House #4 (and #20) - Chiswell Run

This house, which was the fourth one I saw on my last trip, caught my eye before but seemed overpriced. It has now come down a little. It is just eight minutes from Blackhawk. It is 20 years old and a main feature it is missing from some less expensive options is that that master bedroom and bathroom are on the main floor of the house. It has 2294 square feet plus 970 square feet in the finished basement. We think the homeowners association has a pool and other facilities but the annual association fees are are a little high at $590.

Here is the house from the backyard . . .
And the view from the back of the house to the backyard, and you can see some of the sidewalks through the neighborhood . . .
This formal dining room is to the right as you enter the front door. It connects to the kitchen but it's a little ways from the kitchen . . .
The stairs . . .
This is the living room with a vaulted ceiling, which connects to the kitchen and a second dining area . . .
This is from the living room and shows the landing on the second floor . . .
Here's the kitchen . . .

This little wet bar is between the kitchen and living room. The informal dining area is to the right . . .
The laundry room is off the kitchen and leads to the garage . . .
The master bedroom, on the main floor at the front of the house . . .

Master bathroom . . .

Upstairs, the second bedroom . . .
The view down onto the living room . . .
The main bathroom, on the second floor. It has only one sink . . .
The third bedroom . . .
The fourth bedroom . . .
The basement . . .
The part of the basement that appears in the picture above is not fully finished. The floor and two of the walls are painted concrete/cement. This is a study in the basement that could easily be a fifth bedroom . . .
A TV area downstairs . . .

Jeannette, because you've seen these photos before and are interested in this house, here are a few more that are just to provide some detail for you. This is a close-up of the kitchen . . .

This shows the little desk built into the informal dining area . . .
There is an attic above the garage, about the size of our current one but more usable. From the perspective of this photo below, there is a door to the side yard right behind the photographer. It's a two-car garage.
This was something that I didn't like . . . just a little detail . . . the finish work on the stairs to the basement isn't quite done or done right . . .
With regard to the basement, I also have some very minor concerns as to whether it might have any moisture or settling problems as these are common to this subdivision. Other than the presence of a dehumidifier, there isn't any evidence of a problem.

Below is the view from the top of the stairs down to the entryway. As you can see, the entry chandelier that is very pretty from underneath is not very attractive from above.

All By Myself

Well, this has been quite a week. At the risk of putting you to sleep, I'll recount it day by day. Because some of you only come here for the Melody photos, I'll give you one now and then you can get on with your day. This is from Sunday and, I assume, will be the last MJ picture on this blog for at least three weeks.

Sunday was my last day at home. We keep trying to do everything we can to sell our home, so Jeannette held an impromptu open house. While she did, I took the boys to see Evan Almighty at the movies. We really enjoyed it a lot. I really liked the first four-fifths or so and the last part was pretty good. I laughed out loud a few times and it was very interesting to see Evan's neighbors mock him as he stood on the ark under a clear blue sky. It felt like it was a good representation of what it really was like for Noah as he worked on the ark in Genesis.

Sunday evening, Jordan and Jeannette dove into a new project to make the house more saleable. They tore out the barbed wire fence that has graced our back yard for seven years. Jeannette's wanted a new fence since the day we moved in so, of course, it's something we work on when it's time to move out, right? We got the fence down and on Monday, after I left town, Jordan, Phillip and Jeannette dug eight post holes and with an assist from Mitch Mueller set the posts. On Tuesday, they got most of the fence built. I'm hoping that Phillip will e-mail me some pictures of the project this week so I can post them here.

Back to Monday . . . I loaded up the Acura late in the morning and headed for Boise, about a 420 mile drive. Driving is no longer "my thing," as Jeannette will attest, so I was quite proud of myself for driving straight through to Burns without stopping, which is probably my longest non-stop drive since we drove out to Oregon from Kentucky. It was a perfect day for hitting the road and I saw some beautiful scenery (though I had to redefine "beautiful" for certain sections of the landscape that seemed to be nothing but sagebrush). I was reminded of my impression back in the late '80s as I traveled frequently through Eastern Washington that the brown hills often looked like folds of crushed velvet dropped on the earth.

I made great time getting to Nampa, even with a 30 minute break in Burns for a gourmet lunch at McDonalds, and arrived at Eric and Kim Forseth's house. Eric is the VP for Enrollment Services and Marketing at Northwest Nazarene and when I had lunch with him at the NACCAP conference in LA, he invited me to spend the night at their house on my way to Fort Wayne. Their house might just be Jeannette's dream home (especially when they finish the basement off this month) and they fed me dinner, fresh brownies and Eric even made me a sack lunch to take with me as I left Tuesday morning. They took good care of me.

After a short night, because I had a million thoughts about starting work at Taylor University Fort Wayne and couldn't get to sleep, I got up Tuesday morning and picked up Jeannette's brother, Jared, for breakfast.

The reason I drove to Boise was so that I could deliver the Acura to Jared. When he heard we were going to sell it, he said that he wanted to buy it. We had a very nice meal at Denny's (French Slam breakfasts all 'round) and then he drove me to the airport in his new rig.

The trip so far was as smooth as possible. Nice weather, nice scenery, nice people . . . easy travel. Boarding my United flight to Chicago, things continued to go pretty well. It was a small plane with typically minimal service (one diet Coke and a bag of peanuts . . . thank you, Eric, for that sack lunch) but I had a row to myself, snoozed a little and felt pretty comfortable . . . and then the pilot mentioned thunderstorms in Chicago.

We flew in circles over Illinois for about an hour but were assured that our connections wouldn't be a problem because while all the flights couldn't land, none were leaving O'Hare either. Then we received word that, in fact, we were going to land in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to refuel. But we were told that we needed to stay on the plane or else we wouldn't be able take off right away when O'Hare gave us the go-ahead. I called United and found out that, actually, my 20 minute flight to South Bend had been cancelled. I learned with my next call that the first available flight supposedly was at 6:30 Wednesday morning, so I reserved a seat. Several calls later, I had established that it appeared I'd be sleeping on the floor of the airport as no hotel rooms were available.

Complicating matters: My chauffeur. My longtime friend, Chant Thompson, the executive director of NACCAP, had foolishly offered to drive from Huntington (more than 90 minutes from South Bend) to South Bend to deliver me to Fort Wayne, another 90 minutes away more from the airport. Naturally, I was feeling pretty awful about inconveniencing him in the first place, let alone adding uncertainty to the whole affair. By the time I called to let him know about the problems, through the miracle of the Internet, he already knew my flight was cancelled and I was rebooked. I probably could have walked to South Bend faster than it was going to take to fly there.

O'Hare was a zoo. Every restaurant had long lines and each customer service desk had lines of people stretching literally a hundred yards or more. People were everywhere. I decided to walk to the gate where my cancelled flight was supposed to have departed from and just kind of play dumb to see what I could find out. The gate agent there mentioned in an off-hand fashion that many people were not showing up for their flights that evening because of the delays and inconvenience so I probably could get on standby. Stand by for what? I'd been told there were no flights until morning. Oh! There's a flight that leaves for South Bend at about 10:45, landing around midnight, and she can put me on the standby list if I'd like. After consulting with Chant, I decided to give it a shot.

I finally ate the chicken sandwich that Eric packed for me, along with a cup of cheese & broccoli soup from Quizno's, and waited for the flight, also scouting out possible spots where I could stretch out for the night if necessary. They started boarding the flight. They started calling names from the standby list. And more names. Finally, I heard mine. As I walked onto the plane, I dialed up Chant. He answered the phone, "We have lift-off?!" Yes, I'm boarding now. He said he was already 45 minutes down the road to get me. A man of faith.

I was able to stretch out with an exit row all to myself for the full 20 minute journey. I made my way to the baggage carousel to wait for my two suitcases . . . and waited. It took longer for the bags to come off the plane than it took to fly from Chicago. Finally, one of my suitcases appeared . . . and then the carousel stopped. Sigh. One bag missing. About fifteen of us made our way to the United counter to file lost luggage reports. Chant had been waiting curbside since shortly after I landed and the clock continued to tick. Finally, after 1:00 AM, we pulled away and headed for Fort Wayne.

There are no Interstates between South Bend and Fort Wayne so it's not the quickest trip, but we used the time well to solve the problems of the world, TUFW and NACCAP. He finally dropped me off at Ramseyer Hall, my home for 25 days about 3:00 in the morning. When I got into my room, I realized that the missing suitcase held my bedding, towels and soap. After unpacking and exploring the dorm a bit, I finally climbed onto my bed--stepping on a dresser to get into the top bunk, because the bottom bunk is more than a litttle claustrophobic--about 4:00 AM.

TUFW is letting me use a school car while I'm here so late Wednesday morning I made a Walmart run to buy an iron, nail clippers, laundry soap, some food, a towel and a bar of soap. Showered and shaved, by 2:30, I was in my first meeting, to discuss advertisement placement for the coming year. Fortunately, my suitcase showed up later that afternoon so I was able to make my bed.

Ramseyer is the newest building and newest residence hall at TUFW. I am in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite that has an unfurnished living area and a kitchenette. Right now, I have it--and the entire building--to myself. It's really very nice but it's also very spartan and empty and quiet. I hear that the dorm will be filled next week with Bible quiz teams and the following week with ballet campers, though, so I'm trying to be grateful for the solitude while it lasts. And, thank goodness, it's air conditioned.

Upstairs, in a lounge area, there is a big flat screen TV on the wall, so I've spent my evenings up there. There's no remote, which is a real hardship, but (again) I'm just trying to be grateful that it's there and available to me, knowing that in a couple of days, it'll probably be tuned to the Cartoon Network at full volume while I hide out in my dorm room listening to ESPN.com.

Since it's late and I'm tired (and you're bored), let me just make a few closing comments . . .

• Man, there are a lot of meetings here. I hope I can find time to do my job in between all of them.
• My initial impression of the folks at TUFW was positive and I'm pleased to report that it appears this impression was a correct one. Great people. I met three of the custodial crew tonight as I came back into my office and they were so friendly and nice, it just made my day.
• The Panda Buffet on State Street is the best Chinese buffet I've ever had. I've never had thirds on string beans. They must have had five shrimp dishes (including a walnut sauce dish that was like eating candy), mussles, stuffed mushrooms, sushi, stir fry, American dishes, soups, salads . . . I had to force myself to stop eating.
• This evening, I attended the closing dinner of the Summer Honors College program, attended by about 50 high schoolers from all over the country and even one from Nigeria. It was very casual but I could tell from what was said that it had been a very successful week both academically and socially. It was nice to walk away from my first TUFW event feeling proud of my new workplace.
• There is a lot of work to do here, not because no one has been trying or working hard in the past but just because there is a lot to do.
• Tomorrow morning I'll be going out to look at homes again. I think we're going to check out about 18, including some I saw on my last trip. So expect a whole bunch of home photos in the next 36 hours (though probably no videos since this "loaner" TUFW computer apparently doesn't have the latest version of Flash that I need to have).
• It's gonna be a long three weeks . . . hope time doesn't drag too much . . . and that Jeannette doesn't lose her mind trying to be single parent to four kids.

Rethinking a Few Things

Rethink #1

Last night, we went over to Paul and Beth Lyman's for dinner. They were very instrumental in our decision to adopt MelodyJoy and we were in China together last year to get our daughters. My previous post here was about how brilliant Melody is and how vast her vocabulary is. Last night, Sophie straightened me out on that point. Wow, is she articulate! So that leads me to one of three conclusions . . . [1] Melody really isn't all that brilliant; [2] Sophie is extremely brilliant; or [3] a couple of months age difference at this stage of the game must be significant and Melody is really going to blow me away in a couple of months.

Sorry, no photos of the two girls . . . Sophie got bit by a mosquito yesterday and so one eye was swollen up. Her publicist requested "no photos" at the gala.

Rethink #2

Back in 1995, when I had just started at Asbury College, one of my prospective students told me that her step-father was reluctant to let her choose Asbury, asking, "What can you do with a degree from there?" So I started collecting examples of outstanding Asbury alumni. Six or seven years ago, I expanded this and began tracking notable alums from all sorts of evangelical colleges. My list now is 33 pages long!

In forming this list, I have always been pretty limited in my focus, meaning that I'm interested in jobs that are "secular." It wasn't that I thought ministry-related careers had less value but rather that I thought it was important to demonstrate to those outside "the Church" that Christian colleges can produce successful alumni. Just to name a few:

• Linda Maricle, a 1969 graduate of my new employer, Taylor University Fort Wayne, is the executive director of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, a not-for-profit organization fighting breast cancer.
  
• Ted Strickland (Asbury College '63) was elected governor of Ohio in 2006.
  
• After suffering a life-threatening injury that resulted in an intracranial brain hemorrhage and a partial hearing loss, Joyce Bender (Geneva College, ’75) launched Bender Consulting Services, Inc., a for-profit company that places computer experts—most of whom are people with disabilities—for on-site work with clients. For her years of service to professionals with disabilities, Bender was honored by President Clinton with the 1999 President’s Award, the nation’s highest award for achievement in furthering the employment and empowerment of people with disabilities.
  
• Trinity International University's 1973 grad, Tim Simonec, who has written music for more 40 movies and television shows, including Happy Days. He also has orchestrated the soundtracks for TV and movies, including Alias, Lost, The Incredibles and Mission Impossible 3.
  
• Scott Derrickson, a 1989 Biola University graduate, co-wrote and directed the 2005 movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

The collection is pretty impressive (and kind of a strange hobby to have). My intent in targeting those in secular careers was never to devalue those in full-time Christian service, obviously. It really was just to make a point (particularly aimed at those who probably wouldn't care about anything except the worlds of business, entertainment, politics and so on) about the value and viability of Christian higher education. A little while ago, I read an article that reminded me that those who dedicate their lives to Christian service are indeed doing something as important or more important than those in government or who lead large companies or who have achieved fame.

The article was entitled "My Way of Escape" in Message, the magazine of the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism. It was by Shoko, a young lady in Japan. She writes, "I was involved in many distressing situations and had been lied to so many times that I was emotionally exhausted. Antidepressants and sleeping pills helped me get by. I had no dreams, no hope, and no light in my life. I couldn’t trust anyone and couldn’t even laugh anymore. One day I cried out, 'I don’t want this struggle anymore! I don’t want the pain!' With that, I decided there was no better time than on my birthday, July 15, 2002, to commit suicide."

She goes on to describe a series of "coincidences" that kept her from taking her life time and time again. Eventually, Natalie Beck, a missionary and graduate of my alma mater, Corban College, invited her to a Bible study. She writes, "I cringed at first, but since I was constantly looking for new insights to my problems, I thought a Bible study might actually be a positive thing in my life. Throughout the study, Natalie explained that I am a sinner and that Jesus gave His life for me. She asked me if I wanted to believe. It took awhile, but I finally answered, 'Yes, I believe,' and an unusual peace swept over me and made my heart at rest."

Shoko goes on to say, "I felt like a puppet whose strings were finally cut. I kept asking Natalie, 'Are you sure my sins are forgiven?' She would answer, 'All of your sins are forgiven and today is your new birthday.' Even when I chose death, God was working through my friends to save me."

Natalie isn't a world class opera singer or a wealthy entrepreneur. She's a missionary, unknown to most. But if she wasn't doing what she's doing, laboring in Japan, where would Shoko be today? And is there anything more important than the work that she is doing?

To read the whole article, go to: http://message.abwe.org/vol55no01/My-Way-of-Escape.html

Rethink #3

Today, Aaron and Kim Knapp drove away from Klamath Falls, bound for Mexico with their two young sons. Aaron was the interim youth pastor at our church this past year and very impactful in Jordan's and Phillip's lives. They are an amazing couple. When they get to Mexico, they will spend about 18 months mastering Spanish and then will move into a tribal village, living in the mountains with an indigenous people who have no written language and little knowledge of the outside world. They will spend four to six years there mastering this language and putting it into written form, then teaching the people to read. They'll also help them learn new ways of earning a living, provide basic medical care, etc.

As we prepare for our move to Indiana, we think it's a huge step (and so do others). What we're doing is nothing compared to what the Knapps are moving on to. We will have a comfortable house, a nice job, a good school for our kids and be only 2200 miles from our roots. They are stepping off the precipice, doing what they believe God has called them to do, while knowing it will be years before they will see any results from their efforts.

Rethink #4

Less than 36 hours from now, I'll be leaving for Boise and then on to Indiana. I've traveled a lot over the last 23 years and even came out here for several weeks before bringing the family out to join me. For some reason, I think this is going to be different. I'm looking forward to getting started on my new job but I am not looking forward to three and a half weeks away from the family.

Today we spent most of the day emptying out about half of our garage, moving several dozen boxes and other items into a storage unit (thank you, Jamey and Laura, for the truck!) so that the garage isn't so cluttered and Jeannette painted one wall of our bedroom. Sooner or later, this place is gonna sell! Sooner rather than later, I hope. I know a lot of you are praying for us on this and we thank you!

Words of Wisdom, or something

Over the last few days, it really has hit me how articulate MelodyJoy is. Naturally, she is brilliant, right? Anyway, I took a little while to try to write down her vocabulary. I know I captured only a small portion--perhaps 70 words and phrases--of her repertoire but it was still pretty interesting. There are the obvious ones: mommy, kiss and (of course) no. She calls Jordan "Dord." She can say Eeyore.
She also has many phrases . . . "I do it." "There you go." "See you later." "You okay?" My favorite: "Belly butt" (belly button).

And, of course, you wouldn't expect anything less than this from our princess: "Ta-dah!!"

This may very well be my last post for awhile . . . we'll see. I enjoy updating the blog but the next week or more is a bit uncertain for me. Soon I'll be computerless, to coin a word, as I make the move to Fort Wayne. In the next day or so, I'll return "my baby," worn out keys at all, to OIT. I'm hoping that when I get to Taylor, they have a computer waiting for me but who knows. It probably boils down to how fast Gateway got it shipped off.

Sunriver Continued

Today was a very relaxing day, though I don't have much to show for it photographically. This morning we went to the Fort Rock park here, where they have tennis courts and ball fields. We spent a half hour or so at the playground there, which included the coolest playground merry-go-round I've seen. Jameson stayed posted in the top of the merry-go-round for quite awhile while Jordan and Jeannette kept it spinning. He stayed there long enough that he was in dire need of a quiet place to rest and recover afterwards, so we just chilled out on a park bench.
MelodyJoy was reluctant to do the slides at first but pretty soon she got the hang of it and was flying solo with glee.

Our condo is 52 Wildflower, not too far from the lodge and main entrance. Here are some photos from the website.


We rented a couple of bikes and Jordan and Phillip cruised all around the resort this afternoon. We also all went to the swimming pool for an hour or so; it was perfect weather. Before dinner, Jordan and I went up to the golf course and played a round on the putting course. I was devastated when he actually beat me by a couple or three strokes. After dinner, Jeannette and I took a bike ride and now Jeannette and Jameson are off to the observatory to do some stargazing.

The High Desert Museum

Since I'll be leaving for Indiana next week, we thought it would be good to have a quick family get-away so with the help of a gift certificate from Laura and Jamey, we headed for Sunriver resort today. Before getting to our condo, though, we stopped at The High Desert Museum just south of Bend. Jeannette, Jordan and Phillip had been there before, but not the rest of us. We had an extremely pleasant 2+ hours strolling through the museum and its outdoor displays. It's a very nice museum, the weather was perfect for it today and I was surprised at how diverse the exhibits were.

There was a lot of information about wildlife and Melody got her first close-up view of some salmon . . .


I'm not sure what this was supposed to be since it was set next to some archaeological stuff, but we decided it was just a big spider web . . .


There was quite a bit of information and displays about the early settlers, Indians, miners and timber workers . . .

MelodyJoy got to experience firsthand an old-fashioned outhouse . . .


The highlight of the tour for me probably was the display of a golden eagle and two American bald eagles. What amazing, huge birds. It was also interesting to get an up-close look at a northern spotted owl and see it rotate its head all the way around. I've read about it often but never observed it myself.