short update

it's been a busy week here at our house. there are several projects that have made signifigant progress. it's actually starting to look more like a house, and less like a ripped apart mess of a tumble down shack.

my project this week has been the front living room. i moved all the furniture to the middle of the room, and spackled the whole thing. and in the process, managed to impress dave. (not an easy thing to do, believe me!) i can reservedly say that i've almost mastered the art of spackling. i think i may have said before that spackling is an art, not a science, and after 11 gallons of drywall compound, i'm getting pretty darn good at it! dave keeps going around the room, and looking at the joints and seams, and making little approving sounds in his throat. (can't seem to bring himself to saying it out loud!) so now the room is ready for the primer coat, and then onward and upward! yay for finishing projects!

another thing that i did this week was make our (grand) hallway tidier and nicer looking. this involved moving out some drywall, hanging pictures and moving in my secretariat. that looks very nice as well, and i'll post a picture later.

dave has been working this week on finishing the bathroom. he hung the rest of the bead board, and the closet door, and is now almost done with the trim work. i was also in there this week, painting and touching up. it makes a huge difference and looks really nice. i keep telling dave that he's really handy to have around.

M started her new job this week at the Bradford County Manor as a CNA, and she seems to be liking that just fine. N also got a job this week. i'll post about that later. everyone keeps very busy helping me with my projects, or with the girls.

that's been the week on our home front. hope your week was happy and productive as well.

still looking for our new home

since moving to Bradford county (officially) over 3 weeks ago, we have been searching for a church home. we've tried several churches, and several different denominations, but haven't found the one for our family, yet. it has been interesting, and our drives home have been perfect for family discussions. we've been able to discuss many different aspects of worshiping God, and how and where people choose to do it.

a whole new aspect of the church hunting routine for me is doing it with a toddler who is absolutely incapable of sitting through church. going into the nursery with A has been a "baptism by immersion" regarding the children being cared for, as well as the caregivers. the last 2 weeks have been particularly interesting. last week we went to a small country church that turned out to be much too far away. anyway, when we went up to the nursery, there were not enough supplies for A to participate in their activity. i also found the children to be very aggressive, manipulative and disobedient. the mothers that were there did not seem too friendly, either. today we did not fare much better. it seems that this nursery was a BYOT (bring your own toys) of course, we did not know that, and the regular children were not inclined to share, as evidenced by the grabbing of the doll A was playing with, as well as the screaming and pushing. the mother in the nursery explained to me that since the doll was "johnny's" A should really give it back. while this whole process does seem harder on me than A, it is a bit easier to discern if the church we are visiting is a potential home for our family.

it is thought provoking to observe the differences in each churches' ritual (or lack thereof) and ponder the meaning. offering can be something very formal, with liturgy surrounding it, or as simple as the pastor standing and saying, "here are 2 baskets up front. please come put something in them when you feel led." or, an order of service that is very predictable and laid out for you in the bulletin, to only regular members receiving a bulletin in their mailbox (i guess they don't expect visitors), all the way down to "we don't do bulletins." there are also Reverends who have on full liturgical garments and stole, to the pastor who comes in a Hawaiian shirt. sitting can be on formal pews, folding chairs or theater seats. and of course the music is different, also. there are hymns, worship songs with an organ or guitar, worship leaders and bands, tambourines and flags. there might be quiet, personal meditation, community sharing and praying, or speaking in tongues and jumping.

we had a funny thing happen today that we were chuckling about on the way home. of course, you can spot our family from a mile away, and it's instantly obvious that we're visitors. the pastor's wife came over to welcome us, and started at the end of the line with the big kids. after shaking all their hands she said, "what nice names you all have. are you homeschooled?" in the car, they were all like- how did she know???!!!

what are we looking for, exactly? we would like a church where we have much in common with the folks there, and where the church family will walk alongside of us as we seek to know God better and raise our family to love and serve Him. sort of like- we're all in this together. there are so many things to consider. ultimately, what if we go to a bible believing, gospel preaching church with sound doctrine, is that what is most important? are all those other things not as significant as we think them to be? our children will be most profoundly affected by the time they spend with us throughout the week, and Sunday morning is just to reinforce what we've taught them at home. it's a tough question, and we will continue to be faithful as we look for the church that God would have us attend.

our garden

G is helping with the tilling (notice A's little dump truck full of rocks!)

A plants the corn with daddy

the work horse that makes it all possible!

dave's goal for his days off this week was to get the garden planted, and we were all out there helping him get it in. everyone seemed to have a good time, and it was nice to all be out together, working on the same project. we had already planted our potatoes, but yesterday we put in tomatoes, beans, corn, peppers, cucumbers and 4 different kinds of squash. it's a good start, and come august, i'm sure we'll think that the garden is plenty big! and i'm just as sure that we won't be able to keep up with all the fresh produce that we'll be getting!

Bradford county rocks!

this huge rock is the one that the boys decided needed to go in the pathway for the flower garden. i would have chosen a much smaller one, but they were determined!

the completed path- and it turned out very well, if i do say so myself!

we all spent the whole afternoon helping to pick rocks out of the garden

i'm astounded to see how many rocks we have around here- there are rocks everywhere! i remember that when we looked at this house last summer, that was one of the things i noticed. in the yard, around trees, nice pathways, random rocks lying about, rocks in the garden.... i will say, however, that most of them are really cool rocks. (and remember, i'm the one who goes on vacation and takes pictures of rocks, and brings buckets of rocks home!) also, some of our rocks are HUGE! like- mammoth rocks. even some of the ones that we've found in the garden are the size of a child's tricycle. so for the past several days, we've been "managing" our rocks. we helped dave with the tilling of the garden, and picked out wheelbarrows full of rocks, and the boys helped me finish the path for the shade garden in the front of the house. we also have more pathways planned as we complete some of the outside renovation work that needs to be done.

now, if only we could use our rocks to buy milk, eggs or peanut butter, we'd be set...

the results!

just in case you wanted to see how it looks now that we're done. the view is great from the front porch! come join us sometime- we have rocking chairs and a swing, and we'll make some extra lemonade for you!

were you wondering what N was doing all this time? (you didn't really think that he was slacking, did you?!) he was finishing digging the ditch for the pipework from the outdoor wood furnace. he's been working on this ditch for a while, and today he finished it and here he is back filling it. good job, N!

flowers make me happy- part 2

daddy and A work on the front porch railing.

D and A carefully lay rocks on the wall.

G brings us more rocks to choose from.

things have really been hopping around here. dave is working on putting a new railing on the front porch. that makes a big difference-even the mail lady commented on how nice it is! while we're all pleased with how nice it looks, the real reason we did it was to have a giant playpen for A! she's all over the place, but now at least we can keep her contained (locked in!)

this afternoon we worked on the flower beds again, and i can say that they are mostly done, for now. we finished with the rock retaining wall, and we're really happy with the way that it looks. we plan on working on the path, too, soon.

in fact, we're so satisfied with how the porch and flower garden turned out, that we're going to sit on the porch swing and admire it while sipping our lemonade. just don't tell dave that's what we do while he's at work!

forward progress at last!

we've lived here for over 2 weeks now, and the mess is starting to get to me. every room is torn up, with furniture haphazardly arranged, and miscellaneous extension cords snaking everywhere. there are alot of things that i can't do, like electrical, plumbing and carpentry- but i can finish and paint drywall! i want to do as much as i can- dave is only one person, and he works really hard. i don't want him to begin to feel that he has to do all this work himself. so i decided to start in the school room, and see if i can't get that room done as much as possible. the other day we pushed all the furniture to the middle of the room, and started with the spackling. that went alot better than i thought it would. and i'm definitely getting better at it! (and i've even figured out how to do the corners so they don't look too bad!) the boys helped, and we've been working really hard on this room, and the hallway for the last 3 days, and were able to get it to the point where it is ready to paint. i have the primer coat on, and tomorrow i will go to lowe's to get the rest of the paint for the walls and trim. it feels really good to get this done, and i'm looking forward to having a room that is more livable, and less messy! we'll just keep plugging along, going room by room, and every day, week and month the house will get better and better. it's kind of exciting to think of what we can all do together!

just me and my daddy

A sure loves her daddy! when he comes home from work, it's the highlight of her day. today they took a break on the front porch- he with his mountain dew, and she with her cup of "ooice" . after sharing a tandy cake, they were ready to go off adventuring.

flowers make me happy!

one of the saddest things for me about selling our home in new berlin was having to leave all my perennial beds. i had worked very hard for 7 seasons to plant flowers and trees all around the house, and to have flowers blooming from march to October. fortunately, i was able to divide many of my flowers prior to closing, and winter them in the garden of a dear friend.

even though we just moved in, and have tons of things to do, i feel the dirt calling to me "come plant something in me!" we were able to work outside on mother's day, and got a nice garden started, with a rock border and walkway, but i was unable to get back to it until just tonight. meanwhile, i have been fretting about not having enough flowers, so I've been "collecting" them in my travels- the church rummage sale, trading with a new neighbor, the master gardener's sale in towanda, the farmer's market, 2 flats of annuals at the greenhouse as a mother's day present and N, A and B got me peonies for mother's day as well. (can you see where i'm going with this?)

anyway- i have tons of flowers, and a HUGE variety. lupines, columbine, pansy, iris, johnny-jump-up, bleeding heart, mums, hosta, astlibe, sedum, lamb's ear, coreopsis, canna lilly, bachelor's button, mums- and on and on. i'm beginning to worry that i won't have enough places to put them all! M and G helped me this evening to plant the flower beds, and while we're not done, we made a big dent in the large flower pile that was out in the yard. there is a shade garden, and a full sun garden, too. M also was working on getting pots of annuals ready to spread around, full of pansies, coleus and petunia. they will be a bright spot as you come into the driveway.

Dave was just working on the front porch, putting in a new railing, and these two projects will really change the look of the house. it's very satisfying to work together to make our house into a home. one step at a time.

foundling

look what i found on my doorstep today! it's a very nice baby. i talked to dave, and we decided to keep her! (totally kidding!)