Merry Christmas

The royal family

Hello everyone again.  I hope the preparations for Christmas is not too stressful.  I remember when the kids were younger and Christmas was all about presents and such I would be going nuts trying to get them all squared away.  Now I take quite a different look at Christmas.  This year I take special pleasure in picking out just 3 special presents for our kids.  Sharon, my wonderful friend, introduced me to this idea a few years ago and it has worked really well for me.  I give three gifts, each representing the gifts of the magi to the Christ child.  It is a lot of fun to figure out what to give for gold, frankincense (representing a gift for the body) and myrrh (representing spiritual growth).  With each I take out some time to write a prayer for each gift and each kid.  It is a lot of fun and much more rewarding for me and the kids (any gift is cool with them, really).  That said, I am all set with Christmas and it was pretty painless.  We had one incident where Natasha's gold gift was supposed to be a weekend at a concert with her friend Esther from PA.  The girls were so looking forward to this but no matter what we couldn't get tickets, which was totally strange.  I sent perfectly good links to my friend who sent back that the links either didn't work or were blank.  After about 2 weeks or so of going back and forth, the Lord finally got my attention and I decided that we weren't going, for whatever reason.  To come to find out they ended up having a family emergency and we would not have been able to go anyway.  I didn't know, my friend didn't know, but the Lord knew!

Anything in there?

Mail call!!!

 Up here in the north things are pretty much routine.  School is school and Logan did very well at his initial evaluation for special education.  He is now registered in VT to be home schooled and so we are now on our way to becoming Vermonters.  We won't be considered Vermonters ever, since we were not born and raised here but we are getting settled.  The kids built a wonderful wooden mail box and we now can get our mail right at home.  I almost went to the post office today to get our mail.  Rather silly.  Tom now has his driver's license and I am getting mine this week.  I keep forgetting the paperwork and I had to bring 

my green card and all.  Soon the car will have her license changed to a green plate.  That will be strange and it will be difficult for us to identify our car.  There are about 1 million white Subaru in Springfield. Tasha is working hard to study for her permit.  She wants to get it soon and I would be very glad for her to have it.

Singing together is great

 Sean and I had the honor to sing a few tunes at church.  The church has a Friday night thing where they present different people.  We had an art show, and a comedian from Maine come to the church.  One of the wonderful ladies in the church, we sometimes do line dancing at her house which is a lot fun, heard me and Sean talking and found out that we sing/play guitar together.  She really wanted for us to come and sing on one of the Friday nights.  Sean and I just thought it would be one song and be done with it.  It didn't work out for a few weeks but then Sean was able to commit one Friday.  Pastor Tom (yes his name is Tom) came and showed me the calendar and on it we were the headliners for that particular night!  Right, I was a little nervous.  I hadn't really sung in a while, just in the shower (oh wait, we don't have one), and as we were practicing my voice was getting quite hoarse after the third song.  After praying about it for a little bit, Sean I think, mentioned that the lead singer for one of my favorite bands drinks hot milk with honey.  I tried it and my voice was just fine.  My nerves weren't though.  It turned out to be a lot of fun.     

Sean was excellent

I was a little nervous.  Can you tell?

The windows in the church are all still intact as are the stained glass windows.  We sang 5 songs all together and people were pleased.  They thanked us after.  I was so nervous as you might be able to tell from the picture.  Sean was as calm as normal.  Pastor Tom then interviewed us, which was a lot of fun.  We haven't gotten kicked out yet, which is always good.  The whole thing was a real blessing to me since I was able to do this with my oldest and still be able to show my face at church.  Hopefully we will be able to do this again.  No, Casting Crowns have not called and asked us to appear at their next concert, neither has Third Day.  I don't know what they are waiting for!  We didn't even get a high five from Chris Tomlin.  I mean, come on!

Sean and I were just down in CT for him to shoe the horses at my friend Julie's.  It was really great to see her and her husband for a moment.  Sean is getting much better at shoeing.  It took him a fraction of the first time he shod the horses.  He is very sure of himself now, which is nice to see.  He still wonders as he works whether he should proceed this way of that, but he is pretty sure of what he is doing.  He just filed for a business name and is planning on starting in the spring.  Right now is the worst time to start.  The horses are not being used and people are broke.  By spring people will recover and show season will start.

The hard wood is difficult to cut into boards

Tom is busy with several projects.  One is the well, the other are still the floor boards and then we are waiting for the septic still.  The weather is so so and he is pretty tired right now, so he is taking some time to recoup.  I think we will have a well soon, God willing.

 Tasha and Logan built the mailbox the other day and at first it was not easy for them to get together and do this, but they worked through their differences and came up with a pretty cool looking mail box.  It is certainly different than our neighbor's.  Does that mean anything?!?!?!?!


Just the other day I was alone at the house and I heard an impatient tapping on the door.  I went and opened it and low and behold it was my old friend Fear coming for a visit.  He had brought my old pal Depression.  Following them was good old Discontent.  They came right in and wanted to stay a while.  They had started to make themselves at home, putting up the pot for tea and had the water almost boiling.  I remembered that I had another friend waiting outside to come in.  He didn't knock impatiently but just waited to be invited in.  I threw open the door and in walked Jesus Christ, Emanuel.  The party changed quite quickly.  Instead of Fear, Depression, and Discontent controlling the party, they were quite meek and slunk out the back door.  Instead of letting the hot water go to waste, I invited Christ to have a cup of delicious tea with me and He stayed and we had a wonderful time.  In this time of holiday craze, remember, there is one who is waiting to be invited into the heart of the party.  He is waiting for everyone but we have to invite Him in.  He won't push His way through that door, like my other "friends".  He is quite the gentleman, who will wait to be asked.  And when He does come in what a party we have.  And He doesn't leave.  He stays and the party just gets better.  There are times we may forget that He is around and we allow our circumstances to pull us down but He is always there, waiting to rescue us from our worldly "Friends".  It is easy to let these circumstances pull us down.  Well, we have an out in our Lord and Savior.  Are we willing to let Him come in and turn our fleshly party into something beautiful?

Here is a song by "Casting Crowns", who still haven't called us by the way.  When I heard this song the first time, I cried (I guess I do that a lot with songs).  I hope you allow this song to speak to you.  The message is wonderfully appropriate around this time of the year.   

 

One step at a time

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope everyone has survived any storms that have come your way.  We are continuing to survive the storms that live throws our way by the grace of God.  It is time for me to update you again.  God is so good, isn't He?

We are making steady progress with the house.  It seems to us that as we take a step forward, there are about 10 others we need to take.  Not to mention things that need to be fixed and changed.  I mean, come on, there should be nothing to fix on a new house!  Not so.  For the last couple of weeks we have been working on little things we need to be ready for winter.  It is a fact of life that winter will come eventually.  I look out my windows and have noticed that the trees are a little bare.  Poor things.  They need some blankets :)).

Cozy dog

The most exciting news is that because Vermont really has not building codes (which could be bad if you are not a conscientious builder) we don't need a CO (certificate of occupancy).  This means that we can take occupancy of the house any time we want.  We have!  We have been sleeping in the house for about a week and a half.  It just got too cold in the cabin (demoted back to shed) and I made an executive decision!  We slept in the house and it was quite cozy.  Tom was up and down a bit the first night keeping the fire going but we figured it out in the end.  The dog is very thankful to have a little bit more space to sleep in, although last night he snuggled with me under my blanket (he is a bed hog!) and we were really quite toasty.  The kids love sleeping upstairs in their rooms.  Sean is sleeping in the wall between his room and ours, or in our closet, depending on if he is sleeping on his left side or right side.  Tasha and Logan are sleeping in Logan's room.  They love having their space a little more to themselves.  We can still see the blue light on at night when they are busy playing their DS games.  Sean just treated himself to a tablet and so of course he has been using that a lot at night.  Last night I was able to call a friend of mine, Sue, from upstairs.  It just happened to work.  It was very exciting and we talked for about half an hour and then we were disconnected.

We are waiting on our septic designer now to submit our paperwork to the state.  It can take a few weeks but in the meantime we need other things done in the house.  I am excited to report that we have basement stairs!!!!  That is a huge thing because we have been using ladders to get up and down from the basement.  It wasn't much fun.  We have been thinking and praying about these stairs.  For those who have seen the house, it is not very big and we really didn't want to give up a lot of space for the steps.  So, we were left with ladders, or really steep steps.  I am glad to report that the stairs are not as steep as we thought.  The dog has been up and down them quite a lot.  At first he was a little hesitant, because you can see through the back of the steps and they are rather steep, but I figure if the dog can make it up and down, so can we.  It is amazing how a little thing as stairs can cause such a great big excitement.  Logan insisted on being the second to go up and down.  I wanted to make sure the stairs were safe enough and beat him to it.  We were very excited when Chet completed his first successful ascend.  He got a treat and was made a great big deal of.

First phase

Sean testing the steps

The finished project

A week or two ago our wonderful homemade front door kind of gave us a lot of trouble.  It is really thick and a regular door knob doesn't fit so Tom had to ingeniously fix and bang a home made one together.  It broke, so we had to put a stop up to close the door and all that stuff.  Well, I am glad to tell you the door is now fixed (see we are already fixing things) and we now have a nice door knob.  I can even lock it!!!  Not that it would make any difference.  But it is really nice to have that knob. 

The house is really cozy.  We are happy doing our school, playing games, watching movies, and pretty much being back to normal.  I do miss not having a couch to lounge on and to relax.  The bathroom thing is a little annoying, as is the cooking situation.  But I can cook, I can use the bathroom, we have opportunities to shower and to swim at the same time.  Logan has become quite good at swimming.  It is wonderful of how everything we need has been provided for.

Sean was sharing a story with me.  He was pretty hungry the other day at work.  He doesn't make a lunch because it is dark in the house and he would wake everyone up.  So he prayed that his boss would take him out for a late breakfast (around 10 AM).  God answered that prayer quite quickly.  At lunch he was hungry again and again, he was fed.  It reminds me of Elijah and the ravens.  God provides what we need. That is our great God.

 Natasha and I were able to go to the Equine Affair in Springfield, MA.  It is a huge horse convention with big name riders coming and doing seminars and lots and lots and lots and lots of shopping.  I have not gone in a few years but the kids usually go with friends who were unavailable.  So Tash and I packed a lunch and followed friends of ours from here who were also going.  We had a blast.  It was wonderful to hang out with my daughter and I only lost her once.  Actually she lost me!!!  There, let us just make sure it is on record.  But God was good and we found each other again pretty quickly, which was amazing because the place is huge and there are usually thousands of people.  As I was walking around trying to get back to my daughter, who was watching a presenter, I heard someone call my name.  It was my friend Janice from Bristol.  It was great to see her again and we ran into each other often and watched some of the presenters together.  Tasha and I spent the day walking around and by the evening we were beat and ate at Paneras, which was a great treat.  I was pretty much stuffed with chocolates.  Every booth had candy, so one browses, and one eats. 

Silly Arab

I just celebrated my first birthday here in VT.  It was a very normal day but we did go out to eat, which was just wonderful.  A lot of people called me during the day and I was able to talk to my parents and my aunt.  My cousin's wife also left a message and that was a wonderful surprise.  So life is going on as normal as possible.  We are still trying to figure out how to cut our wood into floor boards.  We will get that done as soon as God wills.  Right now Tom is cutting a massive Ash wood into boards.  It takes a while to do, which is the problem.  But one thing at a time. 

We get to spend time with my sister over Thanksgiving, which will be great.  Sean and I are going to try to make a fool of ourselves and do a singing thing at church in a few weeks.  The church we are attending right now has an outreach every Friday night, kind of a coffee house but with different themes.  Pastor has been asking if we would sing.  Well, he is in for a shock.  Sean and I have been practicing and we have such a great time jamming together.

I hope we all give thanks for our blessings this season, such as running water. 

Is that the light?

Hello again to everyone.  Let me take a moment to take a breath here.  It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks.  So much has happened and we are so excited about it all (we can't not be excited because it is just plain old exciting.) 

Taking in the view

We have had so many visitors, it has been so great.  It has been nice to have distractions.  We have been hard at work that it is really great to have people come and hang out.  The first to arrive were our friends Lisa, Scott, Cocoa and Bella.   

Cocoa

They brought their camper, which was great because they were able to stay for a while.   Of course, as many of you will attest, we will conscribe you into slave labor while you are here.  Scott helped Tom pour the pillars for our porch and he helped him to make sure that the posts were level.  We are very grateful for that!  We could have had a very sloping porch, which would have caused us problems since the bathroom is going out there.   Unimaginable!!!!  While they were here my friend Sharon and her family came up for the day.  The kids loved it because they were able to hang out with their friends for a while.  Tasha felt a little homesick after Lauren left.  But nevertheless, it was a wonderful time.  Nadine and Logan played in the car, something they have done for always (it is quite cute) and walked along the ROW.  The older "kids" (can't call them that anymore really) hung out and explored the property a bit.

Next came my in-laws who had just returned from a trip out west.  Finally my friend Sue and her husband came for a visit when they returned from a relaxing weekend at a VT B&B.  It was a real blessing to have them come too, because Jim was not afraid to help Tom get some pretty difficult work done.  The windows on the main floor.  They are large and the floor is high up.  Tom was wondering how he was going to get that done without Sean.  But Jim slung a hammer while Sue and I clung to the window on the inside and prayed that neither would fall down 15 feet.  Everything went as well as it was supposed to.

Now to backtrack:  Ahemmmmm, (this is me taking a breath).  The house (I say house because it sure looks and feels like one) is coming along really great.  It is amazing how things come together.  Tom and I can just look at each other and smile.  It started with the septic system.  Thank you for praying!!  We are drawing up new set of plans, cheaper to install and easier to maintain.  Praise God.  The plans will be submitted and we will get them back in November.  A little close to winter and really cold weather, but God will provide.  Next the doors, which we needed to install to make the house warmer and to close it up for winter. 

Very rustic

Tom built a very nice and rustic door (now the jury is divided on their impression of the door, Sean does not like it.  I love it, Tasha loves it too and so everyone is overruled :)))  It keeps the cold out nicely and the window is wonderful because it lets in some light which we need on the north side of the house.  It is rather rustic and the door knob is a little bit of a problem, but the house is going to be rustic!!  So it will fit.  So, we were praying for God to provide for the septic, well  and windows.  We forgot the little things, which is understandable.  He didn't.  He knew we needed other doors.  So, He once again provided through our friends through the youth gathering.  Not only did they have some doors which fit our opening, they also had won at a raffle a coupon for mound sand and gravel.  They have no need for that, but we sure do.  So we now have doors ready to install.  Then the problem of the windows.  We just didn't like the price (too much) for the windows.  But after long deliberation and prayer, Tom ordered them and the shop gave us a great discount.  It was great.

Good old car

The same weekend we were in Keene to check it out and of course to go to Home Depot.  While there Tom found out that they were having a huge sale on insulation, I mean great prices, and so we loaded up the poor Subaru (I think it was getting a little bored for just being used as a means of transport and wanted to do some real work).  It brought the bundles of insulation safely to the property and then the truck (Sean's little baby) was used to get some more.  While waiting for the windows we started put up the insulation and it has made a huge difference.  We first felt it when we started doing the roof.  Almost immediately we felt the warmth stay in the house a little longer.  We actually sat on the second floor and watched a movie even though we had decided not to do that anymore because we were all getting too cold.  The warmth stayed in the house much longer.  So while Lisa and Scott were here I was at my best slave driving.  Natasha finished the insulation while I talked with my friends.  She did a really good job and stayed at it.  Her job was just to cut the pieces and Tom stapled them in.

living room windows

  Once all the insulation was in place the house was pretty warm.  Now that the windows are in we are nice and snug. As you can see, there is a ton of light coming in.  I is great.  In the morning we can see the sun rise just above the trees and that is just great. 

 

Because we had Tyvek paper and plastic up on the windows before hand, the light really didn't have a chance to come through.  But now, amazing.  It reminds me of our spiritual life.  Before we get rid of the self in our heart we know that there is something beyond our view.  We can feel some of the light and heat.  We can smell the things on the other side, and we are aware that there is another "world" out there.  We just can't see it.  We know there are trees, birds and leaves etc.  Once we got those windows, I was amazed and just couldn't get over the similarities.  The picture of all of us was taken with the Tyvek and plastic.  The difference is just astounding.  I love that Christ will give us that beauty once we are ready for it.  Amazing, but it is only once we are willing to get rid of that old self.  The self righteousness, the self pity and all the selfs we cling on to.  And it will hurt to get rid of them, but then again, Christ bled for us too.  It only hurts for a little bit, but then, sunrise and fall foliage!

Enjoy these pictures Tasha took.

Zee Piano must go in

Hello from the cozy loft

Hello again from beautiful Vermont.  Yes we are still having fun. The leaves have indeed started to change but we will not discuss that in the present company, please.  The nights are also getting cooler (no comment on that either, please) and the days are shorter (again no comments needed here).  No, there has thankfully been no sighting of snow.  I want to bring you up to date on what we are doing, what's a happening in our crazy life.

Notice the title of today's blog?  It is very important.  Now, those of you with younger children or involved with children may or may not know which famous and academy award winning show/movie it is from and also which word has been changed.  I don't know if you knew that we had a piano.  It is an old one, which is out of tune because it can't be tuned anymore.  It has been Natasha's faithful companion through many tearful practices of songs she disliked and also many more hours of pleasure and joy on her part.  Logan had also begun to play it and have some lessons on it.  When we were getting ready to move the question was to bring it or not.  Finally we left it, that if we had room in the U-Haul it would come.  It did come.  It took a lot of people to move the thing from where it was in out living/dining room to the door.  6 of us heaved and hawed and sweated during that humid day.  To get it onto the truck was a little easier, since we had Sean bring his truck up to the steps (it took a couple of tries to get the truck just right) and roll it over to the U-Haul.

The piano

Once we were on the property, we had a dilemma.  There were only 4 of us left and we had to move it into the basement of the house.  After about 2 hours of deliberation and trying this and that, we finally were able to move it onto a skid Tom had built out of 8 by 8 and other pieces of wood.  After we secured it with rope, tarp and wrapped it up tightly and covered it with a metal roof there it rested.  Tasha gave some out door concerts and the wildlife was very happy with her.  This was August.  It is now September and the weather is going to change (not that I will admit to any change in weather mind you) and Tom decided that the poor piano could not stay outside forever.  But how to move it from its temporary spot to the inside of the basement, some 20 feet away, without totally destroying it.  This is a very, very scientific method so please take notes in case you ever find yourself in this kind of situation.
 Materials:
Prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer

The Subaru, white

 1 Subaru Outback, white 

The look out after a long day

2 Very helpful assistants and a look out (age no younger than 10)
Did I mention prayer
Lots of rope
1 piece of plywood
Lots of assorted pieces of wood

How to get it in

Outside the basement door

 I do not have to tell you that there was more prayer involved that in any of the other projects.  Tom came up with these ingenious contraptions with which we moved the piano, like on a sledge, from where it was to outside the basement door.  It took about 4 hours to get it that far.  We had to put the plywood under this contraption and the Subaru pulled the whole thing along, very, very slowly.  By the time we got the whole thing to the door, it was about 4 PM (we had started at about 11).  We had to debate how we were going to twist the piano so it could get into the door.  The Subaru was moved again and slowly we pulled only the back end of the piano around.  It actually worked.  It took about an hour to do this part.  Now to get it into the house. 

Sean came home
to save the day!

 The Subaru was moved up to the ROW and we tried to pull it into the basement.  It didn't want to go.  And then, after Tom prayed yet another time, who should show up to save the day?  Sean!  We had that thing in the basement within 15 minutes.  Then he asked what we had been doing all day.  He is recovering well.

But here is the thing with the title.  It was in one of the Vegitales movies and all day long we were saying, "Zee piano must go in".  Now, we did change the last word.  Who got it right?  It was up instead of in.  It had been a long, hard day with a lot of thinking, listening to God, and maneuvering.

The next day was a Tyveking day.  It took a good long time to get the whole house Tyveked.  There was a lot of prepwork to be done.  We had some parts of the walls that needed to be closed up better and that took about 2 days. The eves were very difficult to put up but I am glad to tell you that since last Wednesday, all the eves are covered.  The windows are covered for now and we have plastic up until we have windows.  We just got a good quote from a local place so I think we are going with it.  The next hurdle to overcome is the septic system.  Tom is not happy with the one we are suppose to put in.  It is too complicated and too many things can go wrong.  It needs too much maintenance and the company which sells it just sold it to another place.  They are not very forth coming with their answers.  So, please pray that we will get a good system in there.  We are talking to septic builders and here too God gave us an answer because they all mentioned another system which is a lot easier to install and to maintain.  So we are hoping to get that system in.

We are all doing really quite well.  I got sick twice so far, once a real doozer.  I had the fever and all that.  It was not fun.  But we are so thankful that we can be here.  We just had the neighbors stopping by.  They are an older couple and they live across town.  Very nice couple, who built their own house too, and have a wealth of info for us, the greenhorns.  I have come to understand Vermonters a little better, perhaps.  They are incredibly independent.  They don't want anyone in their business.  They will not give a hand easily but if there is a need to be met then they are all over that one.   

This is how Tasha sleeps

He is so cute

For now we are snug as a bug in the little CABIN (I have upgraded our shed, it is more dignified).  Tom and I have moved up to the loft and the kids are all sharing the space downstairs.  Sean sleeps with the dog, who starts out at his feet under the blanket and ends up making his way up to his hips by the end of the night.  It is like a den of children down there.  I had to get up in the middle of the night and after stepping off the ladder, I first stepped on the dog (it was still early in the night) then on Logan and then I stepped on Sean again.  It is so cozy down there.  But the most important thing for me is that we are pretty content and happy.  At night we will be messing around and the kids will be joking with each other, picking on the person who entertained us in our sleep the night before.  That person is usually Sean, who really has a lot to say in his sleep.

 The whole family is pulling together, working as one unit, with God at the head and us following what He is giving us.  There are moments when all this becomes very daunting.  I was driving down the road to get another quote for windows.  The road was winding and quite beautiful and I was struck that sometimes I can only trust God as far as I can see on the road.  He is stretching me to continue to make me trust Him beyond the corner.  The road doesn't stop just because we can't see what is around the corner.  It is still there.  God is telling me that even though I don't know what the condition of the road is, He does, and He will provide a way for me to travel on that road.  It might be a little bumpy (believe me, the road I'm driving on is a dirt road with ruts and bumps) but in the end I will still be safe, and I will get to my destination.  

I hope you are all doing well.  Enjoy the days that God has given us all.