Great! Now that I know non-American residents are reading this ...

... I guess I will continue to blog. (Little add for my cousin Aaron with a great blog ... aaronorear.com ... who resides in Canada//also for David who is a friend of Fletch's from Australia//and Lalayena who also is a friend of Fletch's from Australia). Thanks for the comments friends. AMERICAN RESIDENTS ... GET ON THE BALL. ;)

Hmmm ... what can I write about today? It is FINALLY cooling off in our neck of woods. It's been in the upper 80's/lower 90's for about a month now. Not very common for Colorado Springs. I think it's going to get down to 58 degrees tonight. Woo-hoo!!! We have the air off!!!

Our friend, and Fletch's guitar student, Chris has been back yet again working on our theatre room. He is such a trooper ... even though he HATES working with materials involved in building a wall!!! We plan on blessing him and his wife (who is an ex-coworker of Melissa's from Ellicott School District) with a fun evening out.

We are planning our fall getaway. We plan on flying out to Las Vegas then driving to California for some guitar shopping, whale show watching and beach picnicking vacation time. :) When we return, we plan on having TONS O' VISITORS come see our new home. If you are planning on visiting, let us know SOON because we will have Fletch's mentor and his wife and son staying with us at that time as well. We have plenty of room ... or our neighbor/friend (the Olympic athlete) could put guests up as well.

Enough rambling for tonight. I need to make some macaroni and cheese for dinner. Fletch is at rehearsal for our church's Concert of Praise tomorrow night. Included is a picture of the worship team on Mother's Day. I will try to remember to take the camera and get a better picture tomorrow night!

Hello? Is anybody reading this???

My blog for the evening is my thoughts on whether or not anyone is reading these blogs. If you are, please send a comment so I know you're out there! ;)



In the meantime, enjoy a photo of the next stage of the theatre room, one of our guest bedrooms and a very cute picture of the boys!

We love our boys

Here are some cute pictures of our babies. We love our cats soooo much!!! They are very friendly and love people, so if you are allergic to cats and come visit us, please let us know! Otherwise they will come sit next to you and will have a chat as long as you give them attention. Lars is the black cat that we've had since November 14, 2004. Simba is actually our 3rd cat (replaced our sick kitten, Rafiki, that we put to sleep November 27, 2005 ... see 1st post in July) who has been with us since November 29, 2005. Lars is very soft and is a purebred (you can tell by the tips on top of his ears); Simba is the talkative one. He even talks to Melissa when Fletch puts the phone to Simba while she is at work!!! Very cute!!! These pictures were taken within the last 3 days. Enjoy!!!

Update

Sorry for the lack of communication!!! Melissa is almost finished with week #2 at school and is loving it!!! Once we find the charger/adapter to download pictures, we'll post some pictures!!!

Fletch had a WONDERFUL birthday here at the house ... we had 29 guests show up for some burgers, hot dogs, fellowship and great birthday wishes! Again ... more pictures to come once the charger/adapter is found. :)

Fletch and a guitar student (an adult one of course) have been working on the theatre room downstairs. This picture was taken with Melissa's old camera ... the french doors are not quite in just yet, so if you come over please don't open them. ;)

Melissa had her open house at school tonight. Fletch forgot about it ... which is great ... because Melissa came home to this wonderful array of gifts!!! It's great he forgot because it's definitely considered a "just because" array of gifts ... not a "good job at your new job" gift. :) Fletch definitely gets the husband of the year award!!! (guys ... he does consult husbands/fiance's/boyfriends for free).

Fletch's mentor, Phil McCallum, and his family stayed with us for one night. Leslie and Levi went back home, but Phil came back shortly after they all left for 10 days. It was so great to have him here. They will all be back in a few weeks to stay for as long as they need to in order to find a house. Please be praying for Phil as he is seeking a position at Focus on the Family. He had the honor of having a 3 1/2 hour luncheon with H.B. London before he left!!! Things are looking good there!!!

Looks like the Whipps are booking up their household quickly. If you are wanting to visit, please contact us soon so we can arrange rooms. :-) Phil, Leslie and Levi will be here in September (for as long as they wish); Ma & Pa Orear are coming on October in addition to Greg and Kim. Christian Jorgensen may be visiting with his friend after he visits his sister (Melissa's sister-in-law) in St. Louis. PLUS we are taking a roadtrip to California one week in October. Fun times ahead for the Whipps!!! STAY TUNED ...

Back in school ...

Yep. You heard it right. Melissa started back at school after 9 weeks of splendid bliss enjoying the home and summer sun. New teachers had to report to new teacher orientation at Skyview Middle School on Monday and Tuesday. All teachers reported back on Wednesday. Students start on Monday!!! YIKES!!! To top it all off, the school just opened back up after mold was found almost 2 weeks ago. New pictures will come once school starts!!! GO STETSON RAIDERS!!! :)

Our friend, the Olympic Athlete

This is a picture of our friends Eli and Cami! Eli just won an automatic spot on the 2008 Modern Pentathlon Olympic team!!! Congratulations, Eli!!! You can read all about his latest gold medal at the Pan American Games in Rio on his website: www.elibremer.com

Wall Art

We went to Sam's Club to get some food and walked out yesterday with a couple prints and our metal wall art. It is a lovely bronze colored 3D contemporary piece (actually 5 pieces we put together) that really adds to our contemporary room.

I'm adding some pictures of our trip back to Missouri and Cedar Point (in Ohio) as well. We went back to visit with Melissa's family and friends in St. Louis and took a side trip to Sandusky with the Granthams (friends from Melissa's high school). Melissa was quite excited to meet the new family member as well, Lance the retired greyhound her parents rescued. We had a lovely time, but it was hot and humid! We came back even more appreciative of our new home and awesome climate!!!