Construction

We have had a fire going most nights and all day on Saturdays to burn all of the trash and leftover wood around the home.  The kids have all pitched in to keep things cleaned up.  Many folks from the church have spent hours cleaning, sweeping, throwing...

Above is our entry which has the highest ceilings in the whole house.  This was all already framed when we purchased the house.

Above is our entry looking from the door inside the house.  The staircase on the right and the living room is directly behind the stairs on the right as well.

Below is looking from our bedroom down the hall way upstairs into the girls and boys rooms.

Right now, unless you actually walk through the house, you can't really tell what things are going to be or look like.  However, I thought I'd give you a couple of photos so you can get the feel for the 'roundness' of the home.  It has many arches, curved stairs, curves in the kitchen (I don't have photos of that yet)...  

We are usually there in the evenings and all day on Saturday if you want to stop by ANYTIME.  We live now only about 2 miles away and would love to give you a tour and hear advice or things you would do with your home to make it more efficient and others focused...  

Stitches (not the laughing kind)

I was upstairs getting a few things done while the kids were out playing.  On the way to the kitchen I glanced out the window just in time to see all the children jumping on the trampoline, which is totally common around here.  However, the UN common thing was that Andi was sitting in our plastic boat in the middle and just got jumped over and smacked in the face with the edge.  I was already out the door getting ready to tell them that the boat was supposed to stay off the trampoline and saw blood spurting out of her cheek.  IT LOOKED AWEFUL.  the kids were all standing around her screaming at the top of their lungs  BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD, AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH and crying...  I grabbed the bottom of my long sweater and held it against her face and carried her to the sink.  One of the kids brought me some ice and the phone and I 'calmly' (you know me and blood) said "Nate, Andi split her cheek open and we are going to go get her stitched up!!!!!!!" I then called my mother-in-law and she came over to confirm that yes, super glue wouldn't do the trick.  Nate made it home in time to drive us to the clinic where she received FIVE stitches.  She did sooo good and held sooo still even though it hurt some.  My father-in-law took the not hurt or nursing kids with him to get some lumber so Nate could then head home and get started on the evening of framing our home.  MaryBeth (mother-in-law) brought over dinner for us and the workers even though she already had a full day.  We got home and she had cleaned my kitchen...  

Anyways, what an afternoon.  So, instead of being over at the house today we are doing the laundry and pick-up that we were going to do early this afternoon when the above happened.  

God so orchestrates our days and it's our job to be FLEXIBLE.  Thank you Jesus for another day to live for you and to fit in with YOUR plan for us.  Thans for all the people that you have brought into our lives to help us in our time of need.

This is our first and only trip (so far) to the clinic.  That's not bad for SIX kids.  Maybe this is the beginning:(.

Above and Beyond

Ever since I have known Nate (my husband) he has wanted to build his own home.  Being a builder and been in the construction industry for more than 13 years he has some definite opinions about how he would build a home, what he would put into a home if...  

For the sake of time (because it's after midnight) I will just give you a photo and a few words to tell you that Nate's DREAM is coming true.  Not without hard work (in the past and now), we are building our OWN home, a place that we plan on living for as long as we can think.  We are having so much fun planning and talking about our home.  

More to come on the progress.  Nate's still at the house tonight smoothing out the concrete slab in the garage.  

I would like to say that NONE of this would be or is possible without the help of so many friends.  Nate and I have spent time, tears (just me on this one) and prayers of gratefulness for the people that have invested in our lives.  We would not/could not do any of this without them (family very much included).