House Project II

As I mentioned in an earlier post, for the last several weeks, Ben has been working very hard on a new venture - our little flip house. We are doing almost everything ourselves. (Well, Ben is doing most everything and I am helping when I can get over there.) Here is a photo of the house before we actually purchased it.

Ben has taken many photos and you can check them out at the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/benjamin.lamborn/Bainbridge#

We basically gutted the thing and we are redoing both baths, and the kitchen. We are also painting and tiling, and updating the fixtures and all the little things that people like.

My family has been helping when they can and Ben's parents are coming down to lend a hand this next week. We are very grateful for all the help we have received.

Whirlwind Weekend

This past weekend was a whirlwind. It flew by quicker then I ever would have imagined possible.

Friday afternoon, I picked Ben up at the Amtrak station, and for the second time that I am aware of the train was on time. (We have discovered that the train is a inexpensive, and relaxing way for Ben to get across the state.) We had to quickly get ready for Aaron (Raul) and Sarah's engagement party at the Happl Home. Ben had a great time reconnecting with friends that he had not seen in a few weeks.

Saturday morning we headed over to David and Kerri's to help them load their POD. When we first got there I think everyone greatly questions if their entire town home would fit inside the POD. By a miracle of God and very strategic packing we were able to help them get everything they wanted into the POD. That thing is really amazing, it fit much more then you think it will. We ate lunch there and hung out for a bit. Then my amazing husband took me shopping for some new dressy pants. After just 3 stores we found some that was just what I was looking for. We quickly put them on hold so we could run to the movies. (Ben's choice -- time for him to relax -- I was being a good wife then). After the movies, we met up with friends to celebrate Sara's birthday at Yard House. It was another great time to fellowship with friends.

Sunday morning was church and somehow we slept until 10:20, church starts at 11. YIKES!!! We did make it. After a great message, we headed to Bob and Dawn's place for some lunch and more hang out time. Then back to the mall to get the pants that we had put on hold. Finally, some down time at our house and some basic homeowner work. like removing the rest of hurricane shutters that I had put up several days/weeks before. We ended the day with goodbye dessert with D & K.

As I mentioned it was a whirlwind weekend. I took Ben back to the train station on Monday morning and he is back working on the house of the rest of this week.

Small Group / Life Group

Ben and I have have been hosting a small group at our house for a long time. I think we started in January of 2007. Anyway, we have had a great time opening our house up to people who want to fellowship and grow deeper in their walk with the Lord. We just started our most recent study, we are now doing "In the Grip of Grace. We just had the first week of this lesson and we are already enjoying it. I am really grateful for all the people who come and participate in the group. Last night we took a group picture. It was the very last week that David and Kerri were able to join us before they moved to PA.

We are sad to have David and Kerri and Ellie move away, but we are happy for them as they begin a new chapter of their lives. I am very grateful that they did live in PBG for the last year plus. It was so fun to get to know them and hang out together. Thankfully, they are family and we know we have not seen the last of them yet.

House Project

Well, for the last month plus Ben and I have been working on a house that we purchased with the intention of flipping or renting. We would really like to flip it, however, we are aware that the market is not what it used to be, so if we need to rent it that is fine too.

God blessed us with a great deal on a little 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath house in Holiday, FL. God's timing it really great cause Ben had just left his job and this opened up a new opportunity for him to work on this house. The sad thing is the house is in Holiday, which is about 250 miles from our home. Ben had been working from the west coast of FL since Aug 15th. Thankfully, the house is only about 15 minutes from my parents place and Ben can stay in their guest room. I go over on the weekends and he has come here 2 weekends since he started. I sure do miss him though. It has been a very long 5 1/2 weeks. I get to see him this weekend when I head over that way.

In the next post, I will include some pictures and give you an update on the progress.

First Post

Well, it seems that everyone else is doing it so I thought we would jump on the bandwagon and get a blog going. When I tried to come up with the name "benandcara" is was unavailable. So I sent out on the hunt to see who in the world had the name "benandcara". I wanted it and I was going to try to negotiate to get it. Well, it seems that Ben had started a blog almost 2 years ago but then never did anything with it. He saved our name. He is so good. So I signed onto his account to get it set up and enter the first post. So now we will see if we can keep this thing up.