the pruetts. our life as i see it.

27 Turns!

2009-07-19T17:02:00.004-05:00

My sister is turning again.

19 is the day she turns every year.

she has turned since 82.

what's 9 - 82?

My sister is turning again.

Though it comes is no surprise,

her spin prooves new everytime

What a blessing it is

that she continues to turn.

Her favorite turning used to be all night long.

with giggles and laughter among turns of a different number than mine...

now, which I get to enjoy with her as well,

she turns over a meal of a delicious matter

Over the years, her eyes have grown wide

turning has produced the wise

She loves, encourages, mops and maintains

but most importantly, knows the one who never strays.

I love my sister who is turning yet again.

Thanks God for sisses who continue to turn.

My prayer would be that

her eyes are open, her heart soft, her mind deep and spirit reflective

as she turns again.

Happy Birthday sis!

getting inside the walls...

2009-07-15T22:49:00.013-05:00

So Eric's parents came another year to visit AND helped us on the house. Great folks! Believe it or not but they wanted to help. Okay, it's hard work guys.

Here's a step back view...

One of the best decisions we have ever made on this house while working on it...

A plastic sheet dividing the work area from the non-work area...

Gary. Nice smile!

This thing kept most of the dust inside the work area. We should have done this on the other rooms too. Although, this room/project produced the most dust.

The old semi-finished existing kitchen counter with sink served as a nice work bench for the moment.

Gary fixed the work lights. Thanks Gary! That makes a huge difference in seeing what we're working on. :)

old wall showing where the old paint was and the old cabinets were...

new can lights... chose to move one of the cans to a different place

You can see on the floor the old green linoleum kitchen flooring underneath the newer tan colored stick on vinyl tiles.

The new organized area for tools while working on the kitchen... (this used to be the living room).

Look at all this dust! So glad for the plastic sheet.

Wow so much dust!

While Eric's at work, the father works too. Thanks for wearing a mask.

Trying to look through the plastic sheet. Grandma, with her recent going of her sight probably sees as well as this. wish there was a cure or treatment for macular degeneration.

I like the shadows in these pictures.

Electrical has been run... lights over the sink have been installed...

there's a plan of action on the window on post-it notes...

2009-07-13T23:28:00.011-05:00

So here's where we left off last. We just installed the garage door and now we need to close up the ceiling in the kitchen. This is looking at the new door from inside the garage.

new ducting for an added kitchen heating/AC vent; they are gluing the metal tube together...

This is the coolest contraption ever!! It is way too hard to lift sheet rock above your head even if you have one other person. Only $20 a day for the sheetrock lifter... well, worth the money.

old lowered duct vent

the sheetrock lifter in action...

some of the ones who helped that day... Thanks guys!!!

new duct and vent in place

Look at that ceiling... they even installed can lights too

all in one day! Amazing!

New Garage Door!

2009-07-13T22:07:00.006-05:00

Rasping the edges of the sheetrock...

putting in place the door...

shimming the door...

attaching the door to the studs...

Bad manufacturers screws! The head twisted right off.

Culprit numero uno...

el numero dos...

It's done! A new door!

Sheetrock finished. Insulation. Light switch. Door.

2009-07-07T09:51:00.005-05:00

Now that the sheetrock is finished, it's time for insulation installation...

But wait, we need a light switch for the garage light since we took away the old light switch when we moved the wall.

BEFORE...

AFTER...

Here is some of the new insulation in its place... and a new garage door!

New Wall!!

2009-07-06T23:00:00.008-05:00

So here's where we left off. They moved the wall into the garage about a foot and a half or so. Now, they need to make finish the wall and put in a doorway to the garage. Oh yeah, and do you notice all those snowball looking things in the pictures? That's dust! Yup, it was pretty bad. I told Eric we needed to spend the night somewhere else, graciously he conceded.

Here's the threshold of the old doorway to the garage, where the wall used to be. Now, the wall is moved. My feet now are on the kitchen side on the step that used to be inside the garage.

Another look at how far they moved the wall. Good job guys! :)

I want to help now!

YAY!! A new garage/kitchen doorway. You are on the kitchen side looking through to the garage.

This is the garage side looking in through the new wall of the kitchen.

This at the corner of the garage wall inside the house.

looking through the new wall of the kitchen from inside the garage...

attic from inside the kitchen... old lovely wiring... gas pipe... boxes in storage in the distance...

The door that goes to the outside from the garage.

The sheetrock that will soon be attached to the wall on the garage side.

I came home one evening and saw my hubby working... closing up the new wall on the garage side. He's such a hard worker! Thanks love!

The garage side of the wall is finished!! Yay! How very exciting!

look at all the space we have gained... amazing!

Oh yeah we also gained ceiling space too. This is how far down the ceiling was placed. You can also see where the wall to the utility room divided the space. ...Oh, and the old kitchen cabinet that was half-finished and half-used...

October sometime in 2008

2009-07-02T21:04:00.008-05:00

Here is our new kitchen, at least the functional kitchen while we work on the new one. This is the master bedroom being used for storage of our kitchen stuff and a place to prepare meals.

The old kitchen with more sheet rock taken down. The framing for the lowered ceiling is no longer there and the wall for the old utility room is no longer there.

The ceiling trusses above the kitchen. You can see where the ceiling used to come to.

Here's a view looking from within the kitchen into the living room.

Just stepping through the wall here into the garage, still looking towards the living room. You see the ledge in the garage? That's where we are moving this wall to. Yes, we are moving the garage/kitchen wall towards the garage say two feet.

Turning another 45 degrees towards the garage. haHah! You've found our mini trash heap. :) Don't worry we eventually get rid of it. Demolition creates a lot of trash.

You can't see, but Eric is in the attic using his foot to kick away the unwanted ceiling sheetrock. Dave is holding up a 2 x 4 to protect the part of the ceiling we want to stay in place. Poor Dave.

AHH! Look out Dave! Ouch! Sorry Man. Eeshk, right in the shin too.

Wow! Look at that! The wall is totally gone between the kitchen and garage.

Here is the wall in the new location about two feet into the garage. Also, notice there isn't a door to the garage on the north side anymore. It's going to be on the south end now. Also, the studs were in such good shape, they were able to use the same studs for most of the new wall between the garage and the kitchen. It's looking good! Good job Eric and Dave!!!

2009-06-29T22:52:00.006-05:00

One day. I came home from my BTCL class and this is what I saw. I can see right through my garage wall to the kitchen! YAY!! ...I think.

Let's take a closer look.

There's the fridge hiding on another wall. Hopefully it won't withstand any damage from the demolition.

2009-06-29T21:24:00.011-05:00

Okay. It's been awhile I know. I am getting up the nerve to post some pictures to show you how far we've come with the renovation of our current project the kitchen. I will start with the very first pics of the room.

Here it is!

This is the kitchen.

...or at least the kitchen when we first bought our house. Isn't it lovely?

Yes. That's right. There isn't a range or stove and oven of any kind here. Why would you need that?

Very quaint. The utility room is just beyond that doorway with the garage doorway around to the right.

And yes again, no dishwasher. Just some exposed countertop.

Here is our new refrigerator that took much patience in getting. Conn's certainly lives up to their name. Don't worry, we ended up purchasing from Lowe's who graciously does price matching. Thanks to all those who let us use their refrigerators and freezers to store our food while dealing with the store who sold the refrigerator we already gave them money for.

Stainless Steel! Very nice. Eric's favorite since magnets won't stick to it. Here's our hard work in saving paying off. We also got a good deal on it too.

Notice the ingenious routing of the water line to the fridge. They must have saved tons of time doing it this way. Somehow I don't think we will be using this water line or this technique. ;)

If you look closely, the ceiling in the kitchen is lower by about a foot from the rest of the house. This picture is looking into the kitchen from the utility room and it's ceiling is not even lowered. So, remember this scene. It will not be the same come Fall of 2008.

This is our humble kitchen making the best of it. We may not have normal kitchen appliances, but we can still survive. Creativity, here you come.

We've perfected the art of making quesadillas. Mmm. Yummy! Although after a year and a half of creative cooking, I'm ready for a real kitchen. It's soon to come and pictures I hope will keep coming.

Thanks For Life

2008-09-12T23:31:00.009-05:00

She taught me grace. She taught me truth.

She taught me about relationships. She taught me about kindness and patience... what it was to be grateful and content. At the time I didn't know this, but she taught me how to be a missionary. She taught me how to love people and to receive love. She taught me how to listen to people and encourage others. She knew me. I knew her. She was one of my closest friends. She was my mentor.

It is hard to lose someone you know and love. Your heart is prepared somewhat for people who are old or are sick. Even though it is hard, you expect it when you hear of their death. It is so hard to hear of someone who is young and well that dies. It's even harder when it is someone who was close to you, someone you knew and cared for, someone who had cared for you... someone who was a dear friend.

She was one of the first who made an impression of knowing scripture and even by memory. Every night as her kids turned out the light, I remember her reading scripture to them and Bible stories. She loved the Bible. You could tell by the worn out, taped together pages; and by the words and favorite sentences painted with different colored highlighters, some brand new, some faded from time. She loved His Word. It was so cherished by her and part of her life as she spoke it to others.

As I think on her passing, I realize how it must have been when the closest to Jesus first knew of his death... and resurrection. They were terribly saddened by His passing because of the symbol He stood for and great power He showed, but because even more of His endearing friendship. They were so surprised yet filled with great excitement that their Lord had not ceased to live but to live in eternity. They were such in awe of their friend and teacher, sad by His physical absence, yet so wanting and with a sense of urgency to tell others about who He was and what they knew of their friend. This urgency I realize might have been because of the awesome news that Jesus IS the Son of God and had raised from the dead, but even more I realize from the personal relationship each one had with Him. They loved Him. He was their friend and teacher. This must be in part what it means to tell others the "good news" of Christ. I find in knowing of my dear friend's passing, great sadness for I will never again be able to talk to her, embrace and encourage her, or even hear of the wonderful ways God is working through her in China... but I find this overwhelming urge to tell others of her life and impact she had on me... the life she led... the love she had for Christ... the self-sacrificing love and service she had for others and her family... the love and teaching she poured into her children... the love and respect she had for her husband.

I am severely humbled by the Lord's will in taking her. I know we are limited here in this life by time. I know it is short. Knowing that, doesn't make it any easier to experience the passing of someone cared for deeply. It is hard to experience death. Death is cold and lifeless. There is a life that is gone... a love lost... a friendship only remembered...

Nonetheless, He is the God of all comfort. He is the one who holds the keys to life and death. He is the one who takes life and gives life. He doesn't need our help in this life. He is the one who created the magnificent mountains who pour forth praise to God just in their mightiness and magnificent stature and creation. How loudly they praise God! How loudly they tell of the works of your hands! Are we deaf? How can we not hear their praise? How can we not see it?

He knows us. He knows my every thought. He knows my pain... my loss. I loved her.

He is the One who calms the storm... the One who brings peace. Oh Lord, I do not understand your ways. Although, I do know your ways are good. I can trust in your ways. I wanted to see how she would serve others in a foreign land... how You would work in her and through her. But this is not about what I want.

I was made to worship You. You made me to worship YOU. You made me to worship You by loving and serving others... which was the life of Ruth. What a privilege to know my friend, mentor, and example. I know You more because of her. What a privilege to be known by my creator who gave me my sweet friend whose memory still challenges me to worship God by loving and serving others.

She is/was beautiful to me, therefore I KNOW God is good.

Finishing up the Utility Room in the Hallway...(mid January of 2008)

2008-09-10T13:24:00.011-05:00

Okay, I looked and couldn't find any pictures of some work that we did before these pictures. These pictures are of me wiping the excess grout of the tiles. Then, we put a coat or two of sealant on the grout to make it waterproof. This wasn't the most glamourous job, nor very noticeable. I was very motivated to get this done though, because that meant we could order the new stackable washer and dryer and install the cabinet. Woohoo!

I used a mixture of vinegar and warm water to scrub the tiles. You can see the front part is wet and mostly cleaned off. I had to scrub and wipe them down three or four times.

Ah, I think I'm all done now. Phew!

Don't they look like tumbled marble? They are actually ceramic.

Yay! We have our new washer and dryer! I'm thrilled!

Also, a little later, we got our cabinets and shelves from Ikea. Of course the knobs on the cabinets came from Home Depot. So, here is the washer and dryer with their friends cabinet and shelves.

LIGHTS! Flourescents no doubt.

You can tell we haven't finished the doorway yet.

Our base boards that we cut ourselves and painted from MDF.

This is one of my favorite features of this cabinet. Lynette and I just happened upon it at IKEA. How cool is this, a pull out ironing board!

a close-up of the shelves and pull-down drying rack for sweaters and things...

at some point we will screw in the hanging rod that goes just below the bottom shelf, to hang up clothes that need to be hung before putting them away in closets.

My cool new LG washer...

A view above...

A view below...

The finished room minus the doorway finished and new doors (oh yeah, and hanging rod). We're waiting for doors to go on sale. Nevertheless, my finished utility room! Anyone is welcome to come and use the new room. You know, I have been toying with the idea of doing a clothes washing ministry in our neighborhood. Once we get the house more visitor friendly, I would love to do things with our neighborhood more. In the meantime, I can brainstorm what that might look like.

I'm so pumped!

2008-09-09T18:05:00.006-05:00

update on current happenings on our house renovations...

I know I keep posting old things, but I wanted to keep the house renovations in order. I know, call me crazy. Anyway, I hope to keep the pictures coming on here. Just to let everyone know what we are doing at the moment. We are working on finishing the blue room, which is the office... or the other front room (The other front room is the master). We've been "working" on this room all summer it seems, "almost" to finish for awhile, but this is for real this time. We are very close with few things still to do. I need to finish painting and touching up the walls, ceiling, and the crown moulding. Eric will finish installing the fan, caulk the window, and install the rails of the closet system. I need to clean and vacuum the floor.

THEN!!!

The moment we've all been waiting for...

dun, na na nah...

We can put down the under layment and install the new floor! Whooo!! :))

Whoo, you ask? Yes, Whoo, because that means with the floor done, we just have left to install the base boards (which can be installed when furniture is in the room). Yes, whoo, because I can set up our office/living room finally, and hopefully get more organized with our files. Plus, it means three rooms that are done. Whooooo! hehe. :)

Now, you know what to be looking forward to coming in picture form soon. Someday, I will be all caught up. (...famous last words, right?)

'Tis the week before Christmas and all in the hallway... (2007)

2008-09-04T15:12:00.028-05:00

This is our hallway closet. My brother and sister-in-law had a marvelous idea. You will more likely get clean clothes put away if your laundry area is close to the bedrooms. What a wonderful idea for our huge unassigned hallway closet. It also means more space for the kitchen, moving the kitchen into the old adjacent utility room.

Getting ready to start... with the ear protectors and correct masks...

They had already widened the door way.

They had to make the wall thinner in order to make way for the dimensions of the new washer and dryer.

It sure was LOUD!

The hall light switch box which will become the new utility room light switch. Why would you put a light switch for the hall in the middle of the hallway? I'm glad we're moving it to the ends of the hallway.

This is the main drain for the house which will be also utilized for the clothes washer.

...picture of the add-on to the drain (i'm sure there's a technical name)

Success!! THIS was also very loud! This is the piece of four inch iron pipe they had to remove from the main drain pipe.

Tools! and another success! The new drainage connection is installed.

Two happy workers!

Uh oh. Is this termite damage?

My beautiful Master Shower! Just what I've always dreamed of! Thanks guys!

Anyone need a shower?

Cutting copper pipe for new water lines...

Okay, looks like everything fits.

Aw, we get a visit from Hope's family. They want to see if we are making all this stuff up about fixing up a house or not.

Joccie, what's wrong? It's only 10 pm. You're not tired, are you?

Gary, sweating the pipe (I think that's what they call it).

And they're finished! The first time to test for leaks and they pass too. They were relieved!

Lynette is proud of her guys! They are proud of their work too! Way to go guys!

Principe Cookies!! I found these at Sack 'n Save. These are the fun cookies I found and ate regularly in Granada, Spain when I was there in 2000. Ah, memories.

Uh-oh #2. "Gary, why are there red drops coming from your head?"

Oh Gary. I guess that's what they call Gary-rigging, err I mean jerry rigging. (...which I've recently learned the original term is jury rig. I know the slang.)

Gas lines are in. The new walls are put in place. Now, time for spackling.

Oh no, why are we opening up a wall?

I just had to do some laundry. Doing laundry at other people's houses was getting old. The old washer was hooked up in the old laundry room at the other end of the house. With the old 220 outlet for the dryer replaced with a different 220 shaped outlet, the only choice was to hook the old dryer up in the new room with the new outlet. Guys, you should go take a break. I'll let you know when the dryer's finished.

...new holes for new lights. Good-bye old fashioned light solitaire!

new utility light switch

Lynette helps me prime. Thanks Lynette! :)

still priming...

Lynette's friend from California brought her daughter to visit us. They wanted to see if we were telling the truth as well.

Finally, I get to paint color on the walls.

Umm, this color kind of hurts my eyes it's so bright. It's kind of florescent.

I don't know guys, but I think I need to change colors. It's a little on the bright side. And no, I'm not kidding about this.

Lily's 1st Birthday!

2008-09-04T14:00:00.007-05:00

...Happy Birthday to you!! Lily says, "Yay!!" as she claps.

What number is that Lily?

fun with balloons...

The proud grandpa!

what is this? hmm...

We wonder the same thing as we look up.

Mon says, "oh, just some gummy worms that were thrown up there and haven't decided to come down yet." While they're laughing, I'm studying their ceiling, crown and can lighting. What an awesome job my brother did! Could we raise our living room ceiling? Hmm...

What a sweet family! Happy birthday Lily!

After we got back from Ohio for Thanksgiving...

2008-09-03T21:24:00.018-05:00

Eric received an early Christmas present from the family... his own drill!! Thanks guys! It will be well used!

Then, we also had internet installed. We have Verizon Fios! Woohoo.

Our refrigerator finally was delivered. Now, we can buy and store food. Oh, wait, that means no more eating out for awhile. Hehe. :)

...and we have something to put our trash and recycling in now. Woohoo!

Our friends Dave and Dustin helped us while we were gone in Ohio, by fixing the major water leak in the kitchen under the sink and the outlet for the new water heater (which was moved later to the attic, the new home for the water heater).

Eric installed the needed lights in the attic, so the guys could install the new water heater in the attic. Yay Eric!!

The north side of the attic...

The South side of the attic...

This is the old water heater and its closet home. The new water heater is tankless and will live in the attic right above the old water heater closet.

The guys are here to install the new water heater.

The new tankless water heater ready to be installed.

The old water heater placed in its new home, the trash heap.

more of the old water heater...

some of the tools needed to install the new water heater...

the old water heater closet now just below the new tankless water heater in the attic...

they were connecting water and gas lines...

I was amazed at how big these drills were.

Geez!! That drill bit is bigger than my big toe!!

While in Cleveland, OH, We Built a Snowman!!!

2008-01-05T13:00:00.000-06:00

Dim the Lights Please!!

2008-01-05T11:58:00.000-06:00

Eric works on putting in a dimmer in the back bedroom. All the other rooms will have dimmers as well.

Success!!

We're in Ohio for Thanksgiving but the House in Denton Does not Rest

2008-01-05T11:44:00.000-06:00

While Eric and Diane are in Cleveland enjoying the snow, the back bedroom of our house gets a face lift. Hope and Kasey come over and paint the room this wonderful green and again on their own volition. Although, when they started they were worried I might have picked the wrong color when it started out looking like snot all over the walls. Thankfully paint drys a darker color.

Our friend Dave joined in the fun by mounting and wiring the can lights too.

We've Moved! (Dec. 19th)

2008-01-05T10:41:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our humble abode! This is everything from the one bedroom apartment mostly in our living room of this house. We get to live in boxes for almost a year, yea!!

Here is a picture of the old utility room that will eventually be incorporated into the kitchen.

Here's a better picture of the office paint color.

This is our Master Bedroom. I think the paint color was a good choice!

We're putting in can lights pretty much everywhere ilumination is required. ...and this look of sophistication is cheap too.

Aww, We Will Miss You, Carpet!!

2008-01-04T21:45:00.000-06:00

Here is the body of Christ in action! They serve because they are called to and because they enjoy the action of serving others and seeing them benefit. Thankyou Dave and Dustin!!

They came without announcement or need of instruction.

They just did it. We caught them as we came in towards the end of their progress. Cool.

Still, we are overwhelmed with gratitude!!

We discovered some old linoleum floor under the carpet in the office and in the dining area. Now, it was our turn to do some work. Half way through taking it up in the office, Eric says, "oh, I forgot to ask. Did you want to keep it?" "Um, No, are you kidding?!," I said.

The 2nd Full Weekend of Work (Nov. 9-11)

2007-12-08T13:07:00.001-06:00

So, this is what it looked like after the "popcorn" ceilings were scraped. Grandma wanted us to keep the old stained carpet and couldn't believe we were using it as a drop cloth. She will just have to see what we have in mind for the floors when they're finished.

Top Left: looking into the kitchen from the living room. Top Right: looking at the living room from the front entrance way. Bottom: looking into the hallway to the bedrooms from the living room.

In the front bedroom we are calling the office: Eric is tearing out some old rotted sheet rock.

Our friend, Dave helps by cutting down some sheet rock.

It takes at least two to tango... I mean, put up sheet rock. What a mess!!

While the boys are working, I am also working. After scraping comes the spackling, woo-hoo! Even though there are no pictures to prove it, my friend Hope helped me on this too.

...and the sanding, my favorite part, mmm!

It got really dusty!! I needed wipers for my goggles.

So, will this be how I look when I'm 80 years old and all white haired? ...just with a "few" more wrinkles here and there.

Well, speaking of all that dust, it was getting difficult to breath easy at all. I had apparantly picked up the wrong kind of mask for our kind of work. Figuring there wasn't that much difference in masks, I'd just picked up the cheapest kind. Well, looking again at the store where the masks were and actually "reading the labels," I found the right mask for us to use. Wow, what a difference! Geez Di, read the instructions the first time for crying out loud!!

Wrong mask! (just for mowing and gardening tasks)

Right Mask!! (for sanding, fiberglass, dry-wall, etc.)

This is a picture of our usable bathroom in the hallway.

This is more ceiling that needed to be spackled, sanded, primed, and painted. YEA! hehe.

We have two full baths, just one working.

Alison was a great help.

It was good to have mom and dad there to help. Mom tackled the vacuuming in the office, so it could be ready to paint. Dad happened to have an extra shop vac which was another great help.

Just look at that gleaming, wonderful carpet!! What was I thinking!

These were the lovely ceiling fans that had to be taken down to get for painting and other obvious reasons :).

Dad helped paint AND spackle which was much appreciated. I get to sand it later, YEA again!

This is in our living room/break room when our arms would stop working or go numb from the lack of blood flow.

This is the Master Bedroom. A place in this wall needed to be replaced because of rot. Mmm, rot, my favorite!

The Master has been sanded and primed. Dad puts the first coats of white paint on the ceiling.

Drying spackle on the dry-wall patch

Mom helps paint the wall's first coat in the master.

Smile!

Wow, our bedroom looks great!!

Mmm, how should we fix that window temporarily...

You can't see it, but the bottom pane was pusted out by...

...dad. Let's just say he was getting a little huffy because of all the work we were making him do. Just kidding! As he was losing his balance on the step stool, his fist went for the window which was open at the time in order not to mess up the paint on the freshly painted wall. He didn't get hurt at all thank goodness. We said, "don't worry we were thinking of replacing that anyway." Wait, didn't we say that about the ceiling too in the Master Bathroom when someone stepped through it accidentally?

PLYWOOD and Packing Tape!!!

The office with blue paint!! Sorry, I don't have any other angles.

Hope, Britt, and Garnett helped me with this room. Thanks guys!

More to come later...

The first full weekend of work (Nov. 2-4)

2007-11-19T19:33:00.000-06:00

Here is the ceiling of the living room. With help from our wonderful friends, we scraped off all the old popcorn texture. We were all sore the next day!!

This is the back bedroom. We scraped off all the old popcorn texture.

We were all sore the next day!!

Look at the mess we made.

I still can't believe we finished scraping all in one day. Amazing!!

God is good isn't he! We are very thankful for our friends and family!

Didn't get any pictures, but Eric and some other guys repaired the rotten roof above the master bathroom. Well, actually one of the guys stepped in the wrong place on the roof. Oops! "That's okay," we said, "we were going to have to replace that ceiling anyway."

We have been saying that a lot. :)

Another mess...

...that's what shop-vacs are for, right?

The Exodus...

2007-10-23T23:19:00.000-05:00

As I was reading through Exodus and the Israelites were being led out of Egypt by Moses and the Lord God, I realized how incredibly God is in control of all things. I always thought before that Pharaoh must have been evil or mean or something to refuse to let the Israelites leave Egypt. God said He would harden Pharaoh's heart. He did harden his heart and more than once. As God kept saying through Moses to Pharaoh to let his people leave Egypt in order to worship their God and that He would rain down on Egypt plagues if he refused, God knew all along that He would harden Pharaoh's heart. The fact that Pharaoh wouldn't let the Israelites go wasn't because of Pharaoh, but because of God. He did it in order to bring for himself glory among the Israelites and eventually among the Egyptians as well. I was amazed at how bigger my view of God became. I always thought that if a bad thing was happening that it was because God must have just allowed that to happen. Now, my view has changed to God actually causing or making strife, doing something in order for His own exaltation and greatness to be shown.

I have four words!!

2007-10-23T23:12:00.000-05:00

WE CLOSE ON FRIDAY!!!! ...of course Lord willing.

"Can Someone Really Choose Joy?"

2007-09-14T18:59:00.000-05:00

"How do you get joy?" One answer was, "well, it comes down to a choice. You just choose joy like your attitude." Now wait a second, can you really "choose" joy? I know I've experienced joy in times of sorrow, pain and struggle, but I don't think I have ever chosen joy. The word "choose" can mean to want or desire something (which I can agree with desiring joy); but it can also mean to decide to do something (which gives a notion that the ability to create joy exists within you). Then, I realized maybe the question is wrong. Maybe the question should be, "How do you love God and others better?" Questions are great at showing the motivation behind what we want to know. A better question in this case might be, "Where does joy come from?"

Joy, I have come to find is happiness in Christ. This kind of joy is not found anywhere apart from Christ. So, can we really achieve or maintain joy? I guess my question: "can we really choose joy?" could be rephrased as: "Is joy an action that we take?" If we could choose to have joy apart from God, then we wouldn't need God.

When we ask how to have joy, we are seeking a goal of joy. Our goal shouldn't be to have joy. To love God and others, should be our goal. God should be the object or direction of our worship. Everyone worships. We either worship God or something else. We all worship something, but it can't be both God and something else. If joy is the goal to attain, then joy becomes our idol we worship. God will take that idol away to show the direction or motivation of our obsession. For instance, I can try to make sure someone doesn't stumble or struggle just so that they don't have a chance to fall into despair. What am I doing? What is my motivation? I want them to be pain free, free of hardship and struggle. Ah, this is my idol, to be free of pain or hardship. God will see the idol and put struggle in my path so that I have to choose who I worship (to expose the motivation of my heart). Is my heart directed towards the God in the Heavens who knows my every word, thought, deed and loves me intimately or is it my "pain-free" idol. Do I choose to trust God and obey Him amidst the struggle or do I sit in misery and despair where there is no joy or peace. When we are in misery or despair, all we see is the muck from ourselves and are hopeless. "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God." Romans 8:28 God may have placed that struggle there for our good. God is in control and He is the One who calms the storm.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (who is God). Therefore, joy is a by-product of walking in the Spirit. Even Christ had joy as He endured the cross, because He had the Spirit. Joy is a gift God gives to us as we trust and obey Him. We can have pain and sorrow and have joy as we trust God's character and walk in the Spirit.

I encourage you to read the Bible and study for yourself for I am only a woman who seeks truth and still am capable of error. Although, let this be an encouragement in your own journey with Christ.

We Heard Back from HUD...

2007-09-14T00:09:00.000-05:00

Eric received a call from our realtor that HUD accepted our contract. Now, it is time to turn on the utilities and have an inspector come look at the house. We need to start pouring over magazines to see what we like or not for possible choices of flooring, walls and lighting in the bedrooms. We want to get the floors, ceiling scraped and bedroom walls done before we move into the house. Eric is predicting that our closing date will be at the end of October, and he will be gone the last week of October on a business excursion. So, he wouldn't be able to work on the house. Also, we will be gone the week of Thanksgiving which means no work as well to be done. Since our weeks are pretty full, any working on the house will be limited to weekends. I'm sure though, it will all be worked out in God's perfect timing. If we need to, assuming the plumbing, electricity, and A/C all work, we can sleep on the floor until we are finished with the bedrooms and such. Oh, I can't wait!! We will be living under construction, but what a time to savor. Well, I guess remind me later on this year when I am discouraged about being in a disaster zone that God does have perfect timing, that He is good ALL the time, and that this is a time to savor. Anyway... YEA!!!

Oh yeah, we will also be setting a date for closing sometime in the future. Please pray that we can get the Texas Teacher Lone that Eric had originally thought we could get. Our lone officer lady said that she wasn't sure that particular lone was compatible with the GNND program. I'm confident God will work it out though.

First Week of School and We Get a House!!

2007-09-10T18:33:00.001-05:00

It all started in February. We bid on a HUD home through the Good Neighbor Next Door program and didn't win the bid. There were only two bidders, us and somebody-else. Our chance on getting a house seemed so close this time, but nevertheless it wasn't our chance that time. June rolls around, and I see this same house again on the market looking like no-one has lived in it. This is strange, since I remembered Eric talking about there being back-up bids in case of a bid falling through. Time goes by.

It's August and Eric and I start talking about that house I saw back on the market and was curious to know if it still was, but why it was. So, Eric after seeing who was in charge of the house decided to contact them to further investigate why the house was on the market again. There was a lot of confidence in the answers we got back. The winners of the bid in February had fallen through. So, they put it back on the market as they thought they were supposed to. They directed us to their bosses, HUD in Colorado, who also said they did what they were supposed to. We shared with them the law that Eric had so carefully found on the Internet that talked of the usage of back-up bids in case the first bid fails to close on a GNND HUD home. After a week of waiting, the very accommodating HUD person who we talked to had finished some of her own investigating and concluded that they were wrong and we were right. They wanted to offer the house to us just as it should have been in February. So, Eric called me to tell me we were offered the house and guess what day it was. The first day of school. That was two weeks ago.

We are very excited to have a home to call our own and to share it with others. It will be a lot of work before and after we are able to move in. We will definitely be feeling the pressure of our time being full since everything has started up again, being that of school being in session again, Eric continuing work full time at Encore Mallets, our Church at Home group meetings, my BTCL meetings, Eric's Lifeline and Plumbline commitments for running sound, worship team practice, church on Sunday, and other things that might creep up during the week. These are all things we want to do and love to do, although without the expectation of redoing and moving into a house. Nevertheless, we are blessed and excited to be able to use this house for others. As of now, we waiting to hear back from HUD for their acceptance of the packet of papers we signed. The next thing will be hiring an inspector and then closing on the house. Again, we are sooo excited!!!!!

"Why isn't it melting?!"

2007-09-09T21:20:00.001-05:00

This was supposed to be garlic cheese bread inspired by Luigi's, a restaurant in Denton. Just so you know, the Pruett cafe has proven that hash browns do not melt like cheese. Don't worry, we scraped the hash browns off and found our mozzarella cheese that was properly labled and enjoyed wonderful garlic cheese bread topped with tomatoes.

Okay, I guess I'll do it...

2007-09-09T19:52:00.000-05:00

Even though I don't consider myself to be a very competent writer or communicator, I have decided to try blogging. I have been so encouraged and inspired by others on their own blogs, that I thought maybe it was my turn to just share my life with others as well with my own blog.
So, here goes...