Looking for a house in Springfield?

Some friends of mine are selling their spacious home.  A 4-bedroom, ranch style home offers many unusual amenities.

Let’s start in the 2-car garage with an automatic door opener where you can see the beginnings of a great deal of storage in this home.

There are shelves and counters on the other side of the garage as well.

Not only that, but there is still room for cars!  I have a Dodge Dakota 4×4 (longer truck), and I can pull into the garage with room for a second car too .

Let’s go inside now.  Here is the family room off the garage and kitchen.  There are 3 ceiling fans with lights in this room along with a wood burning stove.

Here’s the other end of the family room.  Notice the electrical outlets at counter height.  This half of the room is wired and plumbed for a second kitchen.  You could easily turn this part of the home into a mother-in-law apartment for an aging parent or returning adult children with their family.  That big rectangle of light on the floor?  That’s sunlight streaming through the back door leading to the back yard.

Behind it is a master bedroom with attached full bathroom with storage shelves and a walk-in closet.

Here’s a shot of the closet:

Master bath (sorry for the crazy tilt–I was trying to get more into the shot!):

The laundry room/third bathroom of the house is also close to the garage.  The washer and dryer stay with the house, and the shower has a roomy stall.

As you enter the front door of the house, you enter an entry with a nice chandelier light.  The entry is large enough to put a bookcase or chest along one wall.  To the right, you enter the living room through an archway.  It has a large window facing the the street that can be opened to allow air circulation.  All the windows in the house are double paned.

Moving straight though the entry, you enter the dining area, a roomy area with a sliding door out to the covered patio.

Turn the corner from the dining room into the kitchen, a practical area with lots of cupboards.  (I told you there was a lot of storage in this home!)

This picture looks back into the dining room.  The range stays with the home.  That white thing on the kitchen faucet is a Brita filter for improving drinking water.

Looking back the other direction toward the family room, here’s the other side of the kitchen.  The refrigerator (a more efficient one with the freezer on the bottom) also stays with the home.

Here’s another bathroom.  It is connected to one of the bedrooms and the hall. The toilet/bathtub area is separated by an archway from the sink and counter area.  There are two counters opposite one another, making one an excellent vanity with drawers underneath.  I tilted the camera to try to get a bigger view.

Bedroom2:

Bedroom 3:

Bedroom 4:

Hall linen closet (there’s also a coat closet in the front entry):

I finally found the official listing and realized they have all these pictures so here’s that link:

http://www.springfieldassist2sell.com/Web/AR298791/FeaturedListings/details/?listing_id=5294934

To me, this is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2 car garage home even though it’s listed as 4 bedrooms, 2 full 1 half bathrooms, 2 car garage.  Maybe the taxes are cheaper that way?  It is a 2,062 square feet home.

By the way—the family selling this home?  Awesome people.  Good karma in that home!

Thanks for looking!

A sermon taught by deed

One of my favorite stories about my paternal grandfather was his disinclination to arise overly early in the morning.

First, though, you must know he was a dairy farmer, and if you know anything about cows you know they appreciate milking in the wee hours of the morning.  You need to also know he had an excellent herd, and he had a good reputation among his neighbors and acquaintances.

But, in the words of my father, the lights went on in their barn later than any other.

My grandfather apparently was wont to say, “There has to be a better way to start the morning than by getting up.”

My take on his saying and life?  Apparently he overcame his natural tendencies, or the tendencies of the natural man, and became better in spite of his desire for a little more shut eye.

I think his effort is the best lesson in faith and hope leading to effort that I’ve ever heard.

Faith–voluntarily lining up our actions with the Lord’s will

I heard the very best definition of faith today EVER! 

Faith is lining up your actions with the Lord’s will.

Our stake (church unit taking in a large geographic area) held a special conference today because we had visiting general authorities from Salt Lake City.  At first, we wondered if the stake would be split, but a quick phone call displaced that notion.  There were so many wonderful messages; it was hard to take in all of it.

But one talk was about the Atonement.   Not in the way traditionally phrased but in terms of realizing that the Savior knows all of our cares and concerns.  He carries them for us and gives us peace in return if we will give our burdens to him.  He has already taken them at the Garden of Gethsemane.  He suffered so we do not have to carry the heavy weight, but we must intentionally give those things and experiences that give us pain to him.  He already did it. Why do we insist on carrying it again?  He will give us his peace through the trials.  The idea of faith being the act of lining up our actions with his will—finding out his will and then letting him worry about it all—really makes sense here!  Just like the picture below, the Savior will not force himself on us. He can only stand there, knock, and wait.  We must open the door.  The doorknob is on the inside of our heart, not the outside.

Black belt on the horizon

We are back from a very busy, awesome vacation with family just in time for the boys to get down and dirty in preparing for their final black belt test.  They are a bit worried because of their 2 1/2 week break, but they tried to keep in shape while they were gone.  For anyone that wants to come support them, it begins at 9:00 a.m. on June 12 at the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

This is the culmination of two years of work and learning.  It’s hard not to brag on the boys because I’m very proud of them especially now that I have had a taste of what TKD demands from them.  I think the mental/emotional preparation is the hardest part.  These are boys that love to play and goof around but are also trying desperately to be comfortable in their own constantly changing skin (and not just the taller part!)

So please pray for them.  Especially in the breaking arena.  They have to break their boards and that’s one of the areas they are most concerned about.  Picture them going right through the wood please.  Many thanks.

Major accomplishment

Too bad I didn’t take a Before shot.  The poster needs to be tacked up again, and the room isn’t clutter free, but you can see the wood floors all the way around the room!  My daughter, I have learned, feels a little lost in this room and clutters it up to make it feel cozier.  I’m thinking it’s time to put up curtains, etc.  Wall-to-wall carpeting would be nice too.

Notebooking

Woohoo!  It’s amazing how differently I feel about “school” now that I’m done tracking hours this year.  Now we’re studying for fun and for extra help.  The stress is off!

So what are we doing?  Our main unit study on Pioneers encompasses art, history, and writing.  Then we’re also doing some extra math work.  The boys needed some extra help with fractions for their Apologia Physical Science class next year.  Dd simply needed a different means of doing her math.  For some reason, she hasn’t especially liked Teaching Textbooks this year.

For our purposes here, mathematics includes mathematical concepts and reasoning.  Arithmetic includes all the symbols used to write the math on paper.

Dd has gone nutty over building a covered wagon and has it half done.  She’s waiting on Mom to buy paint.  Son A wants to build a canoe, and Son B is going to build a General Store.  All three have selected their books to read for the week.  Son B wasn’t thrilled about the short paper he was required to research and write on Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road, but he survived the effort and churned it out.

A virtuous woman

Recently I have been blessed to make the acquaintance of some absolutely amazing women in our homeschool cooperative.  It is a large Christian co-op, about 250 families, so it has taken all year for me to meet even a few of them.

One woman that I made a better acquaintanceship with a few months ago absolutely amazes me!  Until recently, she led her dream life as a quiet, stay-at-home, homeschooling mom.  Her husband worked as an IT professional, providing a very nice quality of life for their family. 

One day, all that changed because he had a sudden brain tumor.  There was no warning.  Now they have spent a lot of money on doctors, surgeries, hospitalizations, and medicines to try to restore at least some of his abilities.  He doesn’t remember things which is certainly a detriment in the IT world, rendering him unable to work.  Due to economic pressures, his company which had provided his very essential health insurance layed him off earlier this year during his last surgery. 

For the last year or so, this woman has continued to homeschool her younger children and work outside the home.  Her life moved from serene to chaotic overnight. 

But her committment to her husband has never wavered.  His health and lack of physical and mental abilities taxes her patience and frustration, but she remains strong.  Wow and double wow.  What an example to every young woman (and young man) out there.  I am convinced that if more marriages had that kind of committment, divorce would become extinct. 

Perhaps that is the question that every person entering into the bonds of matrimony or even a relationship should ask themselves.  “If this person became totally incapacitated or have some kind of debilitating challenge, would I want to remain with him/her?” 

Before I was married, my root challenge was, “Would I follow this man anywhere he might go?”  Several times the answer resounded back, “NO!”  I loved where I was, the proximity to my family, my own economic security making this question pertinent for me.

Again, I’m amazed and grateful to know this woman.  What an amazing lady to take her sacred role as helpmeet and lead her family in righteousness during this time—who knows how long it might last—when her husband cannot.  Yet she also sees the strengths he still has and contributes even though he cannot do many of those things she valued before.  What a gift!

First baby robins

Rich blessing

One of my greatest blessings right now is the opportunity to put together the weekly church program.  The program has always included inspirational thoughts from church leaders for the members to read and ponder as they are waiting for Sacrament meeting to begin, hopefully helping them to be reverent in the chapel. 

Because there isn’t a lot of space in the program and sometimes the topic is hard to find, I have to search through many articles to find something I can use in the available space that will be meaningful.  Like teachers who over-prepare to deliver an enriching lesson, I learn far more than I will ever be able to include.  For that, I am exceedingly grateful because it has enriched my life and understanding immeasurably. 

Of course, I am also very thankful that I can do a search all the archives on www.lds.org because that makes it so much easier than having to search ever so many back issues of church magazines!

P.S. That picture isn’t of a program I created but a picture I found here.

Saturday ready for bed

Saturday night entry into the Sabbath day: