The short version

Here are my long-awaited (I don't know how you've all been sleeping at night) before/after pictures. I actually typed out the whole long, painful story, but just as I was uploading the last picture, my computer froze up, and I don't have the energy to do it again. Suffice it to say that while the difference between the beginning and the end seems negligible, three different boxes of hair dye and finally a 3 hour, 4-procedure process at the salon are the undocumented footage. My hair has now been dark brown, horizontally striped lighter brown, black, and slightly green in the past week. (by the way, those weren't all happening at the same time. Each color had its own reign of terror)

Proof of Some of Andy's Hidden Abilities

Here is a photo of Andy in his high school musical, "Grease". Good luck finding him. If you're lucky enough, perhaps you will have a chance to view this video sometime...

Here is proof of Andy's hair dyeing abilities. Clearly, there are no missed spots here. I rest my case.

She trusted me...again!

Even though I missed a significant portion of her hair last time, Casi decided to give me another chance. Tonight we both helped each other dye our hair, and the results were much better. Niether of us has any stripes, patches, or spots in our hair, so we're already a step ahead of last time.


Here's Casi's before picture, where she's warning me that I had better not mess up this time!
















And now deciding if she likes it (and also if we can still be friends)















She likes it!!
















Soon to come...Janell's before and afters!

Second Winds and New Beginnings

That was the title of Pastor David's timely sermon on Sunday. This past Sunday marked our church's first meeting in our new building, as well as our first Sunday with our new pastor, David Womack. Looking back, it makes all the delays in our building progress as well as the long search for a pastor so worth the wait. It was so fitting that we should all begin anew together, and we honestly couldn't have planned it that we way if we tried. Obviously we weren't the ones planning it.

I never would have guessed the incredible amount of time and work that would be required when we broke ground over a year ago, but I am so thankful for the challenges and needs that have met us along the way. Up until that point, everything had been handed to us. But as people left, and contractors went out of business, and money grew tighter, a strange thing started to happen. We started to act like a family, a family that could pull together and contribute whatever we had to get through. And we started (emphasis on started) to rely on God again. We knew the odds were against us, and the only way we were going to get through was (and is) to rely on God and His wisdom, not our own.

We had our last real workday last Saturday, from 7:30am until 11:30pm! I somehow found myself painting...again. This time it was wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling shelves, and this time I got to have a friend. Casi and I spent all day painting shelves for the Christian Education office, and maybe a little bit of time talking. : ) Though it was a very long day, it was also one of the most rewarding. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the work yet to be done as I walked out the door to go home, I felt excitement. In only a few short hours, we would be meeting there, singing praise to the Lord, listening to Pastor David bring us the Word, and celebrating God's faithfulness to us!

And that's what we did. We sang and prayed, and we listened to Pastor David talk about the things we can expect God to do in us and in our community through our new beginning. It was so refreshing to be still for a moment (a recurring theme I guess) and look back on where we've been, and then to look eagerly ahead to where we are going.

This coming weekend is our Grand Opening, which will include a Fun Fair for families as well as a dessert/coffeehouse for adults, so that will be a little busy. After that, my life should (for some reason it never seems to work out this way) become a little less crazy. And I can post more than once a month. And hopefully sleep a little bit more. And become slightly less addicted to coffee.

Then again, what's so bad about coffee? ; )