Living Room

Work has now started on the living room. Here is a picture of before we started:

Here is a picture of the same area after step one of fixing the walls. Everything has been removed from the room and the ceiling has been scraped of all its "popcorn."

Craig keeps reassuring me that this half of the house will go fast. Right now it is hard because there really isn't a place to just sit down and relax after a hard day of work and working at the house. I think I just had enough of it last night and went to bed at 9:30 instead of working. It just makes me appreciate those Saturday mornings that we can sleep in and wake up and make pancakes. Right now the kitchen is too dusty and messy to cook in. I can't wait for it to be done!

Conference

I wouldn't say that I'm "financially literate" but I did attend the FIRST ANNUAL FINANCIAL LITERACY CONFERENCE! Whoo hoo! There were four professionals paired with four ISU FMA members that spoke about different financial topics. Craig was up first and he did a great job explaining financial concepts (such as..."What is a stock? Stock market? bond? mutual fund?") Craig was great at trying to generate discussion and keeping people thinking and asking questions. He did a great job! I think the whole event went really well and there was a lot of talk on making it bigger and better for next year. I think it also wore him out! He was asleep about five minutes after he got home.

BEFORE

AFTER

We are not completely done with this room, but we are getting close!

Work, work, work

It is starting to finally feel like we are making progress! Craig is working on the trim in two of the bedrooms. After we shampoo the carpets, we can move things back into the two bedrooms. Progress will be slow this weekend because we won't be home much Saturday. Craig is helping with/speaking at a financial literacy conference. Craig's semester has required a lot of time and energy out of him this semester. He has always treated school as his "job," but it really feels like one this semester. I am so proud of him for the hard work he puts into school and at home.

This week the song "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin has meant a lot to me. It is a good reminder of God's promises. I probably hear this song everyday on the radio, but the words of the song really stood out to me this week.

News...

I wanted to share some news...

My grandpa Harlan died on Thursday. He fought Multiple Myeloma for several years and was very strong through the end. From what I understand Multiple Myeloma is a cancer that decalcifies the bones and creates bone lesions. My grandpa had a lot of pain in his legs. There wasn't a lot they could do to treat the cancer. I think they just focused on keeping him comfortable, especially at the end with a lot of pain medication.

It was a blessing from God that Sarah, Craig, Mom and I went to visit him the Saturday before he died. He was a fraction of his size with his arms looking long and his hands looked too big for his body. He could no longer eat due to his organs shutting down. The kidneys are one of the places that the calcium was deposited. His pain was pretty well managed on the day that we saw him. Mom told him that we were there to see him, but he was pretty out of it. I held his hand for a second before he moved it. Sarah bent down to talk to him and told him "goodbye" and "I love you" and he repeated it! Those are the only words we heard him speak that day and those are the last words that we heard him say. It was a very special and moving moment.

My mom went to see him on Thursday. They had arranged for a CD player to be set up in his room and my mom brought her piano hymn cds. My mom was with him for about a hour and a half. The hymn "It is Well" came on and my mom was praying. She heard his breathing pause and her prayer was answered. Grandpa peacefully passed away. I am so grateful that my mom could be there at that moment that Grandpa went to heaven.

I have many memories of enjoying time on the farm with Harlan and Wilma. It was a very peaceful place to enjoy the pond and nature. Grandpa was always very sweet to Sarah, Abby, Mom, and me. Grandpa served God in many ways and I know he touched many lives.

So while I am sad, I am glad that Grandpa is no longer in pain and is in heaven!

Progress

The house is a dusty wreck! The work on the house is also disrupting my running schedule. Last week I got on the treadmill on Monday and could only run a mile before I got too stressed out thinking about all that had to be done at the house. I calmed down and was able to complete a really good run on Tuesday. However, that was all the running that happened for the rest of the week! We received almost a foot of snow by Wednesday! I ran 5 miles Sunday after church and felt great! I was thinking, "Hey that wasn't so bad. It's ok that I was lazy all week." Then it hit me Monday afternoon...I was so sore. Actually, I realized that only my left quad was extremely sore! I've never had that happen before.

Progress on the house is going well. Craig has been working on completing the master bathroom while I worked on scraping the ceilings. We are working on one half of the house at a time. Tuesday, the man started working on fixing the drywall. He works pretty fast and expects to be done with this half by Friday. That means the priming and painting begins this weekend! I work Saturday morning, but hopefully we can be very productive.