing this but willing to listen. After a visit to England to attend my sister in law's wedding we came back with a fresh mind about it all. We decided to look at other model homes. I had no problem about the layout of the house, the neighborhood was the issue. We went to see McBride cookie homes in Eureka, MO. This put us a little closer to Rich's work than Imperial was. I actually thought this was just going to reassure us that we were building the right home. To my surprise the moment I stepped foot in that home and I was amazed. Scrap the other cookie! I wanted this model home as is! This home had the feel I loved! It proved that the model we had been building was all wrong! Oops!

So fast forward a couple of months. We decided we wanted to be some where we would be mid price instead of the most expensive home. The lot in Imperial was let go. Oh the one McBride home that I loved in Eureka had no lots that we liked. In fact there was a grave yard next to one lot that our Buyers agent saw. Beautiful home, undesirable lots! The only home I'd take in that neighborhood would have been the model. We did decided to hire a buyer's agent to help us. Buyers agents are different from real estate agents. We searched and searched for a lot. At one point we thought we might have to buy an existing house. While searching it was confirmed that we needed to build our home. So we continued to look for lots. We saw lot after lot and none really got us.

One day we were looking on the web and found a lot in a very desirable location. In fact we were surprised it was still available. The real estate agent made a typo in the name of the neighbor name. Anyone searching the name would not find it but we did and the chase was on! The builder Taylor Morley owned these lots that remained vacant for a while. Taylor Morley filed bankruptcy and the lots went back to the bank. Then a couple of real estate agents bought them and were trying to sell them off. That's when we came in to buy.

So, fast forward to August, we bought the lot we wanted. It felt great to own a piece of land in a beautiful neighborhood called Tapawingo on the Green in Sunset Hills, MO. This put Rich three minutes way from work. We were happy about his location. Rich and Adrian both like golfing. I even have my own set of clubs. This neighborhood is around a well established Tapawingo Golf Course. It's got beautiful views, nature all around and we are not the big fish in the pond! In fact we just might be in the low middle! So we were well pleased with the location of this lot. After buying the lot, we decided to hire an architects Heine & Croghan to help us plan out the home. We didn't want a cookie cutter pick your layout builder. We wanted something unique to our lifestyle. So we worked on it and got a plan we liked. We are happy with it.

Fast forward a bit more to September, now we are beginning our building phase. We chose the builder that had been building homes in the neighborhood already. Not Jones Company but Whalen Homes. We were warned to stay away from Jones Company homes. Whalen does build a quality home. Mr. Whalen looked at our layout, gave us a great estimate and it was a done deal. We liked some of their homes and the way he conducts business. They build a good home and we were happy to work with them.

Today we went to pick out cabinet doors, stains and counter tops. Remember, we went though this before so we knew exactly what we liked right? Wrong! This kitchen is bigger than the one we were considering. We took some elements for the other McBride home I loved and incorporated it into our home. So the cabinet colors and flooring all changed. The style of home has changed from cookie cutter to unique Tuscan style. We are doing something totally different and we like it. As the project continues on, I'll be able to post solid decisions. We are both very very excited to build our home together.
It's late, and my eyes are getting heavy so I will proof this tomorrow.

So how is the home building? Wonderfully educating! - goodnight.

Acing the Parental Road and Happily Going Broke Trying To!

You know, this exciting parental road gets a little weary at times. It's full of adventures. There are personality jilts lurking at every turn. One moment I have the sweetest and most fun children in the world. The next moment they jilt me with a "What in the world were you thinking!??!" reaction. This week has been a tough one. I had one cutting her hair, one A-student 3rd grade drop out wanting to new parents because we didn't buy him the $90 Lego Star Wars toy he wanted, and one that's so angry at doing her math work she wants to scream. Funny thing is she has nothing lower than an A in math. It is all resolved and has left me feeling exhausted.

We do have great kids though. All is resolved. My son is happy at home minus the high priced Lego's. One daughter is still sporting her messed up do, and the other is calmly doing her math again. Isn't it amazing how our desire for leisure can drive us to think irrationally and make the wrong decisions in life? Now being fair, they are growing children lacking their frontal lobes of their brain development from which the ability to reason comes from, but we as adults with fully developed frontal lobes can make some silly decisions based on leisure and the desire for "fun!"

Why does this desire for leisure have such a strong influence on many, while the pride in working drives others? There is nothing like feeling accomplished. I like the feeling of a job well done. I hope to influence this sort of drive in my children. The road of desiring leisure isn't fun. They are just children and I don't expect results of an adult, but I'm not going to discount the importance of teaching them the reward in accomplishing a job well done now. One thing we have put into action is not giving money for chores around the house. We consider that things they should do. No one gives me money to do laundry! Instead of giving them money for chores or doing their fair share around the house, we give them an allowance on a grading scale for quizzes and tests.
A= $ 2.00
B= $ 1.00
C= $ 0.00
D= $-1.00
F= $-2.00
Yes, we subtract if they get D's and F's. That has motivated them not to be careless with their school work. If they want something, they need to stay up on their school work. My son is now working for that $90 toy by making keeping his grades up. We always have to remind them of this grading scale though. They tend to want us to just buy things for them. We do sometimes but things like this $90 toy is something he needs to work for. The good thing is his lowest grade this year so far has been an 88. If they all make straight A's I might happily be broke!