Recent Projects

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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