Michael & Liz are Bloggable

I think the first year of our marriage has been a very fun one with lots of changes. We bought a house, we moved in together(I don't consider the two months before the wedding, living in different rooms, to be the same as "moving in together"), we got Daisy in September, and we have gone on a lot of trips from Hilton Head to Colorado. Well this summer is going to be another HUGE change for us. I am not going to be able to fool anyone by saying that Liz and I are going to have a child this summer, especially when you look at the title of this blog entry. But what we are doing is participating in a program called Children of Chernobyl. I'll start from the beginning.

I think it is very easy in church to approach activities and events with a mediocre attitude of "oh that's interesting, but no thank you". Lately I have been trying very hard to pinpoint things that Liz and I can participate in because I don't think we feel ready to jump all the way into something in depth like small groups. We aren't as open about discussing religion as I think people who attend church usually are. We both know how we feel and don't feel comfortable sharing just yet. Maybe someday we'll take the plunge, but it's also not too terribly encouraging when inviting us they say (and this is not a joke) "You should come out because there are a lot of people you're same age... like 40's..." Last time we checked, that wasn't quite "our age". Not that there is anything wrong with being 40!! :)

Well back to the story... we have been looking for ways to participate. So about two months ago we were sitting in church and someone gets up to speak about their experience with the program called Children of Chernobyl. They hosted an 8 year old boy from Belarus who had been living in the Chernobyl area. He came over for 6 weeks during the summer and stayed with them while he received treatment for the medical issues he had because of where he grew up. The treatment included dental care, general physician care, and anything else that he needed taken care of, it was all done for free. Of course while he was here he was also having fun participating in summer camps, going to the beach and pool, and enjoying the awesomeness that is Raleigh/Durham. Due to the vast difference between our environment of living and theirs, just coming here for 6 weeks of fun is medical care in itself. The food they are allowed to eat is minimal due to the contamination. They aren't allowed eating any form of dairy in Chernobyl not to mention a bunch of other foods. They have to be explicitly told to eat when they come here because they aren't sure if any food is safe. Life is much more difficult for them so to come here for 6 weeks is a dream come true. Well after participating now for a few summers, they are once again waiting for their boy to come back to the U.S for another 6 week stint and couldn't be more excited about it.

After hearing her story and her statements, I think what struck me the most was the notion that I felt the exact same way she did when hearing about the program. That is, starting to list ways in which it wasn't for us. They don't speak english, we can't take care of them because of work, we don't have children so they'd be bored. All of our reasons why I wouldn't want to do it were the same. Why not though? What the heck? The worst that could happen is that the child has a miserable time, is not interested in getting to know us, and we have 6 weeks of uncomfortable silence followed by a remorseless goodbye. Even in the worst situation, we just helped a child become healthier and slightly happier. We just learned a little more about patience and little more about each other. Even the worst case scenario falls just short of the best case scenario. We're hoping to have a lot of fun with our child, and to enjoy their surprise at all the American life has to offer. We want to make them laugh and smile during a 6 week, once in a lifetime, opportunity. And maybe next summer like all the families who participate in the program, we can also bring our child back for consecutive summers and continue this for a few years to come.

So after thinking about it throughout that service and realizing that it does sound like an awesome thing to be a part of, I looked at Liz and said "How cool would that be?" and Liz responded "Are you serious? I mean I agree, but I didn't imagine that you'd want to do it."

We then did a lot discussing amongst ourselves after that service and decided to pursue it and were eventually accepted as a host family. So after talking it over with the program coordinator, we have decided to host an 8 year old girl. We don't know any other information other than that but we will find out more around May. They will be arriving late June and leaving early August. One thing that will be exciting between now and then, is we get to send pictures and a letter to our child to tell them how excited we are for them to visit, and also to put their mind at ease about where they are going. I can't imagine an 8 year old getting up and going to the other side of the world without a little fear. Not to mention, how their parents are going to feel about the whole experience. But we have no doubt that we'll give this girl the best summer of her life and do everything we can to help her out.

So look for lots of pictures and information as the summer approaches on what our experience is like with our child. We already have a beach weekend planned for July 4th with Jon, Julie, and Dewey so that should be a blast because I am sure our child has never seen a beach before.

It will be nice when May comes around and we will know her name, rather than calling her "our child".

If anyone wants to check out more information about the program, here is the link and then click on "summer respite":
http://www.cofcnc.org

I'm sure everyone has their idea of what a perfect Saturday is. Well today, in my opinion, I had the perfect Saturday. I am going to outline exactly what I did. It had everything. Also, you should know that the temperature today was a perfect 72 degrees and we had the windows open all day and Daisy has barely moved from the deck where she loves to lay in the sun. Here is what I did:

• Woke up at 8AM not feeling tired. Put on some sweatpants and a sweatshirt and came downstairs and fed Daisy.
• I sat down and checked some work stuff that didn't turn out to be a problem and watched a little news and sportscenter
• Opened up my book called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and read 20 pages.
  
• Liz went to the farmers market, so I finished the last hour of the James Bond movie "Thunderball" I had been watching the night before.
  
• Then watched the entire James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice".
• Went outside and mowed the lawn, raked the leaves in the backyard, and did some random clean up around the yard.
  
• Liz and I went to Target just to return some things and browse.
  
• Duke lost to Bob Huggins' West Virginia squad. Hopefully Xavier wins so Huggins can beat them too.
  
• Took a shower
  
• Moved the grill down to the patio where it will stay and started the grill with coals and lighter fluid.
  
• We then grilled our very first "grass-fed beef" london broil on the grill that we bought at Whole Foods along with a 1/2 lb. of shrimp and we also had corn with dinner.
  
• It was slightly over cooked at medium well but it was still very delicious and good to know that it was good for us and the right thing to do.
  
• I had a beer with dinner and now another one while watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with all the windows open, a perfect breeze floating through the room, with the sun going down in the distance.
  
• To end the perfect Saturday, I think I will do some more reading, watch some nick at nite (hopefully Home Improvement), and go to bed without any agenda tomorrow except for an Easter Sunday Asbury UMC service and lots of fun with Jon, Julie, and Dewey.
  

Is this not the dumbest poll you have ever seen?


Noooooo.... what it means is that three-quarters of Americans believe news coverage to be true. It also means one-quarter of Americans don't watch or don't believe news coverage to be the truth. I'm sure they asked only the most qualified economic experts in this poll.

100% of polls are dumb.

So this past week we went out to Colorado to visit Liz's brother's family. You may recognize their blog link on the right, they are Scott, Hillary, Brynn and Callie. It is not often that you come back from vacation feeling like you were just on vacation. If it's not one thing then it's another with trying to get back and into the swing of things where you live. I certainly could have had that feeling since the past 3 days I have been working non-stop but our trip to Colorado was awesome. So relaxing and enjoyable it felt like we were there for a couple weeks. Let me highlight a few of the... highlights.

When we got out there we all headed to Copper, Colorado where we went skiiing. I thought the rumors about Colorado were garbage that the ski slopes were harder out there than they were on the east coast. But boy were the rumors true. All the east coast slopes are nothing compared to the steepness of the Colorado slopes. The east coast green slopes are bunny slopes in Colorado. The east coast black and blue slopes are green in Colorado. And green is as far as I went while skiing. Liz and I both complained of leg pain because we aren't experienced skiers, but I wouldn't change the pain for anything. It was so much fun and is certainly something we will do again in the future.

Some of the other places we visited were local Colorado Springs tourist attractions like Garden of the Gods and the USA Olympic Training Center. The Garden of the Gods is a unique rock formation that is much different than the surrounding environment. It must have been formed by glaciers. That's my explanation for anything weird in nature by the way. If it's a weird rock formation, it's because of glaciers. It was nice to get out and see it though. The Training Center was a fun afternoon activity we did. Believe it or not, that center is only for summer sports and not winter. My impression of what we'd find is one massive building with ski slopes inside where the skiers practice. I was sorely mistaken but not disappointed. It was cool to see how our athletes prepare and the technology they employ. But if the American athletes stink it up in August in Beijing, I'm going to yell at the TV and say "I didn't see you in the Spring, you should have been training harder!".

There were two more items I'd like to highlight as .... highlights of our trip.

First, I think both Liz and I agree that we got to know Scott and Hillary's family a lot better. We really look up to them as parents and people and it was really nice to sit back and listen and be a part of the family for a week. It was fun to see how Scott played with the kids during Callie's party and how Hillary would just simply turn around and already have 4 homemade hot dog buns baked and ready to eat. The kids are of course so much fun (we will not discuss times when they have to put on shoes or go to bed, but even then it's hard not to laugh) and I don't think we would have ever gotten tired of their giggling, funny anecdotes, and game playing. And all those things are just an ounce of what we enjoyed about the trip and hanging out with the family. When planning our trip Callie told me that she didn't want me to come. I think it's safe to say though that she definitely didn't want us to go. Hopefully we can continue some yearly visits.

The other highlight of the trip, as lame as this is, was the reading. I am not a reader. When I was growing up, I would act like I was reading just so that I wouldn't have to actually read. The last book I read was Prince Caspian in the Fall of 2005. When we started the trip to Colorado that was the book I picked back up. After finishing it, I started reading a Hillary recommended book called "The Omnivore's Dilemma". Boy was it eye opening. It was just disgusting to read about the care that is taken in respect to America's food and how our meat and national crop is grown. Now why is reading that book a good thing or even a highlight of our trip? Because I think it's really changed the way Liz and I look at food and how we are going to eat in the future. Let's just say we've already been to Whole Foods, thrown away food from our fridge and pantry, and have bought local grass-fed beef from Yanceyville, NC. I'll probably continue to blog about how that new diet is going... so far it's surprisingly going well.

Here are a few of our favorite pictures and then a photo album of them all at the bottom:

So when we bought our house last year, the previous owner had these stones piled up in a circle as if it was some sort of bonfire area. I took those stones and piled them in the corner ever since. That is where they lay until last weekend. I decided to take apart the stairs and install a new stone patio in the backyard.

Well I then proceeded to take the stairs apart and found that that was worth the whole project right there. I found the stringers to be in shambles and you could literally pull the corners of the stringers off. They were in bad shape so I threw the wood away and would build new stairs as well.

This is the only decent picture of our backyard before the whole deck and patio project. This is from when we bought the house.


So that's where I started. And these are the pictures of the process. I didn't take one during the digging, but you get the point. Here is the timeline:

Finished the gravel laying:

...not yet... ...not yet...

Then laid the sand down for the stone to sink into.... You probably can't see it too well, but I laid dirt down where the wood was and then just used two boards to keep the structure.

Then lay the stones. This looks like a quick step, but it was a pain in the butt trying to make the jigsaw puzzle fit together. It was far less fun than I thought it would be. Also, as I was laying the stones I noticed they all would shift left, right, up, and down if I stepped on them. This was very concerning but I kept going trusting that they would settle and solidify with some crushed stone.
The finished patio with new soil laid around it and sand swept into the cracks of the stones. The last two steps now is to pour the crushed stone in and rebuild the stairs.

Cut the stringers... this was a bit more complicated than I thought it would be. You have to get the stair angle just right so that the stairs are level and also calculate the number of stairs based on the height from the ground.

Install the stringers... Also not as easy as it looks. They have to be braced at the top by the deck (obviously), but I also wanted them to be braced together at the bottom by a 2x4 so that they remain parallel and to add to the stability. You can barely see the 2x4, but it's there at the bottom.

Then install the steps on top.
Daisy's first attempt at the stairs.

This is Daisy's look of "Hey Come On! Let's Go! Chase me!" As you can see the stone has changed color, that's because right before putting the stairs in, I laid down the crushed stone. It was so dusty that it turned all the rocks grey. Once it rains, the crushed stone will harden in the cracks and the patio will go back to it's natural color.

I finished the project on Sunday and now it's Tuesday and it is about to storm outside so this picture is kind of crappy, but I thought I would show the finished product. Here it is:

Now the only thing left to do is put in the railings.