New Life

Isn't it strange that it’s in a man’s nature to ‘fix’ things?  Men are so susceptible to that perfect project, whether it’s a car, boat, shop, job task, etc.  And of course, we start these projects with the greatest of intentions: time spent with family (“My son and I will…”), saving money (“Just a few dollars and …”), building it just right (“You just can’t buy them like this...”) or for us homeschool types -  EDUCATION (“Think of what we’ll learn together!” we say so happily)  As we have all found out, the project soon owns your time, energy and financial resources and in a moment of exhaustion you’re left wondering what lapse in sanity could have led to this moment!

I think that about sums up where each member of this work crew was recently...each looking at the other through weary blood-shot eyes over the morning coffee and wanting to blame him/her for sore muscles, blown budgets, and STUPID questions (“Because I said so!” has recently become the most widely-used method of parent-child communication on this project)  Who’s idea was it to involve the children anyway?  But I digress.

And then it happened…we rounded the corner on the destruction phase of the project and started to rebuild.  The foundation was poured and the utilities were trenched, installed, inspected and covered again.  The garage floor was poured.  The existing garage was prepped to interface with the new structure.  And, tomorrow, the framer begins to install the floor.  The rewards of our labor have now become apparent.  After all the destruction, comes reconstruction and NEW LIFE!  This is the moment of new life for the project.  This is the moment where we step back, re-focus and look into a future full of the rewards of our efforts.  This is when we remember the greater purpose behind each moment of temporary pain.  This is when we remind ourselves of all the great reasons we started this project.  This is when harmony returns.

New Garage Floor

 The Christian life is much the same.  For each Christian, there was a point where the ‘old man’ was destroyed and the ‘new man’ began to grow from the ashes.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Throughout the Christian life, there are many moments we lose focus and forget Who started this ‘Project’ and why.  We don’t see all the good things around us.  We can even become spiritually useless because of our propensity to focus solely on day-to-day grind of activities and ignoring the big picture.  What blessings in our life are the result of our hard work and commitment to the task?  What unique gifts and abilities do we have to use for the Lord because of the prior periods of destruction?.  This phase of the project is a reminder of the periods of awakening in the believer’s life where we look up and remember the high purpose for which we were chosen and gain encouraged by the signs of life around us, the signs of prior love and service to our God.  And then harmony returns…

Mom and Me

It's been a long break since our last blog post.  What have we been up to?  A lot!  There has been much to do around the construction site:  trenching, foundation work, concrete work, flooring to be removed over the basement, stairs to be removed and so on and so on.  I thought I would write a post on the ladies and how we are keeping the homefires burning here in our little rental.  A few things we have been doing:

• Cooking!  It has been somewhat of a challenge to figure out meals to take to the job site.  Some days it is lunch AND dinner.  As a mom, wife and daughter, I would like the meals to be somewhat healthy and not the same old sandwiches every day. It also needs to be easy to eat on the go and something we can pack up to take over.  A few things we have taken are:  warmed ham and cheese melts, an assortment of salads (usually something containing bacon is a hit), burritos, cold sandwiches, soup, cookies, and yes, occasionally McDonalds.  I made a trip to Cash and Carry to pick up disposable containers which has made life so much easier!  I enjoy this part and the guys are always happy to see the food lady!

Ham & Cheese Sandwiches, Cauliflower Broccoli Salad (w/bacon) and some fruit

• Cleaning!  It is a wonder there is any dirt left at the construction site.  Micah (age 7) loves the dirt!  He will get home from "helping" and there will be dirt in his pockets, shoes, hair, ears....just everywhere.  Everyone comes home dirty....not quite as dirty as Micah though.  He has been caught on several occasions doing "dirt angels" on the ground.  Not sure "angel" is the correct word for this little act.......I must say though, he is having a blast!

  

  Micah, Micah, Micah

• Laundry, laundry and more laundry:  See above.  Seriously, our washer and dryer is going CONSTANTLY right now.
• Running errands.  There has been a lot of running around to be done for this project.  Visits to KIE, Probuild, Western Materials, The Home Depot, Northwest Rentals, and of course a lot of grocery shopping.  This is another aspect that I don't mind doing.  I like getting out to meet the subs and learning more about this process.  

Mom and I are quite a team.  She is such a blessing.  I will put clothes in the dryer and find them folded nicely on my bed later that day.  I will make a mess in kitchen, and come home to the dishes done and my mess all cleaned up.  If I need to run an errand for Dad or Dale, she is here to work with the boys on their schoolwork.  We also get to visit more than we have in the last 10 years.  There have been many evenings that the guys didn't get home until 8:00 p.m. or later so Mom and I will just have quiet time together. Little moments that are not planned but extremely cherished.  Even in the midst of a crazy, hectic life, God is good.....ALL THE TIME! 

Our Left Hand Man

My parents have a total of 8 grandsons and the three oldest are adults.  The next 5 are 11 years of age and under so there is quite a spread.  My nephew, Matthew Lattin, is the youngest of three in his family and held the title of youngest grandson for 13 consecutive years. Matthew is now 24 years old and has turned out to be a huge help to us in this house project.  He is an extremely hard worker, funny, a lefty and yes, good looking (you're welcome Matthew).

Isaac, Micah, Levi and Matthew "Fence Sitting"

An interesting fact about Matthew is he has no functioning kidneys.  He has dialysis 3 nights a week from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.  He has had more surgeries than anybody I know, combined.  Matthew has had a rough go of things physically, but he is not defined by this.  He isn't a victim and he has had to grow up fast.

Matthew riding "Simco"

We haven't always been in touch the way I wish we had, but I am grateful that he is in our lives now. My family has gotten to see Matthew more in the last few weeks than we expected and we have loved his company as well as his help.  We have enjoyed hearing about his horse training and bronc riding, yes, did I mention he is doing some rodeo now?  We think he is a pretty amazing guy and are happy to have him around.  The Lord has blessed us with surprise help that we are so extremely grateful for. We love you Matthew!

Matthew riding Stock Saddle Bronc in the Ritzville Rodeo

Dirt Work

Dirty Jobs by Mike....Butler

The dirt work part of our house is almost completed.  Tomorrow our buddy Mike Butler (Red Mountain Excavating) will be finishing up the excavation for our new home.  Mike has become somewhat part of our family this week.  My guys have had two or three meals a day with him as well as working along side him.  He is meticulous in his work and just an all around nice guy to be around. He was extremely patient with our three boys (which is more than we can say for ourselves at times this week) and put in some very  long days.

Mike is apparently living the dream, doing exactly what he wanted to do from the time he was a young boy. He does seem to enjoy his work and is pretty entertaining to watch.  My boys would agree:

Living in the Present

It has been a busy, busy week.  Everyone is pretty exhausted and I think we are all taking a deep breath.  It is pretty surreal having absolutely no house standing at the old homestead.  I was realizing with all of the planning that in my mind there was the "before" house, the "after" house, but the "non existent" house had never really entered my thoughts.  It is a little sad going out and seeing a bunch of ruble in the place where so many memories once stood.

Remnants of the Homestead

.......but we move on, right?  Right!  Demolition day included a nice family prayer led by my father, several friends stopping by to watch the progress and quite a few neighbors wondering what in the world was going on.  We are so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends who really are interested in our lives including our plans for the future.  You know who you are, thank you for enriching our lives, your friendship is a gift from the Lord!

Bob the Builder and his crew!

Our new roommates are working out better than expected.  I reminded my mom this evening "you know, we are never  going to not  live together again, right?"  (I know that is a double negative for all you grammar experts out there, but it just sounds more dramatic that way).

There have been a few moments of sheer panic where I thought "what in the world have we done?"  But I know that is based on fear and not faith.  I am realizing personally that trust is a choice, not based on a feeling. The Lord has clearly led us to this point and He isn't going to abandon us.  I am reminded of the passage in Deuteronomy 31:6 to the Israelites that says "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

Too Tired for Words.....