Everyday Life with the Benacs

Recent Projects

2011-05-10T17:28:00.000-07:00

I recently picked up and old table saw and router table for dirt cheap. It's been a ton of fun learning how to use these new tools. It's also been spring cleaning around old town Temple which means people are throwing away some great old wood. I've picked up a bunch lately and been able to make a few cool things. Take a look.

A red toy box for a bunch of lincoln logs we found at a garage sale

The best piece yet, a TV cabinet out of old salvaged wood

Since we moved in, our yard has needed some serious help. Last summer I tried using sod but that was a failure. This spring I put down a cool weather seed mix that does well in the shade and hot weather ($25 6 lb bad covered the whole yard twice). The toughest part was loosening up the soil with the hoe. Here's the before...

and after...

Looking good so far. Watering and fertilizing seems to be doing the trick.

REFINISHING OUR HARDWOOD FLOORS

2011-01-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

Hannah and I were feeling very brave recently and decided to pull up the carpet in our living room and study to redo the old hardwood floors underneath. This was a really fun project and we are really happy with the end product. Here's a picture summary of how it all went down.

We had to move everything out of two rooms and our house was a mess. Our neighbors were nice enough to let us keep the big furniture in their garage. The rest of the stuff went where ever we could find a place.

Then the carpet had to come up. Check out how nasty those floors are

The first big problem we ran into was a 2 x 2 foot piece of plywood that had been used to cover a hole where an old floor vent had been. In order to patch this up, we pulled some boards out of one of the bedroom closets. This was a pretty tricky little challenge but we got it taken care of.

We used a chisel and hammer to knock out a few extra boards so that the repair would look blended ("feathered" is the official term) with the rest of the floor.

Here is the closet after it the wood has been pulled up. We used a circular saw set to the 3/4 inch depth of the floor and a dremel tool to cut out a perimeter, then a crow bar and lots of elbow grease to get the boards out.

Here is the floor after it's been all patched up. Now onto the sanding.

Here's the floor pre-sand with the baseboards removed

We rented a drum sander with the money we made from selling our carpet on craigslist. Here were are getting started

Here's a close up after the first pass with the sander. We sanded with a course 36 grit and then then with a fine 80 grit

Hannah working her magic on the sander

After the sanding is done

With the polyurethane

The finished product, furniture and all

SPRING SO FAR

2010-03-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

Seeing that it is spring now and we last updated in the fall, it goes without saying that we are long overdue for a blog update. We wanted to let you know what's been going on with us and since so much time has passed we thought pictures would be a great way to show and tell all that we've been up to.

In February we went to an awesome ranch that a couple on our YL committee let us borrow for the weekend. We went with several friends from our bible study and had an awesome time playing games and enjoying the outdoors. It was a beautiful place and we had an awesome time.

The next weekend we headed to Abilene for the legendary ACU Sing Song. While we were there got to see our friends Jeff and Steph and also Al and Shannon. This was Drew's first experience at Sing Song and he loved it. Hannah's former club won the top award.

Snow in Temple!!!! We got to have a snow day in march when school was cancelled for both of us.

Grandma Shack's birthday bash over spring break!

A few weeks ago we went down to College Station to hear the results of the yell leader elections. David didn't win that night but he won in a run off a few days later. We are so proud and excited for him! Way to go Dave, gig'em!

FALL

2009-11-10T18:52:00.000-08:00

Things are going good for the Benacs here in Temple. We are loving the cooler weather and the arrival of fall. A few weeks ago we had some friends from church and school over for a pumpkin carving party and we had a great time. It is so fun be able to host people at our house. The most exciting news of late was our little niece Lucy was born in early October! We were able to go up there shortly after the birth and are looking forward to seeing her at Thanksgiving. Emily and Cody are fantastic parents and we have loved being Aunt and Uncle. We also got to go to Boerne for a weekend to watch Dylan play football. He had an awesome senior season and was a great leader for the team.

Hannah's class is busy everyday doing science

projects and mastering multiplication. Drew got to spend some time with her class recently playing kickball and checking out the volcano projects they had just finished. He is constantly amazed at how she does what she does everyday and juggles ten thousand things all at the same time. There are many so many needy kids at Tyler so keep praying strength and endurance as Hannah heads to work each day.

Drew is getting close to finishing his first semester of me

dical school. He has dissected the entire body except the head and neck and most recently finished the arms and legs. He liked this part of the body so much that he is thinking he might be interested in Orthopedic Surgery and is making plans to go watch some surgeries soon. Meanwhile, he is using study breaks to work on a sail boat he bought from a neighbor for $50!! We are hoping to get it out on Lake Belton in the Spring.

As for the third member or our family, Annie has grown lots since our last post. She can do lots of cool tricks and even lays on her bed while we eat dinner. Tragically though, she has started jumping the fence! This is not a good thing. We have tried lo

ts of remedies to stop this jumping but no luck yet. We'll keep you posted. If you have any great ideas for us, please send them our way.

In other news, we recently took off for a weekend getaway to Brenham, Tx to celebrate our one year anniversary and Drew's 24th birthday. We stayed at an awesome cottage owned by a couple who own some ranch land just outside of town. We did lots of hanging out, hannah swung her first golf club and we did somo antiquing. We would highly recommend the place we stayed at so if your looking for a get away, make sure to check out Tara Farms in Brenham. Here is a picture of the cute little place we stayed...

Thanks to all for the recent birthday and anniversary wishes. We are excited about the holidays coming up with our families and want you guys to know that if your passing through Temple on 35, please swing by.

End of summer

2009-08-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Well it's official, summer has ended. Tomorrow Hannah will to head to her first day of school and Drew will head back into the world of cadavers and books. All in all though, we have had a great summer. In the last three months we have finished two jobs, started another, started medical school , bought a house, taken some great vacations, and most recently, got a dog!

She was a rescue dog looking for a home that we fell in love with her as soon as we saw her picture in an email. She is extremely smart and well behaved for a puppy. She knows how so sit, come, fetch and even shake! It's been an exciting couple weeks having Annie in the house and she has been a great addition.

In addition to Annie, there have been lots of changes for the Benacs recently. A month ago Drew had his first day of medical school and last week he took his first test. He has really enjoyed getting to know his classmates and the material he is learning. One of his most unique experiences so far has been the weekly dissections in the gross anatomy lab. Tomorrow, for instance, Drew and he classmates will be taking out the heart! Alot of people say that medical school initially is like trying to drink for a fire hose and that has been pretty true this far. He is anxious to get his test grade back this week to see how he did.

While Drew has been pulling his hair out studying all day, Hannah ahs been hard at work in her classroom. Tyler Elementary in Belton seems to be a great place. The teachers are committed to each other and to their students and the the administration runs a tight ship. Hannah seems to be part of a really great team of teachers that has made her transition to a new school this year really smooth. Her classroom is beautifully decorated now and twenty lucky kids will get to spend their first day with the best teacher ever starting tomorrow.

Towards the end of summer we got to spend some great times with friends and family. We have had the Williams visit, Bekah, Dustin and recently spent a weekend a the lake with the Benacs. It was great to see all the boys before they head off to school and we had so much fun in the river, playing games and even skiing on the lake thanks to Taylor and Jon Yarbrough.

Things with us are going great. Temple is a great place with everything we need and it's quickly becomming home. Continue to pray for us as the fall starts, that we would be faithful servants of the Lord at our schools and whereever He would have us go.

Hope everyone is well. If you're ever in the area don't hesitate to stop by, we're 5 minutes off I-35. God Bless

Drew, Hannah and Annie

2009-07-15T08:23:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone! We are still alive and well and we both apologize for taking so long to update! This summer has been busy but very exciting as we move and are starting our life in Temple. We have been here a little over a week and have been in awe at how the Lord has continued to show His faithfulness to us in caring for us, providing for us and blessing us. We are so thankful. Here is a brief summer update....

We had a fantastic end of school and a wonderful send off. We then had about a month before we moved so I babysat for 2 kids and Drew helped coached our school's basketball camp. We tried to do some "Houston things" before we left like go to the symphony in the park, visited the Waterwall, and (my favorite) shop at the biggest flea market in Houston! We also packed and packed some more as well as did as many house projects as we could from our little porch in our apt.

We were also able to go to Al and Shannon’s wedding in Abilene. The wedding was beautiful and we loved being a part of it and being with family. That same weekend we threw a baby shower for Emily and had a great time! We can’t wait for that little girl to come!

So we packed our entire apt. and then headed off to Orange Beach Alabama with Hannah’s family for vacation. The best surprise of all was having Luke, Jane, and Tyler meet us in Houston for an Astros game before we left. No one has any idea they were coming and it was a blast to have the whole family together for the night! Thanks Mom and Dad J We loved hanging out at the beach and relaxing right before the big move! Thanks Grandma for an awesome vacation!

We came back and moved the next day! We were so blessed to have friends help us and have been working on the house day and night (literally!) since we arrived! So far we have painted our room, the living room and the kitchen. Put in a new door, put up the porch swing Drew built, tried to get our grass green again (hasn’t worked yet), and much more! Drew’s family came up to help last weekend and it was awesome! We got so much done! We have met a few of our neighbors who are really nice and love our neighborhood! We have enjoyed somewhat getting to know the city and are excited to be here. We were also able to go to a Bible study for med students and residents this week that we really enjoyed. We’ll end with some house pictures! We love you all and can’t wait for you to come visit!

The new homeowners!

Our new 1106 tiles that we bought at the flea market

Our kitchen in progress…We are painting the cabinets and they have not yet been but on and there is part of the island that Drew is building in the middle. He is quite the handy man!

Us on the porch swing Drew built! We never could have hung it without the help of Drew’s Dad!!

freshly painted living room J

Rained out!

2009-04-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! Things with the Benacs are good - especially today (a Tuesday) as we are both home for the day due to severe flooding in the Houston area last night. Yes, thank you Lord.

Last week we had some big news when Hannah took a job as the new third grade teacher at Tyler Elementary in Belton (which is just next to Temple). We are so excited and got to watch the Lord take care of us every step along the way in the job hunting process. It was long and rigorous at times but Hannah had multiple offers to choose from and really felt that Tyler was the right place for her with lots of opportunities to minister to all types of kids. To check out Hannah's school go to this link: http://www.bisd.net/tyler/

Now the next big decision in front of us will be deciding on a place to live. We have been looking into both apartments and houses, crunching some numbers and praying about the right place to be. This weekend we are traveling to Temple to look at some houses with a realtor and stay with one of Dr. Williams old classmates Dr. Murdock and his family for the night - again so taken care of. Please continue to pray for us with this decision. Regardless of where we live, it looks like we will be moving the week following the July 4th weekend since our lease is up on the 11th.

At FBBA things are going well. We have a countdown going on at home for the end of school. 21 days until summer in case you were wondering. Recently we attended our school's annual fundraiser, The Groovy Gala, and chaperoned the high school Sadie Hawkins dance, skate into the 80's. Both were fun times that called for appropriate dress.

Looking groooovy!

Skat'n into the 80s

Another highlight for us has been several weekends with family, including a few that have taken place right here in our apartment. We were in Austin at the end of March for the capital 10K which was a blast. We ran the six plus miles through downtown with no problems until Drew almost passed out in class later that week due to late onset dehydration. Guess the days of the college athlete are over. Over Easter weekend the Williams came to visit and it was so fun to show them our church, our school and where we have lived the last year. The Benac boys (David and Dylan) came up this past weekend for some hang out time, golfing, and lots of wii. Thanks to all of you who have made such a special effort to come visit - we have loved having you.

At Lupe's with the guys

Well that about wraps in up for us. Thanks for your prayers, please let us know how we can be praying for you. We have been learning a lot about being patient, waiting on the Lord's timing, and living content in all circumstances. We love you all!

-Drew and Hannah

It's about time we updated!

2009-03-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! Sorry it has been so long...

Here are the past 2 months in a nut shell...in between our weeks of teaching we have gotten to do some fun things on the weekends! In late Jan. we went to a friend's ranch with 3 other married couples to spend the weekend. We had a blast cooking out, relaxing, shooting guns and going on hikes! In February, I (Hannah) was in a wedding in Dallas and the following weekend Drew was asked to speak at Boerne Disciple Now. He did a fantastic job talking to kids about relationships. In March, we found out that Drew was accepted to the four year program in Temple so I got on the job search! I was surprised at a very quickly approaching job fair in Belton and worked to apply and get my resumes ready. The job fair was a good start, although I felt a little lost in the crowd. I will go to another one in April for the Temple area. Please keep that in your prayers!

We returned on Saturday night from the job fair and Drew left early Sunday morning to go on a camping trip to Big Bend with 12 FBBA boys. His high school has a tradition that the week before Spring Break is set a part for mission trips, internships, college visits, and fun trips! He was asked to be faculty sponsor. He really enjoyed his time and the chance to get to know those guys in a different setting other than the classroom. He was gone all week for that and I was teaching so I asked Mom to come up for a few days and be a special visitor in Mrs. Benac's 3rd grade class! The kids loved her as she read them a story and brought cookies! We were also able to go to a movie, she went to Bible Study with me and we went on many walks. I loved it and didn't have to brave all 5 nights by myself! Drew came back Friday, we had a few days of rest and then left for Knoxville, TN to visit some high school friends we have kept in touch with. They moved up there this past summer and we loved seeing their life there! We went backpacking in the Smokies for 3 days and it was beautiful! We went up to the Appalachian Trail and back down with great weather except one rainy night. Spring was just starting to come out in Knoxville so we saw a few things blooming. The only downside was that the boys couldn't see the first day of March Madness! There were attempts of texting to get results on the mountain! We got back down and watched a lot of basketball and saw the town in between. It was a wonderful and refreshing break! We are now getting back into school and in our last nine weeks! We are looking forward to running the Capital 10K with family in Austin this weekend, visits from family over the next couples months, and going to Santa Barbara for Bek's graduation! We are thankful for all of you, for your love, support and prayers.

Psalm 16:7-8 "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me, even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." (Pray our hearts will be open to the Lord's instruction and He will always be set above all else as we seek to walk in His ways) Here are some pictures from our journeys.

Here we are at the ranch with our Sugar Land friends Josh and Elizabeth

Big Bend with the FBBA boys

Us with Brad and Heather about to hit the trial

The Appalachian Trial Shelter, or "AT shelter" if you're a local, where we spent our second night. Notice the chain link fence to keep out the bears! AHHH - no sightings though

The beautiful smokies - so properly named!

Christmas 2008!

2009-01-03T20:56:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009 to everyone! We have been so blessed with a wonderful Christmas break and can not believe we have school again on Monday! We started off the break going to a Shane Barnard/Shane Everett Christmas concert at our church in Houston (look them up on itunes if you don't have any of their music). We loved the way the concert was completely centered around glorifying God and not the artists. It was a great way to start the break as it focused our hearts and minds towards Christ and why He came. I was especially hit by the way the Lord completely humbled himself to become a man...for me and for us. God sent Jesus as the perfect mix of justice and grace so that we might be saved and spend eternity with Him. I'm so thankful for this salvation and that we don't have to try to do it on our own.

Anyway, after that we headed to Boerne to spend Christmas with the Williams' and the Benac's. All the Williams' family was home this Christmas along with Grandma Shack and the DeZonia family.

We absolutely loved catching up with everyone, playing games, celebrating Emily's birthday, and exchanging gifts with one another. We also had some great times of reflection as a family about the true meaning of Christmas and we were overwhelmed with thankfulness of the Lord's goodness and of the faithfulness to walk with him that our family's possess and have passed on to us.

Next we headed to the Benac's to have Christmas and then head off to Colorado.

We met some family friends up there and stayed in their cabin in southern Colorado. Colorado had just been hit with snow and our timing couldn't have been more perfect as snow was still on the ground but the weather was sunny and 30's. We had a blast playing in the snow: sledding, cross country skiing, snow ball fights, and one day downhill skiing in Telluride.

We also enjoyed our time in the cabin reading and playing games. Once again we were overwhelmed with gratefulness for the time spent with family and the fun had by all.

Now we are back and taking down Christmas and preparing for another semester! Hope all is well, we love you!

2008-12-17T18:36:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everybody!!

Things are great with the Benacs. Right now we're making thousands of red marks on tests and finals so we can send all our little intellectuals home for the holidays with a report card. This is quite the tragedy because all we really want to do is drink eggnog and celebrate Christmas.

Since we last wrote our days have been filled with fun, family, and firsts.

In early November we spent the weekend in College Station visiting Drew's family and brother who goes to college there. David marched at half time of the football game and told us all about his everyday life in the Corps. We just found out that he passed his classed this semester and they're letting him come back in the fall (great job Dave!) A&M got creamed by OU but managed to score at least once which was occasion enough for a first ever touchdown kiss (an A&M tradition- sorry no picture).

The very next weekend we took our first camping trip together! Went to a state park just North of Houston, the weather was great and we got to do some awesome hiking. Here we are at our campsite.

Next we headed home for thanksgiving and were able to spend some great time with both sides of the family. It was fun coming home for the first time since being married. The first night at the Williams' Drew freaked out when he woke up in Hannah's bed but then remembered he was married now and sleeping with Hannah was okay. The Benacs were great hosts (you set out the red towels and everything mom - thanks) and it was fun to hang out with the boys.

That very next weekend we were off again. This time to Dallas where we were able to see our good friends Mark and Megan (getting married in February) as well as Cody and Emily. Hannah spent time with Megan at a shower while Drew and Mark worked on building Hannah's Christmas present (pictures to come next time). Cody and Emily were awesome hosts as always. We loved catching up, going to church, watching Cody coach, and who can forget the great chicken fried steak at J. Gilligans!

On our way home from Dallas we made an awesome discovery and bought a $10 tree at IKEA. Who knew? It survived the highway trip on the top of the Accord and now sits beautifully decorated in our living room. Check it out!

We are both so blessed to have so many special ornaments from our families including these two latest additions from the Benacs.

We have loved getting ready for out first Christmas together. Hannah has decorated the apartment and it looks amazing. We have been able to have several guests over recently and are so thankful that our home can be a place where God's love is felt and shared.

God has been so good to us lately. He has continued to watch over us and is leading us. We have had an awesome answer to prayer over the last few months as Drew has been accepted to two medical school! You can be praying that the Lord would lead us and prepare the palce he wants us to be next year.

This weekend we will celebrate Christmas together (Whoohoo!), go to a Shane and Shane Christmas concert on Saturday night and then head home on Sunday. We can't wait to see most of you soon. We love you and Merry Christmas again!

2008-11-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody! We are so excited to have our blog up and running so that we can tell you guys about everything that's been going on with us lately. There has been so much!

Thank you again to everybody for all the work that went into the wedding. We absolutely loved it and have incredible memories that we will treasure for the rest of out lives.

(And thanks Josh for some beautiful pictures!!! More to come)

After the wedding headed off to Hawaii. We had the most amazing time and got to do so many fun things. We spent lots of time on the beach, went hiking, ate lots of good food, went to a Luau, went snorkeling, rented a convertible, ate more good food, and loved being married. This was such a sweet time for us to be together and it couldn't have been better. Thanks Grandma Shack! Check out some of these cool pictures from the honeymoon.

(View of Waikiki beach where our hotel was from the Diamond Head hike went on.)

(Huanama Bay - a famous place for snorkeling. We saw some of the most colorful fish and even got so swim beside huge sea turtles! It was awesome and incredibly beautiful)

(Here we are at the Luau. The best part was the sunset)

(One of our last days there we rented a convertible and drove all over the island. We went to the North shore where one of Drew's friends is from, saw the local sites, went hiking, and witnessed some great surfing.)

(One of the cool shops we found on the North Shore. Great cookies here)

We were so sad to leave Hawaii and really want to go back. Life back in Houston carried on without us while we were gone so we returned with huge piles of papers to grade and an apartment full of sweet new presents. The last few weeks have been really fun as we have been able to start our lives here together. All our new appliances and gadgets have somehow found a home and we are loving using them to cook new things. We love driving to and from school together everyday. The 3rd graders and Chemistry kids are doing well. They are getting anxious for the holidays but everyday God seems to give us some form of encouragement to keep going. We are slowly seeing some of the lives of these kids change. Praise God! Here is a picture of Hannah's class and some of Drew's students who decorated his room the last day before the wedding.

Apartment life is as good as it gets. We take long showers (they pay the water bill) and enjoy scenic dinners on our balcony from time to time. See below

This last weekend Drew turned 23! Hannah cooked special meals all weekend long and topped it off with a homemade cheesecake that was the best thing any human being has ever tasted. Here is the gourmet cook herself in action...

In other news... we're headed to College Station this weekend to watch Drew's brother David march at the A&M football game. It will be fun to see the Benacs and spend time with friends in College Station. Drew bought a new suit with some extra wedding money and has been offered a medical school interview at UTSA. We are so thankful for all that we have and for all of you. We don't know what lies ahead in the next year(s) but we are assured that the Lord will continue to call his people and he will be faithful when he does (I Thes 5:24). All of this is for his glory.

Much love, Hannah and Drew