Where does the week go????!!! Our project is going great, but before the weekend starts, I wanted to share about Last Weekend. We’re doing Back-to-Back Waco Weekends, and I hate to get too far behind! It was a pretty full weekend – with lots of fun stuff going on!
First on the agenda – Building The Ultimate Bed.
Lara has a pretty small bedroom (with the smallest closet in the house), and has spent the last year or so searching for a platform bed with lots of storage underneath so she could get rid of her dresser and maybe even find some extra space in her closet. She finally decided on The Ultimate Bed, with a total of 16 (!) drawers! Six on each size and four small ones running down the middle that you access from the foot of the bed. Quite amazing, really.
There was only one small problem.
It came in 9 boxes with 35 pages of instructions.
Really.

We got started on Friday night -

building the drawer units.



And while it’s true that Gary did the actual “building” (after all, he’s the expert with the power tools), he couldn’t have done it without Lara and I. We kept the screws organized and kept track of the bazillion parts that were needed. And occasionally we were the “could you read those directions again? Do they make sense to you?” helpers.


Clementine was a big help too!
After the drawer units came the actual drawers…..

The sections were joined together and the center drawers were added.

And finally, the mattress platform was installed.

And by noon on Saturday -

Lara had her very own Ultimate Bed!
Just in time for us all to get our rain gear on to go the the Baylor-University of Texas Game!

We got there early and enjoyed watching the warm up

and we got to see the Baylor “Line” -

which is actually anyone (it seems) who has a gold/yellow shirt on running on the field to greet the players as they come out.
There was lots of team spirit

and it did rain off and on for the entire game

but in the end, it was a great game!

And, yes, Baylor WON!

The Big Event this coming weekend is Lara’s Second Annualish (did not happen last year due to the fact she had no kitchen) Cookie Baking Extravaganza! Definitely seems like a worthwhile reason to hustle back to Waco, doncha think?

We’re nicely settled in our December (YIKES! It’s DECEMBER!)parking spot, and before life gets too busy, I thought I’d give you a little look-see! Here’s our New View!

We’re at Rockin’ C Ranch – a Christian Camp on a Working Ranch. It’s easy for us to see that we’re on a working ranch, because while we have a lake view out the front window, if we look out the side, this is what we see….

In fact, it took a couple extra minutes to pull in because there was a cattle trailer (full of cattle no less!) in the road. Shortly after we got the levelers down and the slides out, Henry (our boss for the month!) took us on a little tour.




On one side of the lake (which is pretty low now, they say) are pasture lands and most of the livestock. Once we got to the other side of the lake, we found the log cabins (many built with SOWER assistance ), activity buildings and the sports fields.


It truly is a beautiful campus and I know we’ve only scratched the surface of Rockin’ C Ranch and I’ll try to give you a bigger picture as our time here goes on. But I’ll wrap up today’s tour with a couple of lake shots -

We’re looking forward to a great month here at the ranch!

Did you have a good Thanksgiving? I hope so! Ours was wonderful . Our grand girls (ages 4,7 & 8.75) are getting so grown up!

We enjoyed every minute of our time with them.
But this year, I must confess, the two little boys, Noah (15 months) and Weston (4 months) certainly stole the show! Or, if not the show, certainly the camera! Noah was totally enamored with little Weston, and was right at his side at most every opportunity.

Noah seemed to instinctively know that he and Weston needed to stick together with all those girls around!
And of course, we did have Denali around to further add to the fun!

I did not have the camera out too much (well, except for excessive pictures of the little boys), but I made sure that I got a family picture. There really aren’t THAT many of us – only twelve – but trying to find a time that both little ones were awake, and the girls were in the house and all adults were accounted for took a little doing. I finally just started directing people to the sofa.

 It’s a start – Abigail, Weston and Hayley

 Good, there’s Ellie joining the group.

 Yes! Papa Josiah is in his rightful place.

 Yea!!! Aunt Lara has arrived!

 OK, there’s Pops and I’m convincing Noah that he wants to join the crowd….

We’re getting close – up to 10!

 At last – we’ve all made the picture! And it turned out pretty well, I think!

I sure do love these guys!

We’re about to wrap up our time at Charis Hills Camp and Retreat Center, our November SOWER Project. And let me tell you, it’s been a great month! (I guess I say that with some frequency, but honestly, they all ARE!). Before I go into more detail about why this was such a special project, let me show you around!
Here’s Gary walking to work that first morning -

The main building (office and activity/dining room)-

is where we met Rand and Colleen Southard for our “get acquainted” meeting, and after sharing about the camp and their vision (its main focus is a summer camp for children with learning differences), Rand gave us a little tour of the place.
Here we go!

One of the cabins (there in the glare!)

Rand pointing out the area leading up to the waterfront.

The waterfront -


Some of the critters -

More shots of the “Lake Charis”



As you can see, it is a beautiful campus. What I don’t have pictures of is the archery range, rifle range, craft/science building, horse arena, etc, etc. It’s not a huge camp – max capacity is about 100 (over-nighters), but it’s got a huge heart! And the kids that come here during the are truly blessed as they experience Christ’s love in a fun and challenging camping experience. I encourage you to check out their website to get a full picture of this amazing camp.
But looking at this from a purely practical, SOWER job point of view – this project was just about perfect!
1. Look at this woodshop -

Oh yeah, baby – look at those power tools!! And not only were there great tools, but Gary even got to play with them. He made a pattern for birdhouse kits, and then cut out and packaged 75 sets of them.


Complete with pre-drilled nail holes, nails and the perch. Guess what those kids will be doing next summer?
Then he built 4 bat houses

two rifle racks

and two archery holder thing-a-ma-jigs.
.
He also built screens

and completed the “loafing shed” for the horses. Taking it from this-

to this -

So pretty much, he got to work with wood in a great wood shop all month. And that is pretty high on his list of fun things to do. But wait – it even gets better! THIS was the true icing on the cake!

Oh my, he was one happy camper!
My side of the equation was equally delightful! I started of the month working with Colleen on making curtains for the dining hall.
Before -

After -

They certainly aren’t the fanciest curtains around, but it was great fun working with Colleen as we tried to figure out the best way to make them. The fabric was actually upholstery fabric, chosen for it’s sound absorption qualities, so it represented some challenges along the way, but our tools were up to the challenge!


A total of six pairs of room darkening, sound absorbing curtains – now that’s my idea of fun.
Oh, and my assignment after we finished the curtains? Doing research on the computer. Sigh. Not a toilet to clean the entire month! Darn.

But even above the stuff we did, we loved the people we met -
Rand and Colleen -

And Marcia, who works in the office -

We were so very blessed to work here this month. Like I said, a small camp with a big heart. A big heart for kids, and a big heart for Jesus!

But the goodness for my birthday month continues. Tomorrow we head back to Lindale, TX (east of Dallas) and then on Sunday morning we pile in the truck and head to Ohio for Thanksgiving! Lara and Denali will be joining us for the ride, so I’m sure the miles will just fly by! By Thanksgiving day we’ll be holding babies and playing Sorry and catching up with life with the whole Conrad family. Ah, such goodness, such blessing! So much to be thankful for. Our cup is full to overflowing!

We’re back at work today at Charis Hills Camp, but I wanted to share about our very fun long weekend in Waco. I’ll pretend that we went to Waco to celebrate my birthday, but the reality is, we returned so Gary could finish up that fire pit! So let’s start there -
So this is how things looked when we left back in October -

By the next weekend, the fire pit kit had been delivered

but it was still a long way from the backyard – and from actually being usable.
We just let that ol’ fire pit just sit there for a day or so while Gary continued on the prep work and the hearth.




One of the smartest things he did this weekend was take out a section of the fence in the back so he could drive the truck (and all those pavers and bags of sand/gravel/cement) up close to the deck. Man, those babies are H-e-a-v-y!


Once he got the three hearth rows down, he tamped them all into submission….

checked to make sure the opening was a good size for the ring

he started building up the sides of the pit.

What I don’t have pictures of is him putting mortar between the blocks in the hearth or how he cinched each level of the fire pit stone to make sure it was perfectly round and good and tight. But here it is – with one happy homeowner waiting patiently for the burn ban to lift!


And just in case anyone down the road wonders about it -

It’s signed, sealed and delivered!
But the weekend wasn’t ALL about the fire pit! Lara did have some of her friends over for a little birthday pot-luck for me on Thursday. (Of course, it might have just been a ploy to get those fire-pit pavers to the back of the house….). As often is the case, sometimes the most unusual items become the most interesting of the night. In this case – Lara’s Yarn Swift and Ball Winder….

Who knew? And it wasn’t even the kids who started wondering what those “things” were for!
Here’s our group picture from the night -

A fun group – and a fun evening!

By Saturday the construction project was over and we spent the early part of the day running errands. I know that Gary loved the trip to Lowes (mostly returns!), Tractor Supply and Harbor Freight. But I LOVED our stop at Kohl’s where Lara and I left Gary in the truck to go in and look for a new top for me. It’s my birthday after all! What started out as a simple shopping trip, soon turned into the “reveal” portion of “What Not to Wear”, and I walked out of the store with….drum roll……a new dress, sweater (basic black), dark dress jeans, a classic long black skirt and SIX tops. All for $156.00. Ok, I know that’s probably TMI for some of you – but SOME of you are delighted to hear of our shopping prowess. You know who you are! Lara and I had such fun, and since I can’t think of the last time I had so much fun with my own personal dresser, I had to share!

The weekend ended with a safe trip back to our spot north of Dallas, and we were blessed with this beautiful sky as the day drew to a close.

Yes, indeed, dear friends, it was a very fine birthday weekend. Calls from the family (even a Skype call from Ohio!), mushy (and silly) cards from my precious sisters, and time spent with Lara and the gang in Waco. Very Very Fine.