 |
| I have proof: Talking on phone while driving tractor!!! Not good |
Hello everyone and welcome again. I know it has been a while and I do want to update you on our project. God has been so good to us in the last couple of weeks. We were able to stay with the friends who have also built their own house. We stayed with them for couple of days and then Tom and Tasha stayed with them again. Recently an old friend of Tom's from Clean Harbors gave us a cast iron cooking stove/heat provider!! It is beautiful and not too big or bulky. It has 2 burners and I can now make some more elaborate dinners other than spaghetti for us when we are up there. The studs of the basement are up and so are the posts and beams. The beams took quite some time to get up. Without the tractor Tom and I would still be up there trying to lift them up.
 |
| Lifting up the wall with the tractor was easy. |
We did find out that because we are using rough cut lumber, the walls can't be constructed on the ground. They have to be put in place as we build them. Tom made the mistake of putting the whole wall up at once only to have to remove it and start again one piece at a time because the wall was not level. That is quite all right, because now the walls are up and we are ready for the first floor walls.
 |
Logan and Tom screwing in the studs. Logan is a little worried
about the height and falling off the ladder. |
Logan enjoyed a little time to help and that was great. He got to screw in the studs with Dad's help. The ladder was a little worrisome for him but he did really well. Sean and Tasha had stayed home that week and we were, I don't think anyone can see it, quite clean since we had showers and bathrooms at our disposal. Also our friends decided to feed us every night and morning. That was just a great blessing to us.
 |
| Skipping with Dad |
The walls went up really quickly and as Tom and Logan were busy skipping on the walls and fooling around and really, as you can tell, not doing much work, I was busy driving the tractor. Boy, that was hard work. I would get off it and walk around like a puppet because my legs were so stiff. I had a real blast with it, though.
 |
| I am so happy, happy, happy! Tralila |
I managed to back fill the north side completely and some of the porch side also. That was great because we left to meet up with my parents and snow came. But it has melted a lot and I am glad to say that Tom and Tasha were able to put up the ceiling joists for the basement and screw them in and then...... well, I think Tom just doesn't like to be up there without me. They were leaving and the chisel chiseled my poor hubby on the wrist. He is fine, just a minor flesh wound.
The visit with my parents was wonderful. We had a great time, Sean celebrated his 21th birthday with friends, and my parents returned home with a sick Mami. My mother was having dizzy episodes again and that was very unfortunate. They went to the Dr the same day they returned home to Germany and he diagnosed her with the same issue she had about 10 years ago. I felt really bad for my mother. But other than that we had a great time. Papi, Logan and myself went out to lunch, which was really nice. They enjoyed a visit to the property and got to walk to the back of it in the snow. I showed them the sights (this is the newest tree Tom just took down, etc).
 |
This is before the huge post and beam framing job. What a pain!
It took a long time to frame it up with post and beam. |
Now stay with me a little longer. I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. I have to reflect on why we are celebrating this wonderful time of year. Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. But why? Is it because of the presents, or the snow, or is there a deeper meaning? For me it always comes down to the fact that the Creator of the Universe, who created me, humbled Himself and came in the form of a babe to later die on the cross. Now, we can say that Jesus was a great teacher, a great reformer and visionary, but was He really God? Either He was or He was a lunatic, and all His teaching would be nullified. He made it possible for us, who were born sinners, to have a living relationship with Him. Wow, that is cool. And the fact is that we are all sinners. You go to church every Sunday? Awesome, but there is still a need for a Savior to whipe all the sins clean and for you to believe in Him alone. But I am a good person, I helped out some people who were down and in need of help. That is fantastic, but we are still sinners. If we have broken the law in any way, we are condemned to life without God. That is heavy. But then Christ came to earth so that we, the sinners, can be forgiven, can have everlasting life. I can have that freely, it is a gift. Everyone of us has a yearing for a relationship with God. Why? Because that is how we were created. We just fill that with our own gods until we have found this God in form of the babe. He didn't come to conquer. He will be back, to be sure. And then your decision has been made. Where will you spend eternity? I like heat, but not that much :)
 |
| I just wanted to make sure you got that I drove the tractor :) |
I love y'all, and I mean it. Every one of you has added something to my life and that is great. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. I don't know where we will be. We are going to try to be here in CT but I just found out that Sean is working up in VT on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. He figured that this way others can spend they time with family and it is a manditory week for him.
