Philip & Abby are Almost Finished!

Kirk, Heather & I went up to Philip & Abby's for a soup dinner & to see them in their studio apartment! It is so cute & efficient. The white shelves used to be in the former laundry room. The table/desk is Philip's drafting table that we gave him for a graduation gift; it wraps around the corner. They both use it for their computers. Philip hung the pot rack above the 2-burner stove.

This cable lighting system casts light just where it's needed.

Lovely lady on the lovely staircase

Upstairs they put their craftsman style bed up on matching blocks to give them under-the-bed space for all of their clothes, which are in bins.

Philip is still making a gate to go across the entrance to the staircase.
You can see the first part of the shelf that rests on the top of the banister.

Here are Heather & Abby serving up the soup.
All of their summer's hard work has paid off!

Where Have All the Christians Gone?

I saw this article tonight on the Fox forum and thought it was worthwhile enough to copy here. This seems to go along with the book the Dad is sharing called, "Where Are They?" about teenagers leaving churches.

Christianity is plummeting in America, while the number of non-believers is skyrocketing.

A shocking new study of Americans’ religious beliefs shows the beginnings of a major realignment in Americans’ relationship with God. The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reveals that Protestants now represent half of all Americans, down almost 20 percent in the last twenty years. In the coming months, America will become a minority Protestant nation for the first time since the pilgrims.

The number of people who claim no religious affiliation, meanwhile, has doubled since 1990 to fifteen percent, its highest point in history. Non-believers now represent the third-highest group of Americans, after Catholics and Baptists.

Other headlines:

1) The number of Christians has declined 12% since 1990, and is now 76%, the lowest percentage in American history.

2) The growth of non-believers has come largely from men. Twenty percent of men express no religious affiliation; 12% of women.

3) Young people are fleeing faith. Nearly a quarter of Americans in their 20’s profess no organized religion.

4) But these non-believers are not particularly atheist. That number hasn’t budged and stands at less than 1 percent. (Agnostics are similarly less than 1 percent.) Instead, these individuals have a belief in God but no interest in organized religion, or they believe in a personal God but not in a formal faith tradition.

The implications for American society are profound. Americans’ relationship with God, which drove many of the country’s great transformations from the pilgrims to the founding fathers, the Civil War to the civil rights movement, is still intact. Eighty-two percent of Americans believe in God or a higher power.

But at the same time, the study offers yet another wake-up call for religious institutions.

First, catering to older believers is a recipe for failure; younger Americans are tuning out.

Second, Americans are interested in God, but they don’t think existing institutions are helping them draw closer to God.

Finally, Americans’ interest in religion has not always been stable. It dipped following the Revolution and again following Civil War. In both cases it rebounded because religious institutions adapted and found new ways of relating to everyday Americans.

Today, the rise of disaffection is so powerful that different denominations needs to band together to find a shared language of God that can move beyond the fading divisions of the past and begin moving toward a partnership of different-but-equal traditions.

Or risk becoming Europe, where religion is fast becoming an afterthought.

Bruce Feiler is bestselling author of eight books, including "Walking the Bible" and "Abraham," and the host of the PBS series on "Walking the Bible." A frequent commentator on National Public Radio, CNN and FOX News. His latest book "America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story" will be published in October.

P & A's Property -Part 6

Here are Kirk & Philip installing the kitchen cabinets in the studio apartment. The cabinets start out narrow near the window and then each gets deeper. The hole is for the microwave oven.
Bottom counters & sink installed with P&A's clever handiwork.

Here Abby is installing a new disposal & dishwasher in the 2 bedroom apt.

Ta-dah! The counters are in & have a nice pattern to them.
Notice the 2-burner stove at the left.

Yea for instructions! Philip is reading up on how to put in a spiral staircase!! Abby is busily installing the disposal. They are amazing!

Abby's tiny size certainly came in handy for this project!

Kirk, Abby & Philip installing the staircase. It's the smallest you can buy.

Comin' on down- watch out below!

Cool, huh?

Triple Birthday Week

On August 28th we all went out to eat at Rutabegorz in Fullerton, then over to Jerry's for cheesecake and gifts. Here we are in Jerry's family room. He is such a gracious host!

Philip making me laugh as we are getting ready for a picture. I had forgotten how funny he is!!!

I'm behaving myself, but Philip is making a funny face, as usual.
Philip is holding his "life album" that I finished this summer. It goes from his birth to the Christmas after he & Abby got married.

Here Abby & Philip are looking at the first pages in the photo album.

It was nice to see that they both appreciate having all those pictures in one place to enjoy.

Then the next morning, Lynn Weber & I went to Carlsbad for a relaxing 29 hours away. We got a lovely room at the Sheraton Resort, not too far from Legoland. We decided to not go out to eat, so ate a BBQ dinner near the pool. We watched a beautiful sunset; then a family movie was shown on a screen next to the pool.

The Sheraton even shot off fireworks for their guests.

The next morning we had eggs & delicious oatmeal delivered to the room.

Steel cut oats really ARE better! Yum! We felt pampered.
Finally at 11:00 we checked out a drove into Old Town Carlsbad & poked around the shops.
What a lovely time!

On Monday night we had another birthday dinner at Grandma & Grandpa Seelye's house.
Here Philip is trying to clap out the candles. Grandma fixed Adobo Chickhen, rice & a yummy apple cake. Her gift of hospitality is a gift to so many! Thanks Mom!

Happy Birthday to me.

Here are Heather, Grandma & I cleaning up the dinner dishes.

Then on Saturday, September 5, Jeff came over to celebrate his 25th birthday. Heather is pointing to him while we sing "Happy Birthday to YOU."

After dinner he showed us some of the interesting products that he "reps" for Western Safety Associates. Kirk is a flashlight junkie, so he really liked this one! It has a trigger handle-cool!

We are grateful to have family so nearby. :-)

Fishing at River's End

David & Kirk (with old friend Jeff Funk in the background) had a lovely day fishing at River's End in Long Beach Sunday after church.

You can see by the mossy rocks where we sat. This part was at low tide,
which made for a pretty setting.
Here is a bottle of STINKY bait!

Robin & I camped out on this rock and chatted away 4 hours; not hard when you have lots of catch up on! :-)

Kirk & David relaxing before we closed-up shop.

Here we are laughing inside the River's End Cafe.
My hair was a complete mess from the wind.

Long Beach on Dwellable

P&A's Propery-Part 5 (Scroll down for Part 4)

Today I went up to see the progress. Here is the kitchen on the first floor. This is the corner where the cabinets will go this weekend. :-)

They hired a tile-layer to come redo the shower in the bathroom. Philip put in this window for light and ventilation.

Here's Abby by the cubby in their future bedroom. I like the colors of paint she chose.

Here she is standing on the newly covered floor. There will be a railing right where she's standing so no one will fall down the stairwell hole. Eventually there will be a spiral staircase in this space.

This is the corner across from the cubby. Their bed will be in this corner, soon. They are hoping to strike a deal with a perspective renter on the 2-bedroom apt. tonight. Then they will need to hurry and finish the studio apt. so they can quickly move into to it.

P&A's Property-Part 4

Philip, Abby, Fred, Mina & Kirk have been working hard during the month of August to get the studio apartment finished. Philip built this cool mailbox post that is at the side of the front house.

Here, Mina is showing Fred's handiwork. The fine detail is great! They decided to use this space in between the studs for a cubby. Go to Mina's Facebook wall and see what she did with Photo Shop-it's hilarious!

Here Abby is painting herself into the corner. Notice, that she is sitting on a board, above the stairwell hole! Yikes!

Cute couple, huh?

Here Philip & Abby are etching lines in the concrete floor. They will then stain it to look like Spanish tiles.