Shootin' Hoops

We have a basketball hoop. For some reason I was super excited about this feature of the house when we bought it. I have no idea why. I couldn't even tell you the last time I dribbled a basketball. I think it stems back to the basketball hoop I had growing up. It was a beautiful hoop, grand in all of its wooden glory, standing tall above our driveway. Except our driveway was stone. Do you know how hard it is to dribble a basketball on a stone driveway? Very hard.

Anyway the basketball hoop at the house here was in need of some TLC. The net was only half there and slowly rotting off. The metal parts were rusty and the paint was peeling off.  The fiberglass backboard needed some care. For the two years we've lived here I've been saying that I wanted to fix it up. Nothing happened. Last summer Marc took care of the rust and painted the pole. But the hoop...it was just so...high. Above our heads, easy to forget about.

Since we were in the painting zone last weekend I resolved that the basketball hoop would finally get the love it needed. During one of our many trips to Home Depot last weekend I bought the paint for the backboard. I even found directions on ehow.com for how big the orange rectangle needed to be (these were ultimately unhelpful, by the way, due to the size of our backboard). Then I had to wait for it to not be raining and for me to be home, but Thursday night proved to be the night! I was precariously perched on the extreme top of a ladder, clinging to the hoop, for quite sometime while the job got done, but it got done (I probably could have finished much earlier if I wasn't such a perfectionist). Then I hung the new net (only $1.86! What a steal!) and viola! the Pensyls have a hoop the neighbors will be jealous of!

Now to buy a basketball...

I realize the "oooh, ahhh" factor of these photos would really pack a punch had I remembered to take a "before" picture, but I was just so excited to get started...

Our First Home Improvement Project!

Marc and I hit a major milestone this past weekend. We started (and completed!) our first home improvement project not only as a married couple, but in this particular house!

Our house was beautiful when we moved. I even joked around that I wish we had twice the amount of money to offer the sellers to just walk out and leave everything "as is"! The walls were painted beautifully (even if Marc doesn't like yellow) and the trim work was painted white (I've ALWAYS wanted white trim work...I have no idea why!). Needless to say we didn't have to do any fix up work to the house when we moved in.

That being said the kitchen and dining room were painted white. Marc and I have talked on and off about doing something to the dining room and finally decided to do something about it. We painted the top part of the walls "artichoke heart" green and then put white wainscoting on the bottom half. We love it! It took us two days and so many trips to Home Depot I'm surprised they weren't greeting us by name by the end of the weekend!

It was nice to work side by side on a project that was for "us". My love language is quality time so getting to spend the weekend with Marc making our dining room more beautiful is the best thing I can think of! It was hot and we took a lot of trips between the dining room and the garage (and again let me mention, also to Home Depot) but we got to talk and laugh together and that's what made it all worth it. I loved watching Marc work - I realized that I had no idea where he learned to do these things, use these tools, etc, but it was fun watching him be manly (did he attend some How To Do Manly Things class during basic training?) - it made me proud of him. I daydreamed about the future and all the family events that would happen in the dining room and pictured the table surrounded by our future kids and their friends as we passed bowls of food around the table - I think I smiled all weekend :)

Another reason why I love Marc - he didn't even laugh at me when I asked for ear plugs when he was using the saws to cut the wainscoting.

Now to find something to put on that wall...

A New Nephew!

Marc and I have a nephew! Our first! He was two days late (due Sunday) so when Erin went for her ultrasound this morning they said her amniotic fluid was low and they sent her upstairs to be induced! She was in labor for five hours and at 4:09pm David James came into the world at 8lbs 3ozs.! Everyone is healthy and doing wonderfully!

Two Years!

Two years ago today Marc and I spent the most money we've ever spent in our life and bought our house!

After spending the day loading the truck, making the short drive from town, and unloading the truck we were wiped out. It was dark out and we were sitting on our *new* back porch with our *new* patio furniture that Mom and Dad Powers were nice enough to help us set up. A few seconds of silence passed and then I said "Do you realize after everything we've done and everywhere we've been over the past 8 years we're back to exactly where we started?" Marc gave me a questioning look and I said "Remember every night of the summer of 2000 we'd sit outside on one of our back porches and listen to the crickets and talk...here we are doing that again, but this time we're on our porch at our house. All that time we spent "living our life" and "doing our thing" and God landed us right back where we came from."

It was definitely a milestone realization for me. I love that Marc and I have this house that we can grow in and share with others. And even though it stretched us financially at first to live here God has been faithful and provided our every need exactly when we needed it. A God of manna.

I'm excited to see how He'll continue to work in and through our house!

Who Are The RAs?

A snippet of Junior Week

We were playing Bible Jam and the multiple choice question was "How many RAs are at Jr. Week". The conversation goes like this:

RA Tom: How many RAs are at Jr. Week?

Camper: RAs? *pause* They're like the disciples, right?
RA Tom: Yes! I'm giving you the points just for that, go sit down!


Hahahaha - ahhhh and this is why I love Jr. Week campers!

(Hi Marc, I love you and can't wait to see you)