Build and Grow

The kids love spending special time with Daddy!! One of the fun activities he has made a regular activity is Lowe's Build and Grow workshops at our local store. They are scheduled a couple times per month on Saturday mornings. Our Lowe's store gives each child their very own, personalized apron, to which they can apply patches to commemorate each project they have completed. The kids get to work with their hands, building different things such as picture frames, cars, planes, games and planters. Our two oldest kids have become accustomed to working independently at their own pace (still under supervision by Dad) while, Eva and even Abe are guided by Dad. They always come home so very proud (as they should be) of their newest projects. 

36 Weeks

Full term today! Officially having a home birth! Baby should be here in less than a month (notice I said should). Babies have a mind of their own. Some come early, some come late.

Week #2 Restoration: Skeletons in the Closet

We all have them, in some way, form or fashion. For all of us, we keep certain skeletons in our closet...a past lifestyle, a hidden sin, a haunting mistake, thinking....and sometimes knowing....that no one would look at us the same. This skeleton might be something that could cause a friend, loved one, a mate or an entire family to turn their backs on us forever. Sadly, it happens. In this real life, we are flawed. Sometimes we commit the wrong and sometimes we cannot overlook the wrong. Either way, in these situations we miss out. We miss out on authenticity and we miss out on healing. Nell is no different. She had skeletons...hidden imperfections and what we could consider more than just an imperfection. Wisely, we did elect to have an inspection on our new (old) home before our bid went through to contract. We did know about the old, potentially dangerous knob and tube electric wiring that was running through our home, that CONTINUED carrying electricity throughout. We also saw all of the cracked plaster walls, the smoke film that coated the walls, the signs of leaks that has formed stains on the ceilings. We saw the rotting wood that lay in several rooms that would have to be repaired. But, Nell has good bones and beautiful character. We were willing to look past her past, bring in life and give her hope and a future. Well, there was a few skeletons in her closets.....literally. No, not a real skeleton, although there was a dead possum in the basement that had to be removed. As we dug deep in our 2nd week of the renovation process, we discovered more than we bargained for at times. We were prepared for damage, but not for all of the damage that we did uncover. The extent of this damage could have....and being perfectly honest, probably would have been a deal breaker for us. There were extensive repairs that had to be made. And in our human eyes, we would have thought "This is too much, there is no way we could get through this." Do we ever feel like that in life? Do we ever feel so betrayed by someone's hidden truths, that we want to immediately bail? Are we ever confronted with certain things about others that we consider just plain "deal breakers"? Well, God is not that way. God accepts us exactly as we are. Is that not one of the most precious truths that He gives? He will welcome us in no matter what condition we find ourselves. Even better than that, He does not leave us that way! He restores us. He never considers the cost or the work it will take to heal our brokenness, He just does it. He comes in and makes things new. We feel sure God kept certain things hidden because He knew we would not pursue this extreme blessing that was in store. 

 Removing the old toilet.

 Rotten flooring that went all the way into the floor joists in our bathroom.

The bathroom was eventually taken down to the studs and floor joists only.

Some things are too traumatic to photograph!

Very old, very heavy, cast iron bathtub that was bashed in with a sledge hammer in order to be removed. It took 3 very strong men to shuffle this monster out of our home.

 

 

 Salvaging our cabinets, but not the tile backsplash.

 Removed all of the appliances...stove, vent hood, dishwasher and sink.

 Remnants of a life of neglect

 Here is the massive skeleton...which was truly in the closet. This is our kitchen wall....the same one you just saw with the salvaged cabinets and removed tile. There is a small, covered chimney behind the kitchen wall and within the foyer closet. Marcus and the crew found out that there had been an a leak for what seemed like a very long time. There was extensive water damage and mold within the space. The damage ran from the upstairs roof, through a storage closet and down into the kitchen wall, where my lovely cabinets were hanging.

 Here is my kitchen ceiling that also had to be completely removed to repair damage. You can see the old knob and tube electric still running through the ceiling. HAZARDOUS!

 Mold filled plaster, lathe and stud from the deconstructed wall.

 The upstairs storage area that was affected as well.

Nell was not the only blessing in this process. I am not sure if it was in deed, Teddy Roosevelt speaking of the Panama Canal, or if it originated in the movie "Field of Dreams", but someone said "If you build it, they will come." Well, I have never heard anyone say "If you restore it, they will come." But that is exactly what happened. God placed exactly the right people who have the perfect talents and professional skills, in our path a long time ago. These are people that we share life with. They are fellow church members. They are dear friends. and, we could very well consider them family. They are certainly brothers and sisters (although, mostly brothers). Without a word, they came out and began a long, arduous process of filling in the gaps, where Marcus and I had begun to discuss things like "Where do we start?" "How is this going to get done?" "Who can we hire for this job?" and my favorite "How are we going to get this done in time?"How humbling it is to be showered by true agape love. Love like this can only be an expression from God and how sweet that our very dear friends have shown us the Father's love in this way. We would have never asked for commitment that has been and IS STILL BEING SHOWN to us. People, that arguable have better things to do with their time, have sacrificed precious family time, putting in long, hard, hot hours to help restore our home. These acts of love are priceless! We are so very humbled and so very grateful! 

 Removing old linoleum and old tile.

 Cutting through galvanized pipe to remove the tub...and the galvanized piping.

 New electric run throughout the ENTIRE house 

by Marcus, Tim, David, Jason and Sean...in only 3 days!

 Only minimal damage

 Tools and equipment in the soon-to-be classroom.

Crew members....dear friends...hard at work.

 Purging

 

 There were some beautiful finds underneath the rubble from within the walls of Nell!!

 My very hardworking husband uncovered this gorgeous brick fireplace!

 Why would anyone want to cover up such a treasure?

These were found in a bag of old man's socks, stuffed behind a wall that had to be torn out.

They have a real beauty about them and I bet that have a story! 

So to summarize week #2: walls have been torn down, skeletons have been revealed and beauty has been uncovered! New walls will go up, repairs will be made and a new light is beginning to shine! Some things have been hard to take in and some things have taken our breath away, with grace we accept Nell's entire package. She is going to be so worth it!

"Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over--will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38  

My Bower Bird

We had the privilege of studying the Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, during our 2012-2013 homeschool year. We studied a vast array of birds, insects and even flying dinosaurs. Mom is learning just as much as these sweet babes. Birds have courtship patterns for attracting mates, information I had to relate to people as much as possible to help my little ones understand courtship. I am SOOOOO not to the point of introducing certain "birds and bees" topics with them just yet. So, where am I going with all of this? Well, I am not introducing YOU to the "birds and the bees", but with all of this home buying, selling and renovation/restoration, my memory recalls a certain bird we studied that intrigued me. The bowerbird! "They are renowned for their unique courtship behaviour, where males build a structure and decorate it with sticks and brightly colored objects in an attempt to attract a mate." ~Wikipedia These birds build extravagant homes, also known bowers, for their mates some even as elaborate as having marked paths and structured roofs. Then they decorate them with brightly colored, ornate objects and materials. Some use glass, berries, feathers, flowers, leaves, glass and even ribbon, bits of yarn, buttons and most anything else that strikes their fancy. All of this reminds me of the wonderful man I have in my mate...my Bowerbird. Wouldn't he love it that I am comparing him to a bird?

My man is building our bower! He is spending VERY LONG hours preparing our new home for occupation. And, being the frugal, thrifty family that we are, my bowerbird is doing a lot of the work himself. He is gone a lot, working a regular work day and going straight to the house, working all night, and many times into the morning. He has really good friends who are sacrificing time all for us as well. But, he isn't just one of those go out and get 'er done kinda guys. He calls regularly to get my approval on dimensions, placement, and has even given me exclusive rights to most of the superficial things! He is doing this for us! He is learning so much and is becoming more confident with his newly acquired skills. It seems like forever since I have gone to sleep beside him at night. The kids miss him tremendously, and he has even had to sacrifice and miss a couple of ballgames. It is only for a short time and it will be worth it! We love you, Daddy!!

 I miss my man!

35 Weeks

My photographer cut off my feet. Probably just as well...no one wants to see the fluid retention that is beginning to settle there! :-) Still convinced we are having a gigantic baby! I do believe I was this size when I delivered Shy!

Week #1 Restoration: Nell's Sweet Surprise!!!!!

So, for those who need an update....we bought an old home....we call her Big Nell, sold our current home and have begun the renovation project to bring her back to life! Our timeline is about 4 weeks until the closing date and need to be moving in Big Nell. We have created a timeline for the projects that need to be completed before we are able to move in. During our first week, we needed to tackle the downstairs bathroom demo, kitchen demo, get the old, painted-shut windows open, formulate an electrical plan, and tackle our bee problem. We are almost there. We have gutted the bathroom, except for the cast iron tub, and have begun the plumbing. It WILL be coming out!! We have demo`d the kitchen, but have some cabinet flooring to remove and plumbing to begin. Electrical plan is in place and we will be marking new outlet locations this evening. Windows are open, which did require taking pieces of the window facings off. I will never understand why people paint windows shut. They are a booger to get open, that's for sure!!! We had a drywall man come and give us an estimate on patching our cracked plaster walls. We went round and round, trying to decide if we wanted to keep the plaster walls or replace them with more, convenient drywall. Plaster keeps the character of our historic home. Plaster is much more durable, and a family of our size (5, soon-to-be 6, soon-to-be 8 kids) needs durability. I fully believe if left to their own devices, they could bring the entire structure down! But, plaster cracks easily, especially when driving any kind of nail into it...hanging decor is a must for this female! In the end, we decided to keep it, patch it and see where that would take us. We have other options if need be! We did send off samples of the flooring in the kitchen and the plaster coated on the hidden, brick chimney/fireplace in our family room. Those two places gave us the most concern about containing asbestos. We are not interested in developing Mesothelioma in our latter days, so we took samples and sent them off for testing. We just received the results last night.....NO ASBESTOS FOUND!!!! So, plaster will be removed from the chimney and we can officially remove the linoleum and tile from the kitchen floor!!! Those items are on the to-do list for tonight and tomorrow. And, yesterday we tackled our bee problem. When we initially went to look at Big Nell, pre-offer, pre-contract, we were notified that there was a honey bee hive in the right, exterior wall of our home, that led into one of the closets in the "boys" room. We wanted to ethically exterminate our problem.....meaning, we wanted to save the bees, which are really good for the environment and produce lots of yummy, luscious honey. Little did we know that we have a beekeeper in our church!! We asked and he (and his son) willingly came to investigate and hopefully coax our bees away without having to use toxic chemicals that would kill them and possibly be hazardous to our family. 

 Our beekeepers....to the rescue!!!

 Removing most of the bees and transferring them for transport.

 Beginning to remove the floor boards from a closet in the "boys" room.

 Continuing to remove boards....notice all of the honey that has coated the floor boards!!!

 Uncovering a massive, 3+ foot bee hive full of honey in between our floor joists!!!

 Extremely thick honeycombs covered every inch between the floor boards.

Honeycombs were stuck to the bottom of the floor boards.

 The bee keepers kept parts of the hive for the bees to build off of at a new location!

None of us were prepared for the sweet surprise that was in store!!!!!!  We still have a sticky situation to clean up! But, after the bees were removed and the mortar filled into the exterior of our home, we have taken care of the root of the problem. Thankful for good friends and close contacts who are willing to help us in our time of need!! Stay tuned for what is bound to be more uncoverings than we even know! Step by step we are getting there! I bet Big Nell feels so much better after being rid of those critters!