A New Little Puppy!!!

Yes, it's true the Abel's got a puppy. Marshall, our little Labradoodle, is about 8 weeks old and is great. As you can see he is pretty small right now, but don't worry he'll get bigger.

This is his new little dish and few toys.
Just a little guy!!

O Christmas Tree...

This is our Christmas Tree at our new house. It makes our home feel warm and Christmas-y.
This pic was taken after Amber and I went to go see "The Nutcraker", always a Christmas favorite.

Hope the holidays are grand for you all and that you enjoy celebrating the birth of our Savior this season!!

Love to All,
Steve

Creative Christmas

The Above is a picture of the stage, well, as much as I could fit. The big glowing thing is a large LED screen and the things off to the sides are trusses with 2-4 intelligent lights on them. There were three "thrusts" coming off the stage. You can see the center one in this picture. The band was split on the left and right of the center thrust.
This is where I lived for the majority of the show. I played two keyboards and piano. The three electric guitars and drums and bass were on my side. The other had the brass, strings and 3 other piano/keyboard set-ups like mine.
This pic is of me singing one of my two solos. It's pretty dark but its the right thrust. You can see my stand light over on the left.

These are my three guitarists. The guy on the left is one year younger than me and plays like Lincoln Brewster (if you know who that is). The man in the middle is my shredder, and the right most is my Clapton guy. A great bunch of guys.

Creative Christmas was a success and was a main reason this wasn't updated too much. Hopefully we'll do more in the future. (wink)

Love Ya All,
Steve

Main Floor

So here it is...the first floor. First you see the entryway given an update of paint by the famous Dave Abel. Then we have the living room with the beautiful piano focal point, and original artwork by Amber on the wall. The single brown wall is a nice accent to the wood floors and TV (no flat screen yet...yet...). The dining room complete with counter-height black table that folds out to a square that will seat eight (but we only have 6 chairs at the moment, which we will remedy at some point). Finally the kitchen which is not too exciting aside from the nice dishwasher, which is a HUGE blessing.

As stated before, there are many rooms and plenty of space so stop on by (just call first) and we would love to hang with ya.

More Later,
Steve and Amber Abel

We Love Paint!!

Well, you can see the transformation of the dining room. Tan to Cubbies Blue. Crazy I know, but when you see the final product it looks pretty sweet.

The other photos are from when Thad (new friend here) and I decided to put in a shower door since our shower would let out a flow that makes the Mississippi jealous. As we put up the side rail we realized that the window sill was in the way. So what else to do but grab your friendly circular saw and drop cut in the sill till you remove what you need. Making sure to wear sweet protective eyeware of course. The last installment will have the main floor of the house, in a very close to completed form....the suspense...

House Work

Well, sorry for the delay, but there was a lot of work to be done on the house. The pictures show the progression of stripping and staining the hardwood floors. After this we coated them with poly (a good number of coats). The next post will show more "finished product". The most drastic transformation would be the living room. But it is beginning to feel a lot like home...

Steve

more road trip photos

highlights.... multanomah falls, oregon, space needle, first ever starbucks in pikes market, seattle

Road trip!

So me (amber) and my best friend amanda south decided to go on a road trip. so we went 1400 miles from san franscico, ca to seattle, wa. we took windy highway 1 up the coast and we camped in the redwoods, we experienced the trendy,green, liberal city of portland, we froze our buts off at 6000 ft on crater lake in oregon, and ended up the space needle in seattle. and sleeping in a mustang convertible is not so comfortable even if it was a free upgrade because of our good looks! it was a sweet trip!! thanks for the great times southside!

what a day for a cubs game

Cubs game with Steve's brother, Dave and his wife Greta. What a fun game but they lost. But they're still in the running for first place. Go cubs!

More House

Back yard, dining room, kitchen, living room, sun room. Furniture is not ours this is just pics from the selling website. Enjoy looking!

--Steve

New House!!!!

Hey All--

Take a look at the Abels new abode...yes we own a house...well kinda we hope to close on the 28th of this month (September for you late readers).

Amber and I looked, and looked, and looked for houses. But finally Ambers dad found ths place on the internet and we (on the way to make an offer on a another house) stopped by this one and both said, "This is it!". A few hours later we wrote an offer and then a few hours after that they accepted!!!

The joys of homeownership and the money that it takes is quite overwhelming, but there is something about it being yours that is difficult to describe. We love it and pray that it will be used as a safe place for whomever and a place of love. If your in the area let us know and you can stay for a night (it has 4 bedrooms...plently of room).

I, Steve, also had my first day at work at Heritage today, well half of it was at our home inspection but they gave me grace... I am so very excited to step into this next peice of life that God has for me.

Amber is gearing up for a trip to CA later this month for a time of roadtripping fun with one of her good friends.

So as you can see, plenty is going on and life is flying by. I am reminded to stop and thank God for all that HE has blessed us with, we pray that we can be a blessing to others.

Hey to all of you Sidney-ites, love you and miss you all! Make sure you comment!

Steve

Long Time....a whole lot going on...

Well for those of you who check back here now and again...I hope you enjoyed the pictures of our snowstorm. Life has taken a drastically different turn that changes everything for us right now...

No, we are not pregnant.

I, Steve, have accepted a new job as the Worship Pastor at Heritage Wesleyan Church in Rock Island, IL.

The process was a long one, about 6 months, but was good. When we were approached to send in my resume and information, we were a bit hesitant. The church at Sidney has been so good to us and we have some great friends, who felt more like family. We were not sure what to do. In the end we decided to walk this path as long as God decided to take us. For the first four months we had no idea where were would go if the opportunity presented itself.

Fast forward through three visits, leading two weekends worth of services they offered me the job and I accepted.

My final date at Sidney, OH is August 26th. Then shortly thereafter we will be moving into the sweet basement of Dale and Marie (Amber's Parents) as we look for houses and such.

I start at Heritage on September 10th. It's pretty exciting, we really pumped to be closer to family.

Hopefully with this move our blogging will increase as our need to keep communication and pictures flowing back to Sidney. So be looking for more postings from the Abels!!

Love You All,
Steve