Adventures with The Peach House...

Did I mention there's a lot to do on The Peach House? Here are some of the projects ahead:
- Install a water heater
- Get plumbing to work
- Tear off all the paneling
- rewire the house
- insulate the walls
- build kitchen cabinets
- open up the doorway between the dining room and living room.
- move the bedroom doorway (the room is so small, that it's in an awkward spot...)
- Put flooring down
- Put up sheet rock and complete mudding
- Paint the walls

Well... Thursday, Jessica, my sister, and my dad worked together to get the boxes that we stored is Jessica's basement into her family room. Matt's folks were going to come and pick up the boxes and some other things that night. Dan, Char, my dad and Jessica loaded their van with TONS of our kitchen/bathroom boxes and other great things, including our dining room table and 4 chairs!

Matt's parents arrived late Friday night for a visit and a big work week! :) They were willing to do anything, and we've taken them up on it. (On both sides, we have such a great family--- man! That goes on our Thankful List!) As we've been working we discovered some MORE things we have to do. Looks like...

- level the bedroom floors with the kitchen.
- redo the ceiling in the bedroom
- support the space we were planning to tear out between the kitchen and living room.
- replace all of the front windows and the bedroom window.
- take care of the big hole I found while pulling paneling off the bedroom studs... we can currently see outside.
- take out the bathtub and redo the floor
- insulate under the tub

As you can see... there's a lot to do. We'll post pictures. Soon. When I pulled the walls down in our bedroom, I was overwhelmed suddenly about how much work there was to do. However, when Matt saw how quickly I did the bedroom, he was greatly encouraged! He's sure it will go well. I, on the other hand... well... I'll try to hop on the same hand as Matt...

To keep updated on the progress, see our "P.H. Checklist" or click HERE.
 

Me looking through the bathroom window--- Matt and Dan replaced this yesterday!

The current kitchen cabinets... the doors are different sizes and hung crookedly.

Introducing.....

We would like to introduce you to a new friend of our family's:

 THE PEACH HOUSE!

 

We are now proud owners of this 704 ft2 house in Longview!  It is 4 miles from Missionary TECH Team, though we had hoped originally to move closer to TECH. 

Why did we buy a house?--- you might ask.  Great question!  God made it clear to us that we had a lot more to do here in Longview, so we knew that we could either 1) continue to pay rent, or 2) accept a loan our family arranged for us, and purchase a house where the five-year mortgage payments are comparable to the rent we’re paying. 

This house was a foreclosure, and it was originally being sold for $25,000.  We, of course, could never pay for that… and we would not want to have a very long-ranged loan, so we were fortunate to get the house under 15,000!  There is a LOT of work to do on the house, and we’re hoping to be living in it by February 1st! 

There will be more pictures to come, but we just wanted to show you our new sweet friend!

Fun Projects.

Here are a couple fun projects I got to do this week! 

Westside Christian Academy Deluxe Retractable.  It's so cool to see it in print.  I had about 15 proofs in all for Westside to look over and adjust.  It was a neat experience and made me reminisce the life of a teacher.  (It still catches me off-guard to NOT have work to do at home after work each night.  I feel very uncomfortable going home with only a purse and returning to work the same way!)

 

Note:  You observant folk out there may have noticed my new glasses.  Can I put in a quick ad for America's Best?  Thanks!  Two pairs of glasses for $50.00!!!  AND a free eye exam.  Can't beat it!  When I realized I couldn't read street signs anymore, I knew it was time to go in.  Hooray for computer jobs!

This is a game board I made for deputation trips.  It gives TECH missionaries an opportunity to play a game with the church/kids/families and tell them more about TECH at the same time.  This is my first project that I did the preliminary work in Adobe Illustrator.  Er... that's not entirely true.  This is the first project that I designed my own line structures in Adobe Illustrator.  How does that song go?  "Movin' on up!"

 

 

The Back Table

At Northwood Church, our "Front Room"--aka sanctuary-- is set up with rows of chairs in the middle, and tables surrounding those chairs for those who would like to sit at a table with their Bible and coffee. It's different, but it works really well. The table in the back corner by the sound room, affectionately referred to as The Back Table, is always packed with high school/college-aged people who have become very special to Matt and me. We first had them over in September, and I think we've developed a routine of having them over every other Monday night.

The girls asked us to host a Halloween party for them. I told them that we don't really do Halloween, but that they are welcome to come over. We did a devotion about being a new creature in Christ, not just taking bits and pieces and applying those to our lives, but actually CHANGING. It went well.

We wanted to share some pictures with you of our friends. Some nights it's only a few that come over, some nights it's about 15. Always different. I think on average it's about 8. Anyway, enjoy the pics... and please pray for those you see in them. Each person has a different story & challenge in life. And not all of them are Believers.

Karla, Dani and Krissy

Karla

Jacey

Elizabeth, Dani, Karla, Krissy and Jacey

Jacey, Crystal and Bret... decorating their apples at the party

Dani and her scary apple. :)

A new creation???

Dani, Elizabeth, Poodle and Matt (with a scary face)

Okay, they're all weird except Crystal....  L-R: Dusty, Crystal, Karla, Savanna, Dani, Elizabeth, Poodle and Matt

Okay, you already know us, but here we are again!  Thanks for praying!

Recently in Graphics...

In graphics I've been working on a few new designs, and I thought I'd share some. Several of these are designs that the missionary had already, basically, decided what it should look like, and my job was to try to make it work. :) Those jobs are probably the most difficult, because I have to try to think like the other person and also apply what I know about a good design... some of these are better than others, but I think the design I really like is the header for a medium display. Here, let me show you!

(A ShowStyle display that folds up like a brief case)

(A Business card-sized prayer card-- Front on top, Back below)

(Panels for a ShowStyle Display)

(A Prayer card--- postcard sized)

(Panels and Header for a Showstyle Display)

(Header for a Medium Tabletop Display)

Welcome Elizabeth!

Elizabeth is Missionary TECH Team's new intern. She is a recent college graduate, and a student we met last year when we went to Cedarville, OH to represent TECH. We are so excited to finally have her here!!!

She will be living with us until May, 2011.

Elizabeth is originally from North Carolina where she grew up with four siblings. Her father is an engineer, which may have influenced her choice to major in mechanical engineering.

MTT is thrilled to have her on the Team serving Christ!

Don't Forget the Pages!

There are some pages in the horizontal navigator bar where you can peek at newsletters, view prayer requests and look at photos from our fun events.
"Fun Days in Longview" is new, and if you're interested in getting to meet the people we're close to here, you're welcome to view it. Sometimes we'll try to post bits about the people we have relationships with. Please check it out!