Week 1...Almost Done

This is the view from the front porch of our amazing housing at WG!

Here we are at the end of Week 1 and I have hardly kept you updated.
That is either a sign of things going really well or REALLY BAD.
Thankfully it is that we are having such a good time that I am not slowing down enough to keep my adoring public updated. I will try to do better in the future.
One of the main problems is that the internet service to our cabin is pretty spotty. And by pretty spotty I mean, non-existent. So, I have to work a little harder to get to the ole blog.

I don't have anything major to update you on except that this has been awesome so far. We are doing well, the kids are doing well except for Lucy hitting all of the other little girls in camp and Asher having a major case of the hot poops. But if that is as bad as it gets...well shave my dog and call it "Baldy".

So here are some pictures from this week. My kids are pretty dang cute if I do say so myself...

Seven Years Ago

I agreed to accept Matt Sloan as my husband for the rest of my life. Little did I know what I was agreeing to.

Some of those things might be:
-peeing outside at any opportunity. Even though we have three bathrooms INSIDE of our house.
-hunting, killing and skinning animals that he expects me to be delighted at eating.
-playing random instruments like the clarinet, the trumpet and the melodica in our garage without knowing how to play any of the instruments.
-wearing women's XL Liz Lange maternity gauchos for an entire month to make high school kids laugh so Jesus can invade their hearts.

Over the years, the things that made me crazy when we were dating, making me crazy now. I knew EXACTLY who I was marrying, I just chose to believe that those things might change. Nope. They are still around. But I think that I have changed because now, those are some of the things that I love the best despite how they might drive me up a wall.

I am grateful that this man is my husband. He prays for me. He prays for our kids. He loves me. He loves our kids. I can not wait to grow old all the days of my life with him, as long as the Lord lets me.


Seven years. Over a quarter of my life has been spent with Matt Sloan. Since I have dated him since I was 21, nearly a THIRD of my life really.

This is how you know that we are becoming one. Matt LOVES to make fractions at any opportunity. Just last night, our friends Jed and Becca celebrated their one month anniversary and Matt told them they would have to do that 84 more time to catch up with us.


Seriously.

Send me some packages!

Hey just in case you wanted to send us any packages or good times items, feel free to send them to:
Leslie Sloan
c/o Young Life's Windy Gap
120 Coles Cove Rd.
Weaverville, NC 28787

Thanks! Oh and I love Mike and Ike's and 30 Rock is my favorite show (just in case you wanted to buy me a season of that show on DVD)

heehee

Anybody Wanna Buy A House?

Here is our listing on the MLS if you wanna see!
at Jd Jackson's website

Right Now

Click on this link. And then come right back here. You want to read my other new post.

Was that a Barrel Around His Neck?

A lot of times when you are leaving to go to YL camp for a month, all kinds of disasters might strike. Sometimes you don't find out until you get home what they were. (One year, we came home to a rotten bag of potatoes that liquified. I still gag at the thought of how they smelled). Sometimes they happen minutes before you leave town. Thankfully, we haven't had anything like that happen just yet to US.

But on our team, Bryan and Lindsey Hancock experienced a day that made me so grateful that they took the hit for all of us. On Thursday morning, the Hancocks were hosting a preschool end of the year party at their house (Of course! Why wouldn't you HOST a party for 15 preschoolers and their parents right before leaving town for the month? This is why we are friends) So they had all of these kids and parents at their house. They also were dog sitting Bryan's sisters St. Bernards. That's right Bernard'S. Two of 'em. One of them is rather old and a bit cranky.

He was freaking out at all of the chaos at their house and Bryan went outside to calm him down. He was settling the dog when he just latched onto his forearm and would not let go. The only way to release his grip on Bryan's arm was to hit the dog. So two quick punches to the skull and the dog went on his way.

Bryan was also on his way to the doctor's office to get 19 stitches in his arm.

On his way to the doctor's office, he called his sister to give her the news. She asked him to get the dog put down due to his violent tendencies. So, before leaving town for the month...Bryan and Lindsey needed to 1) pack their three kids and house up. 2) clean the house from the preschoolers party and 3) put a dog to sleep.

Bryan agreed and once he got home he loaded a shotgun into his car. Yep. That's how the dog was going to be "put to sleep". And then he made his way out to the dog pen where he found the St. Bernard was already dead. Sweet.

It is pretty much assumed that he killed the dog by the blows to head. Either that or the dog has rabies.
So now add to the list, get the dog to vet so that he can get autopsyed and get a major dosage of antibiotics for the open wounds on Bryan's arm; oh, and get arrested for killing a dog. (just kidding about that last one)

So when Bryan and Lindsey rolled into camp at 2am on Friday morning, they were pretty exhausted. Yay-it wasn't us this year!!!

Before and After

This was the best picture that I could find of my living room before we were "staged"



Doesn't it look great? Click on the picture to see all of the "details".

We are DONE with working on the house. I am going back tonight to watch TV, clean out the fridge and freezer and take the garbage down. We basically need a small dumpster for all that we have gotten rid of this week. Without freecycle, we might really be in trouble!

Please pray that the right buyer would find our house this month. I would LOVE to be under contract by the end of the month. I know that is a lot to ask in this financial climate, but our house is in great shape, we aren't there and it is priced well. PRAY!

We're moving Out

No, that is not just a title of a really bad Billy Joel song, it is now my life.

We are moving up to Windy Gap tomorrow to begin our month at Young Life camp. Thank God we are staying on the east coast and I can just drive all of us into camp, 15 minutes from where we live. I feel no pressure to pack right or well. I will just pack what we need for the next few days and as morale drops at camp, ta-da! We at home where whatever it is that we need and are missing from our lives resides and we can pick it up and take it back to camp!

I am very excited.
I am also excited because it means I can stop working on my freaking house.
We are listing it for sale tomorrow morning, so we have been maniacs here. On Monday, I had Cindy McCandless come over and help stage our house. For those of you who have never done this, do it. Not because you need to stage your house, but if I had her come over when we first moved in, I might have liked my house a bit better.
She rearranged furniture, gave me design ideas and told us we had to paint our kitchen. Before Thursday.
I was the sane one and said, "No way. It's not even possible." Matt said, "Let's do it!"
So we did it. I had a minor panic attack selecting paint at Home Depot. It normally takes me several days and several test coat of paint before committing. I took 10 minutes.
After we left Home Depot, I took the kids to Target and spent a minor fortune on "home accessories". I know that some of you might find this hard to believe; but I suck at this sort of thing. I don't really do "chachke" I like clean surfaces, minimal wall hangings, etc. So to go and buy little tables, lamps, vases and pictures for my walls was a big deal. The bigger deal was telling Matt just how much money was spent. Yikes.

"but sweetheat, it is just a small investment to be able to sell our house." Does this line work? Cause I don't think so.

But he does love all of the changes and seriously yall, this woman knows what she is doing. In 10 minutes, she rearranged my living room, rehung pictures in my bedroom and got me to paint my kitchen. Whaaaaat?

I wish we had her come over when we moved in because then I would have loved my house for the last three years instead of the last 15 hours.

I will post before and after pictures tomorrow. Yay for tomorrow!!!

We Hack Our Kids

Asher has been escaping from his room wee in the early hours of the morning. For some of you with less sleeping kids, you might be saying to yourselves, "give me a break" but my kids have been sleeping until 8am since they were three months old. So Asher making appearances next to my face 6am has been more than a rude awakening.

So we have been trying the clock method. We told him he is not allowed to leave his room until he sees a "seven" on the clock. And this has worked remarkably well. I mean, he is leaving his room at 7:01. So Matt came up with the brilliant idea to "reset the clock" back one half-an-hour. So then "seven" is actually "7:30".

I think it is quite brilliant!

A Life is Changed

Recently, I was introduced to coffee from a french press. I know, I crawled out of a cave and into society on that day.
Anyway, I loved it. I really wanted one and my friend Robin gave me one that she received as a wedding present and doesn't use.
It has revolutionized my life. Because I am pretty much brewing full coffee cups of espresso now. My favorite part? Pressing the grinds down. There is something out it that makes me so happy. The taste of coffee is unbelievable and the caffeine hit has been nice.
Especially since Lucy has gotten a sinus infection and a double ear infection this week.

And it helps me to remove one more item off of my kitchen counter. It is my goal to remove everything except for absolute essentials off of my kitchen counter. It helps me to see clutter more quickly and to do something with it. There is little that I love more than a clean kitchen counter. Except for french press coffee.

Go get you one today! You will love it!