Turning the page to 2013

I am trying to write a little more frequently. Life is busy. That is my constant. I keep thinking it is going to calm down, but I am wrong. As we speak, I am in over my head in a few different areas. First, we are finally going to replace the upstairs carpet. It is something I have been wanting to do for years. Everytime we think about it, I just can't justify spending the money. With three in college, we just couldn't consider it. But our carpet is getting so grose that I can hardly handle it. Call me a wimp.... especially after reading the conditions of the people Erin is around right now. We can wait. I know we can. In fact, I am almost certain that we should... but my amazing husband is insistent that we do it now. So, we have begun the process. We haven't ordered it yet, that is an overwhelming task. We finally chose the carpet, had them come measure it, but as soon as they gave us the estimate I turned and ran. I just couldn't stomach it. The unfortunate part is that we had tore our bedroom completely up. We literally stripped the ceiling of that tacky decorative mudding. That was a JOB!! Oh what a mess that made. It took Mark 3 days to complete it so that it was ready to paint. In the meantime, our whole house got destroyed. Once it was done, we had to paint. So I took over that job and painted the ceiling and all the walls. We didn't worry about the carpet because we knew we would be replacing it. Now that I am trying to run from the price, I am faced with the fact that we HAVE to replace our carpet no matter what. In addition to that, we now need to replace the bedspread and curtains... all things that I never thought out before doing this. And because of painting our room, I am now needing to paint stairs and hallways and our bathroom. That is the major project going on. But add to this craziness, Emily's wedding is in 2 1/2 months. In addition to that, I am the VBS director for a VBS that anticipates 140 kids in attendance! That VBS is only 3 weeks after Emily's wedding. It is a MAJOR undertaking. So... I can safely say... I am a bit overwhelmed. But, it is not the first time in my life that my life is so crazy that I feel a bit suffocated. Switching topics, we have heard from Erin. It is amazing what God is doing in her life. It is a bit harder on me only because I can't hear from her very often. We heard from her Monday and then didn't hear again until yesterday. She doesn't have internet access very easily. she is doing great and really growing. Sam just got back to campus after a road trip to Florida with CBF (Campus Bible Fellowship) He had an amazing week. We missed out on seeing him, but his experience was far greater. Jacob just had his wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday. He took his SAT test today. Emily is in NYC and having a great time. She made one last road trip with her "girl" friends. I am so glad she had the opportunity to go. She got to visit BBC. I think she was very happy to make a visit there.