crazy busy weekend!

I am writing this from my freshly painted red office (it still needs one more coat)! Yes, I finally have my red room. Of course I chose our smallest room to paint red but I really like it. I think once it is put together it will not be so shocking to those not so in to bold colors. My house (at least the main floor) now looks like a tree in autumn. You can stand in our living room and see a brown wall, a green kitchen, our pumpkin spice bedroom, the goldish tan walls of the halls and most of the living room, and now our red office! There is a them to my madness although the theme didn't come together until after I painted everything but the office. In my head this justifies the madness of all my painting. :) I will have to post pictures once things look more put together. I keep saying that and then I start another project.

Jake and I have started to move on to the outside of the house now. Yesterday, Jake spent most of the day power washing the paint/stain off our deck and then sanding it. We will be staining it once all these thunderstorms pass. Next weekend, we will be clearing some of our yard for my very first garden! Hopefully, I will have asparagus, some herbs, and maybe some onions this fall! I have very high hopes for someone who the only plant I have kept alive for longer than a month is a good luck plant! My neighbor is giving me some guidance in all this so hopefully I will have better luck!

We had dinner with our neighbors again last night. Lucas and their son seem to get along pretty well for the most part, which is nice. We are so thrilled to have such great people around us. We are definitely enjoying getting to know them.

This weekend was also the inaugural Susan G Komen Breast Cancer 5K in South Dakota. I dragged my larger than necessary behind out the door this morning to run in hopes of starting a running trend in my life again. For not running regularly for a few months now, I was able to run a personal best time for me (nothing impressive to anyone who runs), so I am now motivated for the moment to run again tomorrow. I must admit the fact that I have to wear a bathing suit in December when we go to Mexico is some motivation to keep running as well.

The Art of the Stand Up Pee

I just finished trying to teach Lucas how to try and pee standing up. I brought out books for him to stand on since he doesn't quite clear the seat and a stool is too high. I even put Cheerios in the toilet for him to aim at. I don't think he quite gets the mechanics of it all and all I have to offer is the hover method, not to be of good use to him. Let's start by saying I was not successful, I think this is one area Jake will have to cover. It brought a good laugh and I think Lucas is still wondering why I put his cereal in the toilet. He was very concerned.

Small Town Life

I am beginning to really like it here. I love that we have neighbors that we can do dinner with, neighbors who bring you fresh vegetables from their gardens, and who always seem to have time to chat for a minute. It is so different from our little street in Pullman with only 2 neighbors we rarely had a chance to talk with. I am already starting to read up on gardening so I can put one in next spring. We will see how many plants I can keep alive.

The boys seem to be enjoying this place as well. We can now consider going to the bank an event as our bank as one of those old tube things (technical term) where you put your deposit in a container and it shoots up into a tube and comes back with suckers. Nothing is better to Lucas than an outing that results in a treat. Also, only in a small town can you go to the post office and have the President of the university put you into your car seat! We were going back to our car and the President of USD was parking next to us. He heard me tell Lucas to wait on the curb a minute while this man gets out of his car. He then asks Lucas, "Why don't I help you open your door and get in?" Anywhere else this kind of question would have resulted in me wanting to beat the man down with a stick. Here, because I recognized who he was, it was just funny.

The only thing missing in this small town is family and old friends. Hopefully, we can continue to develop great relationships with people here, but if anyone is interested the house behind us is for sale!!!! Any takers????

Night time prayers

Tonight was one of those moments I just had to stop and write about before I forget. Each night, we pray with Lucas before he goes to bed and we ask him who he wants to pray for. Well, tonight I gave him a few choices, "Do you want to pray for your cousins, your friends at preschool, or the people who were hurt in the train crash?" For those of you who don't know, there was a horrific train crash in Simi Valley on Friday. Lucas chose to pray for the train crash victims and their families. So we prayed and then Lucas got on all fours on his bed and looked down off his bed and said, "Did God do this Mommy?" I wasn't sure what he was doing so I asked him and he said, "Let me get down and show you." He crawled down onto the floor, go on his hands and knees again and pretended to look under his bed. He said, "Did God do this Mommy and look for the people under the train?" This, of course, broke my heart.
I told him, "Yes, God probably did and He probably used people to look for people who were hurt too."
He then asked, "Does God have a big arm, Mommy?" I said, "Yes, God is really big, bigger than our house! he can reach up to the moon."
Lucas then wanted to know, "Where is She (God)?" I think the idea of God being that big was a bit scary, he wanted to know where this big God was. :) I told him that God is everywhere.
"Is He at my church?" he asked. I told him that he was.
He then asked, "Whats one church?"
"He is at all the churches." He is even at our house, but we just can't see him." Keep in mind this is an on the fly conversation so I am trying to come up with answers I could never really explain if I had all the time in the world to think of answers. I told him, "He watches over us and takes care of us. He even made us. He put your ears on the side of your head and put Mommy's eyes on her face." He thought this was hilarious for some reason.
Lucas then asked, "Did God make my arms, Mommy?" I told him that He did.
I the said, "He made all of you really small and put you in Mommy's belly to grow (Great way to bypass a huge subject for the future). When you were big enough, you came out and God continues to help you grow every day to be big."
That about wrapped up the conversation and we moved on. It was the first time he has really asked questions about God, where he is, and how He helps people. It was so amazing to see his mind running. It reminded me of just how out there it all seems. When I try and explain it simply, it is still hard to wrap my mind around it all. Anyway, I had to share this moment as I know they are precious times.
So please take this picture of God on his hands and knees, looking for hurt people under the train and pray for those families hurt by this tragedy. Thank you Lucas for reminding me where God is in the midst of such a horrific event.

Window Well Critters

We have been having problems with little critters falling into our basement window wells. Up until today, it has been LOTS of frogs and toads. Normally, after a rain Jake will check to see if any have fallen in and throw them back up into the grass. He loves this "chore" and has stated this is another reason it is a perfect house for him (not one of my top 10 reasons I like living here, go figure). Anyway, after dinner tonight, Jake pulled up Lucas' shade for some reason and found our first furry creature. Lucas came running up stairs saying, "Mommy, there is a passa in my window!" Once I figured out he was saying possum, and swallowed the vomit in my mouth (not a fan of furry rat like creatures in the slightest), I headed down to see for myself. Sure enough, there he was, a baby possum curled up in the corner (who knows how long he was in there). He had COMPLETELY shredded Lucas' screen trying to get out. I am not sure how we didn't hear it. Gross! Jake rescued it and sent it on its way, although it was pretty sluggish. So, what will we be doing this weekend? Looking for window well covers, that's what. I can not risk another one falling in and discovering it when Jake is not around. The children would see their mother committed for sure. Not a pretty scene.

Church Hunt Complete!

I know what you are thinking, that wasn't much of a hunt! Despite the short search, we have found a new church home. I have NEVER been to a church as a visitor and had so many people welcome me, talk to me, ask me questions, tell about themselves, and EVERYONE raved at what an amazing community this town and church is. The pastor made a point to come over, introduce himself, meet our kids, and tell us about a children's/family program they have on Wednesday nights. I guess on Wednesday, all the families of kids preschool through 5th grade meet for dinner and they have activities/programs for the kids after dinner. The teacher of the preschoolers came up and introduced herself as well. Now this wouldn't be so surprising if we were the only visitors at a church of 15 or 20, but there were about 100 people and lots of new or newer people. I LOVED IT! The church? It is the Congregational United Church of Christ of Vermillion. Everyone I spoke with (newer people and some who have been there for decades) said it is a really friendly, community oriented church. It seems very focused on living life based on the teachings of Jesus. The pastor is a very high energy, personable, and well educated man. His wife leads the worship service with him as well. When he was talking to us, he was saying you will find people here who will do anything for you. If you need someone to watch your child, if you need a meal, someone to give you a ride- anything! Just call. Having no real family around, that was reassuring to hear. I am telling you, it was incredible. I think the most incredible part was just how down to earth everyone I spoke with was. it wasn't that creepy, "find the new people and hover" feeling. The people seemed geniunely happy to meet us (I know what you are all thinking- they don't know us yet. They will be pushing us back out the door after a couple of weeks, I am sure, but until then, we will enjoy this wonderful community. :))
Anyway, I just had to update you all as soon as we got home. I am very excited if you couldn't tell. :)

Labor Day Weekend Update

It was another busy weekend for us. We had a long to do list and completed just about all of it. I painted an accent wall in our living room, Jake finished the window casings and the baseboards in the bathroom in the basement, we hung some curtains, and took a marathon shopping trip. The boys were incredible as they endured a 2 hour Home Depot trip and then another couple hours at a furniture store. I couldn't believe there was no melting down until the final minutes. We were able to find a couch and chair we really like! I will have to take updated pictures once they arrive. My next project is to paint our bedroom. I keep thinking I will stop and take a break from painting, but then a couple days go by and I get inspired to paint another room. Our house is going to look like a circus with every wall a different color by the time I am done. This is what happens when you wait so long to paint your walls. :)

On another note, Lucas continues to enjoy preschool. It is so strange to see him with this life apart from us. People told me it would be this way, that being around other kids would encourage Lucas to do this or that, but I truly didn't imagine I would notice changes so soon. For example, most of you know that he has had serious constipation issues. Well, this weekend we had a three day poop hiatus. I was really worried sending him to school yesterday, and actually entertained the idea of keeping him home because he was pretty miserable. When Jake went to pick him up, the teacher told him that Lucas went to the bathroom (first time during preschool) all by himself and pooped! I was thrilled to say the least. He seems to really be making progress toward getting over the fear of pooping. Thank God!

I have gotten a few questions about our church hunt. We didn't get to church this week since we were trying to get so much done before Jake starts teaching this week. Jake did however, meet another new professor who was raving about the United Church of Christ, Congregational Church. This is the church our realtor recommended to us and the one we visited when we were here looking for a house. Jake was told it has an amazing community, which is high on our list. We are going to try it this weekend.

I am getting to a point where I am really missing friends and community so hopefully this weekend we will make some progress toward meeting people. Again, I feel I have to get back out into the "dating" pool. Obviously it isn't dating, but it is that same awkward feeling of putting yourself out there and hoping you get a phone number or a connection with someone who potentially could be someone you spend more time with. Does this sound as creepy as I think it does? Hopefully you get my point. The point? I need to make friends. :)