Progress on the outside

There has been great progress on the exterior. Less on the inside.
If fact this picture was taken at noon and when we drove by at 5:00 they had installed the rest of the shutters and the porch ceiling.

The interior is waiting on some inspections before the insulation and drywall.

Fast Forward House

Don't really have lots of time to do the day by day update on the house but here is where we currently are.

Well where we were 2 days ago.
The roof has been shingled since this photo.

And Mom they were Amish roofers. :)

Daniel's First Gymnastics Meet

So here are the pictures that I promised certain family members.











Daniel did very well and placed 10th on rings.

We have a dream

Jesse and I dreamed and planned a life together... it came true.
We dreamed and not so planned 4 children... it came true.
We dreamed not having to move away from family... it came true.
Yes they did move away.
We dreamed of building a castle... and it is coming true sort of.

So the castle that we dreamed of together (it was really a literal castle) changed as we aged and became more realistic.
The castle dream became a dream home.

We think we have found that home for us.
It is not our original dream, God has a way of changing those, but it will be our "castle".
One day in the future we may get closer to our literal castle and replace the siding with a stone facade.

And that dream about living close to family... looks like that will come true for a season.

And you can't see it from the way we took the picture but our "dream lot" is a constrution dumping ground. We are standing next to a huge dumpster and half the lot is piled with discarded cement.
I like to think that God kept it messy to save it til it was time for us to buy it.

A Child's Logic

On the way home from the store this is the conversation I had with Karist:

(the radio plays a song with a female vocalist)

Karist- "Is she dead?"?

Me- "No"?!?

Karist- "Michael Jackson is dead...Jesus is dead...Granny Fortune is dead"

Me- "No she is not dead, (the singer) and Jesus is not dead anymore either"

Karist- "When you are dead it means you are not home anymore"

That was it.
An odd dialogue that left me puzzled.

So the more I think about it the more I wonder what was going on in that head of hers.
The people she stated were "dead" we all personal to her. (Michael Jackson is one of her favorite singers thanks to her dad) She recently went to Grandma Fortune's funeral, and she has learned on Jesus's death many times at home and church.

Then there is the "not home anymore"
Does she think Marme and Papa are "dead" since they moved to Ecuador? Becka too?
Don't worry I will make sure she is clear on this one. But maybe she is more clear than I think she is, after all when we were celebrating the life of Grandma Fortune we said we would see her again in heaven.

I am pretty sure she doesn't think my parents and sister are dead but perhaps to a five year old the feeling and understanding is the same.

It will feel a bit like heaven when they come back, even if it is just for a short time.

Boo!!!

Surprise, I am still here and actually going to post with pictures even.

For now I will just skip over the past 6 months and go straight to Halloween.

For the record Halloween is not my favorite holiday.
I don't like the stress/expense of costumes.
I don't like my door bell ringing and the dog barking.
I don't like the pumpkin carving and the mess it makes.
I don't like the candy and the kids behavior after eating too much.
I don't like kids throwing up after eating too much. (happened last year)

So basically Boo Humbug.

But, my kids Love Halloween.
I love my kids.

So how to make them happy while I stay sane an happy too.

First. No pumpkin carving. No knife action, no visits to the E.R. Happy Mom.
Pumpkin painting. Happy kids. Happy Mom.

Second. Think Beggar's night is on Saturday so you plan for the costumes to be
done by Friday night. Surprise! Beggar's night is actually on Monday so
Mom gets a stress free weekend. Less stress, Happy Mom.

Third. Tell kids on Friday that they have to finish their school by noon so
I have time to work on their costumes. Kids are productive and Mom is happy.

Fourth. Let the kids be whatever they want. Only limitation is that we
are making the costumes out of what we have. I am not spending money on
this holiday I don't like. Happy kids, get to be what they want. Happy
Mom, gets to be Scrooge. Boo humbug.

So how did the free costumes work out?
You be the judge.



Devonae as Rowan Hood, Robin Hood's daughter. This character is from this series of books http://www.amazon.com/Rowan-Hood-Outlaw-Sherwood-Forest/dp/069811972X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320346654&sr=1-1. Devonae really enjoyed the the read.



Danny as a pirate. It helped that he purchased the sword as a souvenir at Disney world. I raided the goodwill box and he makes ladies clothes look so manly.
I was very pleased with myself that I was able to sew his hat from scratch.



Elli as Little Red Riding Hood. I loved how this turned out. I upcycled a Christmas tablecloth into the cape. The basket was a gift that Devonae brought home from her corn maze outing with the church.

Next is Karist.
Hers needs a bit of explanation to those unfamiliar with World of Warcraft.
She so wanted to be a "Nonai princess" (Draenei)http://www.wowwiki.com/Draenei
I tried to talk her out of it. How was I going to make a blue space goat costume.
Well here is what we came up with...



Karist as a happy princess draenei.No one had a clue what she was :)

So overall the holiday went smoothly.
No trips to the store.
No trips to the E.R.
No vomiting.




Now I just need to get rid of all this candy.

The Emotions of Easter

I teach 4 year olds for Sunday School. And since today is Easter you can guess what the lesson was on.
During our story we spent some time on the emotions of the women who went to the tomb.
These poor women went through quite a bit, I am amazed that they did not suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.
And since it was a 4 year old class, repetition being a teaching tool, they went through it three times.
Three also happened to be the number of the day.

It went something like this:

Their friend, teacher, and Messiah was dead... they were sad.
The stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty...they were shocked
There was an angel there...they were afraid
Jesus was alive... they were joyous

They probably went through all these in a 15-30 minute time period.
They did it 3 times in my class.
I found myself wondering that these women weren't basketcases before lunch.

Then I thought about the emotions and realized that I had personally gone through something very similar during the birth of my first child.

So the lesson I learned this Easter is that I am not a basketcase because New Life brings joy that goes beyond my emotional limitations.