Updates Galore Updates

First, the nursery:

The first picture here was taken the day after getting the crib and dresser/changing table.

Now after the shower.... we have some more organizing to do!!!!



Now onto the kitchen.....

The picture below is the corner above the sink and shows the results of ripping out some of the old "sofit" that was above the cabinets. The cabinets are the original ones with the house and are very structurally sound and solid all the way through. But the sofit above was pretty heavy duty and that structure was what was holding the cabinets up. So I had some reinforcing to do first before ripping it all out.

Here is what that use to look like with the built in softit above the cabinets. As well as the old color of the cabinets and the new color.
This is looking above the cabinets and into the corner shows the work (which is alot) that needs to be done to fill all the holes, clean the area, sand it and then build some custom cabinets for more storage above.
Here is a good look at the new granite countertop as well the backsplash (the ugly green color...which is actually old dried glue) that needs some tile work done.

Still hard at work with a lot of stuff going on. The last couple week's have been extremely busy working around birthing classes on Tuesday nights (7pm - 9:15pm) Life group as well on Wednesday's (7pm to 8:30pm) and a couple baby showers taking up our weekends. So I have been working on this whenever I find time including 6 in the morning while getting ready for work.

Michele and I looking forward to next week with the Thanksgiving holiday and getting away for 4 days up north to good ole Wolverine and some family time and an awesome homemade Thanksgiving dinner!!!!

We leave Wednesday night after work (Life Group is cancelled for next week) and return late Sunday. Definitely looking forward to it.

Mark 2:17

This is the stuff I think up in my mind and then never translate onto paper.

Sometimes, Jesus has to speak himself to remind us of why he did what he did.

The Showdown at Levi's House

Updates Galore

October has proved to be a very busy month for Michele and I. We have had a lot going on. This post is to update on all those things and why my posts here have been few and far.

1) Obviously, the Tigers postseason run took up a lot of time. Went to every home playoff game and watched all the away games. Yes even game 5 of the World Series right up to the end and watched the celebration as well. Every Friday ad Saturday night (but the last one) in October was a Tiger game and we would go early to them as well and tailgate or do dinner downtown.

2) It is wine season and as such, there is somewhere in the proximity of 115-125 gallons of wine in my basement right now. A couple 50 gallon oak barrels filled and some 5 gallon glass containers filled with some leftover wine from the press. Some pictures below. On Saturday mornings (before Tiger games) my uncle and I as well as my brother a couple days and a couple friends were hard at work producing some vintage 06. The grapes were absolutely awesome this year and already tastes great.

3) The kitchen is in complete remodel mode right now as well. We have a new granite countertop being installed on Tuesday, November 7. We are also painting our cabinets and installing new doors. The kitchen is a real mess right now and looks horrible. We have no sink and after tomorrow night, no counter until the new one is installed. More pictures below.

4) I wrote earlier about the "baby's nursery" and jumping on that bandwagon (here is part 1 and here is part 2) and getting the room ready for the baby. Well, we got some furnitue in there and finished up all the painting and updates to that room too. Unfortunately, no pictures, yet. I'll get them up soon.

5) Tomorrow (Saturday) is the baby shower and Tuesday morning (before the new countertops go in) is the ultrasound where we will hopefully be able to find out the sex of the baby. Tuesday night is the first of our "pregnancy classes" at the hospital. Whew!!!

There has just been a lot going on and a lot more to go. Before we know it it will be Thanksgiving and then the Holidays. Followed up by New year. In January is our wedding anniversary and my birthday, plus all the last minute details with the trying to get ready for baby. Come the middle of February, everything changes.

So, I am still here, just very busy and I see myself spending more time surfing other blogs and reading what you guys have to say and commenting as well. Hopefully I find sometime once or twice a week to post something here.

I just might be convinced

Maybe the Calvinist have it right. You gotta wonder if everything is predetermined and already mapped out. Some things are "meant to be" because it has already been determined. You see things unfold in front of you and you just throw your hands in the air.

How else to explain the Detroit Tigers in the World Series?

8 errors, guys falling down, mising ground balls, guys hitting rocket missles off their bat right to the 2nd baseman or left fielder.

I am nearly convinced they have it right, Calvinist have been right all along.

Dang!

Indescribeable

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
You are amazing God

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God
You are amazing God

Down 3-1

What a bummer .

Our outfielders are falling and diving all over the outfield watching balls land behind them and deflecting off their glove.

Our pitchers are walking the lead-off hitter and throwing the ball 3 rows into the crowd behind 1st and 3rd base.

And now we are down 3 games to 1.

The team can still come back and win this thing.

As a matter of fact, of the 5 times it is has happen in the past, St. Louis was the victim twice (they were the team up 3-1 and lost the sereis).

Even more peculiar is that it happen in 1968, when the Tigers and Cardinals played in that World Series.

Another odd fact is that the Tigers and Cardinals have now met in 3 World Series and each time the following took place:

• St. Louis won Game 1
• Detroit won Game 2
• St. Louis won Game 3
• The winner of Game 4 lost the World Series

So either the basball gods are on the Cardinals side as the Tigers have had so many fluke plays and the Cardinals are destined to win this thing or the baseball gods have to make sure that history repeats itself and tradition holds.

If there is any sport that holds to its tradtions it is baseball -- so we'll see.

Unfortunately I think it may be the former and the Cardinals are just meant to win this thing.

But my hope is not gone. I still have plans to be in Comerica Park on Sunday night watching a World Series Game 7.

World Series Game 2

I thought I was going tobe sick in the 9th inning. Well I actually was sick, and had been all day. But I mean, punch me in the gut, weak in the knees, country music song sick.

The Rollercoaster was in full effect last night. 2 outs, 2 strikes and it nearly all fell apart.

But, they won, the series is tied 1-1 heading back to "The Lou" and hopefully the Tigers roll off 3 straight wins or at least come back up 3-2 and can clinch Saturday night...I'll be there.

Go Tigers!!

THE FREAKIN WORLD SERIES

I was there, so was Michele, but we have no pictures!!

Well, I have video because we did have the video camera and taped the pre-game ceremony stuff, the first at bat, and pretty much the whole first inning for the Tigers.

But we didn't take pictures with a camera. Oh well. I'll have to take the video and get still pictures off of that.

Anyway, it was freakin awesome to be at the World Series cheering the Detroit Tigers on.

Too bad they lost. That was a big buzz kill, but I am confident they will show up tonight and Kenny will continue his strong pitching.

Last night they completely looked like a team that had a whole week off and got back to some bad habits. And 3 errors!!!!

Anyway, as I said, Kenny will continue his strong postseason pitching and Detroit wins 4-0, maybe 2-1. Zumaya in the 8th, Jones in the 9th, we head to St. Louis tied at 1 a piece. I have game 6 and game 7 tickets already, so if Detroit happens to not clinch in St. Louis, they will back in the D next weekend. I will for sure have pictures for that!!!!

Go Tigers!!

Adventures in missing the moment

It doesn't matter the location or the reason or the event:

• A brightly lit, well decorated, jovial chapel filled with loved family and friends that changes my life forever
• A quiet, dark, sad funeral home that makes death a hard reality
• A drab, flourescent lit doctor's office that changes my life again
• A screaming stadium of 44,000 people that causes me to lose my voice.

I usually miss the moment. I do not mean that I do not see or experience what happens. I have all my faculties and know full well what I am doing and what I just witnessed.

What I mean is, it doesn't sink in at that moment. It is usually a hour, day, or week later. Something is said to me, or I say something about it. Stops me in my tracks. The light bulb goes on. It's where I have my "holy crap" moment and I realize:

• I am forever married to my one true love. I will be her provider and protector and together we will start a new family and live happily ever after
• I've just lost my grandfather to a 3 year horrendous fight to cancer or one of my best high-school buds to a mortar shell he never saw coming
• I am going to be a dad. I will have a daughter or son to call my own, to hold in my arms and watch them grow up. What Michele and I started out on 3 years ago is growing
• The Detroit Tigers are going to the World Series for the first time in 22 years, on a walk-off 3-run homer by my favorite Tiger.

See, it doesn't matter. Life, marriage, death, new life, sports. I have many more examples but these 4 tell the story the best.

My wife is often disturbed by my apparent lack of excitement sometimes. She doesn't like that I am too even kiel unless I am upset or mad. I assure her over and over that my excitement is leaps and bounds above anything. I try to show her the best I can. I have made some great improvements here.

But, none the less, for whatever reason, the moment doesn't hold the same excitement and emotional high or low I feel sometime after that moment has taken place.

I do get caught up in it, I hoot and holler and cry and laugh and hug my wife and squeeze her hand. But for whatever reason I am not the guy you would find crying in the doctor's office, much less a baseball game. My reaction is usually right on par with whatever everyone else is doing. If it is high-fives outside the stadium or a firm handshake and a congratulations from the doctor, then that is me. If it is hugging my grandma and shedding a tear on each other's shoulders or dancing with my new wife in front of our loved ones, that is me.

But my "truer" emotions always take effect with me later. Like I said, after it has sunk in. Something is said to me or I read the Sports section or a birthday passes or I find an old yearbook or an old email, or I wake up early one morning and my pregnant wife is asleep next to me, breathing softly, off in never never land dreaming of the life I hope and pray I can give her.

Then -- I get the moment...

Pardon the Pun

Things are "heating up" again

What started here

went to here

and is now here

This thing is blowing up...