Weekend to Remember - An Experience You'll Never Forget

Give your marriage a tune up!

Let us tell you all about Weekend to Remember! We've been twice- the first time was in 2005, two months after we divorced on our 14th wedding anniversary... God placed that conference in our path to give us the tools to tear down the walls of isolation we'd unknowingly built in our marriage. He used that conference to restore our relationship, our marriage and our lives.

We made a commitment to go to the conference every year or so and attended again in 2007. God's Word is alive, and we came away learning so much more about how God designed marriage, how He created us for each other and how He uses what we perceive as weaknesses to strengthen each other and grow in Him.

The Weekend to Remember is a great multipurpose tool- it is a how to be married guide for engaged and newly married couples, a restoration tool for broken marriages, a maintenance tool for great marriages and a springboard to the next level for good marriages. The presenters are so human, so easy to relate to, so easy to listen to and learn from.

After we attended the conference last fall, God pressed on our hearts to volunteer for FamilyLife, so we are working at the Raleigh weekend this year. Scott is a group coach and I'm on the prayer team. We'll be there at the conference, serving in whatever way God needs us to serve.

CALL
1-800-358-6329 to register for the weekend so you can use our group code to get an $80 discount on the conference registration, you have to register over the phone in order to get the group rate. Our group code is 16418. The group rate is $178/couple.

Are you military?? If so, the military discount rate is $138/couple- you can register for this discount online- use the code FREEDOM in the key code area.

To learn more, call or email us today!!!

Monday, December 31, 2007

On the Sixth Day of Christmas...

...there were no geese a laying, they were all out swimming in the puddles in the yard! Just kidding, we had lots of puddles because of lots of rain but no geese. God blessed us again with warm weather, so Scott and I installed the front storm door. It looks so much nicer than the old aluminum door and it will keep the cold out! And since we installed the same door on Saturday on the back of the house, we did the front storm door in less than half the time. :) God is so good, leading us, guiding our hands and helping us to stay focused.

We also repaired some of the floor in the kitchen (under the blanket chest) and installed the baseboard there. Wednesday is supposed to be cold- lows in the upper 20's, high of 40, so we need to button up the house as much as we can. We'll just keep plugging (the holes!) as we go along! We praise and thank God that we have a house to have holes for us to plug. We are so blessed!

Saturday, December 29, 2007

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

Yes, on the fifth day of Christmas there were no gold rings at the Jennings household. What a beautiful day God gave us to work outside, it was 75 degrees from sun up to sun down. :) Scott changed the heating core in the truck (it's supposed to be in the 30's next week!), I caulked all of the window frames in the family room, then went outside to caulk and paint the siding we'd put up before Christmas. When Scott finished the truck, we hung the rest of the siding, finished the threshold and installed a storm door. (must conserve energy!)

December 2006


December 1, 2007


December 29, 2007


And on the 4th day of Christmas, Scott installed all the remaining family room inside window trim! I'm sure there is more we've done, I've been mudding the newly installed walls in the laundry room... we'll post those photos once the walls are painted.

We thank God for the wonderful weather we've had this week, we thank Him for all the time Scott had off to spend with Steven, playing with the Christmas toys, we thank and praise God for being Lord of our lives!! Have an awesome day!!

Friday, December 28, 2007

The Family Room- December 28, 2007

Here it is, the family room back in January 2007 before we started working on it... And the family room now, December 2007! We've got some trim work and painting trim work to do, but we're getting closer... :)

January 2007 THEN:

December 2007 NOW:

And this is the family room/kitchen on Christmas morning before Steven woke up and the present opening commenced. God is just so awesome, He provides us with so many reminders of where we were and how far we've come. We praise Him for all He's done and is doing!! We wish everyone a merry Christmas filled with His love, peace, joy and laughter. :)

Thursday, December 27, 2007

The twilight of 2007

Yes, the end of December and 2007 is drawing near and what an amazing and blessed year it has been. God has led us through so much, He has taught us so much, we are so thankful... thankful beyond words, really. Some of the lessons of 2007 have been more expensive than others (integrity hires integrity!), but we cling to something the first contractor said to us... God did not bring us here to fail. God knows what is before us and He promises that He goes before us, so we thank Him for His continued direction, guidance, strength, comfort and provision!! He is Lord of our lives and our house, we commend all the work we do to Him, we give Him all the glory and honor!

So, we've gotten a lot done over the last few days- framed out a couple of walls/chases, hung more sheetrock, applied more mud, primed and painted walls, stuffed more insulation in places, caulked, hung light fixtures, emptied the buckets in the attic because it poured...lots behind us, lots ahead of us. I'll post photos tonight. :)

Have an awesome, blessed day! After all, THIS is the day the Lord has made, let's rejoice and be GLAD in it!! :)

Saturday, December 22, 2007

It's been a busy couple of days!




Let's see, Thursday night we went Christmas caroling with folks from our church, Friday I took the day off and finished some mudding...then Steven and I went to pick up Scott from work and we got our Christmas tree for $1.00!

Yes, $1.00! It's about six feet tall, a bit smaller than those we've had in the past, but we needed a smaller tree to fit where we'd like to have it this year. It's beautifully shaped and smells wonderful! Then we came home and baked Christmas cookies together. It was fun. :)











Today, Scott framed out the last bit of ceiling that needed to be sheetrocked, then we hung the sheetrock and I mudded.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

On the Wednesday before Christmas, my true love gave to me...

...a new taping knife! Yes, it must be true love. :) It was a size I needed to make the job easier and so Scott realized it and brought it home to me. I'm so blessed!

Last night was Steven's homeroom party at Pizza Village, so we took the night off from working on the house. But tonight, Scott put up some small pieces of sheetrock and I mudded...first coats in some areas, second in others. Here's a photo of the sheetrock in the family room:



And here's a photo of the old sill Scott installed in the kitchen. It looks really pretty with the red clock on it and the poinsettias in front of it. :) It's all progress and it's all good!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Sheetrock Saturday!


Over the last couple of days, Scott and Steven cleaned up most of the leaves from the yard and I've been mudding and sanding. Did I mention that Scott also installed an old support in the kitchen and it looks great? He did, I'll take a photo and post it.

Today we installed insulation and sheetrock in the family room! And wow, does it look great! Scott also ran wiring for two light fixtures. And we put up some more siding on the back of the house before the rain came. Whew, we were busy! We'll put up photos later... :) We thank and praise God for the wisdom, the strength, the patience and the ability to work together to get this done, putting 12'sheets of sheetrock on the ceiling was quite the feat and required all three of us working together!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Work Continues

Yes, even though we haven't posted, we are still working on the house. It's just that the whole mudding/sanding process isn't terribly exciting to photograph and it is slow going. It is extremely satisfying, however! :) I'm sure there will be plenty to photograph over the weekend and we'll list what we've done, too. Have an awesome day!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

NFL Announces New Patriots Rules in Effect

In order to address the complaints and hurt feelings of the rest of the NFL, the commissioner has adopted 10 new "Special Rules" for all New England Patriots games. They take effect immediately, and are as follows:

Special Rules for the Patriots

1) In the course of an NFL game, if the Patriots go up by more than 31 points, they are not allowed to play offense until the opposing team draws to within one score. (Pats will kick-off after an opposing team's touchdown or FG). Once the team is within one score, the Pats offense may play, but Tom Brady may not, unless: the Pats play with 8 players (including Tom), or the Pats play with 9 players, but 1 player for the Patriots is chosen by the opposing team from the stands. no Patriots linebacker is allowed to play offense, unless that LB is inserted at quarterback. However, Mike Vrabel cannot be quarterback.
2) If an opposing player states "It's like were playing 7-on-5s" (7 offense, 5 defense during practice), such as indicated by Justin Smith, DE, Cincinnati Bengels 10/1/07, the Patriots must take a time out and serve ice cold lemonade or hot tea (weather dependent) to the opposing team. Scones are optional.
3) Once the 31 pt rule is in effect, Patriots may challenge any play, but the opposing team gets veto power over the referee.
4) Once the Pats offense is allowed back onto the field (7 pts), for any forward pass the Pats QB must point to the receiver and call out his number BEFORE passing. If Tom Brady is quarterbacking at the time, he must do that, plus turn the opposing team's water cooler into wine BEFORE passing.
5) Belichick must diagram any Patriots play to the opposing defense and ensure they understand exactly how to disrupt the play. This all must be done within the play clock. If this process is not complete prior to the play clock expiring, the Patriots will be assessed a delay of game and double unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
6)Randy Moss must play with 10lb ankle weights on each ankle. An additional pound will be added for each TD this season.
7) Wes Welker is not allowed to have "that crazy look" in his eyes. 10 yd, "crazy eyes" penalty assessed.
8 Tom Brady must immediately stop dating supermodels as he will not be allowed to date anyone that is more attractive then the least attractive significant other of an opposing team member (including coaches). He also must start doing commercials for every product imaginable, especially ones where he chants "cut that meat!", or refers to himself "as a 6'5" quarterback with a laser-rocket arm"
9) Bill Belichick is not allowed to be within 100 yds of any infant, for fear that his evil supergenius powers would assimilate such a defenseless creature into the Patriots System. We have already seen this effect on an inordinate amount of chipmunks, squirrels, and 'possum that commit suicide while crossing Rte 1 to reach Gillette Stadium.
10) Patriots must respect all opposing players feelings and apologize for every first down. Touchdowns must be followed by a written apology and a fruit basket presented with a hug.

Hee hee, I couldn't resist posting this. :)

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Happy Birthday to Scott!

Yes, on Saturday, December 8, we celebrated Scott's 37th birthday. How, might you ask? Well, with cake for breakfast, working on the house, the town Christmas parade & treelighting and with friends sharing more cake & ice cream. We installed sheetrock in two places in the family room, one place in the laundry room, several places in the bathroom; we also built a wall in the bathroom! Thursday, Scott installed the light fixture outside the back door- pretty!




And, of course, Steven had to share a moment with Santa Claus at the Faison Tree Lighting. :)

We continue to thank God for the preseverence HE gives us to keep working on the house to give Him all the glory!! We praise Him!!

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Saturday, December 1, 2007

So, the Thanksgiving countdown is behind us, we are totally moved into the house but the work is not finished. Saturday, we worked on putting up the siding on the back of the house, which included installing the box for the light fixture. We didn't get to finish, but we'll finish on Sunday. Scott's mom and sister Nancy also helped, Mom cleaned window sills and packed dishes, Nancy pulled nails and scraped the back door. I also spent the better part of the morning straightening the parlor (aka the construction shop) and the spare bedroom (storage room). Steven adorned the stairs with Christmas decorations (I'll take photos of that on Sun, too!). It was a beautiful day and we used it well.

We thank and praise God for the work we were able to accomplish and for helping us learn to work together so well!





Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving 2007- We thank God for so much!

Thank you so much, everyone, for all your prayers! We've had a busy, busy several weeks and this weekend wasn't any less busy. It's been a good busy! We finished most of what we wanted to finish (and all of what God wanted us to accomplish) by Tuesday when family started to arrive. Mom (from Burgaw), Mike, Chrissy, Erick, and Abby (from Delaware), Clifford, Paula, Christopher, and Leah (from Cape Cod) arrived on Tuesday. Douglas, Nancy & Susie (from Rocky Point) arrived Wednesday, and Craig and Cathy (from Virginia) arrived Thursday morning. It was a houseful, but what better way to bless our house than with family during a weekend of thanksgiving? :)

And we celebrated in style! Lots of food, football tossing, pecan picking, potato cannon target practice, shooting mistletoe with bb-guns, riding the go cart, blanket knotting, present swapping, ps2 football playing, talking, laughing, taking walks, praying and sharing. Saturday we made and placed the grave blanket on Dad Jennings' grave in Burgaw (it was the first time in 13 years some of the sibs had been there), and we laughed and talked and cried and prayed. Then we headed to Wilmington to see the Festival of Trees and take a few family photos. From there we spent some time at the USS North Carolina, then we found chinese food and returned to Faison to eat, laugh, open Christmas crackers, play and laugh some more. We are so blessed that Chrissy was healed enough from her surgery last week and that Paula was healed from her life changing hospitalization this past summer. To have them both here, with their families, is a testimony to God's power in our lives and a blessing beyond measure. And further, looking back two plus years, for Scott and me to be together, steadfast and on God's path...it leaves me speechless. He is good.

It is so cool to be living in the house we have spent the last year visiting. It was powerful to have Scott bless our first meal here with twenty family members. God is so good, all the time. His plan is so much better than ours!!









Sunday, November 18, 2007

Rainbow!


My friend, Mary, who lives next door called me Thursday morning at 7:15am to tell me about a stunning rainbow in the hayfield behind us! I'm so glad she did, it was the BIGGEST, BRIGHTEST rainbow I've ever seen. I took lots of photos. It was so beautiful!! It so reminds me of God's promises to us... He is so faithful!!

2 Days and counting...














Okay, so we haven't posted in a couple of days, but we've been working! We've got two, yes TWO fully functioning bathrooms and one fully functioning kitchen!! Yippee!!!
Here's what we've done!

Downstairs bathroom: We hung both doors, caulked shower, installed light fixture, hung more sheetrock, installed threshold, installed drain for vanity, leveled vanity.

Upstairs bathroom: We caulked the shower.

Downstairs hall: We moved all the construction materials into the parlor, moved sand ouside to fill hole installed new t-stat, installed threshold, scraped loose paint from ceiling, swept stairs and floor.

Office: We moved some boxes to upstairs.
Kitchen/family room: We built and installed faux beam over peninsula, installed pendant lights, installed sheetrock, installed cabinet/drawer pulls, moved kitchen stuff from trailer to house, ran lots of loads in the dishwasher, lined all the drawers, adjusted trash cabinet door, cut shims under cabinets, filled soap dispensers, filled our new silverware tray with new silverware (because that's exciting!!), put insulation up in the ceiling, repaired attic stairs, leveled blanket chest, swept, pulled up tyvek to expose slate, mopped wood floor three times...
Master bedroom: We moved everything except the wardrobe and carpets into the spare bedroom.
Parlor (aka, construction office/shop): We tidied up a bit so we could fit all the construction stuff in there.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

6 Days and counting...

Today I installed lots of switchplates, swept, put some stuff away, Scott leveled the vanity in the 1st floor bathroom and started to build the faux beam above the peninsula. No pictures tonight, we'll post some tomorrow...

It's all good!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

7 Days and counting...

Today we cut the vanity top for the vessel sink and the faucet, we modified the drawer for the plumbing, secured the sink and faucet to the top and cut the vanity for the hot/cold water feeds and drain pipe. We also cleaned up a bit and continued to move construction stuff into the parlor.

Downstairs bath, Jan 2007-----Nov 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

8 Days and counting...

Alrighty, this looks like progress!

Upstairs bathroom- Scott installed the faucet connectors- so this room is essentially finished! We need to caulk the shower in the next week and we need to put another coat of paint on the trim- but that will wait until AFTER Thanksgiving. It's ready to go!
















In the kitchen, we installed the beadboard to the back of the peninsula. Pretty!












And in the downstairs bathroom, we adhered beadboard to one side of the vanity, we'll do the other side tomorrow. :) But here's a photo of the shower and toilet....

Keep praising God, it's all good!