January blues?

Good morning!

Happy January, everyone.  We only have a few more months until spring.  Be happy!!  How is everyone this fine crisp (6 degrees at this point but this morning at 7:30 it was -3) fine morning?  I have to tell you, honestly, I did not want to get up this morning.  I had been stuck between a snoring and moving dog and a hubby all night, making sure they were both warm enough.  It didn't leave much for my own slumber.

5 more minutes, please.

I am glad to report that both the hubby and the dog were quite cozy and had a wonderful night sleep, thank you!  That said, I had no choice to rise, since my bubbly daughter didn't give me much of a choice otherwise.  She was up before me, the audacity!!  But she also doesn't share her mattress with the huffing and puffing dog, who was continually moving around, trying to get a better, more comfi position.  He started out at my feet and ended, well, you can see for yourself.

 Logan and I were reading in Psalms 50 the other day and what struck me was that God does not want our sacrifices of good deeds or others.  The most beautiful thing to God is our contrite heart, a heart that is turned toward Him and Him alone.  He wants our thankfulness, our praises.  My whole thinking has to be tuned toward Him in thankfulness, even when I don't want to get up in the morning.

Is it morning already?

There are so many things to be thankful here.  The beginning of the month started with rather balmy temperatures (upper 30's) and just beautiful weather.  I kicked the kids outside one day to walk around and take pictures.  It was a perfect day, there was a slight haze around the trees and the sun was just about to peek through.   It was quite magical.  Logan also took some amazing pictures.  We were pretty busy with school the next couple of days, and putting up some wall paneling in the living room.  No more insulation wallpaper!    

Before

After

 We have moved on to the side walls and really it totally fits with the house.  This house is not going to be a really fancy, dancy house.  Both Tom and I are not complicated and don't need anything fancy. Tom and I thought it would be nice if we could us mostly our own wood, cut and lumbered from our own trees.  99% of the joists, posts, beams, and panels are from our property. The walls definitely have added a homey feeling.  Every step we are getting a teeny weensy step closer to a completed house.  When that day comes only God knows but He does know and when the mornings are cold and it is hard to get out of bed I can trust that this will not last forever, and that He knows when it will end and that it will end.  And then I will always have the memory of sleeping on an air mattress with the dog on one side and the hubby on the other (the dog actually snores a lot louder than Tom).

My wonderful sister and her husband were up twice now and we had a great time with them.  They came up just for the day the other day and we were so blessed with their company.  The dogs got along no problem (Chet is not a gentledog!) and we played charades in the evening.  The men took some measurements and discussed some projects that are upcoming while Eiki, Tasha and I hit the Antique stores.  We had a good time doing it, and I was able to keep my sister from spending her paycheck on antique tin cans.  I think George was very happy about that.

The most exciting news and scary at the same time, is that Natasha is now amongst the legal drivers (under parental supervision until she gets her license).  She passed her permit test after lots and lots of studying and praying.  This has been something she has looked forward to for at least a year.  When we took her to get her permit in CT she did not pass for several reasons.  Once, she didn't pass because she needed new glasses and then she just wasn't prepared.  I also believe that she wasn't ready to drive and God said, No, my child.  It is not your time yet.  This time she was prepared.  Once Tom and I had switched our licenses and Logan was registered to be home schooled here, we told her that she had a definite green light to get her permit.  She studied her little heart out.  She was able to study online and things made sense to her.  In the meanwhile, she was driving on our ROW and helping with lifting up massive beams and such (if you recall the car has done a lot of work on the house too).  She has been looking forward to this so much but she also realized that it was not hers to hold onto.  The night before her test she was able to surrender the whole thing to Him, who knows anyway.  While taking the test she prayed for every answer, with the knowledge that if she didn't pass, it would be all right.  Praise God she did pass and has driven twice on normal roads.  I am still alive!!!  So, all you who are driving in the Springfield/Chester area: beware!!!  She actually did really well on the road and the squirrels were able to make it across the road.  Wait, what am I saying, squirrels are not around much right now.  So no squirrels were harmed in her first drive around town.

I do love sitting in our what will be living room in our nice and fluffy chairs.  Ahhh, a cup of tea in my hand and my bible on my lap that is how I try to start the day (notice try) looking out the window.  Most mornings like that are interrupted by the dog needing his peanut butter and medicine (he actually looks forward to it and sits and waits for his "treat") and trying to get Logan out of bed and lately wrapping up in a nice warm blanket since it takes a while to get the house warm.  In the evening we gather here as Tom reads the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy to us.  This is also where the young folk sit and chuckle at the comics their grandfather sent them.  It took them an hour to laugh their way through.

Since we put up the sub floor, we now are eating in what will later be our kitchen.  It is a lot nicer than before and I actually have places to store my cups and plates (we are still doing the good china thing: paper plates and cups.  Easy peasy clean up!!  Open the door of the fire place and voila, clean up accomplished.).  Logan does school here but lately Natasha has been disappearing into the basement.  She likes to stay nice and toasty and will sit along the "bench" for hours doing her school.  I can only stay about 15 minutes before I have to move further and further away.

I kind of marvel at the change from this year to last.  This year Logan goes outside but he is mostly inside (cold, cold!!).  Last year we had to go to the library for school or he sat in the car reading his books.  I remember he was doing a lot of listening to CDs on tape and one very cold day he drained the battery of the Subaru.  Thank God for neighbors.  This year he has a mattress and can play his DS at night (the blue light usually shines at night upstairs as the three of them are using their DS's or tablets).  He is so content here and when he does go outside he has a great time.  The kids were having a great time at the middle of the property the other day.  Sean and Logan were having a snowball fight while Tom was cutting some firewood.  Then they decided to gang up on Natasha.  She actually turned it around and stalked them and almost ambushed them.  I thought that was hilarious.

Speaking of Sean, he just received his official notice from the state of Vermont (by the way, this is a total tangent but Vermont is so much easier to spell than Connecticut) and he can now start his business.  It is a very official certificate and he was really excited to receive it last night.  He is also in the process of switching his license (finally, I think he is afraid Tash is going to have hers before he gets his switched).  He was just lacking some letters sent to the house but he all set now.

 Tom is doing well.  He has caught us up on firewood (very important right now) and was planning on getting the upstairs windows prepped and ready.  Next week we are suppose to have warmer weather and hopefully we can get some of the windows it.  It would be great.  This is his third year home from Iraq and I have to say, that it is a real blessing having him around all the time.  Oh, we have our moments of heated discussions, but all in all I love having him around.  He is kind of fun to be with, except when we are doing school and he makes comments.  Its like having that one kid in your class that has to clown around and then the rest follow.  It takes awhile to get the class (Logan) back into order and on task (Hey, you wanna go and play your DS?).  

 We are looking forward to having the whole inside paneled and upstairs walls put up next, as well as the floors upstairs and downstairs done.  Tom just contacted our friend who lumbered most of our wood and he is able to lumber some more wood for us.  That will help a lot.  The windows upstairs are ready to go in but we just haven't done them because it is cold and putting them in takes some time.  I am looking forward to a concert in March.  The kids and I get to go to a Casting Crowns concert here in VT and Tasha is praying that her friend Esther will come for that.

 I hope all is well with you out there.  I hope you still enjoy our little adventure, which has turned out to be not so little after all.  I have to remind you to be careful what you pray for.  God will use it to bring you closer to him, however He wants.  I have learned, grown, gained weight, lost weight, added some more grey hair to my crown of wisdom, laughed and cried but I give all the glory and thanks to Him who knew me in my mother's womb.    

A new year

Happy New Year everyone.  I hope so far things have gone according your plans.  As everyone knows things always go according to my plans.  Well, yes, I think we need to move on here.  We are feeling like it is a heat wave today after really, really cold weather.  It was so cold one day, the generator didn't really want to start.  Shame on it.  But after a few persuasion techniques (I don't know if Tom used the thumb screws or the cold water torture on it) it coughed to life. That was very nice of it because we were able to listen to some story CD's and such while it was running.

We were getting ready for Christmas and I was feeling a little sad that we were not going to be having any lights or Christmas decoration around the house this time again.  Last year, the house was on the market and our Christmas stuff was in boxes in VT.  This year the Christmas things were within reach but without a sub-floor, we just didn't feel it was safe to have a tree.  We also don't have any furniture around to put Christmas decorations.  So I was just a little sad.  To me, those things add a lot to Christmas.  Sean and I went into town (yup, downtown) to pick up a shirt and pants for Logan for the play.  When I got back, my wonderful hubby had strung the lights along our beams.  They were lit up and gave the whole house a festive feeling.  He had put the lovely manger on one of the window sills, which was just terrific.  It brought me to tears because here is Tom with a thousand other things on his mind but still he too the time to string the lights and set up the manger because he knew it meant a lot to me.  He even had Christmas music playing!  That was a wonderful gift.  Another wonderful gift was the pie.  I wanted to have pie for Christmas day but of course couldn't bake.  So I figured I would buy one.  We had had a nice pie for Thanksgiving, which tasted really good.  As I searched for this pie, on Sunday early afternoon, I was dismayed to find that they had all sold out; surprise, surprise.  But I was told to go to this bakery at the outskirts of town.  We did this after church only to find out that the proprietor had just baked her last pie for Christmas.  I was pretty bummed and talking to her I shared that we are building and that the reason I couldn't just bake a pre-made pie was that I couldn't bake just yet.  She told me not to worry about it that she would have a pie for me the next day.  I was so happy the floodgates nearly opened again (I was a little emotional that week).  The pie was really, really, really, really good.   
  

Pastor Logan. Sounds good.

The Sunday before Christmas, Logan was in a play here at the church in Chester.  He did such a nice job.  He was very serious about his role as Pastor and God.  We then spent a wonderful Christmas Eve with family in CT and walked up the road to look at the old house.  That was so strange.  It really wasn't our house anymore and I am glad.  I felt no regret when I walked past it only peace about where we are now.  We visited with our neighbors really quickly before we left and that was a nice treat.  It was also a treat to see my friend Theresa who lives across the street from Chris and Tracy.  Before we got to their house we were able to check out a wonderful dance performance at Wintonburry church.  My niece Christina did a fabulous job with her fellow dancers.  Since we had the dog with us, we needed to get back and I really wanted to spend Christmas day in VT.  We even had a white Christmas and spent a wonderfully relaxing day with good food, lots of snacks and pie!

  

Really beautiful

The mail was delivered that day.

These pictures were taken after the real snow we got a week or so later.  We actually walked up to the top of our neighbor's property while it was snowing.  Logan had issues with it because he was hot!  The dog followed a deer trail, which was a lot of fun for him.  The next day, my sister and her husband came and spent two days with us.  We had such a great time and got to hike up again through the meters of snow (here I exaggerate which I do occasionally).  The view from the top was absolutely worth the agonizing pain I felt in my legs as I hiked up, not to mention the breath coming out in spurts because of the exhaustion (again, a little exaggerated but my legs did hurt and my face was bright red).  We ate dinner at Friendly's, Logan was really happy, which took about 2 hours.  But really it didn't matter because we were chatting and taking it easy.  Then they went back to their hotel and we joined them after putting more wood into the fire for the poor dog (teeth chattering when he gets cold).  The next day, my sister and I wanted to venture out into the once again snowing area to go to some of the numerous Antique stores together.  No, we needed chaperones.  The men came, but in a different car, so Eiki and I got to spend some quality time together.  It actually was a lot of fun to go around these stores.  I found one store I actually really like.  They build their own furniture and I really like what they have.  Did I mention I really liked the store?  Moving on....  They left in pretty stormy weather and made it to Cape Cod after 7 hours of bad driving.  I was glad they made it and really enjoyed my time with them.

We had a fantastic time New Years Eve with fun games and food, lots of that.  We spent it here and were invited to spend it with friends at the church.  We played this game called 4 on a couch right before midnight.  I don't know if any of you have heard of it, it is confusing .  But it is such a holler.  Logan played it for the first time this year and laughed so hard.  I will not explain it because it is too confusing my brain will start hurting.

And then the great freeze!!!!!  But you know, through it all, God kept us warm at night with lots and lots of fire wood to use.  The house was pretty toasty, since Tom cut down a tree that had died standing up.  The wood was so dry it went up beautifully and gave out some major heat.  That has been one concern for us because we don't know how much wood we are going to be using.  So far we have used a good amount.  But after this weekend we will have windows in the bedroom area and that will help a little bit. 

Keep the pup warm

I am so thankful we are up there.  I get to gaze at the stars at night, and I love it.  In the morning I get to shove the dog out of my bed and that is a lot of fun too.  Because he is a pampered dog, yes I have to admit it, he does not do well when it gets cold.  He can't go outside for a very long time because if he does, he comes back shivering with his teeth chattering.  It is kind of funny but really not.  At night the house does get colder but we don't feel it.  He does.

Logan the builder

Logan got to build a small fort the other day (it was a balmy 10 degrees that day!).  He had a great time and was quite put out when I wanted him to come in (darkness fell and need I say more).  Today we had issues with plywood but in the end it all worked out.  Tomorrow is another plywood day and Sean is not working so he can help us with that.  Sunday may be a window day, who knows.

I don't really have any words of wisdom to share.  God is so faithful and merciful to us that I really can't add anything on top of that.







I hope you have a wonderful beginning of a new year.

 

Snow, snow everywhere

Logan as God, very well done.

Sunset

What can I say?


I leave you  now with this funny Video from Tim Hawkins.  Have a good laugh with him