The kitchen cabinets are up!

You read it right! Thanks to John, who goes to church with us, we only need to hang two more cabinets on the wall and THAT part of the project will be done (pictures pending.)
But don't you know that last Tuesday, as Brooke and I were leaving Elizabeth's house, I received a text massage from Dave. It read, "house fell-need camera-part of floor in den needs replacing." I quickly handed my cell phone to Brooke for confirmation. Luckily, we were almost at the house and I was able to personally assess the damage. One day, Matt and Dave, as they were crawling underneath the house, noticed that one beam was leaning over. So, on Tuesday they decided it was time to address the issue. Sure, why not? Not a problem...they thought. So they bravely attacked the problem. They crawled under the house to formulate a plan. While there it became obvious the problem with the sunken floor was not the leaning pier but a joist split in half. At that point it was determined that a 4'x4' square should be cut in the floor. Lovely!!! So they removed the old floor furnace and placed a pier under the split joist. They also placed 2 new piers to shore up 2 load bearing walls. I am now glad to inform you that, thank God, that's another item we can now gladly scratch off our list of "things to do." Oh by the way, this was only possible because of Matt. As you can see in the picture, it was a tight fit under the house. I doubt Dave could have done this without Matt. Especially since Dave has been working so many hours at the house, that we've been asking to see more of him. As a result, he's been eating as much as he can - No offense intended Dave!

The kids take Freund for a walk!

As all of you know, my children have been terrified of dogs. I don't know when or how it happened but little by little they've grown to like Freund.  Even to the point of asking Grannie and Papaw if they can bring Freund home.  Imagine how excited Grannie gets when she hears this!  For a few days, Carson has been wanting to take Freund for a walk.   So finally, today was the day.  At first, the kids were a little hesitant but it didn't take long before they were totally fine with Freund.  It was such a beautiful day.  We really enjoyed the walk and each other's company.

Sad Scene to be Seen!

Saying goodbye to Papi and Mami after being at their house for 11 days was not easy.  Natalia decided to call Daddy to see if he could make her feel better.  Carson normally doesn't cry when we leave San Antonio, but this time it was a little harder to leave.  Then we have Luke who decided to follow suit.  Anyhow, we made a stop at Starbucks to help us feel better.  A Venti Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino, divided in three cups, for the kids and a Venti White Chocolate Frappuccino for me, eased up the pain. 

Happy New Year!

Things have been a little hectic this holiday season.  I had good intentions to get our Christmas cards out right after Thanksgiving, but that didn't happen.  But, I still didn't want to miss the opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2008!

More Progress!

I'm so excited!  Thanks to my brother in law, Alan and my father in law, Hugh, the living room, dining room and kitchen are finally painted.  We chose bungalow gold for the walls and amber yellow for the ceiling. Thanks to Mr. Ivey, most of the cabinets are now installed.  God is so awesome!  I'm just in awe to see how God provides help as it is needed.  I'm very thankful for friends and family who have been willing and able to help throughout this project.

Shamu! Shamu!

Papi, Mami, Natalia, Carson and Luke watching the dolphins.
Playing in the sand.
Natalia making friends.
Shamu, Shamu!We decided to take advantage of our season passes that my parents gave us and went to Sea World for the last time in 2007!  Natalia, Carson and Luke always have a great time.  This time, we were able to see the dolphins up close and personal.  So close that we were almost able to touch them.  We also had the opportunity to see a scuba diver feeding and touching the fish in a big tank.  The kids were able to have more time to do some free play and ride some rides.  Our visit to Sea World was not complete until we saw Shamu.  It's so much fun to see Natalia's, Carson's and Luke's expressions.  They love Shamu!

Santa was here!

Santa is so good!  He brought Natalia her own alarm clock.  She has been wanting one since she started kindergarten so that she won't be late to school.  I really hope having her own alarm clock works.  Carson got his drum.  Every time we would go to the store he would ask me to buy it for him.  And Luke, well he got what Mama asked Santa to bring him, a pirate ship.  He loved it!  The best thing about it is that his siblings love it too.  Wow, Santa is good.