We're in England

Hi Everyone! I'm sorry we haven't posted in so long! We have moved! We moved into our new condo last Saturday (THANK YOU to everyone who helped!), unpacked Sunday, cleaned the apartment after work for 4 hours Monday, had a Christmas party Tues. night, and left to drive to Chicago on Wed. We flew out on Christmas and everyone (Keri's whole family) has arrived to England safely! We are jet lagged, but very very glad to be together! We will post more pictures of the move and of course of England when we return after the new year!

More work

We had a good weekend (a three day weekend for Keri!) that included more work on the condo and a birthday party for Ellie Torgerson, the 1-year old of our friends Joey and Kim. It was a great time!

Joey, C.J., and Jeff with their party hats

Ellie opening presents

Eating chocolate cake!

On Saturday, we had a total of 11 people come and help us on the condo throughout the day. LOTS of work got done and we are closing in on being done with the first floor! Thank you to all who helped! There still seems to be an endless list that we would like completed before our target move-in date, but I guess the life of a home owner is always having a list of projects, so this will induct us into the club well. Keri has been fighting a cold/sinus infection all week, which has not helped progress! The end is in sight, though. We're getting there!

C.J. and Jon installing countertops

Jackie painting trim

Countertops installed!

Cupboard doors with first coat of paint

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was strange for us this year, as it was the first year we didn't go anywhere for the holiday. Throughout undergraduate school, we went to Keri's grandma's house in Michigan. For 3 Thanksgivings after that, we drove up to Michigan from St. Louis, and last year at this time, we were in Peru! We did, however, have C.J.'s brother Kevin drive in from Dordt College in Iowa and stay with us from the Tues. before Thanksgiving to this past Monday morning. We had a great time with him! He shadowed some physical therapists at Keri's work, helped on the condo, got to see a Fundamental Elements show (our friend Russ's band), got to see a baptism service for the church plant leadership team, and got to go to a Ram's game. One of Keri's former patients had sent her some of his season tickets for the Rams vs. Dolphins game on Sunday. When we got to the game, her patient was sitting there too! It was really fun for her to get to see how he was doing and catch up. As you will see from the pictures, we had great seats! Work on the condo is coming along. We're hoping to have lots of help this Saturday and get most of the first floor done and our bedroom a long ways into started.

Green kitchen!

Pantry area painted tan

Tan entryway

Rams vs. Dolphins

Brothers!

The three of us on the metrolink home from the game

Feeling Better

As suspected, after C.J. worked hard yesterday with help from Jeff Schipper and Terry Rassier and got a ton done, we are feeling better about the condo. The large wall on the left of the stairwell is now green (tricky cutting in happened and C.J. says it was a good thing I wasn't there...I'm glad you're okay, Jeff!). I put a second coat on the red bathroom after work and C.J. and Terry cut in and started the kitchen. Finally, it feels like some progress is being made. There is still lots to go, but we're getting there!

RED bathroom!

Keri painting a second coat

The kitchen

Green stairwell

Terry-who has helped 3 Saturdays in a row! What a trooper!

Oh Condo will you ever be finished?

Hi Everyone,
As promised, I will continue to post pictures of progress. Honestly, though, this week C.J. and I have kind of hit a wall and are really sick of working on the condo. We are feeling bad about continuing to try to call on friends in the area to help us, but are completely overwhelmed by trying to finish everything that needs to be done by our target move-in date of Dec. 20. There is seriously, still, SO MUCH left. We've been spending nights after work there and are pretty much exhausted. I (Keri) am also tired of how inward focused this makes us for this season of life and am wanting to be able to think about and help others for a while. If you could pray for perserverance, dilligence, and people who know how to do things in the condo that we don't to come around us, we would appreciate it. Sorry to be Debbie-downer. I know it's only a season and that this condo is an incredible blessing. We just aren't enjoying the rehab currently as much as we'd like to. Anyone who knows me well will also know that after a long day today and starring down working a Saturday tomorrow, I could feel much better by Sunday. But for now, please pray for sleep that isn't interuppted by dreams of painting 13 ft. walls and some peace. We're taking nights off and just hanging out, but that gets frustrating too because you don't see progress as quickly. Anyways, the pictures below are after Keri's friends Gina (and her husband Mike) and Jackie came over one Wed. night to help paint. That night saw the onset of color on our walls! Yay! Last Saturday, a few people also came to help continue the painting and prep other walls for their turn at the paint. Keri put the first coat of bright red in the bathroom downstairs yesterday, which was fun (pictures to follow soon). Thanks to all who have helped us so far and please don't stop being friends with us just because you get e-mails every week asking for help! :)

Mike-you paint that harvest brown, boy!

Jackie and Gina sanding and taping

The crew-thanks guys!

Cupboards off in the kitchen-we've decided to paint them white

The second wall completed-good job, Jeff Schipper!

Continued work on the condo

As promised, I will post new pictures after major work days on the condo. This weekend we decided that for our sanity, we would only work 9am-6pm on Saturday and rest on Sunday. I'm not sure if I mentioned or not, but one of our fellow church plant leadership team members, Mike, bought the condo right next door to us. He is also fixing his up and is hoping to move in soon, so we had a force of about 12 people decend upon our condos to help out. Thanks to all who showed up! In our condo, we got walls spackled and primed, baseboards and 1 ceiling painted, and C.J. finished the laminate wood flooring! Katie Mohr also put some appreciated time in scrubbing down the bathrooms. Even little Eliot helped out! As Katie and Russ said, it's about the least child-proof thing they could've done on a Saturday (at one point I caught Eliot right before he slammed a mallot into one of our walls), but once we gave him a sander, he sanded walls, ladders, people, you know...all of the helpful stuff :). He did great! The only accident of the day happened when everyone was gone and I (Keri) had 1 more foot to cut in on ceiling. I had been taking down the 2 gal bucket of celing paint every time I had to move the 10 ft ladder all day. I thought I had taken it down and moved the ladder for the last time and what was left of the bucket came down all over the floor, camping chairs, and 1 wall. Thank goodness the carpet was covered in plastic. Not the way I would have chosen to end a long day, but it could've been worse! Enjoy the pictures! This week/next weekend we put COLOR on those walls!!!

Eliot stopping his hard work for a snack

Joey painting baseboards

The crew stopping for lunch

Eliot and a paintbrush

C.J's finished kitchen floor

Finished wood flooring in hall and 1st floor bathroom

Condo work and visit from Keri's parents

The work has begun on the condo... Keri's parents came down for the weekend and we had a marathon of projects. As it turned out, all 3 toilets had rusted out inner parts, so my dad (who's only home project he despises is plumbing) spent lots of time replacing parts and checking leaks. C.J. and Dad finished the entry-way laminate wood flooring, started the kitchen/bathroom flooring, replaced faucets, and cut new countertops so that they are ready to be installed. Keri and her mom assembled a table saw (with cuts to prove it!), pulled up the kitchen linoleum (and cleaned up the mouse turds we found underneath it), and prepared the walls for painting. We also removed all of the nasty appliances that were in the kitchen. We did have time to hang out and it was fun to work on the condo together, but we are all tired and sore! :) We are excited for the day we can be "done" for a while and just live in it!

C.J. working under the kitchen sink

The entry way flooring going in

Mom and the table saw

Mom and Keri cleaning the floor/ripping out linoleum

Dad and my annual pumpkin (our attempt at the Grinch)

Fall Harvest Party

Last weekend the Schippers, Torgersons and we decided it was time to celebrate fall! We had candy corns and pumpkin dip to start, then ate chili, and had a pumpkin spice roll for dessert. We also carved pumpkins (don't worry, dad, C.J. did most of ours, and I'm waiting for you to carve ours! :) It was a good time and little Ellie is getting so fun and interactive! Enjoy some pictures!

Sweet Baby Ellie!

Friends!

Our "Asian" pictures for Joe

Crazy pic

How cute is she?!!?

Getting the gook out

C.J. hard at work making Bob the Tomato

The finished projects

The carvers

Exciting News!

So it's time for an update....especially because we have exciting news for those of you who don't know! No, we are not pregnant (and aren't getting a dog yet either), but we are buying a condo! We weren't really even looking, but an opportunity popped up we couldn't say no to. We got an AMAZING deal on a 3 story, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1700 ft. condo just on the other side of Lafayette Square. It's a big-time fixer-upper, so we are a little bit nervous about the time, money, and energy that will need to go into this, but we really felt like this was a good decision! We close next Monday, Oct. 27, and we are in a lease in our apt. until Dec. 31, so we have a good amount of time to work on the condo while we can come home to a put-together apt. at night. See the pictures below! Notice the dirty walls and carpet! :) We are having all new carpet installed this week and every square inch of the place will be painted. We have to buy 5 appliances and hope to redo the kitchen as well! Please pray for good communication in our marriage in this endeavor and trust that God will provide financially. And most importantly, pray that God will use our apt to minister to his people in Lafayette Square!

Our front door (the one on the right)

Our living room looking into the kitchen on the 1st floor

The other side of the living room

The LONG stairwell to the 2nd floor when you walk in the front door

The hallway on the 2nd floor-two bedrooms on the right, bathroom straight ahead, stairwell on right

Window in the 2nd floor bathroom

3rd floor bathroom

3rd floor

Looking down into stairwell from 3rd floor