Most notably, the blue carpet is gone, the baseboard heaters are gone, and the chair-rail and baseboard in some rooms is ripped up.  

The kitchen being ripped up...

The New Dining Room floor! No more Blue Carpet! (testing paint on the wall)

One more view of the dining room.

Sealing the Living room.

The Dining Room Sealed up!

We applied one coat of finish this morning.  Now to painting and trim work.  Once thats done, one more buff and finish on the floors and we get to move in!  So excited.  Thanks for checkin' it out.

4608 Willamette Dr.

It's a beautiful ranch style home in the Southcliff neighborhood of Vancouver.  We are extremely excited about the neighborhood.  It's quiet, has a wide variety of families, and is where we can see ourselves for many years.  For those who want the specs, here they are:

1800sq/ft  3 bedrooms,  2 Baths,  Covered Porch, 2 car garage

We don't live there yet, as we have been doing a lot of demo and remodeling. We ripped up all the blue carpet that you'll see in the pictures below, and the linoleum beneath that, and the particle board beneath that.  Once that was all gone, a bunch of friends helped me install red oak hardwood floors.  They are installed (pictures coming soon), and now all we have left is filling, sanding, staining and finishing (not much:) ).  I'll post demo/remodeling pics in a bit, but for now, here are some "before" images to give you an idea of what it used to look like.

We've have a new President.

We've moved.

We've both changed jobs.

We've changed churches.

I took some long bike rides.  One up Mt. St. Helens.  One from Seattle to Portland. 

We've reached the 4 year mark in our marriage.

We've vacationed to Michigan with Emily's Family.

We have a new Niece (Sophia).

We are looking at houses to buy...

Just a few things. So instead of trying to sum all of this up... consider this the customary "catch-up" blog. Hopefully more to come later.

So... a little catch-up...

On Saturday night we attended a real Halloween party.  I'm not sure what to say about this... the only Halloween party that I've been to was the typical harvest party at church.  I can't say that I've been to a Halloween party for Adults.  It was put on by Emily and a few of her co-workers.  A few weeks back we decided on our costumes... and it all came together.  The party was a lot of fun, getting to meet Emily's work friends and hang out with people other than our regular circle of friends was refreshing. I'll let you guess who we were...

(McCain & Palin... if you didn't get it)

Our new living situation is pretty exciting.  We have moved in with some friends, Jason & Cara Hibbs,  into a big ol' house.  So far no one has killed anyone...which is a good sign, right? Well, lots of changes, but for Emily and me, it's been pretty seamless.  We were very concerned with Alistair on the otherhand.  Not only is he unruly, "kind of" potty trained, and a food guarder... but Jason and Cara have a little dog too.  Her name is Ms. Pigglesworth.  Jason wanted to name her after Mrs. Piggly-Wiggly... and when Ms. Pigglesworth had stuck... he found out that he had got it wrong... oh well.  Anyway, she's a dachshund.  After a few days, Alistair and Ms. Pig were fast friends... here's the proof:

I woke up this morning feeling like a truck had ran over me. Moving sucks... but moving out of your place that is a loft at 30 steps straight up sucks even more.  I should have trained for this.  Oh well.

Jason and Cara are coming over to help tonight.  Should be more productive than last night.

Soon it will all be over.  I can't wait.

Make sure you leave a comment, voting on your favorite. The winner will be the new picture on my main page.

Emily's might be coming soon.

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"Oh, you little shnuggle buggle, I just want to (high pitched) ewooohhh squeeeezzeee you and take you home and let you meet (insert name of their dog...something like Charlie, Tabitha, or Joe Dirt), they would just love to play with you!"

yeah... those people. 

Then, there's people like me.  I don't hate dogs, I just have to work at loving them. 

Last night we jumped in the car and threw Alistair in as well, heading up to Portland to pick up Emily's brother and sister.  It was so stressful as we tried to eat on the run with Alistair trying to get over the frickin' console and get a bite of my BBQ chicken wrap.  I swear he whined all the way to Woodburn (about 40 minutes)... then for 30 wonderful minutes he was conked out.  The moment I slow the car down to pull into the airport parking garage he starts to FREAK.  This is one of those moments where I just lose it.  He is yelping at such high pitches at nearly 100 db's, straight into my ear.  And my wife... one of those people I mentioned earlier (the kind that use the grandma voice), she looks at me with this look that says "What? Just Chill", which can get me even more upset.  It's like the little devil was throwing spears into my ears. I'm in pain... and I don't know what my wife is hearing, maybe sweet sweet singing...but we obviously aren't hearing the same thing.  I get upset... she doesn't.  Like I said, I have to work at it.

Well, because the bro/sis came in around 11, and we were planning on hitting Portland...why drive back to Albany?  So we crashed at mom and dad's place.  And as I walk through the door, loaded down with bags, I'm greeted by Moses (my parent's dog), who I'm expecting... and then (Cooper), my brother's dog, who I'm not expecting.  Two large dogs and a pug.  See where this is going?  Last night was a nightmare.  My dog starts whining at about 3:30am, so I take him downstairs to let him out (to do his thing)... I put him back...still whining.... 4:30 I try to go downstairs for food, which sets the other dogs off.  They want food too.  So It sounds like a whole company of soldiers is marching back up the stairs... and our guests are probably now awake from what sounds like people knocking on the walls (although it's just the sound of their excited tails going crazy..)  I'm trying to grab their tails and push them down-stairs in a half-awake stupor, all while trying to get food to my dog, who's in the bathroom...but I have to go to the bathroom...so I'm trying to keep the food from him (cuz he's protective of his food) while going to the bathroom.  I got back in bed and had that "wide awake" feeling... found myself wishing that I could hear what my wife hears... see what she sees... and didn't have to work so hard at liking my own dog.

  I certainly don't have cute pictures of any kids to put up... maybe you'll have to settle for cute pictures of me... 

My friends and family know that Rich Mullin's was my hero.  Forget the bad hairdo's... the overuse of Nineties-esque synthesizer in some of his music.  The man was a stud.  So few people live what they believe.  But Rich was the real deal. I'm not going to go into it any more than that.  Just read his biography "Arrow Pointing to Heaven" if you don't know much about him.  Anyway, he has a song called, "The Love of God."  Its always been one of my favorites, and describes for me what God's love often feels like.

Joy and sorrow are this ocean

And in their every ebb and flow

Now the Lord a door has opened

That all Hell could never close

Here I'm tested and made worthy

Tossed about, but lifted up

In the reckless raging fury

That they call the love of God

Life is Joy.  Making my wife (whose middle name is Joy) laugh to the point of tears.  Seeing my niece and nephew run through the house with Doug and Haylee, tearing down birthday decorations.  Dancing at my wedding with my new wife, and all my family (Old and New), getting down to some disco.  Life is Joy.

Life is Sorrow.  Seeing your foster-kids get moved around, and lose precious parts of their childhood.  Moving.  The death of my Grandma seven years ago.  Living in community with people who struggle with addiction, and brokeness.  I've seen more Joy than Sorrow (one of God's many blessings on my life), but Life is Sorrow.

They ebb and flow.  Sorrow tosses us around, Joy lifts us up.  Joy and Sorrow paint the the picture of my life, but either way, I'm glad to have been caught in the reckless raging fury that they call the love of God.  

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