Great News for a Great Day

My Saturday started bright and early (after only about 5 hours sleep) when Jerrod, John, and I arrived just in time for the 8 am start of the Lynchburg Half Marathon and 5K. Jerrod and I ran the 5K, and of course, John just went along for the ride (Jerrod pushed him in the jogging stroller). We didn't stick around for the results since the half marathoners were not even finished, but I was very pleased with my time. I found out later I got third in my age group and I got a really cool medal.
I talked to my mom later in the morning and she told me that my uncle accepted a job in Lynchburg so their family will be moving from Greensboro. I was very excited about this news because my parents would like to move to Lynchburg when they retire (in @ a year and a half), but my dad's only reservation was leaving my grandmother with no one to look after her. Now that my uncle will be in Lynchburg, they can move my grandmother here as well.

With all of the family issues that I have dealt with over the past year this news made me think of the verse in Ephesians that says, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think..." God has given me more than I could imagine. I've wanted my parents to move to Lynchburg so that they could be an important part of John's life (and future siblings), but I never dreamed He could also allow my grandmother, uncle, aunt, and cousin to live so close as well. All I can put into words right now is: God is so good!

Summer projects

I don't consider myself very handy, so whenever I do something using a drill (and it comes out ok), it feels like a big accomplishment. So I took some "before" pictures of these ledges that we bought about 5 years ago for our first house. When we moved into our current house, we couldn't find anywhere to put them so they have been sitting around for 4 years. So I decided that they would be great in the dining room, but they needed to be white. So I sanded, primed, and painted the ledges white (this was the easy part). These ledges are particularly hard because they have three hanging slots on the back that have to be level, flush to the wall, and the holes have to be very precisely measured. Anyway, it actually took less time than I thought it would, and I'm very happy with the result.



I also completed my first sewing project. This is a picture of some curtains I made for a bookshelf in my classroom. My mom was in town last weekend and gave me a quick lesson on using the sewing machine. The stitches are very crooked, but you can't really tell because the material is gathered. I am excited about making more things. I'm not sure what my next project will be, but my step-mother-in-law is a great seamstress, so I'm hoping to get another lesson from her when Jerrod's family comes to visit (possibly this weekend).



I am going close this post with some pictures from our vacation in Savannah (about a month ago). I didn't post the pictures earlier because the cord needed to download pictures from the camera to the computer was missing. Jerrod blamed me and said I was the last one to use it. He reminded me that I needed to be more responsible, and I looked everywhere for it. Well, it turned out that the cord was in Jerrod's bag the entire time. He forgot he put it there.



The mailbox is no longer green!

Why we have an ugly green mailbox

Our mailbox was attacked on Friday night. Molly (the dog) found it laying on the grass when she went out on Saturday morning. Jerrod walked around the block to see if any of our neighbors had been victim to a mailbox assault, but it seems our mailbox was the only one. This has happened to other neighbors in the past. We heard fireworks going off late Friday night (Molly was going crazy), so we assume that it was probably just some mischievous kids. Jerrod did inform me that when he was in high school (in CA), he (and a friend of his) got in big trouble for destroying mailboxes, so I guess this is payback from @ 15 years ago. Luckily we did have a spare mailbox in our garage (it was from our first house). The mailbox had a golden retriever and our old address printed on it so Jerrod spray painted it with the only color he had. So if you come to my house any time soon and you see the ugly green mailbox, you know the story behind it. We don't plan on keep the mailbox this way. I'm just not sure when Jerrod will get around to changing it. I'm hoping soon, because it is really hideous looking.