Finally!!! We are finally finished with our sunroom. It has been a huge job. That's the way it is, isn't it? What you think is going to be a simple project usually becomes a huge project. Oh, well. There are just a few little details that need to be put together, but over-all, I think it's about the best it's going to get. I've already told you about the bench (how Phil took someone's junk and made a bench), well....if you will notice the big chest......someone was throwing it out, it was at the road for the "garbage man". You guessed it! We snatched it up. The chair belonged to Phil's grandmother and was very marred up. He did a little sanding, staining and varnishing and it's almost as good as new. Now, the curtains are another story. They are just dinner napkins cut in half and stapled to furring strips. We then nailed the furring strips in place and attached tassels with hot glue. Gotta go. I think Phil has already moved on to another project. He makes me nervous sometimes. I never know what he has up his sleeve. See ya!!

The "new" bench.

Ok! Here's what you do....if your name is Phil Arnold and you are working with a very limited budget. First, you find a Credenza sitting by the dumpster at work (it's old and they don't want it anymore.) In other words, you go "garbage picking". Then you bring it home and spend some time using your measuring tape and doing a whole lot of mumbling to yourself. This entire time, your wife is looking on wondering, "What in the world is he going to do with this piece of junk!" Then you tip it upside down and cut off the legs. Oh, look! These could be used for arm rests! So, you make a quick trip to the hardware store and purchase a little bit of lumber, some screws, stain and varnish. You take the drawers out and get to work. You make a lot of noise, not to mention a huge mess, and.....Voila!!! Your wife adds a bunch of pillows and we now have a beautiful bench on our back porch/sunroom!!! "How in the world does he do it?", his wife wonders. Oh, don't throw those drawers away. Phil has something planned for those. I wonder what it could be? Well, back to work we go. We have some more painting to do. If you're interested, there will be pictures soon of the completed project. See ya!

Remodeling Again!

We're at it again!!! We have started another remodeling project. The back porch/sun-room is in the process of being transformed. The walls all have some cheap paneling on them, and due to a very slim budget, we decided to cover the walls with a textured "stuccoed" type of paint and then cover that with a paint that's called "Gobi Desert". We've never worked with this type of stuff before so we have run across a few little snags. But, over all, I think it's going to look nice. I'm thinking--Tuscan, but whether or not I achieve that look is yet to be seen. The picture on the left is what the porch looked like when we moved in almost two years ago, and the other picture is what it looks like now. Not much difference. You wouldn't know that we've already put about a week's worth of work into it. Oh, well...that's the way it goes. Phil is going to build a bench to cover the dryer duct work that you see in the picture. This is the last room on the ground floor of our home to be remolded. I'm excited about that!! Stay tuned!!! Well, you don't actually have to stay right there until this is done, because it may take awhile.

While I was at it, I also decided to put together some before and after pictures of the rest of the rooms that we have remodeled. Hope you enjoy! Well....I had better get back to work!! See ya soon.

Stay connected!!!

Staying connected with friends and family has been a concern to me of late. It seems that we can get so wrapped up in our daily duties, obligations and concerns (all legitimate to be sure) that we could easily push aside those who have been a very important part of who we are.

It was approximately 24-25 years ago that we Arnolds met the couple that you see pictured above. It was while we were living in Caro, Michigan (which seemed in the middle of nowhere), we were pastoring Bethel Lower Light Church on Lee Hill Road. The church and parsonage were located wayyyyyy out in the middle of beautiful country, with only a few other houses on the road. We were young with three small boys. Phil had to supplement our meager income by working at a car dealership in near-by Cass City and I was selling Home Interiors. It was at a weekly meeting that I met, and quickly become friends with, Ronnie Setla and eventually we got acquainted with her husband Jim and their two children, Kirk and Sadie.

Our life, at that time, was difficult (to say the least) with many many problems (medical and financial). Ronnie became my closest friend and confidante. She was always there to care for the boys whenever I needed her to, and Jim was always handy to fix whatever needed fixing in the parsonage, as Phil was bed-ridden because of his heart problems (he had to have open heart surgery while we were up there to fix a hole that he had been born with and had gotten bigger).

I honestly feel that God had sent Ronnie and Jim our way. They were a huge blessing and we became very close to them and their children. It is hard to believe that almost 25 years have gone by. We moved back down here, had another child (Becky) and much has happened since first meeting them. They lost their daughter in a car accident (she was 18 and would have graduated High School in a few months), their son has married and has two children, our children have grown and we have grand-children. But....for approximately 25 years, Ronnie and I have made the effort to stay connected. Because we have pastored and have had obligations that have kept us "at home" for week-ends, it has been difficult to make time to go there to see them, but every year since we moved back down here, Ronnie has come for a visit at least once a year, and sometimes twice, bringing her grand-children with her. What a wonderful thing to have friends who are friends through "thick and thin".

Well, this week-end Phil and I went to their house for a visit. Phil had been asked to "Fill-in" at a church in Vassar, where we had attended periodically while living in Caro (some more wonderful friends!!), so we took the opportunity to spend some time with Ronnie and Jim. Ronnie had a brain tumor just a year and a half ago, so she is still not able to drive. She is improving at a very impressive rate and we thank God for that.

Our time spent with them was wonderful. I have to say that Jim spoiled us rotten. He insisted on doing the cooking while we were there and he also insisted that I sit in HIS recliner with my feet up as much as possible.

I know this is quite long, and maybe boring to some of you, but the point I'm trying to make (yes, I do have a point) is this: If God has blessed you with friends, do whatever it takes to stay connected. If God has blessed you with family: stay connected. I'm preaching to myself as well. When my friends and family come to visit, do I love them enough to treat them as "royalty"? Would I give them MY favorite chair?

God help us to cherish each other's company and STAY CONNECTED!!!! Love ya!!!! Sue

Keeping Busy!

It has been quite awhile since I have even messed with this here blogging stuff. So, I guess it's high time I tell you something about what I've been up to. I will try to be brief. As some of you know, I can get a bit long-winded.

I have been enjoying our new grandson, Keaton, as well as our two-year-old Emma. I spend just as much time as possible with them, as they grow soooooo fast. I will share these photos of them. We love them and cherish every moment spent with them. Aren't they just the cutest ever?!?

Well, Becky and I had agreed to direct the VBS at the Adrian Lower Light Church. We had a blast planning, preparing and finally sharing what we had planned with a total of 27 children. Not bad for a "little church". Our theme was "Custom Garage". Teaching the children to "Love God and Others". This was a very easy one to plan since Phil works at a Car Dealership. We had access to an aray of parts, parts totes, car parts (which we used for relay games), hub caps (for decoration), and we even used a real "oil pan" (we put Coca-Cola in it to represent "oil" wrote on large warshers parts of scripture and the children had to take the washers out of the "oil" and put them in the correct order). We had lots of fun with this. I hope the children had as much fun as we "Big Kids" did. We had four stations, or as we called them; "Service Centers". There was the "Road Map Service Center" where the Scripture Verse for the day was learned, there was the "Custom Design Service Center" which was the craft area, then outside there was the "Gearshift Games" which is self-explanitory, and finally "The Filling Station", you guessed it! The Snacks! They made "Dream Cars" out of Tweenkies and Oreo Cookies, a "Garage" out of Graham Crackers and Frosting just to name a few. Yum!!! Here are just a few of the pictures that were taken during VBS. God sure blessed, and we had fun!! Isn't God good? Isn't it just a blast to serve Him? I think so. Well, enough for now. This isn't all that we're up to, but I'll have to wait until another time to share more. I don't want to bore you. Hee. Hee.

News!!!

This past few weeks have been packed with much activity. I hardly know where to start, so I'll just.....start. As you can see by the pictures, we now have another grand-child. Tuesday,May 13, 2008 was a very eventful day, full of anticipation. I was scheduled to work at Hobby Lobby, but before I would even think of going in, I called Seth to see if we were going to be welcoming a new baby soon or not. He informed me that it would probably be awhile. Needless to say, I was a bit distracted while working that day. At 6:56 p.m. (I think that's the right time) our grandson made his entrance. We had a feeling that he would be a big boy, but were shocked to hear that he weighed 9 lbs. 14 oz. and measured 22 inches long. Of course, he looked perfect. What a wonderful time we all had (Jordana's family were there, as well as my father and sister and Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruth Anne). It was such a joy to hold him and view the miracle of life.

Thursday was my last day at Hobby Lobby (I'll tell you about that in a minute). Then, on Friday we headed for Cincinnati, Ohio to pack Becky up and move her back home. God's Bible School was in revival and we were able to enjoy God's presence. The messages delivered by Bro. Blake Jones and Bro. Knox Bullock were tremendous. It was, as always, good to hear the choir, and the different groups sing. We came away feeling refreshed.

I had to be back by 3:00 p.m. Monday, as it was my first day of training on my NEW JOB. Yes, I have a new job. I'm am already liking it. I am working at the Centre Cafe, which is located at the Christian Family Center in Adrian. It is brand new and not even open to the public yet. Today I learned how to make the sandwiches. It's sooo much fun making those beautiful sandwiches. The salads are even fun! Tomorrow I get to make the specialty drinks, you know.....the espressos, lattes, etc. (I hope I get to sample every one of them........maybe that's not such a good idea).

Now, in my spare time, we need to find somewhere to put all of Becky's "dorm room". We carried everything in from the van, then we decided to sort everything that is currently in Becky's room first. Needless to say, some areas of our house look a little "un-tidy". I put it this way, "This house looks like it threw up!!" That may be exagerating a bit.....but not much.

Ok....enough! Maybe if I would update a little more often, the post wouldn't be so long!

Bye for now!

Tag, I'm it!

Here we go. As if you don't know enough about me. I've been tagged!

1) What was I doing 10 years ago today?
Iwas frantically preparing for my son Michael's graduation open-house. Can you believe it has been that long?

2)5 things on my to-do list.
Get the laundry done. Clean the house. Wash the bedding in Becky's room. Make Peanut Butter Pie. Go for a walk.

3)Snacks that I enjoy.
Anything chocolate. Popcorn.

4)Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Pay off our house. Buy Phil a pick-up truck. Cook a huge meal everyday and invite lots of people over.

5)3 of my bad habits
Talking too much. Eating too much junk food. Drinking too much coffee.

6)5 places I have lived.
Tecumseh, Mi. Adrian, Mi. Caro, Mi. Tecumseh and Tecumseh

7)5 jobs that I have had
Babysitter. Data Entry Operator (Bohn Aluminum and EDS). Receptionist (Airport/Flight School). Monitor at ACE School. Cashier (Hobby Lobby) But the best job of all is "Wife" and "Mother"

I tag: Beth Williams, Becky Arnold, Ryan Watters, Hannah Avery and Michael Arnold