Happy Monday!

Well, it is time for another update.
The kitchen is moving along, slowly but surely. On Friday our friends, the Hopkins, came for the day. They are newly home from their year long mission trip to Romania and as of yet do not have jobs (pray for that!). They are still in that "helping others" mode so came out to lend us a hand around the house. Maurice helped Greg put down plywood on the floors and do some more spackling. Karen and I did some much needed work on the yard. We weeded and tried to reclaim some of the beds from years of neglect. It was nice to see them and get caught up a bit on the last year. When they left for Romania we were still living in our other house so both sides had lots to share! On Saturday, a man from church spent a couple of hours helping Greg sand the walls. This drywall business is the pits! No wonder everyone we talk to says they hire that part of the job out to the pro's. I think Greg is really close to being done though. Newsflash!!!! Our cabinets are being delivered tomorrow!! They will sit in the garage until we are ready for them. I am hoping that will happen by the weekend.
The Boys: Josh is done with school, he finished last Monday. We went for an awards ceremony and Josh got several nice certificates and medals. He received the Teachers Choice Award from his reading teacher, recognition for the 25 book club, and the President's gold award for high grades. I will try to get a picture of him with all of his stuff soon. When he came home on the last day I asked him how he was and he told me he was sad to see school end and that he was already missing his friends. I take that as a good sign for his first year in a new place! At the moment he is in Virginia with Mom and Dad. They went to Richmond for a wood turners convention, meeting up with Uncle Bob, Aunt Ellen, Chelsea, Uncle Jim and Aunt Betty. They had classes designed for kids and Josh loved it! He called home a couple of times and you could just hear the excitement in his voice. He said there were 60+ kids signed up. They had 25 lathe set-up's for the kids and they got to use them to make things. He wouldn't tell us what, I guess that is a surprise! At the end of the convention they raffled off all the lathes and guess what? Josh and Chelsea both won one!! Oh my, he is off the charts excited!! Greg will have to make room in his shop for the newest wood worker in the family!
Josh and Kaleb both played in a summer soccer league. The end of the season tournament was this past weekend and Kaleb's team went undefeated! I think Kalb scored at least one goal at each game. He and another boy dominated the field with their speed and ability. He has a definite talent for the game! Much to his dismay, he still has school until Wednesday. At least this week he only has half days. He and Greg have been practicing lacrosse lately. Kaleb saved up his money for a stick and is now obsessed with playing every chance he gets.
Yesterday was a great day at church, we had a celebration Sunday to celebrate all that God has been doing in our church the last six months. We call it the WOW report. I highly recommend it, it is good to reflect on God's goodness and give Him praise. We welcomed in new members, baptized 2 new believers, and shared communion. The best part of the service was the "parade of praise". We had been asking people to write down their before and now, a short testimony to God's work in their lives. We wrote them out on poster board, the before on one side, the now on the other. They didn't talk, just one by one went to the front and showed the congregation the before side of their sign, then their now. Things like
before: sick with leukemia, now: totally healed
before: robbing God, now: tithing fully
before: lost, now: found
before: crying all the time, now: able to smile
before: selfish, now: serving others
before: struggling with my faith, now: stronger in my faith
We had more than 30 people in the parade, it was amazing! I can not think of a better way to give testimony and honor to God for the work he is doing in us and around us. After the service we had a picnic outside, a great way to cap off the day!
That is just a peek into what is happening our way. We hope and pray you are all well and enjoying the summer sunshine!

Flag Day

So....did you celebrate Flag Day yesterday?? I can't say I ever have before this year but it is yet another one of those "perks" when you move to the country. Mayberry RFD is what Linda calls it. The elementary school that Kaleb attends celebrated their 40th Flag Day parade. It is a town event. The streets were lined with people, the roads were blocked off, a newspaper guy was there to document it, all the fire trucks were polished to a high shine and the flags were waving. They went with a 60's theme this year so every class dressed a bit differently. One grade made these great vests out of paper bags that they painted red, white and blue. The 4th graders wore red, white and blue tie-dye t-shits and headbands. They also got to carry the flags from the 50 states. Kaleb carried New Jersey's flag. The 5th grade band marched and played at the head of the parade.
They marched from the school up to the main 4 corners of town. Kaleb said the flag got really heavy, lol! He's the one in the last photo, carryign the yellow flag. Click the photo for a bigger view.
Dad was here for a couple of days and sadly worked mostly by himself this time. Greg was tied up with a church retreat. He worked on walls and said we are just one coat of plaster away from being done. Praise the Lord!! I am eating, breathing and sleeping dust. I am not sure how to reclaim my house once this is done. One room at a time I guess. I stopped in at the kitchen store and our order is scheduled to arrive on Wednesdays truck. She told me we could have cabinets by Friday or the following Monday at the latest. There are still many things left to do and decide. We have no clue what is going down on the floor. But there seems to be an end in sight. We are so grateful for Dad's help and expertise. There is no way we would have dared to attempt this without him!!
On a smelly note, the neighbor kid decided he would let off a stink bomb IN our house today. I have no category for this but I am most definitely NOT pleased!

Drywall and Birthday Boy

I am slackin'! We have had a bit of a heat wave hit us and the humidity combined with the heat is just taking the life out of me. That is NY weather, 50's one day, 90's the next! Dad was here again for a few days and they made more progress on the kitchen. They took out the sink and last bit of counter by the window. The insulation came out so they could wire more electrical boxes. Now we are ready for the dishwasher, microwave and stove to go in....eventually! One of the problems we face has to do with our hot water baseboards. One of them had to be removed and one needs to be made shorter. The one that needed to be removed was right in front of the sink. Pastor Bills brother has offered to help us but he is busy for the next several weeks. Apparently Greg called him and asked "if I cut these pipes can you fix it later?" Daring man!! Well, the heat units are drained and the pipes are gone, ack! I hope he can truly fix it later or we will be freezing here come October.
Once all the electrical was in they put up new insulation and started to hang the drywall back up. They started some of the mudding but that will require several applications.

In the mean time, Josh turned 12! Yesterday was his birthday. Where does time go? Mom and Dad came by after church and took us out to lunch to celebrate. We got him a new bike, I will have to get a picture of him on it soon. His old one was broken and getting a bit small and with the summer still ahead of us, it was time. Mom and Dad gave him some camping items that he will need when he goes on his first boy scout trip this summer. The teens meet on Sunday nights so Greg arranged for them to have a pool party at the Pastor Bill's house and they combined that with a party for Josh. I bought a cake and Linda, PB's wife, put the word out that the kids were to bring a present for the birthday boy, a dollar store type of thing. The kids made a banner to hang on the pool fence. There were tons of kids and they had a fantastic time. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms but they held off until right after the party! The lightening was like a birthday fireworks display. It was a good day!





Have a great day!!