Midweek today!

Yes, it's hump day even though it's only Tuesday. That's a relief since it already feels like vacation. Mostly it's that way because my cousin and her kids are visiting from Minneapolis for a few days. They were over for dinner and hanging out last night, and since our kids were up late, it felt like vacation ... or at least like a weekend!

It has been (again!) a while since I posted. So, no catchup, just a few random things that occur to me as I write:

• Last thursday was the kids' Pilgrim Dinner at school. That was fun. Grandma and Grandpa D were able to attend. Both kids dressed up really nicely.
  
• Over the weekend I constructed the skating rink for this year. I remembered that I have some materials left over from when the house was built that work great to make the sides of the rink. So, due to nice 8 foot sections of that, we have a 32x16 foot skating rink with nice 16 inch sides! After all the rain we got yesterday, it's probably 40% full! I also built the platform for the sled run. Since Papa Lee cleared out so much of the underbrush down the hill from the mound, we'll have a great area to sled.
  
• Yesterday Cyndie and I worked on putting in the steel pole for the basketball hoop. Timmy was a really big help too. He was in charge of getting the water (3/4 of a gallon ... he got it right every time!). We put 320 pounds of concrete on the bottom of the pole, so I think it will hold okay. The weather was great yesterday (or I should say the temperature). It was a near record high of 67 degrees. However, just as we were putting the concrete in the hole, it started to sprinkle. By the time we had all 4 bags in, it was pouring. So part of our effort was to build dams around the hole so that the water running down the driveway toward the concrete would be diverted! Then the weather changed so that I needed to cover the concrete with blankets since the temps are now in the low 30s!
  
• After a really fun and informative Coffee Shop (our church small group) at Laura and Gows, we spent the night. It was really fun and relaxing to hang out and do nothing! We watched Date Night, which was a really good and fun combination of the reality of married life with kids, and comedy.
• On Saturday morning Cyndie did her first 5k. It was at the local state park and many of her friends from the ladies group she's in also ran. She really enjoyed it, and I think will definitely do it again.
  
• On Saturday afternoon Cyndie had her first paid photo shoot. I think it went pretty well. She's learning a lot, that's for sure!
  
• Please pray for Jane Fraser, her kids, and Covenant Point Bible Camp up in the UP (upper pennisula). Covenant Point is a sister camp to Covenant Harbor here in Lake Geneva. Chuck Fraser, the director up at Point died suddenly of a heart attack last week. He was only 59 years old. He was loved by many, and impacted a huge number of people both directly and indirectly. He will be missed by his family, the staff at Point, and the many campers that go through Point. Here's a link to some thoughts on Chuck and his impact for those who may be interested. I went to Point 4 times (3 men's retreats, and for a week of family camp last summer). At the first men's retreat my dad introduced me to Chuck, who my dad has known for many years. As a result of that connection, the following times I'd visit Point, I'd usually have a 5 or so minute conversation with Chuck. Nothing deep, just being friendly. I didn't know Chuck well, but even in the few times I talked to him, I was impressed by his humble demeanor and servant's heart. Covenant Point will be very different without him.
  

In an effort to not get too behind ...

It's (again) been a while, so I'll try to get caught up a bit. I'll just throw some bullet points out there ... probably in random order:

• Work on the tree house progresses. Between my dad and I, we have the tree house 95% roofed (need to finish off the peak). After that it will just be little things like plugging some holes in the (used) siding.
• Last night I had some guys over to play Halo on the big screen. Since I'd never played before, I sucked! It was fun though. We were kind of doing a last hurrah for a friend who is moving to the UP in a few weeks.
• Cyndie has been working very hard to get ready for a "vendor fair" for the MOPS (mothers of pre-schoolers) group in the community. She's hoping to make some contacts/get some work for her photography business*.
• We went down to my sisters for some cousin time (Laura and Gow and the girls went too) on Friday/Saturday. Fun times. We watched Killers after the kids went to bed**.
• We're trying to get back in the swing of things with the kids doing their chores and getting their allowance. I'm not sure how we got so out of the practice of that! Having that responsibility is good for them, and they enjoy it I think.
• The kids have been playing outside with one of the neighbor kids quite a bit. It's nice that it's still decent enough weather to do that without having to totally gear up for the cold.
• Big news (I almost forgot), we sold the Suburban. We got a price we were pretty happy with. Emma was sad watching the folks drive away, but she cracked us up with her comment, "Hey, they have a big dent on their door" (alluding to the rather big dent that happened when Suburban met tree a year or so ago). So now we have only two cars in the driveway ... Suburban and boat appropriately disposed of for now (the boat is being stored in a friend's barn). We may even get to no cars in the driveway if we put the Subaru in the garage and the Excursion is parked off the drive.
  

*Did I ever mention that on here? She's doing a great job laying the ground work for her business. Now we'll see where it goes! Check out her web site: Cyndie Lee Photography. ** We'll see if I end up with time to write a review on this Romantic Comedy. I'm sure Fred will be waiting on the edge of his seat for that!

Thanks to all who prayed for Cyndie's Grandma Weaver. She's improving, but is certainly not out of the woods yet (Cathy thinks that something may not have gone completely right with the surgery grandma had).

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Until next time, I'll leave you with a few pix ...

Here's the inside of the tree house ... Grandpa and Grandma D brought over some goodies for a "it's nearly done, let's have a tree house warming" party.

Grandpa D with Emma and cousin Sally on the hay ride at Covenant Harbor's fall party for their staff.

Me and Tim on the hay ride.

Carving pumpkins. We did so late (after Halloween), but the kids still enjoyed it!

Yes, well, no good excuse!

That's right, I certainly have no good excuse for not blogging lately. I got out of the habit during the tail end of vacation, and then never got back to it here. My apologies to my loyal (do I have any of those) readers!

The end of vacation was more great times. The weather was beautiful, we had a number of outings to the beach, the park, restaurants, trick or treating*, the hospital.

*Okay, trick or treating in downtown Punta Gorda was CRAZY. There had to have been more than 1000 people (possibly much more) in about a one by four block area. The sidewalks were crammed! Interesting times. I'm not sure I'd go back there!

Yes, you read that correctly, the hospital. Literally five minutes before we were going to pack up and leave, Cyndie got stung by a sting ray. It was very painful. She and Cathy ended up going to the ER to get it treated. According to Cyndie ... make sure you do the sting ray shuffle, the alternative is not fun!

We spent a bit more time with Grandma Weaver too. Please pray for her ... she had her surgery and it went okay, but she's still having lots of pain. For a few days she was really confused and the medical team discovered that her kidneys had at least partially shut down, but they have fixed that now and are detoxing her body from the corresponding ammonia build up, but she's still experiencing a lot of pain.

So now were back in the swing of things. We have hundreds of boxes of girl scout cookies on our deck right now, though they are slowly being picked up by the troop members. Emma will probably spend much of the next week delivering hers. The kids' tree house is nearing completion thanks, in large part, to Grandpa D spending a lot of time on it. Cyndie and I's art class is nearing completion for this year. Here are the latest paintings:

Cyndie's painting "Beach Umbrella"

My painting "Keith Exploded"

So there you have it. I hope you feel as if you have caught up with things with the Wildwood DeVries.

Strange Day

A bit of an abnormal day today. I was going up the stairs this morning to shower after my workout and my Mom was coming down the stairs. This is unusual because they don't get up anywhere near as early as we do.* Anyway, my sister Laura, due date August 14, had had a little bleeding during the night and so was going in to make sure everything is alright with the baby. My folks were on their way over to watch Sally. It turns out everything is fine ... the baby is fine and the placenta is still attached properly. Laura will lay way low for the next several days to make sure things stay that way. This complicates their pending move (this Sunday). Anyway, pray for Laura, the baby, and patience.

*What is it with retirees these days? Aren't they supposed to get up with the sun, have dinner by 4pm, and be in bed by 8? I tell you what, these parents of mine are doing things completely backwards. What do they think they are, teenagers?

This afternoon/evening, Cyndie and I (and Tim) will head over to camp to do the family night meal and show for Emma's Day Camp. Should be fun!

I talked to a breeder of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels last night. We're debating now the possibility of getting a pup sometime in the next several months. More on that front as it develops.

Emma the Movie Star

Good morning to all of you faithful Blog readers out there. Today's latest happenings in bullet form:

• Emma enjoyed her first day of Day Camp. About all we got out of her in regard to what she did yesterday was that she took the swim test and that she liked the spray candy at the canteen. Oh, also that one of her two counselors slept all afternoon. That alarmed us a bit until we heard that he was actually sick!
• Cyndie made the comment when we were talking about Emma's day that she can't wait until Timmy can go. Then we might actually learn something about what happened (Timmy has the tendency to, once he get's going, run at the mouth in a very loud and long-winded way about all the different happenings).
• Uncle Gow is doing a video documentary type of thing for Covenant Harbor. He's filming this week during Day Camp, and, as I understand it, Emma will be one of the featured campers. I'm not exactly sure what the end product is, but I'll try to at least get a link posted here when it becomes available so that you guys can see Emma in action!
  
• We're enjoying having my folks stay with us. They'll be here (I think) until Laura and Gow move into their new place next Sunday/Monday. It's nice to spend some time hanging out with them as we haven't seen a whole lot of them since last spring before they left for their trip to Oregon.
  
• Summer weather appears to finally be rearing its head. It's been much more hot and humid the last several days ... much closer to the high 80s with 75% plus humidity that we're used to for southern Wisconsin.
  
• Pray for our friends in SoCal, the Wekalls. They had the horrible tragedy of losing their son, Matt, in a motorcycle accident. Matt was a good guy who had had some troubles after high school, but was moving in the right direction and was helping with the youth group at church. It's very sad, and will be a tough thing to deal with for Steve, Ginny, and sister Shauna.

Good Stuff, Reader

Yesterday was fairly typical ... had the Caspari kids around all day as Amy and Dave where down in Chicago for some tests on his liver function (please keep them in your prayers). But the fun thing I wanted to share today was what I discovered this morning when I went into Emma's room to open her curtains and let some light in. I'm in there, like I said, opening the curtains. Emma's not there. She walks into her room with her nose in a book (Cam Jansen ... thanks for turning us onto those Amy and Sarah). She's reading as she walks, and kind of wanders over toward me. I ask her for a hug, and she complies, then kind of settles onto my knee (I'd knelt on one knee to hug her) and leans back against me to use me as a chair while she keeps reading. Good stuff. It would appear that our "summer reading program" that we've instituted to try to challenge her a bit to read longer/harder books is already paying off!

In other news, we booked our trip to Cancun in July for our 15th anniversary. Cyndie and I spent some time, just before bed, looking at the website for the resort and anticipating the trip! We're excited!

Complete! Finished! Done!

The house closed ... whoohoo! Yeah God ... you did some cool things.

So, we've officially closed. After all the wrangling and phone calls and emails over the last month, it's seems like almost a little bit of a let down to just receive an email from our realtor which "just" said "Yay!!!!! We Closed!!!!". Especially because there was no immediate large check in our hands. I suppose that high may come today when (supposedly) the money is wired to our bank account.

Anyway, God is good, and he was very faithful during this process. Now we're really praying a lot about how to invest the money and how we can be good stewards of what he's given us now that things will be a lot less tight.

Transition

So we're transitioning around here ... school, done; soccer, done; FV house, 99% sold; summer vacation, starting; family vacation, coming in a week and a half; anniversary vacation, next month. Good stuff all around!

Had the last soccer camp thing last night. I think the kids enjoyed it for the most part. I know they enjoyed getting their little "participation trophies" at the end. It was hilarious because Timmy kept saying that he was "going to clean this every day". Hilarious because he's not into cleaning anything. I don't know what possessed him to say that!

Today is the first day of summer vacation for the kids, but that didn't mean that they stayed in their rooms any longer than normal. Emma was downstairs by 6:45 wanting to work on a craft/gift for her friend Olivia who is coming over today for a playdate. Em had to miss Olivia's birthday party last week when we were camping, so she's going to give her something today and have a cake for her.

The house is taking a little longer to close than we had been led to believe, but I think we're almost there and don't appear to be any real snags left (fingers crossed). The loan docs need to be signed still, but that's just waiting on the loan company generating the paperwork which is done in the order it was submitted ... I guess that's just the normal red tape/bureaucracy stuff. Then we should close. Keep praying, but we're more and more confident it will happen.

Next Friday we leave to spend a week at my aunt and uncle's cabin in Kansas. We've been there 4 or 5 times and really love it. It's great to get away from everything and just be there together as a family and enjoy the lake. It'll also be fun to catch up with our friends from college, the Hobbys. They'll drive up from Arkansas for a couple of days. Then we'll also hang out with Auntie Diane and Uncle John a bit before we leave. Good times ahead.

And last, but certainly not least, is the upcoming 15th anniversary trip for Cyndie and I. We've not booked anything yet because we're waiting for the house to sell, but we're hoping to do a beach/all inclusive thing again like we did for our 10th anniversary. Cyndie's mom and step-dad are kidsitting (thanks Fred and Cathy), and we're going to sit on a beach and relax!

Ah summer ... good stuff.

Feeling Good!

So, I hadn't been on the web much yesterday between church, the pool, and playing Settler's with the boys, but when I checked my email this morning, there was one from our CA realtor saying that the buyers had agreed to our proposal regarding the physical inspection. Huh? What's that mean? Well, essentially, the buyers pay for a guy to come by and evaluate the house to let them know if there are any areas of concern. It could be anything from "you should really have another smoke detector in that room" to "there's a hole in the drywall above the toilet" to "the roof over the garage is about to collapse". Our buyers basically asked for every little thing (some legitimate items, many nit picky ones) to be fixed. We proposed a small closing credit (this is pretty typical in CA ... this way you don't end up haggling over if it was fixed properly or not, the new owner just has the money in hand and can fix it themselves), and the buyers accepted!!!

This is a pretty big deal, because (I think, I'm confirming this with our realtor) that was the last contingency remaining on the contract. That means if for some reason the buyer decides to walk away, we keep their earnest money ... which would easily be enough to leave the house on the market (empty) for at least 3 or so months more. I think we're 90% of the way there. It's exciting stuff, and great to tangibly see God answering our prayers.

I'll keep you updated, but it's good to clear another hurdle and get closer to being sold!

House Update

So here's the latest on the sale:

• The appraisal was done ... it appraised out fine, so we're good there ... a Praise God!
• We've heard back from the buyers regarding things that they'd like done based upon the physical inspection. There's quite a lot of things, but most of them are very minor, kind of nit-picky repairs. The plan is to offer them some cash at closing to fix those things.
• Apparently the buyers are having some issues locking in their interest rate. They got some bad advice from their lender and missed a lower rate. Fortunately, they easily qualify at the higher rate, but this is still a bit of a concern.

So the prayer requests: that there would be no snags with the physical inspection $$, that the buyers would get the rate they want and this wouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for caring!

Power of Prayer

Just a quick note to talk about prayer ... it works. I was thinking as I drove into work this morning how visibly God has responded to our prayers. I think I mentioned in a post a week or two ago that Cyndie and I were convicted that we really hadn't been praying about the sale of the CA house enough. So we decided to really lift that up in prayer and ask God to bring the right buyer so that we can get the place sold. Well, since that time the statistics prove conclusively that God answers prayers:

Prior to Increased Prayer:
Time on the market: Approximately 3 months
Number of offers: 1 or 2

After Increased Prayer:
Time on the market: A week or two
Number of offers: 9

That's pretty amazing ... a miracle even!

So the latest is that we've accepted an offer for full asking price (we credited them a bit for closing, but because our agent is representing both sides she's cutting her commission by a point which basically evens that out). We have another offer that we got after we were in escrow that is above our asking price. That is going to be our first backup offer.

God is good. Please keep praying that everything goes smoothly and we have the house sold soon!

Progress

So, we've been pretty disappointed with the lack of good offers on our Fountain Valley house. But then after talking to some friends who recently sold their house, we realized that we really haven't been doing a good job about praying about the house selling, and really laying it out to God. So we started doing that regularly, and guess what, we've seen some movement!

Yesterday we got three offers on the house. Now none of them were what I'd call "great", but they were offers and there's something to be encouraged by. We countered back to all of them today, so pray with us that we'll get on contract very soon and get the thing sold.

Prayer Request

Please pray for friends of ours who are experiencing a major calamity in their lives. Cyndie is flying out to spend some time with them and try to be of help. Pray that Cyndie is fully recovered from being sick (she felt fairly well this morning) and for the kids and I as we do the routine here at home while Cyndie is gone.