Our New Year's Project

Just before Christmas we started on a new journey. We went in with another teacher from school and purchased this house. It's not a stunner...yet. It's not even very big. But, we feel that by redoing homes and moving in stable people, we can help turn neighborhoods around.
So, for our two weeks of Christmas break, we started gutting this house. It has good bones and some lovely woodwork. BUT, it has some major leaks in the roof and bathroom, ceilings were falling in, there were so many bugs...everywhere, AND due to broken windows there were some animal guests (and a STRONG odor!)

We started by pulling up the water logged oak flooring (sigh!). My dad helped us pull out nails from the subfloor.

Matt got to work cutting up the kitchen.

Len and I got to work on the ceilings. These ceilings had the traditional lathe and plaster, an old form of drywall, AND papered tiles. It made a huge mess when pulled down!!

What We've Been Up To

We finally all finished school. I went on a fun teacher retreat at a fancy-smancy hotel. There was lots of great content too. I'm thankful for the great people I work with!

The library had a book event sponsored by the Pacers. It was a little young for my kids, but a lot of fun anyway. They got some great Pacer prizes and a free milkshake from Steak and Shake.

 Today we redid our swing. We got it for free, but it needed some work. I sanded it and spray painted it a couple of times. It looks great!

We had a great first week of break! Next week summer camp starts!

Pray With Us...

Today we had a combined church service. We had a "chance" meeting with an Indian lady. Although we have never been where she's from, we do share a common love for curry etc.!) She's definitely down and out and feeling like no one understands her. (Which is quite possibly true in an inner city mission!) Please pray that we will know what God wants our part to be in her life!

Lately...

 For Matt's birthday we celebrated with family at a Mexican restaurant and then on his actual birthday we got cupcakes from a trendy store in Irvington. They were delicious.

 Ana did well at her last quiz. She only missed one and received a gold. The Indianapolis quizzers won for the best score in the state!

Ranger is still doing well. He got his cast changed and there were no issues. His foster mom says he doesn't seem to be in pain at all and wants to play and run like normal. He's still got four more weeks!!

Only 4 and a half more weeks of school!!!

Ranger Update

His surgery went as expected. He is back with the foster family that first took care of him. I laughed at his cast! If you look closely, you can see it's a tiger print!

They May Not Be As Pretty As the Art Museum's...But

I'm loving my tulips!! Hooray for spring and happy colors!

There's No Such Thing As Personal Space...

with a German Shepherd!!

 His surgery is scheduled for Thursday. (He will have an infected plate removed from his front leg.) He then will spend over a month with a foster family while it heals. (We have too many stairs!!)