Romantic Getaway of Two ..... Plus one

So this past weekend was my wife's birthday on the 13th, valentines day on the 14th, and our anniversary on the 15th.... and I didn't do a thing for her! I barely even said happy birthday or happy anniversary. Usually I get her a collectible thingy (willow tree) or flowers or something, and we usually at least do dinner somewhere. I didn't get her a thing. We couldn't really afford much this year anyway, we have to wait a few more weeks before we can even file tax returns, and we have doctor bills to pay. So she wasn't expecting much.

But.....
I did have a lil' extra money on this check from some overtime. So I asked her mom to watch the kids yesterday through today and I snuck her off. It was neat she didn't even know what was going on really. She thought I was taking her out for a date, we made it to the Library, where I pulled up a map on my laptop and asked her where she wanted to go. I had four or five spots picked out all within 3 hours or so from the house. She picked the Quad Cities. We'd never been there before. The city you might know there is Davenport Iowa, the others are Rock Island, Moline and Bettendorf. We stayed in Rock Island right off the river. Our hotel had a great view of the Centennial Bridge crossing over into Iowa. There was a really nice little coffee shop right across from the hotel called Theo's Java Club that we went to this morning. Cool thing was that all the postings in the shop were... conservative! Like the bulletin board had news clippings that talked good about America and bad about socialism. I was pleasantly shocked.
There was quite a bit of sites to see but I took the advise from a friend and just planned on one or two things. My wife and I both love to just drive around and look at new places, as in places we've never been. We just drove around the city for at least 2 hours, taking pictures along the way. The kinda big thing we did that took up about 3 hours was the Putnam Museum and Imax theater in Davenport. For twenty bucks even we got to watch a 3D show on a screen that was over 70feet high by 100 feet wide. It was Deep Sea 3D or something like that. Worth the money and I plan on taking my kids to see it but be sure to debrief your kids if you do. The show is laced with subtle liberal propaganda and some very blunt liberal propaganda. Lets put it this way, Al Gore would give this movie one thumb up for effort. It was neat though, 3D done right. After the show we walked around the museum, there was maybe 30 people in the whole place counting staff.
I love this picture, there were lots of animal displays like this through out the museum.


This one I'm not quite sure how to take.. I want to know how they booked the Apostle James to speak at their church!

A brother lost....

I wish I had time to post this sooner. A friend of mine did a post on this as well. (Click Here)
As you may know I work for a drug and alcohol rehab center. I am thankful for the opportunity it provides to witness and counsel with young men in need. Since I've been there I've made friends with several of the clients, some because of our common bond through Christ and some because of the burden Christ laid on my heart for their salvation. The very first person I came to call friend was a young man by the name of Jacob. He was 19 years old when I met him. A friend of mine was able to lead him to Christ while Jacob was in treatment. I talked with Jacob daily while at work, fellowshiped and decscipled the best I could. He had to go two rounds with treatment before getting a good start on a successful life. I saw him a few times at church after he left. But due to company policy restricting communication with ex-clients I couldn't have any other contact with him, (couldn't have him over for supper, or hire him for work). I would have to wait two years after a client completes treatment before I could have a friendship with them. Jacob did wonderful though, he became president of a recovery home and finished a trade school. He got HVAC certified.... (While he was in treatment I convinced him that it would be a wise move. I even showed him how to work on small air conditioners) This past sunday my wife asked me if the two years was up. I had made plans of hiring him for AC jobs. It wasn't. Tuesday I went back to work and late into my second shift a coworker out of the blue says "hey do you remember Jacob?" I lit up and started to talk about how much I liked the kid. The man got sober and told me that he had died just last friday... I believe that he was saved, so I rejoice that he has recieved that inheritance, but mourn the fellowship lost and the short life that has his. He was 22 when he went home. He had more than 2 years clean and sober, then when a moment came when no one around him could help him satan tempted him with quick relief. He overdosed. March would have been his two years out of treatment...

Prayer request

I received a call from my wife today at about noon, she said she felt like her sides were cramping. By one o'clock she couldn't hardly walk because of the pain. I rushed home (I do mean rush.... If I was a catholic I'd have to go to confession...), picked her up and rushed back to the hospital. Jamie called her midwife at first because she thought it had something to do with her nursing, and the new lil' one ( uterus cramps). The midwife, along with a few other people thought it was her Appendix. I haven't seen her in so much pain... ever. Remember she just had her fifth baby. It was constant and severe and lasted four hours before she got any relief. We got to the ER and had to wait 45 min to get back to the Doc. They ran some test, did a CAT scan, gave her an IV. Kidney stones. She had them once before, about 6 years ago. This time around was a lot worse. Poor girl. She still hasn't passed them and is in horrible pain still. Please pray........
I think she kinda wishes it was her appendix, so they could just take it out and get it over with.

How to make bunk beds.

Ok here we go, I'll try to explain how I did it but keep in mind I kinda just shot from the hip when I built these.
First you need a mental picture or physical picture of what you want. In my case I just Googled bunk beds and looked around at how other people did it. I just wanted an idea of what it should have. After I was done I sat down and stick figure drew out a design that I liked. Added ruff measurements and then went shopping.

For ours I knew a couple of things. First that we wanted to have 12" under the bottom bunk for storage and maybe a trundle bed later. Second that the measurements of the beds were about 37" by 74".
From there I worked out some measurements for the bunk.
All lumber was purchased in 8' lengths

38x75 inside measurements for the matress boxes. You'll need 6 2x6's for this. The cuts will be 4 41" pieces and 4 75" pieces.
70" for four corner posts. These are 2x 4's
8 mattress supports at 38" lengths, I used 2x4's.

6 roll out guards. Obviously we don't want the lil' ones rolling off the top bunk, so I used 2x4's for guard rails, I seen some use other things but I just kept it simple. For the top bunk you'll want to have a roll guard on either side and a roll guard at the head of the bed. The side guards are 75" lengths and the head guard is 41". For the bottom bunk you will want one for the head one on the side facing the wall and one at the foot of the bed ( that one doubles as a rung for the ladder). Again the side rail is 75" and the head and foot rails are 41"------ This equals 5 2x4's. The cuts will be 3 75" cuts, three 41" cuts.
You will be left over with one large piece that we'll use for a second rung in the ladder up the bed. Also a 41" cut.

You will definitely need 16 carriage bolts along with 16 washers and nuts. I used 5/16 bolts, at 3.5" lengths.

In total I believe I purchase 13 2x4's and 6 2x6's along with 16 bolts, my total was around 46 bucks at Lowes. Build time by myself about and hour, with help from the kids... maybe three hours. But worth it.


Step one:
Cut Lumber to lengths desired. I already gave you my measurements but do what ever you want with yours, if you a 12" clearance from the floor like I did keep in mind that the child's mattress will keep them about 16 to 18 inches off the ground, that kinda hurts if they roll out. Plus if you have ceiling fans the top bunk will set a little closer to the ceiling and you may want to watch where you put the bed.

Step two:
Assemble the mattress boxes. I did this first because it seemed to make since, plus this is my project. You want to have your two by sixes laid out with the 41" lengths on the outside and the 75's on the inside. I used nails this time but screws work better. I used 3.5" wood screws and pre drilled the holes the first time. I also counter sunk and used wooden studs to fill the holes. (not needed) 2 screws per corner is fine.
Sorry, I didn't have any good pics of the assembling of the beds. Obviously this is supposed to be a diagram looking straight down at the 2x6's, with the 1.75" side showing.

Step Three:
Attach the mattress boxes to the four corners. Use Screws at first to hold them in place while you drill out the holes for the carriage bolts. I put the 2x4's on the long side of the boxes but I believe that it would work fine on the ends of the bed too. ( also give more room for a trundle bed later). My first box went 12" up the corner posts, this is easy, measure 12" up on all four posts and that's where the bottom of the 1st bunk should go. I put the second bunk at 34" above the top of the first bunk, or 51.5" from the bottom of the corner posts. Mark the posts. Lay boxes on their side and position first two posts at the corners of the boxes. Attach with single screw to hold it steady and then drill out holes for carrage bolts, you need two for each corner of each box. Attach bolts tightly and then flip and repeat.

Step 4: Safety rails and ladder.
This is self explanatory. Add safety rail around the top and bottom bunk like I described above and an extra one at the foot for a ladder rung. Finish with the mattress supports. I used four screws per support.

Sunday Evening Service

Tonight my pastor preached on a topic I find very interesting. Porters, or gatekeepers. He talked of the porter of the church (the pastor), the porter of the home (the father/husband), and the porter of the heart (the christian). Have you ever noticed how many times the position of the porter comes up in scripture, the word alone comes up like 40 times. But the position that of a person who keeps watch of the door or gate of a place is everywhere. Pastor really had a lot of good points on the subject. One that he made was that when Satan attacks he won't scale the walls of your home he'll sneak in through whatever way the porter (dad/husband) allows. Same applies with our hearts.

This is Pastor as the watchman notifying the porter of approaching danger.
Here's a good picture of pastor and one of the young men of the church. The porter examines people and things before he allows them into the place that he is charged to keep.And here is a picture of one of Park Meadows' Porters!! Our gates are safe!!

Working alot...

Sorry to all who check out my blog regularly, I have not posted in awhile. I've been busy with work and family. My dad came for a visit just a few days after I went back to work and stayed for about a week. I think I did more work around the home my first week back to work than I did during my whole vacation.
I built a bunk bed for the girls. It went quick and cost less then fifty bucks. They are incredibly sturdy too. I use lag bolts to hold the legs to the boxes, that really sures it up.













I also decided to paint the wife and I's bedroom. I think it turned out really well. The accent wall is burnt orange and the other walls are teddy bear tan. I paint all the time at work, I do more painting, actually, than anything else. I find it relaxing and enjoy it, especially when someone is paying me for it.








Jamie and also wanted to replace our existing outlet covers with wooden ones, so I got on ebay and started looking for some in bulk. Instead I found some for 8 bucks a piece that looked like tuscan tiles, they looked really good and I almost talked myself into it until I read the description. It said that each plate was made with photo paper and several coats of acrylic hardener. Well I figured I could do that. I'll do a post later on a step by step, just because it was really fun and easy to do with the kids. This one is made from a photo of an old shed door, looks alot better in person.

Indian Summer?

It has really warmed up here in the midwest. The melting snow and ice from the past two weeks has caused rivers to rise and yards to become giant mud pits waiting for bike ruts. It's hard to stay inside when the temperatures outside are pushing 50, especially since we've had some single digit days with windchills as low as -20 that kept us held up in the home.
Gage is such an outdoors boy, he'd be happy playing out in the bad days, but a warm day like this with mud to boot... I didn't have to tell him to smile for this one.

Bear just loves playing with his brothers and sisters.

Chloe would have to make everything so logical, you may be able to tell here that she's trying explain why she tagged Gage first.

Even Chester enjoyed the warm muddy day... and thanks to him our mud room is really a mud room.

The Dell Cook Book

This is mamma's new cook book... We are so new school!

Merry Christmas 2008 from the Stroupe Family

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas! Today is the day we commonly celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. How great the love that gave such a precious gift to wicked sinners such as I.
Luk 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
Luk 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

I see signs everywhere reminding people that "Jesus is the reason for the season". I understand that they are simply trying to counter secular attacks on Christianity, but I think those who reject Christ would be better served being told that "You are the reason for the season" For unto "you" is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. We celebrate what God has done for us, the gift he presented us in a manger in Bethlehem. How humbling to know that the God of the universe gave up his only begotten son to die in your place for your sin...













We started this morning off with prayer and devotions praising our saviour and God.













We all took turns thanking God for what he has done for us.














Reading the Nativity story. Rissy is making sure everyone is paying attention.

Family Fun

Nothing in particular to post on tonight, just enjoying my family and wanting to post some pictures.








Deacon enjoying a nap by the fire.








Hunter enjoying a nap after a hard day play.













Deacon must be having a dream about sour milk.








Mommy enjoying a nap with lil' baby Deacon James.