Hello my dear friends. I have missed talking to you. A lot has happened, as usual. We are now in VT. Our house in CT closed and we have relocated to the Green Mountain State, as VT is called. It has been a real challenge for me in the beginning. We got here the first day and the reality of it hit me a little bit. We had just spent a whirlwind two weeks without a house. At first we stayed with my brother in law Doug and his family, which was just wonderful. We got to watch the Olympics with them and that was a hoot. Boy, staying up until midnight every night was challenging. One night we were all getting a little silly and judged me as I made my way out of the recliner. I stuck my landing!!!
Do you see the recliner? I got a 10
We spent the next week house sitting for a co-worker of Nichole's in Simburry (who had a nice pool). We were really blessed with this because I had committed to helping with Faith Quest, a VBS program that all my kids have helped with or attended the last 5 years. That went really well and we were really glad to be participating in it. That weekend we left CT for good to take up our quest of the pioneers here in VT.
The weather has been great and I think that us all being up here has really caused us to relax and our stress levels have gone down a little. That is not to say that we all have not had our moments of challenge. For me it came the first couple of days when we came up here before we had Faith Quest. I was bothered by everything. But our Lord was so wonderful that he sent us not just one, but a pair of hawks who made their home right in the trees next to our driveway. They were talking back and forth all weekend long and stayed when my parents in law came for a visit. Talk about being thankful. I love birds and especially birds of prey so this was definitely special to me. I felt God once again was assuring me that He was with us and that I would be all right, no matter what.
One of the cute little birds
Sean on the roof
Since we have been here, as I said the whole family seems to be taking a big breath. Sean was having a lot of trouble just adjusting to his new boss and the way he was working. Sean is used to order. He works well with a plan and such things. Things have to make sense. The farrier he is working with is not that way. He has been doing it for a long time (40 years) and so he is not going to be listening to a young upstart who has been doing this for 3 years. The farrier he was working with in CT was a wonderful teacher and he had a reason for everything he was doing. It went well with Sean's personality. So when we got here and before, he was very upset and just didn't like the way things were going. Since then he has become just very relaxed and he seems to be adjusting well. Logan of course is doing great. He loves it here especially when he now has his Legos with him again. Natasha had issues when she joined us the first few days. I had arranged it for her to visit Grandma and Grandpa so that she could stay in "civilization" for a little longer and take her showers (about 45 min long). When she joined us the house was not done!!!! We didn't have the roof up or anything and it just hit her like a ton of bricks that this was reality and there was no escaping it.
More cement!!!!
The rear of the house
She did have a melt down which was understandable and we just helped her through it. Today we were talking and she agreed that it was really nice to not have to live in two locations. She is adjusting. That week was really hard for her since she found a ground nest of hornets and got stung 5 or 6 times. Then as were were fixing the walls on the septic side, the ladder slipped and hit her on the head and back. That hurt and she was out of commission for the rest of the day.
The driveway side
Since then things have calmed down considerably. We even have a phone, but it is a little tricky. We don't get really good reception (actually we have to hike the mountain or go into town) so Natasha can't talk to her friend Esther for hours and hours. But we will get it right. We ordered the roofing, which is metal roofing, and had to wait for it to come in. That gave us time to go explore and get other things done around the house. We now have the beginning of a winter supply of chopped and stacked wood, which is very nice. The walls are all screwed in on the outside and that was actually a big job because it gets really hot out there and the ground is really uneven. So once the roofing came in, on Saturday, we got to town. As you can see it is quite a way up there and so how were we going to get the roof up there. But Tom figured all that out, no problem. We worked 4 days straight in the heat and got the roof done. Last night, Logan, Tom and myself had dinner in the house on the bedroom level up top and watched "The Incredibles", a movie we had not watched in 2 years. Tom got my school boxes out and I was happy to see that I had the right books for what I planned to teach Logan this year. That was great. Natasha is going to continue to take classes on line through the library. She is taking a poetry class right now and loves it.
When our things were delivered by Home Depot on Saturday everyone got busy. Tom and Sean took turns on the roof and Tasha, Sean and myself were hauling the sheets of roofing up. It was high tension and high activity time.
Over all this has been a great month. We are actually going to CT this weekend for a birthday party so that will be nice. Enjoy the pictures. They were not taken by Natasha, as the quality will prove.
A visit is always welcome
Chet loves it!!
Have hoist, will lift!
Tom, superman.
Can you see my bulging muscles?
Heave ho!!!
Too much for me!
Batter up!!
Living room
Logan's room
This is just fine for now
Time for a break
LEGOS
Hoist it up already!
It is done!!!!
What is next you ask? The walls need to be finished, then tivec has to go on the outside. Next the windows, and then the rest! It will be done in no time! Have a great holiday weekend.
Hello everyone. Grab yourself a cup of iced tea. Better yet make it a cup of ice cream. I tell you this last month has been quite something. As most of you know by now, we have found a buyer for the house in CT. It was shortly after I wrote my last blog about waiting that we got the call that someone had put a bid in. Wow, that was great. Everything has been going so wonderfully smoothly that it can only be a God thing. We are so grateful and excited. That said, we are on overdrive. Tom and the kids are up there as much as he can be, while working still at Home Depot. My brother-in-law, Doug, and my father-in-law were up there the other week, slaving and sweating alongside of us.
Doug on the top floor (look we aren't
going to fall to our death)
Last week the kids and Tom went up to finish the front wall. It looks so like a house it is almost mind boggling. At this point I am packing, boxing up things and taking them up there. Sean is up there during the week, this being his first week as a payed apprentice. Meanwhile, I drove up to VT with boxes and other stuff. And I mean stuff! Who would have thunk we have so much junk. We are counting down the days now until we are done in CT. Boy that is something else.
I don't want to be presumptive but I kind of feel like the Israelites leaving Egypt. At church we started talking about Joshua (the name translates to Savior, just to make sure you know that, just ask Tasha and Sean. They will tell you I have a thing for that. Very funny.) So, I have just been reading that book again and boy, those Israelites really tried God's patience. He promised them rest! And they bickered and wanted to return to Egypt. In the book of Hebrews it talks about that rest. It is not a place, a thing, but very simply Christ. He promises to provide us rest, and peace that goes beyond understanding. It is not a good work we do, or living like good people, but it is simply coming to Him, admitting the fact that really we want to be in charge of everything (making us gods, really and therefore sinning) and laying that down at His feet. And then we are moved by the Holy Spirit to live our life the way He directs it. That is simple beauty.
It was really hot there
So my adventure is so different than I thought it would be. Here I thought that to have an adventure, I had to do great things for God and mankind; to go and fight giants at least. No, that is not what God really wants from me. All He wants is for me to live my life in that rest, that promise land, that Christ provided for peace. Is is easy? No! Not in the beginning, because the weeds grow so quickly. When we got to the property the first time this summer the weeds were everywhere. The grass was up to my knees and our poor raised beds were overgrown with ferns. Once the Israelites entered the promised land, there was a lot of work for them to do. I feel like that right now. I don't know what lies around the corner, but God sure does. That is the real adventure. To live with the peace that no matter what, God has my back, because He sees the end product and my whole adventure is for me to live my life in total relationship with Him through Christ. That is very life altering, because when things don't go my way (and they often don't and will continue to not) what is my reaction going to be? Will it be that I fret and fear (I am putting myself in charge again) or will I simply say, all right, what is next? We will see how I do. So far I have not been doing too bad. I have a pretty good example to follow. One is Christ, of course, and then Tom is very good at that. I am to be strong and of good courage for God is with me wherever I go! Yahoooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chiseling the corner
in the sun :(
In the meantime I won't panic about the boxes of packing I still have to do, along with making the bazillion cans of strawberry jam, while driving up and down to VT in one day. Incidentally it was 97-98 degrees yesterday in Springfield, MA, as I was driving through at four thirty. I had to stop to get a fribble!!! Can you blame me? It was a lot better after that. Once I got past Amherst and that neck of the woods the going was as smooth as the fribble (chocolate of course). The car practically drove itself. I think it was inspired by my singing. I had to go through Sean's CD stash to grab a good singing CD. By the way, Sean, can I borrow a CD? (At least I didn't have to march around the walls of Jericho and fight the inhabitants)
Leaving must not have been easy for the Israelites. They had good jobs (go with me on this one) and homes. Following Moses meant living in uncertainty and in tents. Not having bathroom facilities or other modern conveniences. And even when they got to the promised land the going was pretty tough. But God was with them! Leaving is not going to be easy, I already know that. But we are only 2.5 hours away from here and you are all invited to pop in on us. We hope the place will be a place for people to come and be renewed (once we have a bathroom and walls and windows and a roof, to name a few). Send smoke signals since we won't have phone service to begin with except our cell phones and well, they only work if the wind blows down from the north and the sun is at a certain angle, while you are balancing on your right toe holding a hemlock branch two inches above your right ear (make sure it is the right ear, it won't work on the left).
I recall when we lived in Dubai, my friend Sarah and I spent a lot of time at the skating rink.I would rush through the preliminary tedious actions like tying up the skates and would skip altogether the hair arrangements and make up phase. I couldn't wait to get on the ice but I know that I hurt my friend's feelings because that was what she wanted to do. My mind was on the goal: get on the ice!
The rink at Leisureland.
(I got this off Google images)
For the last year and a half my mind has been on the goal: build a house and move to VT. What a sweet savor this has left in my heart. After all, we are following where God is leading! As you all know we made excellent progress through the year and we enjoyed it (Well, that is most of us and not all the time). It was hard work but we were doing it for ourselves, not for a paycheck.
At this point you may surmise that not much has happened up there. Our house in CT is still up for sale. Tom is working for the Home Depot (I knew he spent too much time there before), Sean has a job at a stable and his truck is working, and the rest of us are doing what we are supposed to do. We even had time to spend a month in Germany to help my mom while my dad was away. (More about that later)
You can imagine how hard this has been for me, who jumps right to the finished product. For months now I have been pleading, coercing, or begging God to get us up there and to sell this house. But instead He provides for us right here where we are. On the house front I get silence. I don't do silence so good, if you can guess. I had even come to doubt that we will move and that this is something God is giving us. I know that God has brought us down this road for some reason. Nothing we have done up there or here in CT has been a waste.
I was reading a few weeks ago why we get the silence from God. It blew me away and I wasn't too excited about it at first. God is asking me to trust Him with VT for His own timing, to see if I am willing to trust Him even if He doesn't shower me with answered prayers and blessings. Woa, that's a tough one. What do I expect from God? (How dare I expect anything from God other that what He has already given me: rest in Christ!) I expect riches (of course), a fairly easy life (goes without saying), and blessing galore. But He promises to lead us through our troubles and to provide what we need in food and raiment. He also promises to never leave us or forsake us. I love that. That doesn't give me licence to go off the deep end but He does guide me in my darkness to the light, which is found in Christ. Well, of course I expect the package deal: hardships, sure they come with the territory, but after a while I like to see the goal: blue skies.
The crux of the matter comes down to this: am I trusting God whether he has decided to send me north or not? My answer is: Yes,THY will be done,and not mine! But sometimes it is a struggle, one that I have to work out with Him by my side. God brought me back to the calling of Abram. Years ago, about 10 years, friends of mine gave me an Oswald Chambers Devotional Bible. It wasn't my tome to read it back then, even tough I tried. It didn't make any sense to me. Now it does! Abram followed the call of God. He didn't follow his emotions or circumstances. A wise friend once asked whether God had called us to VT. Of course He had. The circumstances were right. I didn't quite see the difference. Now I do! I have been called several times by God to do something. There was no mistake about the call. One call was to home school, then to let my hubby go to Iraq. and then to go to Germany to minister to my mom. In each circumstance he made the way and paved it pretty good. It was not easy but the way was there.
I still WANT to go to Vt and I know that God has given us the desire of our heart to build something on our own. With this silence from God I am being taught to exercise my faith, in that I know and believe that whatever His plan is for us up there or in CT is it going to be all right and He will lead me through it. I have to remind myself that I am His servant, and not the other way around. God promised Abram to make him a great nation. Come on, the guy was already 75 years old and his wife was pretty much up there in age too. I looked at the genealogy of Abram and found it very interesting that, where the generations after the fall lived less and less long. His father didn't beget Abram until he was 70 years old, which is pretty old. So really not having a kid at 75 wasn't that bad but still, he had to wait. He was in the waiting room.
As I read the story I weep at their "mistake". Was it a mistake? No, because through Ishmael a great nation was born, no mistake there. God just doesn't make mistakes! I am confident that in His silence on this matter of moving and finishing the house, my trust in Him is being expanded. I am expectant of how God is going to lead me through this one.
In the meantime His promises come through loud and clear! Tom has a job, which he loves. You should see him. He is like a little boy in an adventure playground! When he walks into Home Depot he changes and almost gets giddy. I can't describe it. It is pretty funny to watch.
Look at the size of that jump! (from google again)
No thank you!
As I said earlier we spent a month in Germany. God came with us. I told that to a friend of mine and she asked if He liked it. He blessed us and guided us and changed us just a tad bit more. It was a humbling and wonderful thing to take care of my mother, even though it was not easy at times. We were able to visit friends and family a little bit, which was just great. I got to ride a really cool horse (at least 16.3 hands) and didn't fall off. Then we got to go and watch the famous Hamburg Jumping Derby, which was really great. The kids and I were able to go on bike rides. But for me the highlight was to make my mother laugh and to engage her with us. We were able to play a few old (I mean really, really, really old) board games. My mother joined in them and that was quite a lot of fun.
I love this scripture "As for me and my house we will follow the Lord". I know it is overused but it really redirects me when the going gets a little tough. Another one that is just great is this one: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." That hope is not earthly gains, riches, easy life, health beyond measure. It is hope in Christ-faith! I'm all in for that. For now I think I see a magazine here in the waiting room. I am going to read it. Where is the adventure in that?!
I wish you a blessed week. Enjoy the video by Chris Tomlin.
Hello again everyone. Have you missed me? For me this time doing my every day mundane chores have been very difficult. When things are exciting I can see God working in my life. It is when I am just hanging out, doing every day things that it is very difficult to live life. What?!?! Have I lost my mind? Do I really have to answer that? Let's just say that I have not lost my mind, yet! I know I put it somewhere in a box, which is probably up in VT right now under tarp. But rest assured that I will make a thorough search for it when I get back there.
This is my sister on her way up to MT Washington with
the boys several years ago
Of course I have not lost my mind, nor placed it into a box. That would be impossible. But seriously, let me explain myself (you had to ask). I have found that when life is exciting, that it is easy to check myself and take inventory of what God is doing and how I am responding to Him. When things are exciting, God shows me things about myself that I have to check, and sometimes ditch (more than sometimes I have to ditch things and start out new).
I was just recently on a spiritual mountaintop. I don't know how many of you have been on a mountain top. It is beautiful and a lot of work to get there. The air is so much clearer than down in the valley. The view from the top is great too. I mean, everything is so small in the valley. I love watching the cars from the top. They are all so unreal. I love being in the mountains. They don't have to be high mountains. Sean and Tom have climbed the highest mountain in New England. That is too much for me. I just want a little mountain that isn't so big so I don't feel like I will fall off. So, I was on my mountain top. I guess I had been there for a while and I forgot that really I can't stay there, even if I want to. I had to come down, and I did, kicking and screaming. When I did, I found the air much to thick for me to breathe and I just didn't like the noise and the crowds. What a mess down here in the valley of humiliation. But what a great place to be! I am so glad I came down from my mountain top. It took me a long time to get readjusted to the valley. There is great value in our mundane chores.
When you are selling a house everything is on display. And I mean everything. We all know how well I keep my house (for you who don't know I am very bad at it). So the minute others come into the house everything I have done is on display. What a humiliation for me.
But through all that, God showed me something so much more valuable in this valley of humiliation. He showed me again my absolute and desperate need for His Son, our Lord the Christ. In my own power I am an utter and miserable failure. There is nothing I can do right, as He has shown me through the sale (or I have to say the non-sale of the house). I have been thinking that if I give it my best, my absolute best, the sale of the house is in the bag. VT here we come and we will live like pioneers (it was one of Logan's vocab words last week). Everyone will look at us in admiration and say, "Wow, they are a little crazy but look at what they are doing. I could never do that." My ego will be stroked plenty and my chip on the old back will grow. After all, we are doing great things for Christ, aren't we? Are we? Let me think about that for a moment (and I'm afraid you are coming with me on my thought journey). I am putting in my best, making my house clean as a whistle, washing the windows scrubbing the floors doing my best to present the house so that someone likes it. And I get a negative feedback. But I have done my best, Lord. For YOU! Well, no. My best is to continually die to self and let Him take my life, renew it, cleanse me from my sin (which in itself is amazing) and give me a new life through the Holy Spirit. And yet, I was on my mountaintop, relishing in my experience with God. Christ had to send me back into the valley to smell the mess for me to realize that I can't give it my best. I can only give my heart!
I have added a little video clip. I have loved this song because it is just so beautiful. Sean has it as my ring tone on his phone. I didn't know why he picked it, but after this week the song has a different meaning. He picked it very well. Listen to the words. They are so simple and yet do we give Him what He asks for? Am I giving Him myself, without reaching back and trying to take control and try to handle thing my way, but with His intentions in mind? I hope you enjoy this video. If you are like me, grab some tissues and a cup of tea or coffee. (Dad this is not an advertisement :) )
As far as the house up north things are doing well. We were just up there this week. I just love to see the house up there. The weather was absolutely beautiful, almost summer like. We had a great time building and were very busy bees. I don't have any pictures because.. I don't want to go into that too. That is a whole other blog for the future.
Take care and if any of you are in the valley, you are at a great place. Enjoy where you are at and when you are ready, make a trek to the mountain top. It is worth the workout. But don't stay too long on the mountain. Eventually you also have to come back into the valley to take care of the mundane things.
Ahh, my friends, aren't you glad for another blog? Have you missed me? It has been an appropriate time since my last blog so that you are not totally going crazy. There is so much to tell. I don't have many stories to tell on the hombuilding front since I have been sitting in my nice warm living room while Tom and Natasha are up in VT freezing their little butts off. But they did it joyfully :)
But later on that, I have to keep you in suspense! First and foremost here is what I was experiencing since last we met. My last blog, if you remember, was on being joyful. I read something really great in "My Utmost for His highest" by Oswald Chambers on joy. We should never mistake joy with happiness. We are called into a holy and perfect relationship with Jesus Christ first and foremost. That is our job to pursue and not happiness. Our joy comes from knowing God's will and being in total and complete rest with Christ. The only way to do that is to continually be remaining or abiding in Christ. We can't do that unless we continually surrender our own self will to Him. Sometimes that is easy and sometimes that can be hard depending on whether we trust Him completely or not. But that is His will for us. That's a pretty tall order, if you ask me, and yet it is so simple and beautiful when you are there, there is no other place you want to be. And in the next moment you are given a choice to stay in that rest, that place where Christ is in you (hence a Christian) or whether you allow the struggles of this word to overcome you and drag you back down. How many times do we have to tell ourselves not to be dragged back down only to find that we are back where we picked up our mess before. It is a good thing He is long suffering, perfecting us always.
So this joy thing is definitely not happiness I can guarantee you that. But it is really great. After I blogged about the joy, things got pretty though around here. I know that many of you know that I have had a pretty wonderful little budgie (parakeet if you want) who has shown me many of God's lessons. He was just the tamest little thing in the world. Logan and him would run back and forth in the living room, racing. It was pretty funny to watch. He always wanted to be with me, wherever I was. Well, he got very sick. One morning he didn't tweet at all. He was just sitting on his perch foaming at the mouth. Well, I call the vet because, well they are expensive and really don't know what they are doing with birds. So I kept him with me gave him vitamins and just kept him warm. I also broke down and called a vet who will do house calls (no car, remember) and specializes in birds but she really didn't help much. After a few days, he was perking up. His "complexion" got better and he tried to tweet. Oh, but he was so cute. He would sit on me and let us pet and scratch his head for hours. So pretty much the whole week was spent taking care of the bird. I slept with him on the couch, he perched on my arm at night. I really didn't get that much sleep between him and the dog on the couch it was a pretty uncomfortable affair. Friday night came and we were sitting around when it all of a sudden became clear that he was not going to make it. I asked the kids to say good bye to the bird and of course that didn't go over too well. They were very brave, though and wanted to stay with him. Of course, we were all balling, even Tasha. We took pictures with him, me holding him in my hands. It was very sweet. I sent the kids away when I realized the end was very near. I am so glad I did. He didn't want to leave. He struggled until the end to hold on. He fought with all his might. But God's will is stronger than his and in the end God took him home. I do not wish to go through that again. It was horrible. But the joy it gave us was pretty great. Not happiness, mind you, but joy. There was no regret, because we all celebrated the week we had to care for him and it was a very special week. I have not had the privelege of peting many birds but Little Boy wanted us to scratch him and just wanted to be with us. It was quite beautiful. Even Logan, after his innitial mourning period, was so glad for that time. It was a very special time. We are all thankful that we had that time. By the way, he was a she but I had been in denial for 4or 5 years.
The north side of the house
A beautiful piece of property
A view from the top!
Yeahhh! I really don't know what to
say!
Not quite done yet
Those are Tom and Sean on the top there!
That looks like a house!
And now, dear minions, (hhooooooohaaaaaa, just picture it and go with it, please) I am pleased to tell you that I have pictures!!!! Yes, for my faithful blog family I have gone through great length to procure them. It has been difficult (not for me) but I was willing to make others do the sacrifice :)) The work is going along really well. The weather is cooperating, gee I wonder why, and it wasn't too cold. There were two of them, Tom and Tasha, and together they managed to lift up the ridge beam (30ft long and green hemlock, remember the lesson back a while on hemlock, it is heavy. That was a quiz question. Those of you who got it right, fab., you should be very happy with yourself). Then, with the help of Sean, the slave driver in a really, really good way, they managed to get the rest of the rafters up. Yup! The roof can be put on, if we want the house to be blow over by the next gust, we can go ahead. Otherwise we have to frame the outside with plywood first and then we can go and put the roof on. Here are some of Tom's and Tasha's pictures. They came out pretty good. Just a piece of advice: If any of you wish to come and visit this winter, don't come with bad tires on your car. If you have all wheel drive or 4 wheel drive, you will make it. Any other cars, there is a pile up of cars at the end of the drive. Just join them in the ditch :)) Tom actually slid down the ROW while walking and driving too. He was a wise man and parked at the end of the ROW in the neighbor's driveway.
The view from there is quite nice. Sean was actually
dizzy while up there, sinuses!
The ridge beam
Don't ask Tasha about the ridge beam.
She will start twitching! :)
To get this in place they used a pulley
system.
She is smiling again, but really all she wants to
do is to stay by the warm fire.
Hello again, my captive audience (this is followed by an evil and crazy laugh of a mad scientist, Logan does it really well, which leads me to wonder sometimes). I have some good news and some bad news. The good news first; people usually want it that way. I will continue to update you on our progress. The bad new, the following pictures are probably the last ones in a while. The camera given to us by my lovely sister about 10 years ago has decided that -3 degrees is way too cold to work and has developed lens issues. It sounds like a dead cow mooing (don't ask how that is possible, I have no idea, but that is not the point). Natasha's camera has come to a semi-demise because it was left out of the case and fell on the ground. The culprit has not been prosecuted. The view screen is busted. Tom does not want to use her camera up there right now. It can still take pictures and she is very good at doing that without seeing what she is taking. So until further notice there will be no more pictures. Just plain old me talking your eyes off!
The last couple of weeks have been challenging for me. I was so relieved when Sean was all right after the accident. God was right there protecting him, showing him who He was. It was beautiful and humbling and just great. It put me on a high for a while. Tom has been busy helping Sean with his truck, which right now takes priority. Sean needs a vehicle so Tom doesn't have to drive him everywhere. The weather is also turning mighty cold; Tom mentioned it was hard having to work in -8degrees! The work on the house has slowed down a little but the wood work is coming along so much faster than the basement. I know God is in our move. We have prayed about it many times, let it go numerous times and always the answer comes back positively. But He did not assure me that it will be a cake walk. In fact it will be extremely difficult! Why do it, you ask? Why not stay in your comfy home in Bristol where everything is at our fingertips and you have all the modern conveniences? Because God has given us this opportunity and I am sure there will be further blessings in this. People are probably thinking, why in the world are you going to be putting yourselves into this hardship willingly? There is hardship in everything we do. We are being put through trial and being tempered. This is just another trial for us. The kids and I have been studying recently on joy. God's word is quite clear as to when we are to be joyful. ALWAYS!! That means always! And no, it is not an all out,"Wahooo, let's have a party!!!" type joy. God's joy is that we have reassurance that He will bring us through trials not to harm us (although it may look like that) but to grow us into a more Godly person. Bring on the joy, man! I have to remind myself to be joyful. We are supposed to be blessed when we mourn! Wow, I have to remember that one too! It is amazing what happens when you let yourself be joyful, not happy mind you, but joyful with that gratitude and praise that I feel inside. God loves that. He wants that better than doing things for Him, which He still wants us to do.
All right, how does this fit into home building, you ponder and ask irritated. Get me pictures and none of this stuff. Well, I know for a fact that everyone of us is going through something or other right now. Some things may be easier dealt with than others but they are still irritating and frustrating. I wonder what would happen if all of us would just take a good look at our situation and be joyful. What a difference it would make in our lives! The stress would still be there but we would not be alone, dealing with the stress. God is right there beside us, willing us to be joyful. My attitude changes when I remember that.
The joists for the second floor are in place
Tom in what will one day be our bathroom
The back of the house with a view to the living room
But enough of this. I have to reward you with the last pictures for now. As I said, things have slowed down. It was cold, snowy and windy the last week Tom was trying to do some work. We have had a few people interested in the house, which is good. I don't mind holding onto it until the right people show up. In time this also will happen. The three of us have been in CT for about 2 weeks. With Tom up north, we have been blessed to not have a car. Yes, blessed (remember joyful). I don't feel the need to run around and be out of the house. This makes schooling a lot of fun, actually. Also on Sundays Logan takes to the pulpit. It is so funny to see him preach. His style is different but he definitely has a lot of fun with it. He got to go out on Monday and spend the whole day with his friend. They went roller blading and he is going again this coming Monday, God willing. Tom and Sean left this morning for VT. Sean had work today, hopefully he got a lot of lessons and his truck needs to get into shape. I just heard from Tom and they made it fine. I didn't hear any frost in his voice so I take that as a good thing. I hope everyone is well. Enjoy and until next time.
Happy New Year everyone. It has been a long time since I last got to talk to you. I have missed you guys! We have been very, very busy. When I look at the pictures on my last blog, I am amazed at the progress. We are actually looking at a house, well almost.
Natasha standing outside the basement
Chris and Doug putting up a post
Logan and Chet
Dad feeding the boys
We were able to get some more things done before Christmas because the boys came up from CT and gave Tom a much needed hand since he only had one good one (remember big log falling on finger and crushing it, very painful and a long recovery and the chisel to the wrist also not very productive). They came on a balmy December Saturday morning ( I think the temp was in the 30s) and set to work. They had brought their tools and were ready for the day ahead. The stove was stoked and I was ready to make soup on the stove (it took 1 hour to get it to boil). The boys worked really well together and switched partners on and off. It was great to hear them laughing with each other and to see the work being done. The only problem was, the wood is not milled but rough and the boys with the more accurate work ethics had issues with that. It just didn't fit perfectly. No problem just measure twice and hammer in. It was really wonderful to see that my father in law had made the trip up too to check on what his boys were doing and to crack the whip, just in case. No whip cracking was needed but he set to work clearing the ice and snow off some of our pieces of lumber. I do believe that was a lot of work and I totally appreciate the help. Of course Logan was playing with his stick and had to keep the dog in line. Chet shivered his way through the day. Sean was playing hooky and was getting trained for his job up at Bromley. We were then able to close in the basement with sheets of 15 mm plastic, the same we used in the construction of our foundation. It sure made a difference because it kept the wind out. We tarped the first floor only to find out that the tarps all leaked! So the basement got wet anyway. Our stove does well with warming up the place and after we put the stove pipe in we were good to go. That was a hard task for Tasha because putting the pipes together was pretty hard. But there was a trick to it and once we found the trick we were good to go. Tasha learned a valuable lesson in perseverance.
We spent a wonderful Christmas in CT with Tom's family. It was great to see everyone together. Mom P had the whole place ready and the food was plentiful, as always. Tasha left on the 26th to spend time with her best friend in PA and we drove to the half way point and had lunch together. That was fun. The next day we drove back up to VT to work. We were so blessed to have such a nice family to stay with. It is a blast to come "home" to their house and be able to get to know them.
We worked quite a bit. The weather was pretty good allowing us to finish the posts and the beams on the first floor. Nobody was hurt this time around! Tom did very well and worked hard and long. I love our stove in the basement. New Years day started with us sliding down Lee and Heidi's driveway to pick up Tasha in NY (half way point). Tom didn't want to slip all over the deck of the house and fall to hurt himself so he went with me. That was a good thing because I would still be driving around in back woods New York. 6 hours later we arrived back at the Gustafson's safe and sound. The party that followed was a blast. There were plenty of young people and old (for us you know) alike. Games were played (Apples to Apples is now a tradition). I have to say that I missed seeing Doug and Nichole. We have been spending New Years with them for the last couple of years and have really enjoyed it. The last game was 4 on a couch which is a total concentration game and at 11:30 at night my brain just did not feel up to the task. It was a blast though. The new year was brought in with prayer, which was really great. We prayed for each other and the new year, for the church in general and safety.
The older kids and Logan went home on Sunday afternoon. They did help us tremendously that day by putting up some of the joists, half to be exact, for the second floor. That was great because the next day Tom and I had the pleasure of lifting the rest of them. It took all day to lift up 10 joists. They were heavy!!!!! My back hurt!!!!!! We used all sorts of supports and the ladder to get the heavy pieces up onto the center beam. At the end of the day, all I could do was to drag myself to the Gustafson's fireplace and just kind of melt there. The next day I refused to work! IT WAS COLD and I was pretty beat from the day before (the temp went up to a balmy 8 degrees). Tom was able to secure the joists on the main beam and the outside so that when he was hopping from one to the next he would have less chance of falling.
The kids and I are at home right now. With the weather so cold I wanted to be home to school and not have Logan in the car all day getting cold. Also the dog would have to be on his own again, with our neighbor watching him. He just can't come up while it is so cold.
My mother is doing all right. She contracted Mennengitis and has had memory loss with it. She was very sick over Christmas. I appreciate all the prayers that have gone out on her behalf. I guess God is not finished with her yet. We got word that she was really sick and on her way to the hospital before Christmas. For a couple of days it was pretty much touch and go. We were up in VT and I thank my sister for keeping me updated, since my cell phone does not make calls to Germany. We had a call from a real estate agent who was insistent on showing the house the next day. I was up in VT! Tom and I decided that I should go to CT and show the house. We would have to get up at 5 am and I would take them to the property and drive to CT, make the house presentable, and come back to VT. We didn't have an alarm, so we were hoping that Glen, one of the boys who gets up to go to work at 5, would be waking us up. So when we heard someone coming downstairs we figured it was time to get up. The house is really dark at night, you see, and I couldn't tell what time it was. Waking up the kids was a true challenge and it took some time to wake up Tasha. When we finally piled into the car we discovered that it was only 2 am. I droped the gang off at the shed and they presently went back to bed there. I spent the two and a half hours praying earnestly for my mother. I just knew that it was what God had in mind for me that morning. It was pretty funny, though. I am grateful she is getting better. She is now at a rehab place in Germany and is staying until mid-Feb. Prayers for strength for my dad would be appreciate, I'm sure.
And now to bring you up to date. Tom has put up the studs to the first floor. He also moved our roof rafters onto the second floor (no plummeting to his death) with help of the wonderful Subaru. Now the other piece of news. Sean was in an accident a few days ago and God be praised he walked away without a scratch. His truck was totaled, though. He hit the guard rail on the opposite side of the road coming home from Bromley one evening. No one was hurt (except his truck). But, you know, God provides all the time! It is amazing to see that. He was a little bummed, he has put a lot of time into his little truck, but was praising God to be alive. Our friend Ruthanne mentioned someone who was selling his Ford Ranger and voila, Sean has a new truck. He has been switching out parts of his old one to put into the new one (it will live on in the new Ranger). I have to say he has handled the whole situation very well. He is totally relying on Christ to supply what he needs. It has been great to watch him grow and deal with this situation. I am so thankful that the people he is staying with are so encouraging and wonderful. It sure takes off some of the stress this whole move and building is causing. Sean is enjoying his time with them a lot too. He is back at work and hopefully he is getting a lot of lessons. I know he will appreciate any prayers on his behalf.
I am sorry for the lack of new pictures. They are up in VT and on Tasha's camera. I was about to throw my printer and computer through the window today when I was trying to transfer some of her pictures to a memory stick to bring to the library to load up on this computer so you can enjoy them. So hopefully next time Tom will be home and he will be helping me with that so I can share more up to date pictures.
Have a safe week and hug your kids an extra amount. We have all been given an exact amount of time on this earth. I am praising God that Sean is alive now, and the next minute. As to what tomorrow brings, only God knows.
