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.

Michigan Top Ten

I'm finally getting around to a post about our Michigan trip. Rebecca kept up pretty well with updates on her blog while we were traveling, but I left my laptop at home. Once we got back, I kept forgetting to get the photos from Rebecca's computer so I could blog, and once I got the photos, I was a bit overwhelmed with the 1800 PHOTOS she took. This was after she apparently deleted several 100. As much as my family likes looking at photos, I knew I was going to have to be very selective for my blog post.

So I decided to do my "Michigan Top Ten." These are the things I enjoyed the most in roughly chronological order.


#1 Michigan Lake Overlook at Sleeping Bear Dunes

This was probably my very favorite spot (and also just voted most beautiful spot in America by Good Morning America viewers). This view was just totally incredible. It was 450 feet down to the water, and Lake Michigan just looks like a piece of liquid textured fabric (I'm sorry, that's the best description I could come up with). We saw this view first one afternoon, and then Rebecca and I decided to return early the next morning. Turns out the scenic drive was closed until 9 am, but the gate was wide open, so Rebecca and I went anyway and enjoyed an hour or so of total solitude (well, not solitude exactly since there were two of us). I had brought my Bible and journal along, and it was just a really special time.

From Michigan Favorites

#2 Running Down the Dune

After enjoying our sunrise, we decided to return for sunset. The boys and Terry and I ran down the dune to the water, and it was such a blast running down that long hill of sand. Nathan and Caleb climbed back up (Caleb actually did it twice), but Noah, Terry and I took a walk down the beach where Rebecca picked us up in the van.

We met the folks in the boat pictured here with Nathan (who is about 1/4 way up the dune).

From Michigan Favorites

They like to come by water, climb up the hill and then run back down, which I think is a little more appealing.

#3 Canoeing the Platte River

My friend Sally had told us to be sure and canoe the Platte, so we brought our canoe with us. When we couldn't get a spot in Sleeping Bear Dunes (apparently, folks line up BEFORE 6 AM for sights), we went over to camp at Platte River State Forest. Our spot was huge and was right on the river. We used it as both a launching point and a destination. The Platte River empties right into Lake Michigan, which is something you don't see on the Buffalo River in Arkansas.

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

#4 Cherry Pie

Sorry - I don't have a photo of this. Michigan is famous for cherries and blueberries. We bought some blueberries and fresh apricots (never had them before) at a roadside farm. Cherry season was supposedly over, but one day when we were traveling, we started seeing signs for cherry pie every few minutes. We weren't even hungry, but after you see about 10 signs in a row, you are going crazy thinking "I have to have some of that pie!" We stopped, bought a whole crumb-topped cherry pie, and ate it for our dessert at camp that night. Wow! Best cherry pie I've ever had in my life. If you ever get a chance, don't pass it up!

#5 Mackinaw Island

We enjoyed a beautiful day on Mackinac Island. We arrived early one morning with our bikes (we were two bikes short, so we rented a tandem bike for Noah and me), and we rode around the entire island - only seeing a few people. It was just gorgeous. The kids were singing as we rode, and everyone was in a good mood for once. We kept seeing these rocks stacks, so we stopped to build one of our own. We saw lots of cool things on Mackinac like the Grand Hotel, Arched Rock and Ft. Mackinac, but this is my favorite memory of the day. I felt like we were leaving our mark on Michigan.

From Michigan Favorites

#6 Shopping with Rebecca

While in Mackinaw City, the boys went to see Captain America one evening while Rebecca and I went shopping. While I guess it would be more fun to have a ton of money to spend, we enjoy taking photos of craft and gift ideas and goofing around.

From Michigan Favorites

After we got tired of shopping, we walked down the shore to watch the sunset.

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

#7 Chapel Basin Hike

I've only taken one other hike that has views to rival the ones we saw on this one - and that's the Stairway to Heaven on Oahu. This hike was over ten miles, but about five miles of it was along cliffs overlooking Lake Superior. It was a windy day (but blue skies), and Lake Superior was really rocking. It was so pretty and also a bit scary. Nathan described it as "fiercely beautiful."

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

#8 Canoeing at Mosquito Beach

After seeing Lake Superior on our hike, I was very skeptical that our canoe or any small boat could survive in that water. But the next day, the wind was gone, and the water was as calm and clear as glass. We canoed around these beautiful rocks and looked down on some very beautiful water. The only thing that kept me from jumping in (besides not having my swimsuit on), was the fact that I was scared to get the camera wet.

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

#9 Collecting Rocks on the Beach

I think I prefer the beaches of the Great Lakes to the beaches on the ocean. I definitely prefer the water - as they say "No salt, no sharks, no worries." Honestly, since the Great Lakes are used so much for shipping, I had not thought they would be so clean and clear. The water was just gorgeous, and I didn't even think it was too cold - just refreshing - though I'm sure the water is at its warmest in August. And though there aren't seashells, there are so many pretty rocks. They just shimmer in the sunlight, and I loved collecting them - partly because during the trip I was reading the devotional "Hind's Feet on High Places" (more about that in a later post), and the main character collects stones she finds along the way.

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

#10 Crisp Point Lighthouse

It was fitting that we went here right at the end of the trip. This was an out-of-the-way lighthouse that I had read about on the internet. It took 18 miles down a dirt road to get here. When we arrived, it was empty, but the door was wide open for guests (where there was just a guest book to sign and no fee to pay). We ran to the top and enjoyed some incredible views. It felt like our own private showing of sunset.

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

From Michigan Favorites

Is the Bible Reliable?

I was fortunate to be asked to review this new series by the publishers of the Truth Project. Is the Bible Reliable? is a 10-part series that goes through archeological evidence for the historical events in the Bible starting with the patriarchs and going through the time of the early church. The series comes with a study guide for taking notes and reviewing the teaching from each session.

The lessons were academically serious with a fairly challenging vocabulary. In addition to Bible truth, there was a lot of history and archeology taught as well. Even though target audience is college students, my 11-,13- and 15-year-old boys all enjoyed watching the DVDs, and I learned a great deal. I'll be eagerly awaiting the next installment in this series. See www.TrueU.com to read more about these great resources! It has also re-whetted my appetite to visit the Holy Land and see some of these historic sites.

Thunder Dog Book Review

Thunder Dog tells the story of Michael Hingson and his guide dog, Roselle, who both escaped from the north tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. Since she is prominent on the cover, I expected to be impressed with the heroics of Roselle in this book, but instead I came away inspired with Michael and his story of growing up as a blind boy in a seeing world. I was so impressed to know he actually rode a bike all around town with no assistance. Compare this to our current day and age when many parents don't allow their seeing children ride around the block without supervision!

It was interesting to hear Michael's detailed description of his descent from the North Tower. Being blind, his perspective focused more on touch, smell and sound. Turns out that these were the senses that everyone was dealing with as most of the descent was in the dark. In reading this book, I was able to briefly enter into their experience and emotions.

As we get ready to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I found this book to be a good reminder of both the horror of the day and the hope that accompanied it.

Home for Sale

Well, we put our home on the market last week. We've had two showings, and the family that looked at it today are very interested. I will have a hard time letting this place go if it comes to that.

Today, the Lord blessed us when our Panasonic wide angle telephoto lens arrived. We've been waiting for it for over a year, but just this week I started praying that it would arrive before our vacation trip to Michigan. I just really wanted to capture some scenery with it.

Anyway, turns out it comes in handy when taking photos of your house, too. You can fit so much more in the shots.

Here are a few photos I took inside this evening with the new lens:

I love our kitchen (and how you can see the fort through the window):

From 155 Lake Meadows Drive

The master bedroom with the huge headboard I got at a garage sale:

From 155 Lake Meadows Drive

The newly painted dining room (finally replaced that pea green):

From 155 Lake Meadows Drive

The den:

From 155 Lake Meadows Drive

The newly-decluttered classroom/office:

From 155 Lake Meadows Drive

While the potential buyers were looking at the house, we walked down to the lake to hang out:

From New Lens

This one I'm going to entitle "Jingle discovers a body":

From New Lens

Curiosities of the Civil War

I got this book for review this spring just after concluded a Civil War unit in our homeschool. It is full of interesting trivia, and the author has attempted to organize this trivia in a way that makes sense (I'm not quite sure he succeeded in that because I have tried in vain to relocate the snippet I read about Lincoln comparing his height to other tall soldiers when visiting the troops). Unlike many books on war, it comes in small bite-size portions that are easy to digest.

This is not a book to use to learn about the war, but it would add great flavor to other books about this pivotal event in history. I think Civil War buffs would really enjoy it. It's not the kind of book you sit down and read cover-to-cover but the kind to enjoy bits of over a long period of time.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

The Whole Bible Story

Having grown up with a Bible, I don't experience the "intimidation factor" that some people have when they pick it up for the first time. Many paraphrases of the Bible are available that help with some of the archaic language, and there is even a chronological version available. And of course, there are children's versions which are usually illustrated and leave out the seedier stories and violence.

Dr. William Marty put this book together so that someone could just pick up the Bible the way they would pick up a novel and read it from cover to cover. It's not meant to replace a Bible but to give a reader a hunger to know more. I was anxious to review it because I thought my teenage sons might be more likely to read a Bible in this format.

I was disappointed. Have you ever seen a movie after just finishing the epic novel that the movie was based on? That's the feeling I got. If I had never picked up a Bible before, I might have been satisfied. I would be interested to know what someone who had never read the Bible before thinks upon reading this book.

The author also interjects opinion into the text. For instance, in the flood account the author explains that some think this flood was universal and others believe it was localized. While I didn't find a lot to disagree with, I generally think it's better to separate theological opinions from the text of Scripture.

365 - Fireworks and Family

We had a fun and low-key fourth of July. Actually, our celebrating was done on the 3rd because that's when the fireworks were scheduled in our lake front neighborhood. There's a guy with an empty lot down by the lake, and he hires a fireworks company and sets off an insane amount of fireworks. We usually watch the show from the neighborhood pool, and I love seeing all the lights of the boats on the lake that are parked to watch the show. You can see them in the bottom right of this photo:

From Fireworks 2011

Below are some more fireworks shots. I feel a little guilty because Rebecca fixed the settings on the camera and just handed the tripod to me. I only cropped these and did nothing to enhance the color. Hey, I didn't choose the watermark "Lazy Susan Photography" for nothing!

From Fireworks 2011

From Fireworks 2011

From Fireworks 2011

From Fireworks 2011

I took a few shots of the kids decorating cookies:

From Barns

From Barns

And last, but not least, we did a little photo shoot in our patriotic colors right after church. Disclaimer: Rebecca took most of these. I only took the one of the four kids. It was Terry's idea to do the "Iwo Jima" pose.

From Fourth of July

From Fourth of July

From Fourth of July

From Fourth of July - 2011

From Fourth of July - 2011

From Fourth of July - 2011