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Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are are at home and when you are on the road, when your are going to bed and when your are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

House on wheels

 

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As you can see the house is moving!  If you look back at previous posts (or if you remember what our house used to look like) you’ll notice that the house is now on the opposite side of our driveway!  It was definitely strange to pull down our old driveway and see this. 

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As you can see the house is literally on wheels.  It is sitting directly behind the new basement ready to be rolled onto it’s permanent home.

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What’s left of the old basement. 

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Should be interesting when it’s all done….stay tuned for the final move!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

On the Move

 

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Progress is being made at our old house even with the winter weather conditions!  Things are moving a little slower than expected, but they are moving nonetheless.  I snapped a few shots of the house as it sits about 5 ft up in the air on hydraulic jacks awaiting the perfect weather conditions to move it to it’s new “home” on the new basement about 10 feet from where it is now.

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Not only will they be moving it but they also must turn it so that it faces the road.

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I could have walked under it…I chose not to.

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What’s left of the old basement after they busted holes in it in order to run their beams through.

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The new basement, waterproofed yet full of snow:)

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Well there you have it.  She needs to move from her current location to that mound of dirt on the right.  Will attempt to keep you posted as progress is made!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Sydney

 

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11 years old, wow!  Where did the time go?  I am reminded of how quickly time flies when my children have a birthday.   I look at London now (age 2) and I can’t even hardly remember that Sydney was ever 2!  I look back at pictures, most of which were taken on film and are now pasted securely in a scrapbook, and I am reminded of her life.  Each stage brought new adventures for us, her parents, because she was our first child.  She got all of the attention for the first 2 1/2 years of her life, and we loved every minute of it. 

I thank God for Sydney’s spirit.  Her confidence in herself.  Her compassionate nature.  Her strength to lead.  Her servant’s heart.  I pray that as she continues to grow into a woman that she would hold fast to the gifts that God has given her.  That she would always seek His will and not her own.  That she would put others before herself.  That all she does would be to the glory of God!!!!

We love you Sydney, Happy Birthday!

Enjoy some reflections over Sydney’s last 11 years.  Most of my pictures start at age 1 as that is when I got my first digital camera.  Enjoy!

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Sydney and her two best pals, prior to the birth of any siblings that is.

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Thursday, November 4, 2010

Moving Dirt

 

Well the time has finally come to move our “old” house, as it’s come to be called.  For 8 years we lived in this wonderful house on 20 acres.  Not too many years after moving in we were told that a highway was going to be built and much to our dismay it was running right down the center of our property! 

Our options were few…basically find a new house and move because the state of Indiana was knocking the house down whether we liked it or not.  So we found a home, fixed it up and moved in.  Shortly after we found out that in fact the contractor would GIVE us our house back as long as we moved it out of his way.  We still own 10 acres to the west, so we decided to add more craziness to our life and move the house.  Now mind you, this is no small task.  This is a 3 story, 4,000 sq. ft. house with a very large stone fireplace that we’d prefer to have stay in one piece. 

For those of you who have been following the latest house drama, this may not be news to you, but I’m sure you will appreciate the pictures.

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The “new” road running right by our “old” house

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Digging out the garage to prepare for the steel beams.

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Front porch gone.

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Pool and pool shed, gone.

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Deck, gone.

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New basement being dug to the west of our old driveway.

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The view from my old bedroom windowSad smile

As you can see the move is well under way.  We expect the entire project to be complete within the next couple of weeks.  Stay tuned for more moving pics!

Monday, October 18, 2010

War of 1812

 

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A couple of weeks ago we had he privilege of spending the weekend at my in-laws and attending the War of 1812 re-enactment.  This is an event that our family looks forward to in the fall.  A day full of candle makers, canons, hot kettles, soap makers, spinners, weavers, blacksmiths, potters, magicians, clowns, and good food.  This year was unseasonably warm (pushing 80) unlike most years where you are looking for a hot fire to warm your hands by.  It was a great day overall, an event that is fun for all ages.

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Most of the vendors and participants set up tents and the like in which they actually spend the entire weekend.

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Watching a spinning demonstration and learning new games, all a part of the day.

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I think every public school within a 20 mile radius was joining us, not sure, but it was definitely a full house.

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The day was brought to an end by the taking down of the American flag, a great ending to a beautiful day.  It’s days like these that we seem to learn the most and to really appreciate what we are learning. 

I hope this gives you a glimpse of what our day was like:)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Thirteen

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She would have been 13 today.  Dakota Elizabeth, our 1st daughter.  Born and died thirteen years ago today.  We were so young.  It’s hard to believe it ever happened.  It seems like a memory of someone else’s story.  Yet it wasn’t.  It was a time in my life that I would definitely define as the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. 

A few weeks ago a song came to my mind.  A song that must have been very popular on our local Christian radio in the fall of 1997.  I had a little trouble finding it because I could only remember a few words and I couldn’t even remember who sings it.  Well I found it.  It’s a song by Wes King called Thought You'd Be Here (click on the song title to listen).  When I played the song again I remembered every word!  As the words flooded back into my memory so did the events of that time.  I remembered lying in my bed when the alarm would go off to this song.  It brought tears every time…still does actually.  I could remember the doctor telling Joe and I “the death of our baby will be caused by blah, blah, blah” I never heard what he said next.  I couldn’t get past the first part about my baby dying.  I wasn’t ready for that…but then again are you ever?  I remembered the flower they put on my hospital door so that the staff was aware that my baby had died.  I remember all the people that prayed for us, brought us meals, sent us books and letters of encouragement.  I remembered my nursing class coming to the funeral.  I remembered the tiny casket which at the time I thought “this isn’t right, they shouldn’t even have to make caskets this small.” I remember the strength of my husband when all I could do was cry.

And I remember that God held us through it.  The hope in knowing that God has a plan for me and my family.  He wrote the book, he knows the ending, and he’s taking care of sweet little Dakota better than I ever could have.  Don’t get me wrong, I had a hard time accepting that at first.  Now, 13 years later, I know that God was holding us tight through all of it. 

They say time heals.  I believe it does to some degree.  It softens the pain of the wounds anyway.  I can look at each of my children and see the mighty hand of God in a magnificent way knowing that he created each of them and put them in my care…for now.  I am reminded through Dakota’s death how short life is and how easily I take the everyday for granted.  Give each of your kids an extra hug today…for me.

Happy Birthday baby!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Grape Juice

 Often times at the auction if produce goes extremely cheap we will buy it for that simple reason.  This then forces us to figure out how to use it.  In this case it was 6 qts of Concord grapes that sold for no more than 25 cents a quart.  So the kids and I googled a simple recipe (gotta love the internet) and spent and hour making grape juice.

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Step 1: Pull all of the stems off of the grapes.

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Step 2: Wash all of the grapes with water.

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Step 3: Drain the water off of the grapes.

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Step 4: Mash the grapes (we used a food processor).

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Step 5: Simmer mashed grapes on low for 15 minutes.

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Step 6: Strain the mashed, cooked blueberries through cheesecloth over a large pot for several hours to overnight.

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Step 7: You now have 100% grape juice concentrate that is the thickness of milk.  Refrigerate it and drink it as concentrate or dilute it (which will make it more like store bought) with water.  Excellent!