New move in date--End of April

Our time of move in keeps getting moved to later and later date.  It seems that when the workers are two parents that work full time and have four children, time is limited. HA!
I have been grouting---my skin is really rough, as a result of this.  John's been tiling the kids' bathroom/tub area and painting doors and trim. 

I've almost finished our kitchen...one more night's worth of work left, I hope.  John is amazing me with his tiling skill!

Mexican Night

 fajitas

 Ninfa's green sauce and Posados garlic butter...yes, homemade, but close to the original.

 About a month ago, we decided to do "themed" nights on Fridays.  We have had Italian night, Mexican night, and American nights.  We have gone all out...with table cloths, cheap floral decor...and more.  The kids really enjoy these nights.  We even play the music from each country/theme.  It's a lot of work, but so worth the delight from the kids!  We started this because I like to go "out " to eat at restaurants(which can be a long wait) and the kids like McDonald's...and I don't want to go to "just" fast food for my night out--so, I thought I'd make the good food and we won't have to leave home for it!!

A bit late...but Merry Christmas from the LCS Bull kids...

 Melissa in the front on her flute

This was the kid's Christmas production from their school.  The girls are playing clarinet and flute and I can't say enough great things about their band teacher!  She amazes me with her talent and patience!  The play that the elementary did kept us laughing all the way through...especially when Herod fell from his stool and "died."

More house details...

 This is our bathroom tile---it's earthy ---the picture is bluer than reality, but in our eyes, it's beautiful!

 grouted tile in the kids' bathroom

 our kitchen with our granite.  I have a rough cut edge.

 our half bath granite---it will have a bowl sink.

our kitchen sink---bad lighting.  Our faucet will not work, so we have to choose another...hence the lack of faucet.

Got a story for ya, Ags!!

A Matthew story for you...

The other day, Matthew was looking at my grocery ads(his reading material while in the bathroom).  He sees that it said 2/$5, and he's reading out loud.  I am in the other room and hear him say--"That's $2.50."  I asked him more, at this point.  So, tonight, I remembered this and I told John about it.  I said that Matthew's a math genius and asked Matthew again about the 2/$5.  Then, I asked a couple of others...2/$8 then 2/$13.50.  John says, "If he gets this one, I'll be impressed."  After a minute of thinking, Matthew answers, "$6.75."  Let me just say---we are impressed!  Good math genes on both sides of mom and dad! 

Retaining Wall

This is the wall beside our "missionary" side of our house.  Thanks to our friend- George, John and he picked up these 50 lb blocks and put them in this form!!  Another moment when it's good to be the woman and not the man!!!  The walkway will be concrete later and John may add a curve to this wall too.  Our move in estimate is sometime near middle to late March. 
John and I have been grouting, tiling(my favorite part!) and painting.  John's been painting, not me!  A couple of great friends, Ben and George, helped John do the wood floor in our house too...pictures later when it's not so dusty!
A few questions I mull over---Will the dust ever stop? Who will clean this mess up?(that's us, by the way) When am I going to purge more of my "stuff" before we move---we still have too much?  How will it feel to be in the house that we have thought/mulled over/planned and worked so hard on?  Who will our first missionary be to stay in our missionary home?  When will we finish that side(the dry wall and paint and floors still are not done over there)?

More details...on house of course!

 door painted, but not glazed yet

 island doors painted and glazed

 top of our vanities in master bath

 kids' hallway and bath finito!!

 back tile above our stove!--it's tin

this is our kitchen granite and a piece that will be in our back splash...it will be fun to see it come together!

Tile!!

Tile in the kids' bathroom!  It's cold here too!  We had a heater set up but it didn't do much to heat---we had to revert to our layers of clothing!!! Do you see the little bits of grass growing?  It's only to keep the mud from washing out.  It's winter grass---till we plant in the spring!

House pics---just a dusting...like our White Christmas!

 Piano room

 sitting room off of our room

 our fan and below is the hall light--how exciting!

Just a few more pics...more coming.  John is still putting down tile and it's 9:22pm!

Secret Servants

It's December, and I've been thinking through the reasons we do what we do around this time of the year.  Ok, first of all, if you aren't one of those "thinkers"--you know the personality of the melancholy one...they aren't always the depressed ones, but the thinkers-- then count your blessings.  Thinking too much can be a curse.  But, it CAN be inspiring!
Some of things I think of...
----Why do we have a Christmas tree?
----Why do we do stockings?
----Why did we decide on Dec. 25th to celebrate the miraculous birth of Christ?
----Why do so many people "do" Santa?
----Why are gifts such a "huge" or main(even if the gifts aren't big) part of most people's Christmas, even whey they "say" that Christ is the reason for their season?  and how do you reverse this if you started this way and want to change it?
Thankfully, I have my Matthew say something like this---when we set up our nativity scene,  Ah, the real reason for the season.  Priority, yes!
I've done my research on most of these things...and have decided to focus on Worship this Christmas for me and my family.   The hard part is the remembering of the focus!! The girls are playing Christmas songs on their instruments and we are doing a few things to focus on others this season.

 This Christmas, we are doing Secret Servants.  We draw names every Sunday and we "do" things such as, pray for each other, serve each other, give to each other, encourage each other, give back scratches, help with chores, etc.  I have made a word document of these types of actions and printed out multiple words saying these things.  The red heads cut them up for me and we have them in a box under the stockings.  When one of these things are done for our "person" that we drew, we put that word in their stocking.  Last year, we did this with out the words, but with "straw" for the manger  and sometimes the other person didn't notice if their bed was made for them or not.  So, this year, we are making a sort of record of it; not a specific record, just a general one.  Yes, this may be some sort of tooting your own horn, but I hope it's not like that but more a way to show how much we care for one another.

So, I'm biased...Beautiful Niece Esther!

Sweet little Esther is my niece!  She's a beautiful baby!  My younger brother's first wee little one!  Isn't she adorable!  I loved holding her(especially when surrounded by pillows!), babies can get your arms a little tired!  We love our new niece!

Baby Naomi!!!

Naomi is one of the sweetest babies that I've seen!!  She is our good friends' first little one.   The best part, for my girls, is the holding!!  They love baby Naomi and when Naomi opens her eyes, we hope she grows to love the Bulls!

Field trip time

We went to the East Texas Oil Museum(the 6-8th grades) and they reviewed what they learned a few weeks back.  I'm not a big fan of field trips, never have been---even with home schooling.  Usually, I am glad that I took the kids and went, but the first part--planning and going is not my favorite.  Even after this one, I can't say I'm glad I went.  It was a great museum, but without a guide, it was not much other than visual.  I wish I had learned it all over again!  It was neat to see the history of East Texas though.