An Update

As my regular readers know, Kristen and I bought a house late last year in the midst of both a tumultious housing market and a bit of personal tumult (in the guise of our apartment building catching on fire in early November). During Advent and the Christmas season I was pretty good about keeping up on things around the blog, but when January hit I started getting a bit sporadic. So, I figure, it's time for a bit of an update for everyone...

THE NEW HOUSE - We have started to put our touches on the place, though Kristen and I have both discovered that we hate painting with a passion. Nevertheless, we have our bedroom and a guest bathroom completely painted, and a wonderful accent wall downstairs in our formal living/dining room (which we are both quite proud of!). I just got back from buying a lawn mower this morning, as well as grass seed for a second round of sewing (our front yard is sodded, but the sides and back were bare). Our first round of seeding took better than Kristen expected, but we definately need more. So, it's out back today to take care of that little chore, and then out front when Kristen gets back from her Supper Club Brunch to do the mowing bit.

COCO - Another late 2008 addition to the Lyons household was CoCo, a black lab mix puppy (she was 5 months old the day we got her). Now going on 9 months old, CoCo has blossomed into a Nylabone-chomping, fun-loving pooch. A lot of that is thanks to her puppy classes - from which she is just about to graduate (2 weeks!). As I blog, she is standing behind me on the second story, peering out the loft-office window at the world around us. She is wonderful in the car, has a sweetly-mischevous disposition, and seems to love kids, which is a good thing because...

BRENDAN or CLARE (we don't know the gender yet) is on his or her way into the world. Me and the Missus found out that we were expecting just as Lent began (making this a particularlly good Lent to work on patience and self-denial!), but we have not shared it too openly since there is always the chance of miscarriage or other issues coming up. We are now closing in on the 13 week mark of the pregnancy, the heartbeat is loud and clear, and Kristen and I have already had the awe-inspiring chance to see our baby (at less than 9 weeks) in the ultrasound. We saw its heart beating away (174 beats per minuite) and the ultrasound technician pointed out that the baby was moving! Talk about speechless! It was so amazing to see. I can't wait to meet our little one at the end of October... please keep his or her safe development in your prayers.

MINISTRY TRANSITIONS - Lent was also a time for other transitions, in particular a ministry transition. After consultation with my bishop, with a light to finding ways to minister and potentially establish a congregation in our new home-town, I am transitioning back to the Western Rite (actually started the transition on the Fifth Sunday in Lent). I am still in discernment on some other matters related to my ministry (though I definately plan to remain at the hospital), and Kristen and I are preparing to start a Bible Study (as a bit of a precursor to establishing a local ministry) sometime around Pentecost. I am currently using the LSB Three Year Lectionary at the recommendation of my bishop, together with the Daily Lectionary and Psalms as published in The Treasury of Daily Prayer.

I think that about catches everyone up for the moment... enjoy your weekend. It's gorgeous here today, and I hope that you have a wonderful day - even if the weather in your neck of the woods is on the crappy side.

Update

Regular readers of the blog will note that I have been quite quiet as of late.  In fact, it's been more than a month since my last posting.  It has been a busy month, so I do beg your pardon and indulgence.  A lot has been happening.

During October I travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to attend the fourth annual National Learning Congress for Organ Donation and Transplantation.  This was my second trip to the event, and I found it to be even better than last year.  I visited a few friends and my bishop while I was in Tennessee, and I hope to head back that way again soon.

We have also learned in the past month that our closing date on the house has to move up... about three weeks.  We are now closing on the day before Thanksgiving, with Kristen and I slated to paint our way through the holiday (with a break for a turkey cold cut, or some other dinner... it would be kinda neat to have my first cooking experience in the new house be on Thanksgiving Day!).  As you can imagine, our nice schedule is now wrecked, so we will be very busy making up for three weeks of lost time... and trying to figure out exactly what we can live without so we can get stuff boxed up ASAP.  The photo accompanying this post is the house as it existed a few weeks ago.  As of tonight, the heating and air, plumbing, flooring, painting, siding, electricity, and even garage door are substantially complete.  It's time for touchups inside, and we have a pre-settlement meeting in less than two weeks.  About all that remains is installing our appliances, fixing some paint issues, and some drywall repairs.  Our yard has even been sodded (well, the front...) and trees planted.  Amazing!

My latest review was posted last week over at TrekMovie.com.  This time, it was for the second book of the Star Trek Destiny trilogy, "Mere Mortals".  I am now reading the third book and prepping for that review to run in early November.  

So, all in all, it has been a busy month.  The next month will be even busier still, though I hope to have time to put together some new content in the coming weeks.  After the first of the year, I should have substantially more time free to blog and write, as the house construction phase will be ended and things will have calmed down.

Construction Update

Big update on the house, as it has been a few weeks since I have last posted pictures...

The first picture is from a few weeks ago when the cement footer and slab were poured... yesterday they delivered our lumber. Today we have pretty darned close to an entire house. Enjoy!

Construction, Day 4

Updating our building process, the forms have come off the footers. It's amazing how small the place looks at this point, but we've been through the same floor plan at various stages of construction and know its final size. Two photos are here from this evening, one from the back yard looking at the breakfast nook (the bump out that you see), the second looking at the front from the street.

Pictures of the New House (Construction Update)

As noted the other day, our new house got started on Monday morning. Her are some pictures from the worksite.


On Monday, the temporary driveway was put in place (gravel) and the house-plot was graded. We are building a two story house with no basement. The house will build out to the left of the driveway.

By Wednesday, (it's hard to see here, but trust me!) the footers for the walls had been set up and poured. As you can see, we have a basic treeline (that could stand some filling in) behind the property.

Construction - Day 1

Well, today was the day, our first house has begun. Kristen and I are building with Centex Homes near Bargersville, Indiana, and plan to move in mid-December (what a nice Christmas present!).

We had our preconstruction meeting this afternoon, but at lunchtime Kristen drove past the house and saw that they had laid the temporary gravel driveway and had graded the peak of the property for foundation work. She got a few pictures, and I'll post them in a few days as an addendum.

Over the coming months, I'll be blogging about the construction process, including pictures.