re:Wilsons

For all interested, we have a new blog at http://rewilsons.wordpress.com

The Much Awaited Virtual Tour

The time has come for my oft made promises to be kept.

Before we get started, here is the story of how we got this massive beast of a flat:

We wanted to live downtown, close to the University of Louisville for college ministry for our church and so that we would be closer to Beth's job downtown. We drove around looking for a place in Old Louisville for about a month and a half, trying to find an apartment that had a living area large enough for Bible study and Monday night dinners, but to no avail.

Finally, I saw a "For Rent" sign and called, only to hear about a 2400 sq. foot penthouse that was completely out of our price range. Well, the guy was nice and said we could come check it out - even if we new we couldn't afford it- and when we did we absolutely fell in love with it.

We retreated to our old apartment and tried to crunch the numbers and make it work.

Unfortunately, there was just no way. But when I called our landlord to give him the sad news, he told me that he had to rent the flat either to Beth and I or to five college dudes. Since he new we would take better care of it he offered to cut the rent by a couple hundred dollars if we would commit to a 24 month contract.

Easiest decision of my life (well, other than asking Beth to marry me).

Check out the new pad...



Take a sec to orient yourself with the layout of our place. The tour starts at the spiral staircase and then goes to the great room before crossing the hall to the guest bedroom before following the rest of the tour by walking down the hall door by door.

Enjoy!

Virtual Tour: First Stop

This is the spiral staircase.

There are two ways into our place, this staircase in the front and the back staircase. When we moved in we brought all the small stuff up the back stairs, but they are too narrow for the bug furniture.


Translation: All of the big stuff had to come up the front stairs to the third floor and then be lifted manually from the third floor up to the fourth floor. Fortunately we have some incredible friends with massive muscles that helped us out with this huge project.

Virtual Tour: Second Stop

The Great Hall

When you come to the top of the stars, this huge hall welcomes you to our home with a warm, art gallery, kinda vibe. The red hardwood floors and the golden walls are amazing.

We have been kicking around some ideas for how to further the decoration scheme in the hall...we have considered finding some long church pews for the wall or maybe purchasing a plastic bowling kit and starting a bowling league...leave a comment if you have an idea for us.

Virtual Tour: Third Stop

The Great Room!!!

The Living Area

This is where Bible studies go down on Wednesday nights and we gather with joy and trepidation to see Jack Bauer's great adventures on 24 every Monday night.

The reading nook

This is where Monday Night Dinners happen.

On any given Monday there could be as many as 21 people gathered around this table and a couple of card tables to scarf down Beth's amazing cooking.

Virtual Tour: Fourth Stop

The Reading Room/ Guest Bedroom

Once known as the "purple room" we have now painted over the lilac walls and made this into a place to read or, when visitors show up on the doorstep, to set up the queen sized super comfortable airbed and make it the guest room.

Virtual Tour: Fifth Stop

Guest Bathroom

This room is a special room. For some reason the previous owner decided to paint it a glossy fecal brown which lead to the perfectly appropriate name of the "crap cave." The toilet is around the corner on the left in a little nook and the tub is behind the wall next to the sink.

Virtual Tour: Sixth Stop

The Master Bedroom

View from the Hallway

Notice, if you will, the super incredible chandelier light fixture that, true to its name, is a light fixture though it is a bit towards the "wimpy" side of the chandelier spectrum. We love it.

Who would ever imagine that a king sized bed would look anything other than flippin' huge in a bedroom?You might notice the gold stencil on the walls...that was a little surprise left by the previous owner...a man form the Philippines. At first, we were not so excited but it has grown on us and we really dig it now.

Virtual Tour: Seventh Stop

To the Kitchen!!!

Through the doorway off the great hall

The entry way into the kitchen through a little hall that I call the breakfast room - for no particular reason.

The Breakfast Room

The view of the kitchen as you pass by the back stairs and into the kitchen

...one of these days there will be a little table for two under the photos on the wall.

This is the place where Beth practices her incredible cooking skills.

One of our favorite things about the kitchen, beside the fact that it is awesomely huge with plenty of room for fellowship, festivities, and food preparation, is that the counter tops are actually a dark stained butchers block.

Notice also the pantry on the right, also known as our second overflow guest bedroom. Don't worry, there is plenty of room if you come and visit us and end up in the pantry.

Virtual Tour: Final Stop

This is Lee's study. His sactuary of books.

To the right of the photo is the fireplace, which has been blocked off, the color was a bit distorted by the program I used to stitch the panoramic pictures.

On the right corner of my desk is my Christmas present from Beth. It is a book embosser (it puts my "official stamp" into the page) that Beth got from a company who reconditions embossers from the mid 1800s. Beth rocks!

This is the other view of my study

If you look through the door out of the study you will see boxes filled with books from the 1800s and early 1900s. I guy I know is remodeling a church in West Louisville and the church decided to disperse their library...and I got first dibs.

Most of the goodies are old children's books (Treasure Island, Little Women, Prince and the Pauper, etc.) and classic literature (Ivanhoe, Shakespeare, etc).

Virtual Tour: Adios!!!

Thanks for taking the time to take our virtual tour.

Feel free to drop by for a visit any time!!!

Inconsistent Blogger

Whew-eee...boy I have not written since Thanksgiving? My apologies to all our adoring fans.

Quick update: Lee finished out the fall semester with a great deal of stress due to lack of reading discipline in the beginning of the semester (though it turned out okay grade wise), then began a concerted effort to complete the decoration of our place in time for Christmas events, we had Beth's big office party here in our apartment ( and it went off without a hitch), and then Lee's parents were able to come visit on Christmas day through the end of the week. Since then, Lee has been trying to find a new job now that his former employer does not really have work available at the moment, so we have just been laying low and spending time with each other, friends up here in Louisville, and having a good ol' time.

More pictures of people and our new pad are coming up the pike for the blog...be patient and great shall be your reward.

Much love from the Wilsons.

Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving is always, should always, be a time to give glory to God by recognizing the good things that he has done for us. This Thanksgiving God received his glory in an unexpected and really hard way.

Some of you might know that Beth's grandma, Julianna Rayburn, was diagnosed with very aggressive cancer about 6 weeks ago. Little did we know just how aggressive it was.

We knew that we needed to visit soon, we knew that the doctors could not promise how well she would be doing this Christmas, so we took the Thanksgiving week to travel to Texas and spend time in Waco with Grandma.


There is much to be said, much that shall be said, but for now it suffices to say that God was perfect in his timing because Grandma passed away Saturday, November 25, two days after Thanksgiving, two days after her 78th birthday, having been married to one of the most incredible, loving, devoted, godly husbands that I have ever had the pleasure to know and love.

In my studies of church history I have learned a number of things about a group of Christians known as the Puritans. One of the most precious and thought provoking came as I read Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions. The first few times I read through the list of 71 resolutions Edwards made for how he wished to live his life to the glory of God, I was struck by the strange frequency of his mentioning his own death.

As I thought about this reoccurring theme I was struck with a challenge and a question. The challenge: To live and die in such a way that it might be said that I died well...that I found the gospel precious to the very end. The question...how do I do that? And, what does it look like?

Over time, I came up with some answers to my questions and, I think, made positive ground fitting to the challenge. But it was not until this past Thanksgiving that I was able to witness with my own eyes what it was to finish well.

Grandma said many precious things as we spoke to her in the nursing home and, before she passed, in her own home. Just one of the most meaningful to me was when I asked her what she had been thinking about the most over the past few days. And this sweet, beautiful, faithful, frail, dying woman whose body was, literally, riddled with a cancer that was ravaging her body said to me:

"How good the Lord is"

Wow. Praise God for Grandma's faithful finish. Cancer, pain, and death did not blind her to the goodness of God. My prayer is that, regardless of the hardship that the Lord has for me and my family, that we would follow in the footsteps of Grandma.

Should you be so courageous as to pray that very same prayer for yourself, when you pray pray also for her wonderful husband of 59 years. The Lord saw it fit to bring Grandma through the trial of cancer and, having fought that battle with his bride, Grandpap must endure also the trial of a deep loneliness that I can only begin to fathom as a husband myself of but 18 months. Pray for Everette Rayburn, Grandpap loved his wife so dearly; pray that he would love his Jesus all the more in her absence; pray that God would give him strength in his sorrow, that he would say in the midst of the pain:

"How good the Lord is"

The "Victorian Tower"

For those of you who are concerned that Lee has run away to Kentucky to ascend the "Ivory Tower" of academia, have no fear!


In all actuality, Lee was actually climbed the four stories into his "Victorian Tower."


You might be asking yourself: "What in the world is he talking about? Has he lost his mind from too many papers and reading jumbled up at the end of a semester?"


To the latter, I have perhaps lost my mind a little bit...but it is just that time of year and it is my own fault for not being more productive earlier in the semester.


To the former, in case you did not know, we live in a part of town known as "Old Louisville," which just so happens to be the largest Victorian neighborhood in the world (which pretty much refers to the US and the UK). Our home is a bit of a tower, it feels like it going up the spiral staircase to be sure, just check out the view from our roof.


For those of you who are concerned for me, worried that the few marbles I still have might be lost up here in my study in the "Victorian Tower," have no fear because I am being set free tomorrow afternoon at 2:30, when Beth and I will be boarding a plane to Texas for the week to chill with family and friends!


I'll still have plenty of work to do for school, but I will be able to do it in a place where you can drive for hours without seeing a stoplight, where you can drive all the way from Austin to Dallas on an access road (no access roads in Kentucky), and I cannot wait to sit on the back porch at my parents' house and watch a sunset (I'll bring yall a picture).

If you got excited about our living in the largest Victorian neighborhood in the world, you should check out the Old Louisville Information Center (I highly recommend checking out the "Pictures" section - center column of the website - they are pretty cool).


See you around!

Uf! School is Straight Killing Me

Hey, sorry about the apartment photos not being posted yet. Getting nice shots and completing the finishing touches just doesn't quite fit into the schedule right now. I have 3 weeks of school remaining and I feel like I have 5 weeks of work to do (pray for me).

The good news, however, is that Beth and I will be travelling down to the great nation of Texas for Thanksgiving week. We were planning on making the drive come Christmas, but Beth's grandma's cancer diagnosis is bringing us home sooner than expected.

So, here's the game plan. The first half of Thanksgiving week will be spent in Austin with Lee's family (what up my Austin folks). The second half of the week will be spent in Waco with Beth's family (Dallas folks...lunch or dinner maybe?)

Looking forward to spending some time at home. Lee and Beth, signing out (for now). And, the apartment shots are coming, just a bit slower than expected.

Ta-da!!!

We had a big Friday night last night. We went shopping and ended up breaking the bank (not really, the bank will be just fine). We decided that it was time to buy Beth a heater that worked on a setting other than "low" and this little guy will more than do the trick to keep my sweet little wife toasty. We shopped around for almost two weeks until we found the perfect car for us and Carmax really took care of us.

Undoubtedly, we are pumped and deeply appreciative our wonderful parents and grandparents, who exemplify generosity and care for their children. Proverbs paints a picture of parents and grandparents loving and blessing their children, and we are fortunate to see that example exemplified in our own families.

So, you can now trust that our buns are safe and roast toasty as you check the weather forecast and see that Louisville, Kentucky is, officially, butt cold...but not our butts, they are Kia-riffic.


There is, however, some bad news.


Despite our excitement, we must also take a final pause to say our farewell to Beth's first car (courtesy of Ebay), a loyal little import that brought with it much laughter, cheap transportation, and good memories...


Here's to you, Egg!!! Farewell



Until next time, this is Lee and Beth Wilson, signing out and driving in wonderful warmth and safety...hopefully we will be rolling into a town near you as soon as possible. But, should that too long to wait to see the splendor of the new ride, and you are a member of Facebook.com, you can 1)become Lee's friend and 2) feast upon more pictures of the Sorento to your little heart's content!

Don't forget...the picture joy is not yet over. The photo tour is soon to come, as well as personal updates about Lee and Beth after 1.5 years of marriage...stay tuned.