the eternal student

First day of work

Wow, life has really changed for us already. A few random highlights.
-We are 5 minutes from malls and all that our material selves could want, but we are also just moments away from great mountains, hiking, views, biking, camping, etc. We've been staying in the hotel that was built where our new house was originally built. It's nice to own a piece of Boise history as it makes me feel coneected to it already.

-I locked us out of our Toyota Sienna rental van today. At the same time I managed to buy a great 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlas Cierra for $650. Only 100k miles on it and it runs fine. Eventually I"m going to get a scooter, but this will get me around reliably for now.

-First day of work tomorroow and I am exhausted and have a pounding headache.

-Bought a GE Profile stove from Lowe's on clearance from $2000 down to $1000. Convection oven, warming spot, all the works. Cook away Lynn!

-Bought a great GE Profile stainless steel fridge. We decided since we have to buy all new things for our kitchen, we will stick with a stainless steel theme.

-Gideon loves the house and keeps saying how happy he is with the yard, his room, and lots of little things. He is such a big helper. Isaac on the other hand is a constant force to be reckoned with. He's not bad, just much more demanding of attention than Gideon.

-Phineas has thrush thanks to the antibiotics Lynn has to be on for her strpe throat.

-Mover's come tomorrow with our stuff and Lynn gets to handle it all alone, along with the three boys. Pray for her.

-Neighborhood kids have introduced themselves and made a bike ramp in our driveway.

-Lynn's aunt Donna is only 2 miles from us. Good to have family nearby. THe boys love Rocky the horse, the chickens, and the dogs.

-I've gotten a wardrobe makeover. We went shopping at the mall for Memorial Day sales and I"m wearing some spiffy Sketchers, new shirts, non-pleated pants, and non-white non-Georgia Tech T-shirts. Lynn was inspired by an episode of "What Not To Wear" and I am wearing stuff I never would have picked out by myself. The college student days are over for me. Maybe I'll post pics.

Last round of goodbyes

Our flight leaves the ATL at 5:20pm. We are headed to the airport at 2:30pm. Last chance to swing by and say farewell.

Bela is the first to go

This morning I flew Bela out to Boise for Lynn's uncle, Steve, to pick up. We did not sedate him and he was mildly nervous, but calm. Bela has pciked on all the other cats in the neighborhood ever since we've been here, but recently he has made a neighborhood buddy with what Gideon calls a "striped" cat. I found Bela and the 'striped' cat out on the back porch this morning when I came to take Bela away. I think they were saying their goodbyes.

Lots of emotions as we are saying goodbye to people and places. The goodbyes are incomplete and always leave something else to be said.

Our house is empty. The movers came and cleaned us out in a day. Well, cleaned out according to my loose standards, but Lynn came home and was surprised at some stuff they left behind. I fail in the 'detail' department sometimes. The boys are enjoying the empty house and sleeping on air mattresses.

Oh yeah, thanks to my father-in-law Gerry and Duffy for helping me finish my last house project, the gutters. You can see them in the picture above.

Feel like giving up Moms?

Ever had a bad day moms? Check out this video of an armless mom changing diapers and going about her day. You gotta admire this woman, although I don't quite believe her that she never feels like giving up.

Celebrate with a new CD

As of 5pm today we should be have closed on the house. Lynn and the boys are in Nashville visiting her grandmother so I have to celebrate alone, which means I'm thinking about getting Paul Simon's new CD Surprise . Brian Eno (U2 producer) helped with this album and it works great. Check out the songs WarTime Prayers and Outrageous. The album is a good post 9/11 and Katrina reflection but it isn't bound by those events. The songs will be good ten years from now because they have key spiritual elements, unlike Neil Young's new album Living with War which wil not be timeless like his Harvest or Prairie Wind. I love Neil but I'm not into his version of protest songs which deal more with blame, rather than reflection and trying to find solutions. Anyways..

And then there is also Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris' new album All The Roadrunning . Hmmm. Glad to see such good music coming out these days.

Closing on the house tomorrow

We are closing on the house tomorrow and then headed to Fort Mountain State Park for our annual church retreat. The church retreats are always a good time of fun and banging heads together to work out our visions for the church. We are sad this will be our last one at Community Fellowships.

The bank required us to fix the roof and a handrail before they would give us a loan for the house. Chaching! to the tune of $2300. It's alright, I knew the roof needed repairs but I was hoping to be able to do it after the closing. It's a good thing the consulting has picked up big time. Hmm, who do you think planned that? And it's definitely true that the more you make the more you spend. That feeling of 'you've worked hard and earned this' settles in too quickly. Lynn and I definitely need to sit down and work a tighter budget before my real salary kicks in. ON the plus side, we've upped our giving substantially. In fact, we really really enjoy being able to give.

Anybody need housing in Atlanta for hte months of June and July. Our place is available.