Cute Comments

Morgan and Maddie have chores each day. As Morgan was empting out her part of the dishwasher, she looks at Owen and asked, "Where does the potato scracher go?" How cute!

How Cotton Candy is Made

As we drive by the cotton fields, the large combines are picking the cotton and putting them into huge bails. In the backseat Morgan (5 yrs old) says, "You know why they have to get all that cotton? Because that's how they make the cotton candy." I love how she saw fields upon fields of cotton candy growing. Oh, to be able to look through the eyes of a child!

The Bridge: Night of Dedication

Tonight was the Night of Dedication for The Bridge. Darren conducted a dedication ceremony where we promised to use the house for God's glory. We then circled the entire house (creating an unbroken chain) and each person prayed a prayer of blessing. The prayer went all the way around the house until everyone had spoken. Next, each person took a moment to write their favorite scripture on the floor of the living room. Because we live in the south, the night wouldn't be complete without food. Hot dogs and s'mores around the fire pits - yummy!!!

I absolutely love the picture above as the light pours out of the house onto our faces as we prayed. Isaiah 9:2 "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."
























Psalm 139:8-12

"If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you."

Ribbon Run!

| Summer, Cristina, Me|

My first 5K has been completed. It was a wonderful day to see so many happy faces and our team raised a ton of money to purchase a machine for early diagnosis of breast cancer! While I trained, my best time was 39 minutes. Of course, before the race, I had only run 3.1 miles four times in my life. My dear friend, Summer, stayed with me the entire time. She kept encouraging me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. At times, I wasn't sure that I would make it. There were some really big hills (considering that I run on totally flat roads.) Summer said, "Your going to hate me when this is over." I jokingly responded, "I already do." That of course as I was gasping for air. :) Thank you my dear friend for keeping me going, I met the goal that I had set for myself at 37 minutes.| Summer & Me. Mission Complete!|

| The Family: Ricky, Carrie, Morgan, Maddie, Owen, & Me (again)|

|Team Cristina. 144+ Members!!!!!|

Fresh Manna | Hearts To Be Softened |

All this year, Maddie has been begging not to ride the bus. Her bus driver makes them have assigned seats and sit quietly because of a few behavioral problems. Maddie has been very upset that she is punished even when she is not one of the kids causing problems. (The punishments are enforced for the whole bus.) Because of this, Maddie thinks the bus driver has been mean. I've not let Maddie stop riding the bus because she's got to learn how to deal with things that are uncomfortable.

Fast forward to today: The girls come home with suckers and pretzel packs that they received from the bus driver. So I ask Maddie, "You mean to tell me, you've gotten treats from the bus driver who you say is mean?" Maddie said, "I prayed for her heart to be softened and that's why she's being nice now. The next day after saying that prayer, I got on the bus and she was smiling and happy. Now she's giving us treats if we are good instead of punishing the whole bus."

OH MY!!! Does this mean Maddie's getting it!?!?!?! I'm so proud, happy, and excited all at the same time. I love to see the prayers of little children answered.

Fresh Manna | ...and where thieves break in and steal |

I woke up to a voicemail from 1:30 am. My neighbor had called to tell us the car alarm was going off in our driveway. When I heard the message, I told Owen someone's tried to break into the cars. We went out and the window farthest from the house had been busted out. They broke the little window so that they could reach in to unlock the car and that window would make the least amount of noise when broken.

They broke in trying to get the tools we've been using to renovate the Lincoln Village house but the car alarm scared them off before they got them out. Luckily, we have all the tools! Unfortunately, we've got a lovely broken window. It was humbling to see shattered glass on the bible in the backseat of the car and made me think of this scripture...

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." Matthew 6:19


It also made me thankful that my family slept safe and sound while God protected us. In fact, I'm not even worried about moving to The Bridge. My car can get broken into in our safe, little, South Parkway neighborhood. It reminded me that I need God's provisions no matter where I live.

The Bridge | Part 7 |

This week they've been working on the foundation of the house. The rot is being removed and new boards are being put in....

| Kitchen: The floor was taken up and the rot was cut out. |

| Kitchen: Here's new joist being put in. |

| Kitchen: Yea!!! A level floor! |

|Bathrooms: Both bathrooms were cut out and new joist and sub-floor are being added. Because we've taken the bathrooms down to the studs, we moved the wall out to make both bathrooms 21" larger. We're also getting new plumbing because the pipes are all rusted. |

The Bridge | Part 6 |

Friday: Today was hopping, crazy, busy!!! We had five guys putting in the beam. This crew installed the two LVL 24" tall by 26' long. They were HUGE! I loved these guys, they were such hard workers. In addition to the beams, Mom and I scraped more paint, and Owen and Dad removed the remaining kitchen sub-floor. I'm so thankful that my parents worked so hard for us. I was excited they were able to be apart of this process and were able to meet some of the Lincoln Village people. I told Dad..."We know how to rock a house!" Today was a good, good day, and we celebrated the day's work with Cherry Lime-aides for all!!!

| Here's what was under the sub-floor in the kitchen. |

| Here's someone elses idea of "fixing" the problem. Small boards were added to keep the cabinets from falling through the floor. |

| Temporary walls were built before the joist were cut. |

| Here's the crew of guys. Did I mention they were hard workers? |

| These guys lifted the two beams into place. Did I mention they were hard workers? I can't remember. |

| Hector climbed a ladder that had been propped up against the wall. No fear. |

| At this point, Mark made me leave. I told him I was stressed so he made me go outside. I was so worried these guys were going to get hurt but Mark reminded me that these guys are good at what they do. I'm glad Owen took pictures so I could see the rest of the work. :) |

| Both beams installed. We were celebrating! |

| Mission Complete. That's the best looking beams I've ever seen! |

| When I was sweeping, I found these two nails. These were the only two nails like this in the thousands of nails we cleaned up. It reminded me of what Jesus did for us and why we're moving there. I'm going to find a special place for these at The Bridge. |

| My hard-working Dad and me. Mission complete! |

The Bridge | Part 5 |

Thursday: Today was a day of preparation. The kitchen had two layers of sheet rock so one layer had to be removed. We finished the bathroom demo and prepared for the wall removal!

| Notice the original ceiling is black from the smoke damage of the grease fire. Yuck! |

| The paint in the hallway and living room peeled off like plastic. It appears this is the result of painting latex paint over oil based paint. It was amazing how much dust can get on your bum...my backside has looked like that for five days now. |

| Lovely. |

| Here's Dad facing his nemisis...the concrete tile wall. |

| Here's me taking a crack at it. Dad went high and I went low. You have no idea how being short hinders using a sledge-hammer on tile. |

| Here's the final product when everything was removed. Did I mention there was rot? |

|Seriously...the pipe for the toilet is rusted. That means liquid was coming out and that is totally disgusting! |