Extreme Makeover: Church Edition

Eat your heart out Ty Pennington! The church board voted last Sunday night and its official...youth center construction is underway! We've begun ripping out carpet and the parts of the old stage that we won't be using. After that they'll frame the walls, run the electrical, hang the drywall, paint, and finally lay the new floor. The kids will vote tonight to determine the color scheme for their new space. All of the work will be done by church members and the kids themselves (adult supervision required of course ;) We are blessed to have so many talented electricians, drywall experts, and others who are just good at building things!....it saves the budget in so many ways! Since this is not my area of expertise I'll just show up and let them tell me what to do while I keep the kids from painting each other rather than the walls. Hopefully, (according to our project leader) this won't take more than a month. Until its finished the kids will meet over here at our house on Wednesday nights. Here are our before pics...stay tuned for progress pictures and the finished project!

An Ark or a Snowman?

When we moved here we asked, "Hey, do you guys get a lot of snow here?" We got the same response every time: "Nah, it doesn't snow much down here in the valley." My little heart jumped for joy because it assumed that the bitter cold, snowy, mess of Kansas City was soon to be but a distant memory. And then God started laughing - I mean belly-laughing- as he pointed his finger at Jasper, TN and sent the raindrops and the snowflakes flying....

I know this to be true because lately, there have been some ridiculous weather patterns moving through our little valley. All in the same week we had monsoon-like rains and enough snow to let the kids out of school for days on end (not that it takes more than a forecast of snow...no ACTUAL snowflakes needed for this). Marion County had 12 snow days built in this year and today they have used the last one. I don't think they have gone to school a full week since Christmas break. I'm not sure that has EVER happened before. Their parents have to be going crazy.

At one point I felt like we had a moat around our house and then a few days later it was a white wonderland (okay, it was white AND green since the snow didn't quite cover the grass). So since winter isn't working out so well I say we just move on to spring and hope for the best.

Mandy

Lake Nazarene....in the backyard...

Battle of the Sexes

Recently we invited my Sunday School class - high school students - over to the house for pizza and games. I had planned to do this sooner but the holidays got the best of me and every weekend has been packed since then...you know how those pastors are...only working on weekends and all.

We had a good variety of games to choose from..Taboo (a personal favorite), Apples to Apples, Cranium, etc. In fact, we probably could have just sat there and heckled each other and completely forgotten the whole game thing but since it was the reason for our gathering (other than the fact that I just love those kids AND the "all-you-can-eat" pizza buffet on the kitchen table) we went ahead and indulged in some friendly competition. The game of choice for the afternoon: Battle of the Sexes. Keep in mind that the odds weren't entirely even....4 guys against 3 girls.

I'm terribly sad to report that we lost BIG. I had no idea those boys knew the Maybelline jingle in its entirety (Maybe she's born with it....), or that "Emily" was the most popular girl's name in the U.S. in 1999, or that Susan B. Anthony led the fight to gain women the right to vote. Our downfall was slow and painful...I had never wasted my precious brain cells learning Muhammed Ali's real name or memorizing the fact that the name for a car engine with rounded pistons is a "hemi" and it came back to bite me painfully. (I knew I should have spent more time watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire and paying attention when my dad explained car repairs) In this game there is no "phone a friend" no "lifelines" and no audience vote. Its all about the tiny, useless facts ferreted away in the subconscious gray matter.

Don't worry boys...there will be a rematch and the girls will win. How do I know this?... female intuition (and I plan to memorize EVERY card and watch reruns of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader if that's what it takes)...the same way I know that Kevin will always lose the battle over who has to get up and turn the lights off at bedtime or make sure the house is locked (I'm great at pretending to be narcoleptic and fast asleep in seconds). Its a foregone conclusion...not a question of IF we'll win, but HOW. :)

Stay tuned for "before pictures" of our upcoming remodeling project. The teens are getting a new youth room....which means I get to spend lots of time picking out flooring samples, paint, lighting fixtures....

Mandy

Putting their heads together....literally.

My teammates....Hannah and Christy