We also got a sprinkler system put in this week and here's proof. Our lawn should stay green through the summer!











Here are two more froggies living in the nooks and crannies of our sliding glass doors. Once the lania is screened in, they'll need to find a new home. They're not much bigger than a half-dollar.









And here's a little guy who jumped out and posed for me.














I promised a story about the snake and turtle in the front yard. Here is the little snake that Brad found while tuning up our bikes. It came over from the pond across the street to say hello. Brad ran over it a few times with his bike to get the message across that it was not welcome, but it kept hanging around, so he took it on a stick back over to the pond. According to my research, it's a non-venomous ringneck snake. If it bites you, its mouth is too small to actually get a grip on you, and it won't break the skin. I wish Brad had gotten the car out and really let it know it wasn't welcome. I hate roadkill and death of any kind, except for snakes. Kill 'em all. Beth and Rico have a story about a rattlesnake that was found in the street in front of their house. Some guy on a tractor ran over it on purpose because he saw it heading for their lawn. Kill 'em all, Tex.

Here's the turtle Brad saw the other day in the driveway. It's a Florida Softshell Turtle. We thought it was a leatherback, but it's not. And I just learned that it has jaws rivaling those of the snapping turtle. So Brad may have a few less fingers next time you see him if he keeps playing Good Samaritan to local turtles. He picked this one up and took it over to the pond, where it nipped along smartly, so Brad says. Apparently it has surprising speed. Methinks this particular breed wasn't the star of the original The Turtle and the Hare.

Fried-day again.

Yes, it's the last day of the work week. (And there was much rejoicing.) I'm halfway through my day, and holding my breath that the rest of it just goes by peacefully. I'm pleased to say that the chaos in my classroom is decreasing, bit by tiny bit. My students are learning that I am the boss and that they need to mind me. I've made dozens of phone calls, sent kids to the principal, you name it. And still my seventh period class talks. About nothing at all. About each others' mamas and how fat yo mama is. You know, the really important stuff. He stole my pencil, I don't like her. I finally just looked at a kid the other day and said, "I am not your babysitter." Yeah, that's rising above and disciplining well. Argh. Sometimes they just get to me. Anyone else want to parent 124 seventh graders?

On Wednesday we prayed in the morning for a breakthrough of some kind. I just couldn't take it any more! I got to school and asked if we could do some rearranging of my classes. I have three honors classes in the morning-- all small, less than 20 kids each, and three low level classes in the afternoon-- all huge, 30 or more kids each. So, I asked, could we combine the three small honors classes into two larger classes, since they're the well behaved urchins? And then split my three huge, nasty classes into four more manageable classes? Sure, said my guidance counselor. Thank heaven for Ann. She has been a huge help. So Ann did Part A of my request-- combining the three small into two larger classes. That was a great answer to prayer!

Thursday: enter more chefs, and the broth gets spoiled. According to other administrators, since other teachers are struggling with 45 and 50 kids per class, my problems were too small and I was given another class to fill the class period that was vacated when my three became two. I understand and am sympathetic to those teachers, but this was not the kind of breakthrough I had in mind.

Thursday afternoon: Ann apologized for not being able to hold to her word and split up my nasty kids. She also said she had found another class to put some of my kids to relieve me. Bless her.

Now it's Friday. We'll see what happens this afternoon-- if they kids are actually gone and we have some empty seats, I can put Quantavious and Dejon in opposite corners and get Johnny to close his everloving flapper. That is, if Sabrina and Quayshonda will stay separated, and Shala will stop flirting with Chris while I review Rounding Decimals.

Not that I'm frustrated with them or anything.

Next door is a veteran teacher of 30 some years from the northeast. I love his Boston-ish accent as it reminds me of my dad. However, Veteran Teacher is secretly known by me as Old Yeller. He keeps order, or tries to, by yelling angrily at kids. My class heard it through the wall yesterday and looked at me with wide eyes. I said, yes, you know it. You misbehave, and I'm sending you to his class. They were angels for a bit.

Old Yeller has his fine points as well. He has been a huge help in getting me acclimated to the school. He teaches many sections of the class I just was given, so he offered to give me his lesson plans daily so that I don't have extra work to do. That is a huge blessing. Except that I just learned that he doesn't really follow the rules of the district, so I shouldn't do what he does.

Do you see how everything is a warbled, tangled, spiral, chaotic mess? Up and down, up and down. Hope and despair, hope and despair. Stay or Red Lobster, stay or Red Lobster.

I'm seeing how this kind of economically depressed area is the enemy's playland. He has these kids living broke, poorly-parented, and hopeless lives. What better to ruin them with, my dear? They have little to no desire to learn or better themselves, and many won't live to see 18.

I'm beginning to see my role here. Dear friend Meg reminded me last night of God's heart for the poor, that He loves them and shows it over and over in the Bible. She also reminded me that when we care for the poor we are very close to God's heart, which is why I think I've been feeling so closely led by Him. I think my job is just to intercede for these kids and war for their souls.

My extraordinarily supportive and sweet husband apologized that he didn't make enough money to let me stay home. I told him that even if he earned a million dollars a day, God would still make me work here. There's a plan in all of this. Thanks for reading all of this, and thanks for your prayers, friends. They are making a huge difference in my spirit and in my classroom. Please keep them coming.

Tonight or tomorrow I'll post the latest wildlife adventures. Keep your eyes open for the snake in the street and turtle in the driveway.

I've seen it all...

Today on my way home, while sitting at a light waiting to turn, along came a Suburban van pulling a trailer. The trailer was a small flatbed with a cage around it, like chicken wire. Inside was a panther or large cat of some kind. Looked like a mountain lion. No kidding. Ask my sister Steph- I was on the phone with her at the moment. The thing was sitting on a shelf in the cage with its mouth open, alive as anything. (I'd have my mouth open too, panting. It's hot out!)

I half-expected to see a giraffe or elephant come along.

Yet another house update... plus pictures of wildlife!

We stopped by the house last night after dinner at Crispers, which is a lot like Panera but with many more choices. Their salads and soups are fantastic and fresh. Afterward I got ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery and Brad wanted Italian ice at Rita's (which I had in Baltimore! So glad it's here, too!) As we waited at the window at Rita's, the three girls working there peered into our car and noticed my ice cream. "Cold Stone Creamery???? No way! Traitor!" they howled at me. Brad and I cracked up laughing, and the girls kept heckling me. I hope they'll serve me next time we go back!

We went on to the house. Here are a few pictures of the latest updates. Unfortunately we don't have a closing date yet... our original closing date was two days ago... we're learning patience.

Here you can see the full front face of the house with driveway and front walk and everything!





This is the view from our front door through the little front porch.

















Our master bath countertops are white.












The kitchen countertops are black and speckled.

















There's an 8-foot long bar above the sink looking out into the great room.
































This is the view looking into the kitchen from the back yard.


















This is our resident black widow spider. We tried to kill it but it ran up into the dryer vent again.















This is the frog that was on our sliding glass door. Frogs are everywhere around here. Here at Ralph and Chris's house we see them every night. They like to hide way up high in the corners where the walls meet the ceiling of the entry ways, or on the driveway or sidewalk. They are everywhere! I make Brad walk ahead of me so that I don't step on one.
This is the mosquito that Brad caught and killed on our kitchen floor. He made me put this on the blog. I'm sorry it's so graphic, but like men and their bounty, it must be displayed for all to see.








I hope our wildlife photos aren't scaring you away from visiting. I promise the exterminator will take care of all things crawly and poisonous, and we'll be screened in from frogs and such.

Friday Night

Short post because I'm dog tired.

Number of days taught: 5
Number of students in my six classes: 130
Number of students thrown out of my class this week: 4
Number of times I've seriously done the math of how much I'd make at Red Lobster: about 20
Number of times God has been beside me: countless, and it has been tangible. Thanks for your prayers, and please keep them coming.

I'm staying for at least another week, which is all I can bring myself to commit to at this point. It's a really hard job. If I last the whole year, it will be a miracle, and that's the truth.

We were approved for the big chunk of our mortgage this week but not approved for the little chunk. We're supposed to come up with a big chunk of change by closing date, which could be interesting. Tomorrow we're going to crunch numbers and then figure out where to hold the bake sales. Amway, anyone?

Went to the house on Wednesday and the countertops are in. The kitchen has black ones and they look amazing. The bathroom has white ones and they're great, too. Next is the sprinkler system, grading, and lawn, hopefully this weekend says Contractor John. Then the flooring. Also, we saw a lovely friend living in our laundry room. A healthy-sized black widow spider had spun a web over the dryer output. I'm not kidding. Big black spider with the trademark red hourglass. I decided that no matter how many bake sales I have to hold, we're hiring an exterminator to come on a regular basis. I am a big baby and I'm not afraid to say so.

Happy Friday to all, and to all a good night. Big shout out to Brother In Law Jeff, who celebrates a birthday on Sunday. Sorry we couldn't make it across Alligator Alley to celebrate with you all tonight. We'll tease you about being old, er, celebrate with you another time.

By the way...

If you click on a picture it will open up bigger.

And another house update...

After school we stopped by our house to check on the progress. We got to drive onto the driveway! Here's a pic of the dinky coach light on the right side of the garage. I'm not complaining, though.

Here is the left side of the kitchen with the cabinets completed...

















...and the right side, with crown molding and everything.

















Here is the fish I carved into the front walk...












And here are our initials!!! It is OUR house!




Ralph does the books for our builder's company so he is there when news comes in. He said that the countertops should be in this week, as well the grading and landscaping. Grass! Real grass! Ooo-- we need to get a mower sometime. Any suggestions?

A mini vacation and some errands...

This morning Brad and I took a little mini-vacation to Sanibel Island. My family used to vacation there during spring break from 1994 to 2003, so the drive over the causeway bridge feels like a trip over the rainbow. We ate breakfast at the Lighthouse Cafe, a little place my family has eaten at many times before. Before we were seated we had a 45 minutes wait, so we went over to the Surfrider where we used to stay to check out how they are doing post- hurricane Charley. Aside from a thinning out of vegetation, they have recovered nicely. A few roofs were blown off but have since been repaired. It was great to see the place again!

The Lighthouse Cafe has pictures of lighthouses from all over the world on the walls. It's a neighborhood place with three waitresses working like mad, and it's only open from 7am to 3pm. We had to wait a few minutes to get menus because they only have so many, and they were all in use. It was fun. Brad enjoyed his Denver Omelette and I had great whole wheat blueberry pancakes.



















They were so good that they made me fall asleep. (Not really. Open your eyes, Kath.)









Afterward we went into the shops next door. One of them had this lovely flamingo made from a coconut and some pink-painted wire. Hilarious.














And here is the actual lighthouse. For those of you who know Sanibel, remember that the lighthouse is at the tip of the island and used to have about 30 feet of beach around it. It now has about 5 feet of sand. You can't walk from the fishing pier around the lighthouse without getting wet. So sad that Charley took the sand away.








After we left Sanibel and came back to reality, we stopped at Staples to pick up a few more school supplies I needed. This picture is hard to see, but in the middle, between two parking curbs, is a little tree trying to grow from the asphalt. The determination of this little shrub is remarkable. It reminded me of the book, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," except now its, "A Tree Grows in Staples' Parking Lot in South Florida." Poor thing. I almost wanted to water it, but wouldn't that just look funny to water the parking lot?

After Staples we went up to our storage unit to try to find a box of books I need for school. Hooray that we had our wits about us when we packed that thing up, for we put it right by the door and didn't have to unload the whole stinking storage unit. We then went over to school and rearranged my desks. (I needed Brad's help because I wrenched my back this week picking up a box of paper. Have I talked about the paper situation? All of our supplies are charged to our teeny $100 budget. Yes, I have $100 to spend for the year on anything I need for my classroom. I also will receive a check for another $100 as a "we're sorry you have to work here" consolation prize. Did I say that out loud? I mean, it's to help offset our out-of-pocket costs. Since we're in Florida and education is by law FREE, we cannot require students to bring anything to class. Many will go buy our "suggested" supplies, but if a student cannot or will not, we have to supply them with whatever they need for class. Hence I have stocked up at the back-to-school sales and am the proud owner of 1000 pencils, a penny each, thanks to Kmart, and 100 packages of notebook paper, fifteen cents each, thanks to Officemax, their 10 package limit, and five trips to Officemax with Brad last week. Thank you, God, that your economy is not the world's, and that you supply our needs, even on meager salaries!)

Anyway, we set up the desks in a cool U shape. At last count I will have classes of 10, 17, 18, 27, 30, and 30. Above is the front of the room. Here is the left side of the room, and below is a picture of the back of the room, complete with Teacher's Pet.

You only said I'll never go alone...

This line from a Ginny Owens song has been on the Christian radio station often on my drive to and from work, leading to some powerful moments with God. Here are the lyrics:

The pathway is broken
And the signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why you brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I will go through the valley
If You want me to

Now I'm not who I was
When I took my first step
And I'm clinging to the promise
You're not through with me yet
So if all of these trials bring me closer to You
I will go through the fire
If You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my own
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'll never go alone

So when the whole world turns against me
And I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley
If You want me to

I've said often in the last few weeks that I feel like a fish out of water-- like I'm walking into a brand new world, when I was really quite well suited for my old world, thank you. I'm learning to throw up my hands and say, "God, you led me here, so this is not my problem. This is your problem." I think it was Mary Buist, the mother of dear friend Jenny, who said that to me first, and it has stuck. This new situation is truly from God's hand, and though it feels like He got his paperwork mixed up, He is perfect, and we are to follow joyfully. Thank you, Lord, for grace upon grace you give to this whiny soul.

Preparing for a new school year has been quite challenging. The district switched their scheduling programs this summer, which guarantees insurmountable glitches. Therefore, we have all switched classes a few times, and even though Open House is tomorrow night and we have to have a syllabus to hand out to parents, we teachers don't know what we're teaching. Also, the place is, well, Floridian, so I spent my day today up to my elbows in Lysol wipes (BEST invention in the world) wiping yellow mold off my walls and from the inside of my cabinets. The buildings aren't air conditioned in the summers when they're vacant, so the lovely heat and humidity makes the place into a giant petri dish, perfect for culture growth. Thank God for Lysol wipes.

One more challenge has been the mortgage. We learned that since Brad is employed by his father but not receiving a W-2, he is considered self-employed which raises our risk and also raises our interest rate, if they can even lend to us. At first we were in a tailspin, but as Brad said yesterday, we are so sure that this is the house for us, and even Wells Fargo can't win against God's plan. So God, this is your problem. We look forward to seeing you work here.

And now for some good news. Yesterday I had an inservice at the high school by our house. Actually, you can see the fieldhouse from our driveway, and we call it the gray mothership. Anyway, after the inservice I stopped by the house to check on progress, and they had just poured our driveway and front walk! While they finished the top layer I got to carve our initials into the front walk. I carved B + K and a little Icthus fish (the Jesus symbol). I'm thrilled upon thrilled with that. (Hear that, Wells Fargo? It IS in concrete now.) They also installed the sliding glass doors for the bedroom and living room onto the lanai. Now they can "button up" the house, meaning they can protect the inside from the elements and can lay flooring, install appliances, etc. We also saw tonight that the air conditioning unit is installed (in the ceiling of the garage-- weird), the heat pump (we think that's what it is) is outside and hooked up, and the doors that were missing are up. All of the trim work is done, and from all we can see, they're ready for countertops. Also, the missing cabinets arrived and were installed today, so the kitchen is complete as far as cabinetry goes. The house next door which is on the same-ish schedule has countertops and the showers are finished. We're a little behind, but it's still looking good. We still don't have a firm closing date, but I'm hoping by mid-September we'll be in.

So tonight I'm busy writing my syllabi for the classes I think I'll be teaching. Brad is playing World of Warcraft with his Ohio buddies (shout out to Court, Ben and Des, and anyone else playing that I forgot!) and Skype-talking to them at the same time. If you haven't tried Skype, it's an online phone service that is free, computer to computer. If both people have accounts and computers with speakers and a microphone, you can talk free long distance! Pretty cool.

Thank you so much for supporting us in word and prayer. We miss you all terribly and have shed many a tear over the distance between us. Thanks for staying by us!

Quick Update!

So sorry for the delay, friends and family. I started at my new school yesterday... and cried the whole way home. Change is hard, and this is no exception. The school is a Godless place, and it's hard to be around such an environment. I miss my Christian Heritage community-- clear communication, professional-acting teachers, and most of all, warmth of heart. It was just a really rough day with lots of information and expectations loaded on big time. Ahh, government jobs. The amount of documentation I need to do is staggering-- enough to drive me to tears, actually. I teach because I love kids-- not because I love math nor paperwork. So last night I was seriously considering going to Red Lobster to see if I could be a waitress instead.

Ralph and Chris and Brad talked me down during dinner and were very encouraging. We do know that God made it clear this is what He has for us, and I need to remember all He has done to guide us here. It helps to get perspective sometimes.

Thanks for your support, all.

Quick house update-- they're going to pour the driveway this week! They also put coach lights on the outside of the driveway, but I think they're way off scale and too dinky, so we may replace those later. Things are coming along! Still no firm closing date...

Brad says "HELLO!" to all our faithful readers. He has been doing online classes nearly daily, and taking care of insurance and mortgage paperwork needs lately.

Sorry for the choppiness of this-- I'm brainless tonight.

Much love to you all!

Love is in the air... Everywhere I look around...

Days left of my summer break: Zero. And I don't love that.

Tomorrow is my first day of A.P.P.L.E.S., Accomplished Professional Practices for the Lee Educational System. Seven thirty to four p.m. Four sessions about mentor teachers, Florida laws regarding children, etc. I'm sure it will be riveting, and truly, it will get me excited to get back on schedule and in the classroom. I just don't feel like summer ever happened this year.

More about love. Today we got our official Florida drivers' licenses. We tried before as I wrote, with no success and a lot of attitude. Today was the opposite-- successful and attitude-free. We went to the Immokalee Road branch of the DMV and were met with no waiting and two amiable helpers. We were in and out in about six minutes. We love the Immokalee Road DMV people, especially the lady with the fun Boston accent (my dad is from Boston, so I know the Boston accent anywhere!) and the man who offered Brad a divorce. Explanation: the lady and guy were helping us independent of each other but next to each other, asking the same questions (have you been convicted of a DUI? could you please read Line Five for me?) and then they asked if we would like to register to vote, and which party if either we would like to register with. I said yes to voting, no to a party. Brad said yes to voting, and yes to one particular party. I overheard and said, "What? I married a Republican? I'm an issue voter, not a party voter! I've been duped! A year of marriage and I just learn this now?" (This is particularly unfair for me to say since I rarely follow politics and have voted only once, I'm ashamed to say.) The guy helping Brad said, "Well, Sir, if you step to your left we can help you with divorce papers." Ha. Very funny. We still love them for being so darn friendly in a government job. We don't love that our pictures are not self-esteem-friendly. We both agree that their camera adds at least 35 pounds in the form of multiple chins. And the darn things don't expire until 2011. No kidding.

Still more about love. Recall your favorite S.A.T. analogies. Love is to apathy as good pizza is to... what we had for dinner tonight. We're trying to find a good pizza place near our new house, so we tried "Pizza Planet." At first Brad thought the sign said "Pizza Pungent," which should have been taken as an omen. The cost was decent, the wait was short, the pizza was... absolutely void of flavor. It was hot, it looked tasty, the crust was handmade and chewy, like New York pizza. But the sauce? The cheese? The pepperoni, for crying out loud? I'm a two-Tums-girl after pepperoni, but except for the extra grease, this didn't even register. We both wished it was at least as bad as the stuff we got at half-price-Mondays-pizza at Mugs-n-Jugs near the house, for we could say that we surely hated that pizza. It was vile, horrid, and unfit for human consumption. But as the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy, the opposite of good pizza is not the Mugs-n-Jugs variety. No, it is the Pizza Planet stuff. Beware. And if we offer to take you there, take it as a hint that it's time to go home. (Just kidding.)

Even more about love. Much of the open land around southwest Florida has cows on it. I've heard that there's some tax break or something if the land you own is considered "farmland," so people who own plots of land put cows on it. There are cows at every turn. Across the street from the entrance to Ralph and Chris's subdivision is one of those said plots, with said cows. And tonight as we turned the corner to enter the subdivision, one particular bull was feeling frisky. I felt like we were having our very own live National Geographic moment. Thank goodness we didn't have any of the nieces or nephew with us... that kind of 'splainin is up to the parents.

How's this for love? We just received news that Grandma Bressler, who has been fighting cancer for about a year now, has been declared cancer-free. Praise God! We LOVE that news!

We love you all. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Comments

Thanks a ton for the comments, folks! It's really nice to know you're checking in and haven't forgotten about us. We love you all and miss you terribly! Keep checking back! I promise not to go more than a week without updating!

Some pictures I left off by accident.

This is Brad showing you how tall the kitchen ceiling is. It must be at least 11 feet high! It makes the kitchen look like it was made for munchkins, or more appropriate to the newest movies, oompah-loompahs. (Have you seen the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Any reviews?)













This is an example of the dramatic weather down here. It rains in one specific location for a short time. As our dear friend Brady put it, it's not like it's really raining, it's more like the air can't take any more humidity so it lets some go in the form of rain. Here you can see one lonely raincloud letting some of its excess go. It reminds me of the Winnie the Pooh stories where Pooh is sitting under a cloud and it's raining on him and him only.










This is one of our neighbors' houses. It's a mixed neighborhood, with some houses / structures that have been around for a while mixed with a whole lot of new houses. We think this one might be one of the former. Probably not so new. You can't see it too well, but the whole thing is resting on cinder blocks.

Tomorrow is mortgage decision day. Pray for wisdom for us as we voluntarily go into debt way over our heads. Ahh, homeowning.

Bathroom choices.

We've been making some decor choices. Let us know what you think. These mirrors are from Restoration Hardware (translate: crazy expensive) but we found them at Lowes for much cheaper.












This is the pedestal sink we put in the guest bathroom. It takes the place of the vanity cabinet, but there's a whole linen closet in the bathroom, so we'll have plenty of storage in that.














This is the lighting fixture we chose for the bathrooms. We were going to have the standard "showgirl" lighting strip but it's just not our taste. Cheap, but not our taste. So we found this at a lighting place in Bonita Springs and like it a lot. I think we're going to use two of the two-lighters for the master bathroom, and maybe this three-lighter for the guest bath. Not sure about that yet. But we like it.

Oh- and colors. The master bedroom is going to be blue (matches our gray-blue towels) and the master bathroom is going to be khaki (matches our khaki bedding). Hopefully this will tie the master suite together without being too matchy-matchy.

We're probably going to do white subway tile in the kitchen as the backsplash. I saw it in the movie Herbie (the new one) and it looked cool. (Brad said I should give the house stuff a rest and just enjoy the movie.) I'll see if I can find a picture of it somewhere.

Any other color suggestions for the living room, office, kitchen, and guest suite? We're all ears! Our style is pretty much Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware.

Not so glamorous a name.

Yep, that's our house in the background. It's the lovely Suncoast model. And then I realized that the port-o-potties in the area also bear the lovely Suncoast name. No relation to the model of our house. How's that for glamour?

House update!

On Saturday we joined Ralph and Chris on a day trip to Sarasota, about an hour and a half north of Fort Myers. Ralph wanted to test drive a car he had his eye on, and the rest of us went along for the fun. The car deal turned out to be a bust, but we enjoyed the afternoon in St. Armand's Key, a little vacation town just west of Sarasota. We ate at Tommy Bahama's and then looked at shops until it started raining.

On Sunday we tried out the Vineyard Church in Fort Myers. At first no one came up to us or said hello, but after church we couldn't get out the door! The people were friendly and welcoming, and the teaching was right-on. It reminds me of the Mundelein Vineyard-- more families than college students. It's in the running as our new church home, but we're still going to explore. There's another one-- Summit church-- that we're considering. I went to Starbucks on Monday to get some quiet time alone to read. Captivating is the book of the day-- the women's side of Wild at Heart. It's about how women connect with and reveal the heart of God. It is changing my life. Anyway. I was at Starbucks on Monday eavesdropping on the conversation of the barista-on-break. I heard her mention "community groups" and "Chris Tomlin." Chris Tomlin is a worship-song-writer that we like, so I asked her if she knew of a church in the area that sang songs like his. She directed me to Summit, where she goes. Apparently it's a younger congregation and a newish church, sort of near our house. We're going to try it on Sunday.

I promised a house update, so here it is. Brad and I went up to see it on Tuesday after a car-shopping afternoon and a frustratingly unsuccessful try to get our new licenses. Argh. Oh, and Monday afternoon was spent at Wells Fargo trying to learn about mortgages. There are some crazy options down here since the housing market is booming.

We arrived Tuesday afternoon to see that the house has been painted! "Foggy Day" is the base color, and the trim is "Quilter's Thread." There's a job for you. Naming all the paint colors in a paint wheel. We love it-- a good neutral khaki with no pink in it. Lots of the khakis around here look pinkish in certain light. Ugh. You can barely see the house next door-- bright orange sherbet. Well, at least we won't match. Ugh.





We were greeted at the front door by a very large centipede. This thing was nearly the size of our pen. NASTY. Brad knocked it off the wall and smooshed it under a piece of cardboard. It squirted. VERY NASTY. Then, after taking pictures around the house for a half hour, we came back and it was still stinkin' alive. EXTREMELY NASTY. It made me wonder if I'm going to last in south Florida. I'm not so sure. Especially since we found a few other (smaller, thankfully) bugs inside. So nasty. Makes me itch to look at it.




Happier things. The kitchen is looking mighty fine. The cabinets are coming along! This is the view from the back of the house. To the left is the opening to the living room. Straight ahead through the door is the hall and then the office.









Here's our eat-in kitchen nook (I'm standing in the hallway.) The nook is cozy but spacious enough for my enameled-top table and a few chairs.











Here's our lanai. I'm standing at the far end just outside the great room / living room. You can see the eat-in part of the kitchen protruding onto the lanai.


Our closing date is tentatively set for Friday, August 26th. Tentatively. Not. Holding. Breath. But hoping.

Aunt-ing and Uncle-ing is the BEST!

Yesterday we got to celebrate little Bethany's sixth birthday! "Little B" is Shelley's oldest. (Chase is their youngest.) We all drove over to Jeff and Shelley's place near Fort Lauderdale, on the east coast of Florida.

Here are Rico and Makena. (Rico is Bethany's husband.) Kena is ten months old, 19.5 pounds, and enormously cute. She has the best disposition of nearly any baby I've ever met, and for some reason she has taken to me. When she sees me she crawls right over to me! Which of course makes everyone ask when we'll be having children... hence the title of today's post. We LOVE being Aunt Kafaleen and Untle Brad. Not so sure if Mama and Papa sound so appealing just yet.

Chase's birthday was just before we got into town in early July, so we bought him a belated birthday present. Brad had wanted to get Chase this big Tonka truck at Christmas but it just wasn't in our budget. So we got it for his birthday. I'm not sure who was more thrilled with it, Brad or Chase. I did at one point hear Brad say, "I wish I had had one of these."












And then Kena decided it would be a good idea to sit in it.

















As did Chase.

















Little B got a bike for her birthday. One of the best parts of the evening was when she was opening presents. She had opened nearly everything and was opening the stuff from Brad and me, when Ralph opened the door and brought in the bike. Bethany's eyes got real big and she got excited, but then turned and finished opening our present and thanked us! (Shelley had prepped her beforehand, reminding her to use her manners. This was just amazing, and we were all astounded at her self control!) After she thanked us she went over and squealed at the bike, and we all went out to watch the kids ride in the street. She's such an amazing kid. So smart, and so much personality!






And this is what she looks like when it starts raining when you're trying to ride your new birthday bike. Bummer.

Work your fingers to the bone, what do you get?

Boney fingers, as my mother always says. :)

Brad has begun working with his dad learning his way around Master Builder. MB is a piece of software which handles accounting for construction companies. Brad has been taking online classes nearly every day for a week now in the mornings. He says it's not too hard, but he's quite computer-smart, so I just think it's a good fit for him. We've had most of the afternoons together as he isn't working full days yet. I'm going to miss him when I have to go to work all day!

By the way, some of you have been asking for our information (address, phone). I don't know who has access to seeing this blog, so I'm not going to put it on here, but I'd be happy to email it to you if you drop me a line. kathleenbressler@gmail.com

And I just realized that up until last night I had the settings for "comments" to be "only allowed from registered members"-- sorry about that. You can now leave a comment without being registered. I hate all those hoops to jump through.

In fact, if you're reading this, why don't you leave a comment about what your favorite flavor of ice cream is. Last night we went to Royal Scoop, a homemade ice cream place down here. I tried the pistachio- tasted just like pistachio pudding and had tons of pistachios in it. Quite yummy, but I think I prefer the chocolate peanut butter. Mom must have eaten it while pregnant with my sister and me because we both love the stuff. :)

House details finalized

Today we met with Glenn-the-builder. He is a friend of Ralph's and is building our new house. We met today to finalize our choices for decor, and we are SO EXCITED! First of all, Glenn uses upgraded stuff as his standard, such as larger baseboard moldings and nicer lightswitches and 30-year shingles on the roof. He walked us through the floorplan of the house and we picked out the remaining details. The outside of the house is stucco-- khaki with a cream trim. There are two garage doors. The interior color is white for now-- we'll paint later. The entryway, great room, hall, and kitchen will all have laminate wood flooring. The laundryroom and bathrooms will vinyl and the bedrooms will have carpet. The kitchen is magnificent. Glenn's eye for quality and design is evident in the solid-wood maple cabinets. He even included a few banks of drawers in the lower cabinets and a tray cabinet next to the stove. And our appliances will be stainless steel by Whirlpool. Every ceiling is vaulted, bathrooms included. The master bath has an extra-tall vanity cabinet (usually an upgrade) with a white countertop. The guest bath will have a pedestal sink instead of a vanity as there is a linen closet in the bathroom. I could go on for hours with details. We're quite excited! It looks like we'll be in the house in about six weeks. Yay!!! Y'all come visit, now!

We survived Hurricane Dennis and all I got was this lousy picture.

We did survive the first hurricane of the season for Southwest Florida. Dennis came through on Saturday-- here's a picture of what the clouds looked like. Although we prepared for the worst (bottled water, food stocked up, and plenty of movies, thanks to Ralph and Chris), all we got was a bit of rain and some wind. Nothing to be afraid of, and it was fun to be part of the culture of "anything could happen!" We even got a booklet about hurricanes free from Home Depot which describes all there is to know about weather patterns and how to prepare. Quite helpful.

On another note, I had my first social experience here in Florida last night when I went to a Mary Kay get together with my sister-in-law, Bethany. She has just become a Mary Kay consultant and took me to their weekly meeting as it was guest week. I had a ball trying the skin care stuff and playing with makeup. Now I want the whole skin care line. Must wait until we have paychecks actually coming in, I guess.

Got to help the toe-toe cwoss the woad.

On the way home from lunch at Chik-Fil-A the other day we saw a turtle about to cross the road! We've seen quite a few as roadkill (sorry about the roadkill comments-- it's just so weird!). We looked at each other and both wanted to take a picture of it, so we turned around. By the time we got back to it a minute later, it had made it halfway across the six-lane street! Brad decided to help the poor turtle the rest of the way across, so of course I had to document it. Here he is pointing at said turtle (which we're sure talks like Elmer Fudd) just before taking it to its new home in the marsh across the street. We're almost sure we heard it say, "Thank you, Bwad" as we drove away.

Devastating news.

I received a voicemail this morning from Mom while I was on the phone wishing Dad a happy birthday. A friend of our family, Alex, was married in April and his new bride was killed in a car crash last night. She is now in heaven.

This news has shaken me to the core. Alex and his family have been close to our family since I was nine years old. We have done Thanksgiving together religiously for years and Alex and Rachael were at our wedding last year. His father even married Brad and me. Over the years we have gone our separate ways, but we all still keep in touch via our parents. My heart has been heavy since I heard the news. Why does God allow this to happen? I know He is a good God. I trust that. I just terribly long to know His reasoning. "Your ways are higher than our ways, and the plans that you have made are good and true. If you call us to the fire you will not withdraw your hand. We'll gaze into the flames and look to you." (worship song by Diane Thiel)

I can't imagine the agony of losing a spouse. I pray and beg you, God, for supernatural comfort for Alex. Please bless him and show him great favor. Let his righteousness shine like the sun and glorify you, Lord. Draw his heart ever close to yours, and cradle him in your hands. You give and take away. Blessed be your name.

Red touch yellow, kill a fellow. Red touch black, good for Jack.

Fun fact of the day: that little rhyme is how you tell the difference between the poisonous coral snake and the harmless scarlet king snake. If the bright red bands touch the yellow bands, stay away. If the bright red bands touch the black bands, it won't kill you. If it's a coral snake, apparently their fangs aren't too long, so in order to kill you, they chew on you to get enough venom in. Mmmm.

We saw one as roadkill about a half mile from home this weekend. I didn't get out of the car to see which of the two it was-- harmless or harmful. I don't care. I hate snakes. For some reason I cry and shake when I see them. I wish it wasn't so, but I just hate them. I know this one was bright red and yellow and black. That's enough for me.

(picture is from http://pelotes.jea.com/AnimalFact/Reptile/vensnake.htm)

Just Relax.

Relax. That's Kath's job these days. Finally, no to-do lists, nothing to do, really, but relax. There are three weeks until new teacher orientation begins, so I've been looking forward to this time, but how do I relax? I don't know the last time I haven't had things to do. So I've been reading magazines and planning our home layout and decor. This has been incredibly fun.

We stopped by my school this week. The word that comes to mind is "barrio," which is Spanish for "neighborhood." Just before school let out for the summer, I went with the seventh graders to Pilsen, a Spanish neighborhood on the west side of Chicago. The neighborhood around my school is much like that. All the stores have Spanish names, and the houses are run down and, well, just different from Northfield, Illinois, where CHA was nestled. I was scared.

But on Friday we stopped by to get a tour. The facility, once you get past the tall fence, is nice. I'll be teaching seventh grade (previously it was going to be sixth- I prefer seventh) and I have one and a half different classes to prepare for (preps). I'm used to three to five preps a day, so having a regular seventh grade math and an honors class is a treat for me! I'll have five regular classes and two honors classes. And the class size right now is at sixteen!!! That's much better than I was expecting. My room is air-conditioned and big, with a whiteboard and chalkboard, television and overhead. It's going to be nice.

Bye Bye, Jetta. Hello, Car Shopping.

Here's a picture of our dear Jetta, just before she was sold in Evanston.


July 1. Moving Day, part two.

We met the moving truck at our storage unit and got everything unloaded.

Over the next few days we worked on getting Maude taken care of. Maude is our 1988 Toyota Camry and our only car, as we sold the Jetta before we left. Maude had not been the same since we changed the tire in Indiana, so we took it in for a tire balance. Turns out the tires were 10 years old and not so supple, so they had come apart inside, thus the shaking of the steering wheel. It's really a wonder they didn't blow out on our long trip.

Oh- total miles: about 1390

So we got Maude some new tires, we explored a little and tried to get to know our way around, we tried a new church, and we looked for another car.

On Sunday we visited McGregor Baptist Church, where Beth and Rico attend. They had an amazing patriotic service! It's big-- like a Baptist Willow Creek but not that big. One really cool thing they did was to have the choir sing the songs of each of the branches of the armed forces. As they sang, the people who had served in each branch came forward, so by the end the front stage was filled with service people of all ages. It was really something to see the church honor those who have served us. I wish more churches would do this.

We spent the Fourth of July mostly inside sleeping. I guess the exhaustion of packing and traveling caught up with us, and we didn't really get up and at 'em until about 5 p.m. We swam in Ralph and Chris's pool and watched tv. Nothing too spectacular, but better than being outside.

By the way, the weather is really something. It rains every day for 10 minutes or so. The forecast on TV makes it look like everyday is a torrential downpour, but it's just a short shower and then it's done. The temperatures are in the 90's, so not much worse than Chicago, but the humidity makes it feel like we're swimming outside. Kath can hardly bear it, and gets cranky. Brad is ok with it, but we'd both rather be inside.

On Tuesday we went car shopping. We happened to find an obscure road that had dozens of used car lots! We stopped at more than 25 different lots to see what they had to offer. At the beginning of the day we didn't really know what we wanted-- maybe a pickup truck, maybe a Toyota or Honda sedan. By the end of the day we were pretty sure we wanted a Honda Accord. We have yet to find one. After 12 hours of looking through lots we came home, where after talking with Ralph we learned that we need to have proof of Florida residency (can't get that until we have a house) to get insurance, which we need to get a title. So even if we found a car now, we couldn't get it. Argh. Wish we'd done our research, but we had a really fun day. Although this transition period has been a little hard, it has been fun for our marriage. We're in it together, and we're having fun with it.

New Home Sweet New Home

Road Trip Day Three

Miles driven: about 375
Armadillos on the side of the road: 2
Gators spotted: 0, thankfully

We left Valdosta and headed into the most boring part of the trip. We were just ten minutes from the Florida state line, but we had a full day of driving ahead of us. Seven hours later, we arrived at our new house! Since we saw it last in April, the drywall has been put up. We arrived shortly after the workers had left as the first layer of mud was still wet. The rooms all have vaulted ceilings and the layout is open and breezy. We were there at 4 p.m. in the heat, and the breeze blowing from the lanai (for you non-Floridians, a "la-nigh' " is a screened-in porch) through the front door made the whole house cool. We were beside ourselves with excitement!

We headed down the half hour to Bonita Springs where Brad's parents, Ralph and Chris, live, and where we'll be staying until the house is done. Our proposed closing date is the fourth week in August. As long as we don't have too many hurricanes, we'll be in by September.

When we arrived, all of Brad's family was there! Little Chase ran out to meet us, followed by little Bethany and Jeff. Inside were waiting Ralph and Chris, Bethany and Makena, and Shelley. Rico came over soon after, and we all went to dinner at New York Pizza and Pasta-- good pizza!