Tour for a Cure

A few friends of mine from Hope are doing a 4,000 mile cross country bike tour in order to raise money for the American Lung Association. They started in Oregon about 50 miles away from the coast and are currently in Great Falls, Montana. They are looking to have people sponsor each mile of their trip at $50 per mile. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to the American Lung Association for research purposes. If you know anyone who has been affected with lung disease including cancer, asthma, emphysema, etc., this is a great way to help out. I have a link to their blog on the side bar and I encourage you to learn more about their trip. They have just completed their first 1,000 miles! Keep up the great work Autumn and Jenny!

Much has happened

Within the past week, school has ended, I accepted a choral position in a new district, I have said a tough goodbye to my students and fellow teachers, Chris and Marley visited us in Cleveland, and I have traveled to Chicago to visit family and friends and I got to spend Father's Day with my dad. Its been great! So many exciting changes have come our way and its been so nice to share those with my family and friends that I have known for more than half my life. I have plenty of pictures to share, just not a way to download those here in Chicago. I will be traveling on I-90 for the next two days, first for a quick stop at home and then on to Syracuse for Chris's high school graduation. Hooray for being free to travel and visit...I couldn't be happier!

Thoughts on owning a home

Kyle and I are coming up on our one year anniversary as official home owners. We chose our house not only for its location but also because it was in "move in condition." Before we bought the house, we had the home inspector come and check it out and it passed with flying colors. We thought it wouldn't need much work or repairs. It was true that it needed maybe a new coat of paint in one room, but the rest seemed perfect.

Over the past year, we have replaced the fan and motor on the furnace. As I sit here writing this post, we currently have two plumbers, two trucks and a HUGE roto-rooter blowing raw sewage out of the basement. Kyle and I knew something bad was going on when we noticed one pipe in the basement with water coming up and out the pipe onto the floor. We thought it might have been extra water from the air conditioner since we turned it on for the first time this week. Unfortunately, we were very wrong. I was in the shower this moring with shampoo all over my hair when Kyle came running up the stairs telling me to turn off the water because sewage was coming out of the pipe into the basement. Luckily, we had the plumber here within the hour but this project is going to be much more costly than we anticipated. Oh the joys of home ownership. While eating sandwiches today while the roto-rooter was noisily growling the basement, I said to Kyle, "Happy Anniversary!"

Two years married!

This past Tuesday was our two year anniversary while Monday was my parents' 35th anniversary. As you can see from the post below, we celebrated last weekend at the Indy 500. On our actual anniversary, I had a choir and band concert that evening and didn't get home until 9:00. I am so thankful for Kyle and I love him more everyday.