Action.

Order of the day?!? Granite countertops!

The weather was FRIGID and the guys

kept the garage doors and house doors

open tonight as they were running

EVERYWHERE working on granite slabs

and plopping them in their spots!!

The granite turned out better than

I ever imagined . . . Each of them look great!

It seems like so long ago when we picked

them out! I am thrilled that they look

so be-a-u-tiful!!

I just had to "sneak" a sink in one of the

bathrooms for a quick peak . . .

This piece is for the cooktop . . .

Woot! Woot! for long kitchen counters!

The slabs will get back splashes, polished,

and sealed tomorrow . . .

As mentioned, the home stretch is looking

pretty.darn.great!

We Heart Faith.

Oh, how we love, love, love Faith! She

is Dr. MacIntosh's oncology nurse. She

is funny, sweet, lovable, smart,

reassuring, kind, gentle, and most

of all encouraging. Faith calls just to

see how we are doing. Says just the

right thing at the right time. Takes ALL

of the time in the world for our office

visits. Calls back within moments of

leaving a message. Faith is a wonderful

nurse and truly has met her calling. We

are so thankful that Dr. Hummer found

Dr. MacIntosh and Faith. They are

wonderful doctors and we know that

we could not be in better hands. We

are already praying for our PET/CT Scan

that will take place on March 7. Until that

time we are working hard to build up to

the levels of chemotherapy treatment that

we need to be taking. Monthly blood levels

are wonderful . . . I love knowing what is

going on at all moments!! (Does that

surprise anyone!!)

The Home Stretch.

After nearly a year of literally blood, sweat, and

tears, the house project is truly in the final

stages. We will be obtaining our Certificate

of Occupancy next week. After that there will

be a long pick-up list of items that must be

done, but it will be a huge relief to have the

C of O. During the next five days, the

elves must:

*finish the electrical

*install the countertops

*set the sinks

*put on a front door that is to code

*install a vent for the cooktop

*install the appliances

I am certain that it will be a photo

finish, but we are excited and

anticipating that the inspector will

be pleased as punch and issue the

necessary documents. There will

still be plenty to do over the next

several weeks, but we are excited

just the same!!!

Update on Dads.

We are excited that our Dad has been

done with radiation for nearly two

weeks!!! We have had recent blood work

and have an appointment with our

oncologist on Friday morning to discuss

the results and to monitor the current

levels of the chemotherapy. Mike

looks great and is working hard to

build up to larger doses of chemotherapy.

It is great to have him home all of the

time and we are looking forward to

being settled and rejuvenated!! We

were scheduled to have a PET/CT

Scan this week, but it has been

rescheduled for the beginning of March.

After having radiation, the doctors

advised waiting at least two months

for the scan as they can read a "false

positive" due to the areas that were

radiated. If there is one thing that I

do not like, it is most definitely,

"false positives"!! We continue to pray

and thank the Lord that Mike is doing

so well and pray that the medications

will not make him as sick and tired in

the coming weeks. We are super positive

and thankful for our many, many blessings!!

My Two Helpers.

Julio and Felipe are brothers! They have

been work, work, working on our house

and are the BESTEST workers EVER.

I love them and have grown super fond

of their work ethic and their commitment

to a looooooong project. We truly have

become friends! They laugh at my

jokes, teach me Spanish, and laugh

at my Spanglish. One of the highlights

of our house project is these two . . .

I am impressed and thankful that I have

had the chance to meet and work with

them!! I will miss them. The house

project, no so much!!

Gimme a "D".

Reading takes place during eating, showering,

praying, laundry, driving and sleeping. I am busily

preparing my dissertation proposal. The

literature review portion of the proposal must

be at least a million pages long. Needless to say,

there aren't many spare moments. I am learning

much about those amazing transformational

leaders in turnaround schools. Goodness,

I guess that it why that call it a dissertation,

there is a TON of information to discern for

certain and I will be busy gathering my own

as soon as my proposal and Scientific Merit

Review form is accepted along with the

Institutional Review Board application.

When house building is done and my

dissertation is complete . . . What is a

girl to do with herself??

Happy Sunday!

Chocolate chips are a HUGE part of

our family Sundays! You can always

tell when it is Sunday, the chocolate

chips, butter, flour, sugar, eggs and

all other yummy ingredients to make

chocolate chippers come out!! Sometimes

we just eat the dough right out of the

bowl and forget out baking the

cookies . . .

Happy.family.Sundays.

I.heart.them.