It is cold out here!

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.

Above ground at last

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.

Christmas Cheer



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. 

  

Just one more thing

Hello all and welcome again.  I really don't have much to report this week.  It has been a pretty standard week.  Oh no wait, we still have no phone!!!  I finally called the company and there is a problem with our line.  They are sending someone out to check it out.  Hopefully I will have a home phone again soon.   I have been relying on my cell phone for a while and it is getting a little expensive.  I keep running out of minutes.I wanted to share some more pictures I came across.  These are all going to be updated really soon because we are beyond them but I thought you might enjoy them.  Tom and Sean are up in VT right now and I am going up this weekend with the Logan to whip Tom into shape.  We all know that nothing gets done when I am not around.  Right now they are still back filling on the north side with is a little tricky.  Tom is pouring the posts for the porch and Sean is on the tractor.  He almost ran over his father earlier on.  I guess he was a little distracted.   DON'T DRIVE THE TRACTOR AND TEXT!!!!! (There should be a law against that)   Sean is coming home on Saturday and staying here with Natasha.  Enjoy these pictures courtesy of Natasha.

Please ignore the grey hair.



Our cement mixer, Sean.  Runs on air!




I told you I was loving being up on the ladder





Yes, I am the tallest, for now




Tadaa




A foggy picture of Logan




Self picture




All snug and cozy.  Who needs a bed?





How cute




Adding the final touches to the cement




A boy and his dog




At the top of the neighbor's  





The Connecticut River





First Baptist Church of Chester steple




Cleaning up the leaves with new friend Kelly



Tom climbing up the look out tower

Okemo Valley

Chet is all right with going up but not down



I think I will stay on the ground, thank you very much!



Logan having fun on the mountain




What can I say?

 

What is up with them anyway?



The blue smurf!  All that blue is going
 to be covered with dirt.




The beam that hit Tom's finger was bigger!




Sean having a blast with the truck! 
This was before he wanted to push it down the ravine.



These are pictures of the day we got out power back, again thanks Tasha for these.



Yes that is Tom in the tree.  What can I say,
 but that he has found his true occupation.





Power!




That would not be a job for me




Good thing the power is not on



I hope you have enjoyed these pictures.  I am looking forward to a nice visit with my parents coming up over Thanksgiving.  Also, Sean is turning 21.  I can't believe that at all.  It seems like yesterday..........

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.   Bless God and give thanks.