Prep your sub-floor!

I am in the process of laying down laminate flooring. Now you must know something about me. I am a glutton for punishment. I would rather research and take the job on myself than pay someone to do it for me. Many times I say it is to save money, but many times after I buy the tools, supplies, and take off of work, it would have been cheaper to pay somebody.
So in the process of researching and getting price quotes on 520 square feet of press board with a picture of wood glued on top, I continually get asked the same questions. What kind of floor are you putting it on? Are you on a concrete slab or sub-floor? Then as I research on installing this laminate flooring, everything I find says make sure you prepare your surface well before you lay the floor down. Make sure it is clean. Make sure it is level. Make sure there are no nails that are, or will, poke out and damage the floor.
So I get to Friday night and I begin to rip up the carpet in the living room. I start tearing away the stained, and dirty carpet and padding. Come Saturday afternoon I am finally done cleaning and prepping the surface to put my floor on. In a matter of a few hours I have the new flooring down in the living room. It took me all Friday night and half of Saturday to prep. Then only half a day to install.
It got me thinking about what my sub-floor looks like. If my sub-floor is not cleaned of any dirt, nails, staples, and pits then the beautiful covering on the outside will wear out quickly. You will start to see imperfections and when it is put under stress it will begin to crack. Am I spending twice as much time on my sub-floor as I do with everything else that people see? We may look good on the outside, but if our heart is not been cleaned then we will crack quickly.
On the flip side, everything I read said that if you take the time to prep the sub-floor and install it right. Nothing beats the look and durability of laminate flooring. So spend more time on preparing our sub-floors. Then nothing will beat the result and durability of your life with Christ.
Matthew 23:27-28

Dylan's Prayer

I am trying something today that I think will be a recurring thing. Each night I say prayers with my kids and sometimes those prayers are so simplistic that they are profound. And sometimes they are just out right funny! We will see how this goes, let me know in the comments.

Dylan's prayer.
Deer Lord. Thank you for a good day.
and thank you for my pee pee going all over at Aunt Amber's when I went pee pee at her house.
and thank you for Jaden's cough, and that she feels better.
and thank you that I don't feel good tomorrow and I don't go to school and I get to stay home with mommy.
and Amen.

My Prayer.
Deer Lord. Thank you for my son, he is awesome!
Teach me to walk with you and not crawl. Teach me that my faith is about the movement I make, that action I take, and that person I just passed by.
And thank you that I don't feel good tomorrow, and I don't go to work, and I get to stay home with mommy.
Amen.

Why crawl when you can walk

I am on my fourth and final attempt at having a child that makes the jump to walking without going through the crawling stage. With each kid at about the 10 month mark I have had my hopes high as they begin to pull themselves up to their feet each time I hold their hands. I then proceed to pull them along forcing them to take steps just to keep their feet underneath them. Then I make a statement like... "she's gonna be walking in a week, I bet" And then it is usually followed with bragging about how advanced my kid is. It's only a matter of a week or so that I come home to see me kid crawling. Now nothing is more cute than seeing my kid crawl, but I still have hopes of them walking soon.
This is Riley. She is almost 10 months old now and she is ready to start walking! I promise this time. This kid is the chosen one, she is like Neo on the matrix, she has a destiny to fulfill.

P.S. She is also standing in first place as the cuttest kid at Garr.

One Prayer

I am really, really, excited about this. We will be joining tons of churches world wide for this One Prayer event starting June 7/8th. If you are a pastor please check it out and see about getting your church involved. If you don't have a church you attend then please join us at Garr as we join churches worldwide for this event.