10-24-12 Pictures of Progress

by Tori

This last week the greatroom was finally trimmed. Thursday I got a surprise when I got back from babysitting at Carmen’s and saw Ron’s truck. Ron and Jesse had trimmed the windows and doors in the greatroom.

Friday Ron and Jeff came, and Jesse and Jacob helped them build the beams on the ceiling. Ron also finished trimming a couple of doors.

Saturday was a work-a-thon. We puttied at least several thousand nail holes in the beams, which took ages. The 2x6 beams are covered with stained and varnished oak plywood, but on Friday they ran out of the stained and varnished sheets, so Kate and I quick stained some for them to use. We didn’t varnish them because varnish takes 25 hours to dry, so on Saturday we also varnished several beams. Jesse finished the paneling under the windows and around the doors as well as put up the baseboard. We took a quick break around 2 and went and watched some friends’ lake get shocked. It was very interesting and some of the boys got to use the nets to pull out the stunned fish. We came home from the lake and butchered 35 old hens that weren’t laying anymore.

Sunday was another big day. We went to Fairbury for church and then spent the afternoon and evening at Bryan and Kara’s. The boys had a blast playing football with the Stoller, Knapp, and Koch boys, plus all the Dads, and all the girls and Moms had fun watching them play and talking.

Monday Ron and Jeff came and put up the last few beams, then Ron stayed all day and trimmed windows and closet doors in Dad and Mom’s room. I puttied and varnished the last beams.

Yesterday we did errands in Morton and then sang at Restmor. After lunch, Lexi, Wesley, and Whitley came over for the afternoon. I think they had fun playing K’nex with the kids.

Today the bricklayers, who were supposed to come last Friday but kept getting rained out, came and are laying bricks. On another note, it is supposed to be 80 today! Actually it has been fairly warm since Saturday, and it drizzled every day last week except Sunday.

Now for the pictures you’ve all been waiting for.

Thursday morning. Every time the saw has cut the last week, Josh has covered his ears.

Dad came home at noon on Thursday to check everything out.

Since the front door is hanging open to let the air-hoses in for the nail guns, Boss and Spanky have been coming in and have been found all over the place. One afternoon I was doing school in my room and Boss came in and hung out with me for about a hour. Here, Boss found a cozy spot to curl up and I can tell Katie is really wishing we could have a house cat (actually we all kind’ve wish we had one).

Josh loves to clean the driveway.

End of Thursday - windows and door trimmed.

Friday morning - watching Ron, Jeff, Jesse, and Jacob build the first beams.

Levi helped after getting home from CIT.

Saturday puttying.

I made monkey bread for lunch with our chili.

Kate helped Jesse put on baseboard.

More puttying.

After lake shocking and butchering, on to varnishing.

Life with brothers means some arm-wrestling every now and then. Jesse can still beat Jacob quite easily. For now.

Jam session in the hallway.

Monday trimming a door to fit the jam.

The greatroom completely finished out, almost ready for carpet (which is coming next Wednesday). Jesse has been doing final details such as putting baseboard in the closet and putting up cold air return vents. Dad has to trim paint one little section yet and put some wood veneer on the front windows yet.

I think the Sauder kids enjoyed their horse rides too.

Playing in the leaves.

We never have enough leaves to rake as they blow away as soon as they fall. This week though it has been still and they come straight down when it drizzles so the kids have been having fun raking up a few piles.

Sisters!

Enjoying smoothie pops.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for brick update.

10-24-12 A Letter From Aunt Sarah

October 21, 2012

Dear Jacob –

I have a story that I want to share with you. Well, actually, it’s more of a lesson, but I’ll get to that!

Do you remember when you helped me unload that soil in my front flower bed? I think it was in July. Before we could unload it, I had to dig up the hostas that were there. As I did that, I could hear the roots ripping, even though I tried to get under the plant as much as possible. I mentioned it, saying something like, “Did you hear that?” Your response was very serious when you said, “Yes. I don’t like that sound.” I thought, “Hmm. That’s right. This is Jacob, my tree and plant loving nephew. He would be sensitive to what is happening to the plant.” I’m not saying that in a disrespectful way, Jacob. I’ve watched you grow up with an incredible ability to know trees and butterflies and birds and other insects . . . you have a keen sense for nature. I admire that in you. I think you’ll find in life that God will speak to you through that avenue.

We unloaded the dirt and I took you and the truck back to your house. When I came back home, I finished smoothing out the soil and proceeded to replant the hostas that I had laid over by the tree. They were actually pretty big, so I split them apart into six plants instead of the three that I had uprooted. As I worked, I thought about your comment. I realized that uprooting the plants and splitting them apart was actually going to make the garden better as there would be more of them and they would continue to grow despite my ‘rough’ treatment of them. The hostas would recover from the damage and thrive in the place that I planted them.

Hmmm . . . isn’t our life like that? Sometimes, God has to uproot something in our life so that we grow better. It may be something good that He wants to split apart and have more of. There are times when God has to uproot something because He doesn’t like what He sees in us. Or maybe our roots have grown a little too deep and He wants to remind us that this is not our final destination. I know that you are quite a bit younger than I am and this may not make a whole lot of sense to you right now. But I want you to remember this as you journey through life. Just a little something to think about.

But the story doesn’t end there, Jacob. I was working in my garden earlier this week and you’ll never guess what I was doing . . . pulling up plants! It is October and if you’re going to transplant anything, now is a good time to do it. And I thought of you every single time that I heard the sound of roots breaking. So I pondered the lesson some more. God had more to tell me, and therefore, I have more to share with you.

I have a flower bed in the back corner of my yard. It’s been an ongoing process over the past 2 years since I put that bed in. I’ve planted cannas both years. There are also some plants that are too close together in that bed. I have a miniature rose bush that is behind something that is huge . . . you can’t hardly see the rose bush once the lythrum has grown to its full height. Some things that I’ve planted didn’t do so well. Then there are two asters in other beds by my house that I think would grow well in the back bed. They’d look pretty nice there, too. Much nicer than they do where they are. One is being crowded out by the peppermint and the other has too much shade. I think they would be beautiful in that sunny back bed. Then there is an Asiatic lily that is in a shady spot and therefore doesn’t grow very well. And the coral bells . . . there are two of them that would probably do better with more sunlight.

So . . . I spent some time digging up the cannas. You see, if you don’t dig them up in the fall, they will freeze and won’t come up again the next year. When you dig them up, there are about 5 – 6 times more tubers than what you planted in the spring. You have to break them apart and store them in a dark place where the temperature is between 45 and 55 degrees. If you do this, you can plant them the next year and again enjoy this beautiful plant. Without digging them up and breaking them apart, you won’t have any cannas next year.

I also dug up the rose bush and moved it closer to the front of the bed. I pulled up the lythrum and put it closer to the edge so it is behind the other shorter plants. As for the asters, I dug them up from where they were and split two of them into three different areas of the back bed. The Asiatic lilies and the coral bells were also given a new home.

All the while I was doing this digging and transplanting and breaking apart, I was thinking about you and the story I wanted to tell you. Then I realized that there was more to the story.

While I was moving all of these plants, I was also anticipating what this bed will look like next year. I’m anxious to see how it looks. I’ve never had such a nice bed that was in the sun and I’ve found that plants there look so much better. I have so much shade here that most of my plants live in the shade and I’ve always thought that was kind of a gardening handicap. But that back bed looked great this year. I wonder what it will look like next year after I’ve moved all of this stuff.

So back to the lesson at hand . . . I’m thinking about the big picture of my garden. Despite the uprooting and damage that I may be doing to the plants, I am the master gardener and I see the value in moving a particular plant from point A to point B. I see the value in digging up and breaking apart the canna tubers. In my mind, I can see what it will look like with the rose bush closer to the front and the lythrum off to the side. I saw a picture once of asters that were in the sun. They were beautiful. I want my asters to look like that. Again, I’m thinking about the big picture of my garden. Now I know that while I am doing damage to the plants, they don’t have feelings and physical pain, but here’s where we have to stop and think about it from a different perspective.

Jacob, God is the Master Gardener in our life and the lives of everyone we know and love. Sometimes it is necessary for God to move us from point A to point B in a physical sense or in a spiritual sense. Sometimes He has to cut us back in size a little bit or break us apart for one reason or another. As mere mortals, it can be very, very difficult for us to see why things may be happening in our lives. From our perspective, everything seems perfectly logical the way they are right now. It hurts when situations change in our life or loved ones are taken or friends face severe illness or injury. And we don’t understand why these things happen. We feel hurt, or maybe even betrayed by God, just like the damage that happens when we pull out a plant and break the roots. But we have to remember that God sees the big picture. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows us and our situation in life better than we do ourselves. If He finds it necessary to uproot us or someone else in our life, we have to trust that He is doing it with our best interest in mind. He sees the whole flower bed in full bloom.

I spent a lot of time pondering all this the other day. I hope I never forget this lesson from the Master Gardener. I hope that I think of you every time I dig up a plant and hear the roots breaking apart. And I hope that you’ll remember this story, too. I think it can help you in the years to come as you continue to draw closer to our Master Gardener.

I love you, Jacob!

Aunt Sarah

10-23-12 Sprint

In sixth grade I ran in the Homeroom Cross Country Race. I don’t know why it was called that, but that’s what it was called. Maybe because my team was my home room? Anyway, the race started out good until I fell and got a nice collection of cinders in my knee. Heroically, I labored on to finish sixth in the race which qualified me for the Sixth Grade Cross Country Team. Yay me.

(really, it was a big deal back then!)

My running career ended when I realized that I didn’t like running, but in sixth grade, I ran. If I remember right, each race was two miles long, and always in the country.  Between cornfields, up hills, down hills, along fencerows, through trees, etc.  Now for those of you who enjoy running, two miles is not a long race, but for those like me who don’t like running, two miles is a very long race, especially the up hill parts. The worst part was at the end, when I was exhausted beyond exhaustion, legs numb, lungs bursting (sound fun?), and for the last 100 yards or however long coach said (I’m very fuzzy on details here), I sprinted just as fast as I could go. I’m really not sure what the logic is behind that, but I guess that’s just in the Running Book Guidelines or something, so that’s what we did. I suppose with better training I would have learned to pace myself better, but in sixth grade I didn’t know any different.

Fast forward about thirty years.

I don’t like to run.

I enjoy walking, but I’m not out to break any speed records which is a good thing because if I was I couldn’t do it anyway. I’m just not a runner. But I still remember those long ago days of cross country running, and especially the dreaded sprint to the finish line. And I’ve thought about that sprint quite a bit these last few weeks. This summer was busy, no argument there, but lately it’s been like the sprint to the finish line. The prize – moving into the new greatroom.

Non-stop activity, all at breakneck pace, always so much to do, always running, which I dislike now more than ever.

Run to Peoria Brick & Tile with Dad. Run to Custom Wood Products with Dad. Run to Menards with Dad. Back to Miller Paint again – need more stain. Run to Lowe’s. Stop at the Avenue to talk to Janet about tile. Throw in a few ortho appointments and half a dozen or so dentist appointments. Oh, then a stop at Farm & Fleet; we’re out of dogfood. Back to Custom Wood Products. Another trip to Lowe’s. More stuff needed at Menards. Groceries. More wood, more trim for the kids to stain and varnish.  The Avenue again. Quick trip to Walmart for new shoes for Tori. Run the car to Mike’s because it needs work. At home the pace continues. Stain. Varnish. Putty. Paint. Laundry. Food prep. K.P. Fractions. Piano lessons. Writing. Music practice.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Tempers flare, impatience grows, discouragement threatens.

Will this ever end? This breakneck pace which has no end in sight?

But it does!  There is an end in sight, and we’re almost there! But to get to that point, there’s going to be a few more days yet of sprinting. Not many, and as a matter of fact I can’t even think of any running I have to do this week at all .

(except Restmor this morning which I completely forgot until another faithful Restmor singer reminded me yesterday!!) 

AND, last night we (meaning all 11 of us) did not work on the house. There were a few things we could’ve done, but Dad wisely recognized that some of us (me mostly) needed a break and decided it was not going to be a work night, because the few things to be done can quickly and competently be done by Jesse this afternoon. Last night we enjoyed a blissfully calm evening of k’nex and a good book. Simply wonderful.

BUT.

I’m not so naïve as to think that there will be no more running.

I wish.

No, this is just a breather in the midst of the last sprint. And even after we’re moved into the greatroom, there are other finish lines, of course there are always finish lines in life, with or without room addition projects, and there are always a few sprints here and there along the course. The thing is that we always get those breathers when we think we can’t maintain the pace.

When the pace threatens to overwhelm us - - - -

God gives us a breather - - - -

and then He gives us the strength to finish.

Wherever you’re at in the course, whether it be up hill, down hill, in a valley, on a mountaintop, skinning your knee, taking a breather, sprinting toward the finish line -

The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you;  Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

II Chronicles 15: 2 & 7

What an awesome God we serve!!!

 

10-20-12 Burnt

When you’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, sometimes you’re gonna get burnt.

This little saying has held true for many years now, and it’s a good one to remember when things don’t happen the way you thought they would.

Like this morning, for instance.

Well, actually it started Thursday morning.

Well - - - actually - - - it started last Saturday, but I didn’t know that until this morning.

Confused yet?

Well so Thursday morning I went downstairs to get some applesauce out of one of my upright freezers, and found to my dismay that the freezer had stopped freezing and thus the entire freezer was thawing. Not a good morning kind of thing to happen, you know? Well, with my trusty team of hardworking little helpers, we did a marathon freezer re-arrange job, and had all the food safely in other freezers in no time. Even with chickens to butcher and a steer at the locker, I thought I would have enough room with one less freezer; going forward with only four freezers would be a juggle but do-able. Crisis over, nothing lost except two packages of yellow zucchini which were fridge cold and fine to use but turning brownish and not very appealing - - - those got pitched. A few bags of fruit were taken upstairs to be used right away, but most everything else was re-frozen, and the items on the bottom shelves were, thankfully, still frozen solid.

Whew. That turned out pretty well, compared to what it could have been.

Which I well know. Several years ago an upright freezer door got left open a crack, and by the time it was discovered, most of the meat had thawed completely, with some on the top shelf being warm and needing to be pitched. Most of the rest of it got cooked up and refrozen. I was pretty pregnant at the time (think – overreactive hormones)(you moms know what I mean) and it was NOT a calm, cool, and collected moment for me. If I remember right, a frantic call to ASK brought her on the run, and with her helping me and the crew, we cooked up a lot of meat that day. I don’t remember the details, but I do remember the lesson: very little meat stored in the uprights.

But I digress.

Back to Burnt.

So this morning I went downstairs to get some applesauce out of one of my upright freezers and found to my dismay that the freezer had stopped freezing and thus the entire freezer was thawing. Not a good morning kind of thing to happen, you know?

The skeptic in me was really skeptical.

Two freezers on the blink in three days? Really?

And yet a niggling little thought in the back of my brain reminded me that last weekend we had been doing some electrical work with switches being flipped off and on. Dad had no niggling little thoughts about it – he knew exactly that last weekend we had been doing some electrical work with switches being flipped off and on.

A little sleuthing work later, and my diligent detective team discovered that, indeed, the main breaker box had one switch flipped off. Guess which one it was?

Of course – the one that had those two freezers plugged into it.

Plug the first freezer back in, flip the breaker switch on, and hmmmmmmm (that’s the sweet sound of the freezers), we’re back in business. No harm done except that the whole doorfull of blueberries had thawed, which means that they will refreeze in a nice big solid block which is not nearly as fun to munch on on a hot summer day as individual frozen blueberries.

But - compared to what it could have been (think of two full freezers of wasted food) (OUCH!), a doorfull of blueberry ice blocks isn’t that bad, right?

Yep, we got burnt a little this time, but not nearly as bad as we could’ve, that’s for sure!

And I will mention that I am very ready for a few irons to be pulled out of the fire – it seems like things are a little too het up around here lately (any guesses as to what I’m reading to the kids right now?)(book report to follow when things ain’t so het up).

It’s been a wonderfully crazy week which I’m not going to blog about right now because that’s another day - - but stay tuned for an update soon - - and - - - - -

Have a wonderful Sunday!!!!!!!!!

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

10-16-12 What I Thought

What I thought was that I was very busy this summer when we were doing the outside of the addition; I was glad we didn’t have a lot of garden and produce to do because I don’t know how it would’ve gotten done. And I thought that after our vacation to Colorado, things would settle down into a normal routine of school and jobs. I thought most of the meetings and shopping were done. I also thought (I even told Dad) that I wouldn’t get tired of living in disarray because that means progress.

Well, I guess I thought wrong on a couple of accounts.

One, summer was not as busy as now is. This project was enjoyable this summer. Throw in school and things got a little crazy. Before vacation we only did partial school (not all subjects) which was okay – now since we got home we’ve been doing full school which has increased the pace significantly. Not just the day-to-day academics, but also the kids’ job lists just don’t get done when they’re doing full school. Imagine that. Well, we are committed to home education, we love the privilege of doing it, but the thing is, no matter how busy other things are, no matter what else is going on -  when you’re homeschooling, you (that means I) still have to DO it. Or it doesn’t get done!! 

So - - -

Compared to now, summer was not busy. I thought wrong.

Two. Since Colorado, we do have a nice routine of school and jobs; but the other things still have to be done, like staining and puttying and meetings and shopping, so there’s no ‘settling down’ about it. It’s rather anything but settling.

Three. I’m beginning to think meetings and shopping will never end.

Four. I’m very tired of living in disarray. Dad was right. He warned me, or tried to, but I assured him I would be fine. And I was, for a long time. But now I’m kind of tired of guitars in the hallway, bookshelves in the bedrooms, the piano in the family room (it’s very loud and is going almost constantly), and only one soft chair upstairs (which is right in front of the toy closet).

Forgive me for complaining.

I really shouldn’t.

But reality is what reality is, and the reality is that I’m ready for normal.

The good news is that once the trimmers do their thing, which is to trim (had to throw in a little Hank-ese for all you Hank fans), well then the carpet is ready to be laid. And once the carpetlayers lay the carpet, well then we get to start moving guitars out of the hallways and bookcases out of bedrooms, and, well, you get the picture.

 

I don’t have many px because not much has changed since the tile was laid, and because I just haven’t had time to take pictures.

Here are a couple - - -

A more and more common sight around here – Jewel has discovered books!

If I weren’t so tired I’d blog about the Precision Planting wiener roast (good time), our day with the Bible Class in Fairbury (good time), the kids’ fun at U. Don’s wiener roast (good time), our seven dentist appointments last week (mostly good), our ortho appointments (two last week, one this week) (good because Jacob got his bottom retainer on which means it’s the beginning of the end), the mouse that joined me in the bathroom yesterday morning (not so good), the calf that fell into the ravine and died over the weekend, and all the businesses I have to contact because our credit card company changed our account number due to a compromised number.

Aargh.

Do these people have any idea how many auto-pay changes that takes? And how much time I don’t have to mess with this?!

Whew.

I tired myself out.

 

 

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Good night.

10-12-12 Progress

by Tori

Monday Kevin and Jesse Fischer finished the tile then grouted it. By Tuesday we could walk on it and so Tuesday evening Dad put the trim back on in the laundry room.

Jesse put up the paneling behind the toilet so it could be put back in while I touched up some spots with stain.

The completed kitchen tile.

Playing hide and seek.

Big helper.

Jesse started putting up paneling in the greatroom also.

The rest of this week has just been regular, school, errands, and a trip to Menards.

10-8-12 Monday

By Kate

Yesterday afternoon Dad and Mom took the three little kids to the fire department open house. They ate lots of popcorn and a rode a fire truck. Josh said he had a lot of fun.

Sunday evening we went to A. Sarah’s house. Littles had fun reading and playing. We all had a good time.

Jewel and Josh found a fun spot to play while we practiced music this morning.