Jan 28, 2009

We’re Home

Its so nice to say that. We’re home. For good. It’s unbelievable and amazing. We spent our first night in the new house last night. We both slept so well and never woke up once. It might be because we're so exhausted. Our bodies are aching! And poor Roger has to go back to work today. I will be unpacking forever it seems. The packers packed boxes with lots of paper and the wardrobes only half full so we have tons of boxes everywhere. And although the movers were great, they could not help us unpack because all they do is take it out of the box and set it on the floors and counters. I felt like that wouldn’t really help me and it would be better to keep stuff in boxes and unpack as I go. I think stuff all over would overwhelm me. So our garage is full and we’re amassing large stacks of boxes and packing paper. I am so grateful for both the packers and movers. I’m heading back to the old house today to clean a little and take some furniture to a consignment store. Plus get some groceries! And I’ll be unpacking all day, every day.

It was interesting trying to decide what we should unpack first last night. Some people want kitchen done so they can cook soon, some think clothes should be first. We decided to unpack the clothes so we could get the wardrobes out of the way and Roger would have clothes for work today and late last night and this morning we figured out we probably should have unpacked bathroom stuff so we can take showers and get ready this morning. But thank goodness we packed an overnight bag for our last night at the old house. So we have just enough until I find the bathroom boxes and get them unpacked today. When you have someone else pack your stuff you have no idea what they put in each box or how they labeled it. One of the packer’s first language was not English so what she called rooms and items are not what we know them as so boxes were put in some rooms which actually should be in a different rooms. But we’ll get through it all. Remember my full time job is to unpack us. We are super happy we are moved. We are excited and amazed and it’s awesome! It really is hard to believe we’re here, done, in the new house. The build went by fast but now that we’re in it for real and there’s furniture to make it feel more like a home, it’s just crazy. Okay, I need to get going. I have tons of stuff to do today and there are only so many hours in the day. But I do have to wait for the freezing weather we got last night to slip away this morning so I can drive safely on the roads. You know Texas weather, wait five minutes and it will change.

Jan 24, 2009

It's Official

It's official, we are home owners once again. And we seriously love our new house. We have been saying it all night. Roger had to go back to work after we closed and he helped me take a load of stuff to the new house. I spent the rest of the day unloading, painting, and so many other things I can't remember. Roger joined me after work and the work continued. We got a lot done, but it doesn't feel like as much as I thought we'd get done. We stayed up too late but we're just so excited. I'm uploading pictures to Flickr right now, so they won't be done for a bit. But in a few hours you can check the link to the right and see the pictures of all the fun we had today. There won't be any funny comments since I'll be fast asleep here in about five minutes. We plan to have a bunch more fun this weekend. And we'll be posting pictures through out. We feel overwhelmed and amazed at what God has given us. It's just amazing. He is a great God and we love Him!!

Jan 22, 2009

A Wake Up

I was going to post yesterday about there being only one more day and a wake up before we close on the new house, but I forgot in all my errand running, furniture picking up and appointments. So you'll have to settle with only a wake up left before we close on the new house. That's fine with me because we are very excited closing day is almost here. We are in week fifteen of the house build. They actually finished last week so it really only took fourteen weeks to build our house. Can you believe it?! Three and a half months. It went by so fast. We had the final walk-through this morning. And there is only one issue left to be resolved and it will be fixed in the next day or two. It might be fixed this afternoon since our construction manager Derek scheduled the electrician to come this afternoon. One of the pot lights in the kitchen was wired along with the pendant lights over the island which is not correct. But it should be an easy fix. There were a few paint touch-ups and the painter showed up as we were thanking Derek and leaving. They plan to clean the floors one more time this afternoon so they will be spic and span again. But the house looks great. We LOVE it. I should have taken some pictures but I forgot. I can't wait to move. We close at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and then we are home owners once again.

Also while we were at the final walk-through this morning, Roger got a call from his radiation-oncologist with his MRI results from last Tuesday. Everything looks normal and shows no changes from his last MRI. So we're good to go for another six months. We knew it would be fine. Our God is good. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow after we close but before we start doing anything to the house. I am planning to paint a wall tomorrow afternoon so it's dry for Roger to be able to install his surround sound speakers and TV wall mount Saturday. Super Bowl Sunday is almost here. We have to make sure that's all ready. :)

Jan 20, 2009

What A Day

What a historic day. I ended up watching all the inauguration festivities on television Tuesday even though I didn't plan on it. I don't usually turn the TV on during the day so I knew when I woke up I wouldn't remember and there would have to be something that reminded me it was inauguration day. But I awoke Tuesday morning to strange sounds and realized Roger had already turned on the TV. So even though I had a bunch of stuff to do it was really hard to not sit and watch everything. The coverage was good and we watched the Tom Brokaw commentated coverage so it was filled with history and good stories. The move estimator showed up just after Obama's speech so we didn't miss anything. That went smoothly since all he was there to do is see what we had so the packers brought everything they needed. And we got a few questions answered also. We set the DVR to record the CBS coverage because they were going longer to cover the parade since I was headed out for a swim. But since everything was already behind schedule, the DVR just missed the parade. It ended just when the first family entered the reviewing stand so we missed pretty much all of it. Oh well.

The day was beautiful and I had a great swim. I have to start training seriously again since triathlon season starts up here in a few months. And with all the walk-throughs, closings, packing and moving going on around here, I have to get in as much exercise as I can. As I finished my swim, I noticed a homeless lady I have seen before at the pool. A lot of homeless people shower there since it's a public pool. She sat at the bench right at the end of my lane and made a comment about the water temperature because her feet were so dry from wearing her boots 24 hours a day. So we started talking as I was getting out and drying off. I decided to just sit with her and listen. We talked for about thirty minutes before I started freezing because I was still soaking wet. It was about 60 degrees outside and very breezy. The water temperature was near 80 so it was really hard to get out. I enjoyed listening to her. I could tell she probably does not get to talk to people too often where they just listen. I struggle sometimes with if and when to give homeless people money. My usual philosophy is to not hand out money, but I always pray that God will tell me when and what I should do for others in need. I tried to not think about it too much while I was sitting with her and just listen to her and give her my ear. I do hope to see her again so I can build a relationship with her. Please pray for her and her husband who is having difficulty finding work.

So I would have to say it was a great day.

Jan 16, 2009

One More Week

We have exactly one more week before we close on the new house. We are super excited. I think we are finally done purchasing items for the new house except Roger is still researching new switches so he can control the lights with his fancy universal remote. But other than that, we are ready. The landscaping and gutters went in Tuesday. They look very nice. I forgot to take pictures when we were there for our preliminary walk through with our new construction manager Derek Wednesday morning. It went very well. There are a lot of paint and drywall touch-ups. I think he noted more stuff than we did. Glad he's looking out for our best interest. We are going to stop by the house this weekend to pick a paint color for an accent wall in the family room. Then all we have to do is wait. Our final walk through is set for Thursday morning then we close on Friday. We have just been amazed at what God has given us. We know we don't deserve any of it, but we sure do appreciate it. So praise God.

Roger had his one week follow-up appointment after his laser eye surgery with Dr. Wong today. He has some dry spots on his right cornea, the same eye Dr. Wong had difficulty with during the surgery. So he has to continue using the steroid drops for another week. But other than that, his eyes are doing great. He's loving his new eye sight.

And I have a prayer request for my dad's health. He found out this week he is anemic. He's been really tired lately, more than usual. They prescribed him medication and hopefully he will feel better soon. My mom got a little scared this week, as did the rest of us. So please lift her up to the Lord also. Thanks so much for praying for my family. I hope everyone has a great weekend since many of you are off on Monday for Martin Luther King Day.

Jan 11, 2009

New Eyes!

Well Roger officially has new eyes. His surgery last Thursday went very well. He had the blade less lasik eye surgery which meant the corneal flap was cut by a laser instead of a metal blade. Most complications of lasik eye surgery are with the metal blade. Roger's only complication during the surgery was the laser which cut the corneal flap on his eyes did not cut completely on the right eye. So it took a little more effort for Dr. Wong to separate the flap from his eye and pull it back. The only result of that was an extra minute which felt like an eternity to Roger. It felt like forever to me also because they let me sit in on the surgery. (Yes, I took pictures and even a video of the last eye.) I was getting nervous at how long it was taking him but of course I wouldn't dare say anything during a surgery. He's an expert and knows what he's doing. I did start to feel like I was getting nauseous so I knelt down to prevent myself from falling if I passed out. I just did some slow, deep breathes and the butterflies went away. The struggle with the right eye flap only meant a little tenderness for Roger after the surgery but would not effect his vision. His left eye was a breeze to get the flap pulled back. The left eye took longer than the right with the actual laser. The right eye took about 52 seconds and the left eye took over one minute. It went by very fast over all. As soon as they were done, Dr. Wong put a low power contact lens over each eye to protect the flap.

He immediately sat Roger up and asked him to read a chart of letters. He had some difficulty at first but was able to read them and a sign Dr. Wong has on the wall that all patients read after their surgery. It reads, "I will NOT rub my eyes or squeeze my eye lids." Roger was able to read it with no problem. It is completely unbelievable that this procedure even exists. It is truly amazing that God gives man the wisdom and knowledge to figure out how to reconstruct the shape of the cornea with a laser to make it possible for people to have better vision. He was very tired after the surgery thanks to a Valium and lots of numbing drops. So he went straight home to nap as instructed by Dr. Wong with four different bottles of eye drops. He slept for about three and a half hours and felt very good after ward. He was able to watch the NCAA football championship game clearly but his eyes got tired a little bit and there were moments of blurriness. He was not as impressed with his results as he had hoped. What you see on TV is not accurate. They leave a lot out.

The next morning, after not sleeping well due to the lovely goggles he has to wear to sleep for the next four days, he felt a lot better than the evening before. He could see a little better but not super clear. They told him his vision would improve every day. I drove him to his follow-up appointment with Dr. Wong. He could have driven himself but felt more comfortable with me driving since his vision was not exact. Dr. Wong removed the contact lenses from his eyes and he could immediately see completely clear. He was so happy. He forgot the contact lenses had a little bit of power. Dr. Wong examined his eyes and tested his vision again. His vision is now 20/20. I asked Dr. Wong if Roger's vision before the surgery was in his records so we could compare as Roger couldn't remember it exactly but maybe one eye was 20/200 or something like that. Dr. Wong did not have those records with him but said they didn't have letters big enough on the wall for Roger to see before. So his vision wasn't very good before. I knew that but having the numbers to compare would be neat. Oh well, we'll just have to live with the fact he has perfect vision now.

He is really loving his new eyes. On the drive to breakfast Friday he kept commenting about what he could see. He would just start laughing for no reason. I'd look over at him and he had a huge smile across his face. I think he was just shocked. We had a great breakfast at La Reyna on South First then we headed home so he could jump in his truck and go to work. He worked a super, long day Friday putting in his eye drops every four hours. And every morning his vision is better and more clear. He said he keeps feeling like he should be taking out his contacts at night when we are getting ready for bed or washing his hands to get ready to put in his contacts in the morning. He has worn glasses since 4th grade and contacts around 5th grade so it's going to take him a while to get used to not having to do those tasks anymore. But it was a great surgery and worth every penny. Thank God for cafeteria plans and Dr. Wong. We really enjoyed him as Roger's surgeon and his staff were so nice. What a true blessing lasik is for those who have had it.

Jan 6, 2009

Exciting Times

We are in the midst of very exciting times. First, Roger started his medicated eye drops today in preparation of his laser eye surgery on Thursday. He is super excited. I am excited for him also, but my excitement can not compare to his. He's been talking about how much easier life will be for him to not have to deal with glasses, contacts or eye exams and the like and being able to actually see clearly with no assistance. He can wake up in the morning and see as soon as he opens his eyes as compared to getting up and grabbing his glasses. Maybe this will speed up his getting ready time. We'll have to see about that.

Also, the appliances in the new house were installed last week. And they are awesome! Better than we expected. I guess what we ordered wasn't available any longer so we received different appliances. But it's okay because they are way better than what we ordered. The new house is getting so close to being done. They are working on their punch lists and finishing up all the details. We will have a walk through in about a week or so to give them some time to fix everything we've found to be deficient. We are so close there's only seventeen days until our closing. We can't wait! But on a sad note, we were informed yesterday our builder did another downsizing and laid off our construction manager Eric. So we are now on our third construction manager. Even though they say Austin isn't being hit as bad as the rest of the country with the economic downfall, obviously we're still being hit.

Jan 5, 2009

A Blessing for the New Year

Lord,

As a new year begins, we come to You and ask for Your blessing.

We pray that You would give us joy to fill our days, peace to fill our hearts, and love to fill our lives. Thank You for the plans You have for us in this new year.

We wait in anticipation to see all You will do!

Thanking God for you and praying your new year is blessed in every way.

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

*sharing this blessing with you from a Day Spring e-card received from a wonderful friend