Update on our House Flip

Terry and I bought a foreclosed house in Knoxville in May with the idea of "flipping" it to make some cash. It's a cute little Craftsman-style house (probably built in the 20s) with lots of nice features (my favorites are the large kitchen and porch). Rebecca and her brothers helped their Dad with demolition work back in June (she blogged about this here, here and here). Then several times during the summer one or more of the boys went to Knoxville with Terry to work on it.

Now that Terry has started contract work at Eastman four days a week, he has less time to work on the house. We took advantage of the long Labor Day weekend to all go down there and help out (sans Rebecca, who is now off to college).

A few days before we came, about $700 worth of power tools were stolen as well as the heat pump (stealing someone's AC in the summer ought to be a federal crime!). Terry suspected a guy that was working for him, and on Saturday he was arrested.

From Coker

Terry had grown to care for the guy and hoped to work it out with him without turning him in, but it just wasn't happening. We learned some things in the process. While we want to help out folks that need work, I think we're going to start doing background checks. Caleb was fascinated by the process, though, and has at least temporarily decided that he wants to go into law enforcement.

Here the boys are hanging out in the kitchen. I took the wallpaper down in this room this weekend. Don't worry - the purple color will not stay.

From Coker

Here Terry is doing some foundation work -

From Coker

While Nathan helps from underneath (he loves crawl spaces!):

From Coker

Noah helped me with the wallpaper:

From Coker

And Caleb helped with painting:

From Coker

When he wasn't goofing around:

From Coker

And Terry's Dad (aka "Papa") was a great help. Here he is doing some electrical work:

From Coker

Here are some views of the awesome front porch:

From Coker

From Coker

From Coker

Matriculation

A few weeks ago, I didn't know what "matriculation" was, and now I have a daughter that has matriculated right in front of me. Apparently, to matriculate is to add your name to a list - the word "matrix" is from the same origin.

Rebecca and all the freshman at Milligan College are required to formally write their name on the roll.

They also had to make a public affirmation along with the faculty. Here is what the faculty affirmed:

"As teachers and workers in a Christian college, we pledge that our service shall reflect at all times our ministry as servants to Christ. We shall attempt to correlate all areas of learning so that our students shall see that all truth is one. Our concern for each student shall follow the example of the Master, who knew each student by name. Our energies and talents we dedicate to the Lord."

I feel so blessed that Rebecca is getting to have an education like this.

Below are pictures of Rebecca and Tess (her friend from this graduation moment) before and during the ceremony.

From For Blog

From For Blog

After the ceremony, there was a bagpipe playing and a path of luminaries going down the hill to a big tent where there was a jazz band and a dessert reception.

Doesn't Rebecca look smarter already with this light coming out of her head?

From Milligan

My Baby

Of course, the little baby in the bed is not my baby. My baby is the one taking the photo.

From For Blog

Rebecca and I first hoped that my friend Melissa would have her baby several days BEFORE we went to Michigan so that she could do a "few-days-old" photo shoot. Then when time came to leave on our trip, Rebecca started praying that the baby would be late. Not sure how Melissa felt about that - but the baby was indeed nine days late (even though it was her 5th!), so we were able to do a photo shoot just a few days after we got back! I say "we" because it was definitely a group effort. Bram was a very sweet and cute baby, but he just wasn't that interested in sleeping.

From For Blog

I thought her photos turned out great, though (see them here), and it was a fun memory.