Update From Ohio

I finally had some days at home.  We moved into our new house on August 15.  I left for work on August 16.  From August 16 to September 20 I was home very few days.  On September 20 I woke up at home and then spent 10 consecutive days there.  This allowed me to accomplish A LOT.  I am excited to announce that we are ready for visitors!  Please book your flights and get to Ohio as soon as possible.  We would love to have you.  Betty (a friend of our family) and her sister Jackie were our first visitors.  It was actually nice to have them come the day before I was scheduled to leave again because it gave me a deadline for cleaning the house.  I had been working upwards of 12 hours per day painting and unpacking, but I had not swept the floor since move-in day.  I know that it’s a no-brainer, but sweeping the floor can make all the difference in the world in making your house feel like a home.  It’s just so hard to do when so much of the floor is covered with boxes.  Here is a picture of our first formal visitors:

 

Here are some befores and afters that will update you on our progress: (You can see original state of house here.)

Living Room

Dining Room/Office (We split the room with bookshelves.)

Gym (We are laying real foam gym flooring.)

Walking into our bedroom

Inside bedroom

 

Also, it’s Fall here!  My perfect day is 80 degrees with a cool breeze.  Yesterday was exactly 80 degrees and there was a cool breeze blowing.  The trees are turning, and it was beautiful!  I was in Dallas last weekend getting very depressed because it was in the eighties there.  I had been in Ohio for 10 days of cold and rainy weather.  I was terrified that I wasn’t going to get my beautiful 80 degree Fall days.  I have been singing with joy since I woke up at home on Friday to a perfect day.  The first picture below is a view from our backdoor.  The following are pics from the park we take Brinkley to. 

    

     

  

Then, Brinkley made some friends.  Kids love her, and thankfully she also loves them.

 

On an even more personal note, Jason is doing great in school.  He loves it, and I love hearing him talk about it.  We are really enjoying living here.  It is quaint and quiet and everyone is especially friendly.  We are looking for a church.  Today we tried the First Baptist Church.  I’m still working a lot, which is great.  I leave again Wednesday.  Lastly, we found someone to love our animals when we are gone.  A guy named Chad takes Brinkley and keeps the cats fed.  It’s great.  We do miss our friends though.  This weekend was OU/TX weekend.  While our friends watched the game from Dallas we watched the game on the couch with pizza.

Oh, and last fun thing.  I created a  feeding station using a bookshelf and a couple of identical mats.  I love it!