kayaking, sleep over, and pad thai

We have had a full but fun weekend. This is world awareness month at our church here in CT and there have been various events to help us look beyond ourselves. It all culminated this weekend with an international dinner, where people make food highlighting their heritage or ethnic background. It was a lot of fun and I made Pad Thai. No, I don't have any Thai heritage but thought people should be aware of wonderful Thai food. It took me longer to prepare than I expected so I made us late for the dinner, but it worked out. After the dinner some of the teenagers from church came over our house to watch a movie and sleep over. It was fun having people here. We worked really hard this past week to paint the dinning room and half-bath. (I'll try to post some pictures soon.) In addition to all this fun stuff I got to go kayaking for the first time. This picture isn't actually of us (my friend Mark and I) but gives you a good idea. It was a scenic river that had beautiful stretches but was only about a 25 minute drive. There were some really cool rapids (I got capsized at the end) and we had such a great time. Overall we are doing well here in CT and are slowly adjusting to life in a new place. It will be better when we are more connected to friends here and have the house together, but it is going well.

tearing it down

We closed on our house this Tuesday. It is kind of anticlimactic as you sign document after document acknowledging all the ways you can blow your mortgage agreement. In talking with our attorney he told us that when banks forclose on a home and he has to do an eviction they actually take all the stuff out of the home and leave it on the curb - just like on TV. That would be unimaginably terrible. The main point of all the paper signing was "pay your mortgage and you'll be fine, otherwise we'll break your legs." Just kidding, that's if you get your mortgage through the Connecticut Mafia.

Since we actually own the house now we have started to tear down wallpaper. It has been easier than I expected and we might actually paint 2 rooms tommorow. We went to the grand opening of the Crate and Barrell store in West Hartford yesterday and had a blast. There is all sorts of beautiful furniture, rugs, and all other types of home goods. Here are pictures of two things we really liked: a cool chair and a snazy bench. We would have liked to purchass one but firgured it would be better to pay our mortgage. Anyway, neither of these pieces would look good on sitting on our curb.

progress on multiple fronts

I looked at our blog and realized it had been 11 days since I last posted - oops. As you can imagine there is plenty going on here and overall it has been good.

We are much more settled in our home. We have unpacked ~70% of our boxes and the downstairs is generally put together - except for the wallpaper of course. The upstairs is not so orderly but we have our bedroom mostly situated so we feel alright. We have also gotten to meet our neighbors on one side. Max and Christina seem pretty cool - they have two dogs: belle and scarlet - and we are going to hang out sometime.

We had our first youth event this Monday. Since many teens had off for Columbus Day we went hiking at Talcott Mountain which has beautiful views and this cool old house with a big tower on the top of it. We piciniced at the top and had good weather for a hike. Today we're having teens over for dinner and then hanging out - it should be a lot of fun.

Overall we feel like we're in a place where we have a lot to give to others and to the church, but we also feel like we are in a good place to receive from others and grow. Thanks for your continued interest in our lives.

the jury is in - not guilty

We have heard from probate court and the purchase of our home was approved! The decision was made on Wednesday but we just heard this morning. Our closing is not until Oct 16th - booo! But we are glad to have an end in sight. Since the house is generally ours we took down all the curtains today and started washing them - they smell really funky. Hillary has been wondering if they contribute to the odor hanging about certain rooms and it is only now that they are in a pile on the dinning room floor that we truly appreciate their smelliness.

We had a fun weekend down in PA - staying with my parents while we attended a wedding of a childhood, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college friend. It was awesome to see them married and I got to participate in the ceremony. I did some readings, prayed, and was privileged to speak about marriage. It was a moving experience and very encouraging to me. It is exciting to be used by God and to share his truth with others. We also enjoyed hanging out with my family - my sister, brother in law, and niece were at my parents house for a short visit so we all got to hang out. Lindsay (my niece is super cute and loves to bang things together and make tons of noise.)

We are settling in to West Hartford and glad to be here. We have new cell phone numbers, which we will email out shortly so if you call us and don't get through that is why.