Back in June, Adriane and I decided to really getting going on the rental house, we had been working on it some off and on during the Spring but not with any true dedication.  Once June arrived I had a freak out moment and realized we had to get this house fixed up and rented.  So we went for it!  Days turned into nights, work weekends turned to work weeks.  For 6 weeks straight we "worked on the house".  Even Graham started to say 'go to the house?'  At first it was tough and then something shifted in me and I started to really enjoy the work, even though nights before I had gotten little sleep, woke up to work 10 hours at my day job, I still found that God was giving me the energy to get it done and to enjoy it as I was doing it.  Now of course we would have never finished had I not had the huge help and support from Adriane.  She was awesome on planning our purchases, visiting Home Depot daily (really) and helping me remember everything, along with doing alot of the physical work as well, she rocks on texturing.  I again discovered the goodness of God by her being such a great helpmate, it made me realize (yet again) how she is a helpmate to me in most all areas on my life, and I am so happy about that (she sometimes jokes about where would I be without her, well, I remember the days I was without her and where I was, very glad those days are over). One other reason we were pushed to work so much is because we had a hard and fast deadline - July 24th.  This was the day that my best friend Andy was marrying the love of his life and...they were planning to live in this newly remodeled home (yes, they are right next door to us, and yes he was my college roommate, who wudda thought it?).  So, he and Laura were gracious to us in giving us time, they had hoped it would be ready at the first of July - no way, then maybe by the 15th, close but still no way, but by July 19th, it was somewhat livable and Andy started to move things in.  We kept working up until the day before the wedding.  We also worked some while they were on their honeymoon, bonus time, but we can finally say - It is finished.  Now, of course there are small things that I want to do, that need to happen but they don't require Adriane and I up late every night anymore.  They are small weekend projects that work around the new tenants schedules.  In the fall, Andy and I hope to work on the outside some and get some nice landscaping put in.  Ok, ok, so that's the story, are you ready for the pics?  I love these kind of transformation pics - we didn't fully plan out the photos from day one but I think you can get a good idea of the change that happened.  Adriane and I are very proud parents right now to this home and it is a blessing to us to have people we love living in it too. First are the project pics, to get an idea of what our many hours looked like: These are the " sin/redeemed" (before/after)  pics: KITCHEN ------------------------------ HALL BATHROOM ___________________ HALF BATH _____________ FROM THE KITCHEN TO THE LIVING ROOM - HALF WALL KNOCKED OUT. __________________ LIVING ROOM (not the same angle but you get the idea) l More Finished pics.... So there you go - our summer summed up in just a few before/after pics.  If you would like to see the full size pics, go to our flickr page. Ok, what's next...Fall!

I walk in the back yard of the house we are fixing up, the one right next door to ours, and I began to work on the back yard.  I realized I needed the work gloves that were in the house, so I looked at the backdoor going into the garage, it was open!  I remembered shutting and locking it on Saturday.  I walked up to it and noticed that the glass on the door was broken.  It has been extremely windy here in OKC so I thought at first maybe the wind blew it open and broke the glass.  Well, no, not the case.  There was a piece of board on the ground, this was a break in.  I grabbed a stick (weapon) and walked into the house.  At first I didn't notice anything gone, I mean, there isn't much in the house anyway.  Then I realized my power drill was gone, I walked over to our house to let Adriane know the good news.  As I was telling her, she asked if anything else was missing, I couldn't think of anything and then she mentioned the really nice powerwasher that we had borrowed from her parents...yep, it was gone too.  It was no longer sitting in the garage. I called 911, and within 5 minutes 2 police officers showed up (one of the best things about living in The Village).  We walked through the house, they filled out a report, the usual things.  Not much hope in getting back our equipment. It really sucks.  I have been praying and thinking throughout tonight.  It's not that those items can't be replaced, it is the fact that someone stole them.  I have really been feeling anger & sadness tonight.  The anger is not an out of control, why me anger, but just an over all anger that whoever did this, didn't have to.  I mean, this isn't an answer for them.  It is sin and death, and selling these things to get a little more money will not bring any good to their lives.  It's pointless.  Just as all sin is.  So it was a waste for them to steal that from us.  It will do no good for them.  The money they get from selling to a pawn shop will be gone as soon as they get it.  Then what?  Find another house and commit another pointless act, that brings death and desctrution to their lives.  Yes, I am angry and sadden by it. Yet, I am so thankful for the goodness of God.  It reminded me again of how he continues to protect and provide for me and my family.  It is from His hand that we have more than what we need and are protected as we sleep and live are lives.  He must receive the glory and thanks for all that He does.  And I am reminded of that tonight too. One last thing, they also stole a cd player/radio that was in the house.  It didn't work, but the cd in it was a Shane and Shane cd, maybe they will listen to it and see that God loves them a great deal.  Who knows.

So I'm not saying this is the most exciting video, but it does show that we are making some progress on the new rental property.  This coming weekend is going to be exciting, we are knocking down a wall...yes, the video camera will be there.  Enjoy the next 1:56 of your life by watching this. PS - Click the 'HQ' button on YouTube to actually see the primer going on the wall.

So a few weekends ago we began the house renovation project. After closing on the house just 4 days earlier, it was time to pull out the carpet and start priming the walls. We used an oil based primer called Kilz, we needed the strongest primer we could find, the house had been filled with cigarette smoke for years, tar in air can do some nasty things. For 5 days we worked on the house in the time that we could, and then on Wednesday, we met there for house church. We had a time of worship and praying and writing scriptures on the walls. This house being symbolizing what we are praying to see happen in the Village (our neighborhood) going from dark to light! It was an encouraging time for me, I sense God's hand in our community calling us out and showing us the fruit that is there. It is a fun time in our house church and house churches! We multiplied recently, meaning our one house church is now three house churches that meet at three different homes. The really fun and exciting thing about it is that we are planning to do monthly celebrations in the Village starting in March. All three HCs coming together in some random place in the Village to pray, worship and contend for this neighborhood! I can't wait! More on that for sure! back to the house - it will be a prayer house will we are fixing it up. Anyone is welcome to come, getaway and spend time with him for an hour or evening. Ok ok, more on that later too. rjs

Several months ago we were presented with a surprise offer. The house next door to ours became vacant. Several years ago an elderly lady lived there but she had sinced died. Her adult son continued to live there but he was not in a state to live on his own so his family came and took him. One afternoon another son of the lady who once lived there was up from Texas to clean out the house and to get it ready to be sold. I began to talk with him and after several conversations, and a really good deal, we became the people that he would sell it to. We are planning to close on this house next Friday, we are excited.

So no, we are not moving one house over, we are staying in ours. Our plan is to fix it up, which it needs, and then provide it with some amazing renters that we pray God will bring. Something really fun in the mean time, while we are fixing it up, painting, updating the bathrooms and kitchen and removing the popcorn ceilings, we are hoping to make it a prayer house in the Village(the name of our neighborhood). We want it to be used by our house church to meet in, and pray, and write our prayers on the wall and contend for our neighborhood for the Kingdom. Early on Adriane had said she hoped it would become a 'light' house here in our neighborhood. We are excited about having a place to meet that is solely dedicated to praying for our neighborhood. We are thinking it might take 3-4 months for us to get it ready to rent, so that's alot of good praying that can happen.

Here are a couple of pics of it. No inside ones to show just yet, but I do hope to have alot of before and after pics in the near future. I'm looking forward to learning how to do alot of this stuff, I got a book from Christmas entitled "Complete Home Improvement with 300 project & 2000 photos." That should get me started. I also have some great resources in friends, who not only love doing this kind of stuff but actually know what they are doing, pretty nice. Ok, so hopefully more after we close next week.