RV There Yet?

Maddie is learning to crawl…..

………………….Mommy, I’m done!

Before I start collecting and sharing pictures and stories from our current project and location, there are just a couple of loose ends to wrap up -
Gary’s Project –
OK, so there is still plenty to do (cleaning, plumbing, LANDSCAPING, furnishing), but this little trailer is definitely on its way to being a pretty nice place to stay.



Nice job, honey!

A Bump in the Road –

Don’t you just love understated road signs?

BUMP?

Have you ever seen this at a Post Office before? I wonder what the story here is?

And I wonder who took the hook!

A Heavy Thank-you
Over the last four years of doing SOWER projects we’ve gotten all kinds of “thank-yous” – mugs, flashlights, T-shirts (LOTS of T-shirts), even a plaque. But this is the first time we’ve gotten a rock!

Looks like an alligator, doesn’t it? Our very own pet rock!

Oh – one more thing!
These pictures are a little hard to post because
1. It’s almost 100 degrees outside and these pictures involve a SWEATER.
2. This cute baby boy is not my grandchild. (But he is my great nephew!)
But cute is cute – and I couldn’t resist posting these pictures of little Stephen Fitzpatrick posing in the sweater and hat that his second-cousin (?) Lara knit for him!


How cute is THAT!

Tomorrow (Monday) we start working at our August project – Ecclesia College in Springdale, Arkansas. I think I’ll be working in the office (yea!!! Air conditioning!), but the guys will be working on some dorm remodeling. We can only hope for A/C for him!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Pictures!!!!

The Pool Sequence -

The Tub Sequence
(you had to know these were comin’)

The “I love my sister” sequence
I’ve wondered about the somewhat tentative expression on Maddie’s face when she’s in a group shot.
Like this one…

Well, the reason is that before the picture is taken, the scene actually looks something like this!

But you’ve gotta love the threesome pictures
Here’s our “Girl Tower”-

And here’s a Maddie Sandwich -

The Family Sequence
Grams and the big girls before church ~

The official family portrait ~

And then just the girls and us - taken early this morning before the gang headed east for a family wedding and other adventures! We still had sleep in our eyes - or maybe those were good-bye tears!

We’re hanging out here in Marysville for another day. Gary is putting the final touches on the deck and I’m catching up on computer work (plus doing some wash and vacuuming!). Looks like if we play our cards right we’ll be able to intersect with Lara tomorrow night! She’s coming to Columbus (staying in town with friends) for the summer. It will be a quick visit - but a hug is a hug is a hug. And we’re thankful for that!

…sure is quiet here!

I am so far behind that this is all I can do:
Carpenters for Christ –
In ten days it went from this –

To this –

Ten Days – about 150 men – and several 100+ degree days. God is so very gracious!
Toby said it was like being at a Promise Keepers Rally, but with actual work going on! If you’d like to see the progression from start to finish, the rest of the pictures are here.
(The slideshow is nice, but the captions don’t show up like in the still detail shots!)

Vermont

(can you find the second deer in that last picture?)
Those were shots from our Ladies Day Out - not quite our traditional Girls’ Week, but the hours, though short, were precious indeed!

The Cabin

A young girl stopped by to check out some wetland issues, and as she approached the cabin she looked around and said - “Wow, this is really spectacular!” Yep. That it is!

Family -
Blessing, upon blessing - A wonderful family cabin, and wonderful family to fill it with!

The Four Siblings -

All with our original spouses – (no mean feat these days!)

And then there was the board meeting – it was so nice to all be together!

Ok – that brings us almost up to date! Right now we are enjoying time in Marysville, OH with Toby and Tammy and their beautiful daughters. The guys are working hard on a new deck, and I’m just enjoying being inside with the girls - big and little. Which leads me to warn you – the next post will be FULL of pictures of grandbabies!

Here’s a sneak preview…

Just thought I’d better warn you!

Ahhhhh….there are few things in my life that I cherish more than that first cup of coffee on that first morning at the cabin. We were blessed with a stunning Vermont morning and combined with the fact that we didn’t crawl out of bed until almost 9AM, well, it just doesn’t get any better than that! (I know it must seem silly that I get so excited about our vacation time at the cabin when after all, we are retired, but there is just something so re-charging about this place for us, that I continue to gush. Sorry!)
But, before I get too far into the wonders of the cabin, let me digress a little to my time home. Along with the annual check-up (all is well, thank you for asking), the new hair cut (even Gary likes it), new glasses on the way, and going through our left-over “stuff”, I managed to exchange hugs with Joe, Janet,
Josiah, Abigail, Anne, Jay, Naomi, Cheryl, Jim, Nancy, Linda, Erik, Leslie,
Linda, Joanne, Carol, Michelle, Mary, Dave, John, Bonnie, Connie, mazillion people at church , Georgi, Troy, Abbi, Hannah, Tommy, Pam, Carolyn, Sherry, Chris, Judy, Carol, Luanne, Carol, Deb, Chip…I know there are more, but you get my drift! It was wonderful to be able to see so many folks, plus get some necessary life chores done at the same time. I still have a couple folks I hope we can connect with when we are back in D-town for a day or so next week. If we actually make it to the West Coast next year, it could be awhile before we pass that way again, so all these hugs are very important to me!

Memphis -
Gary and Toby had a great time working at the Carpenters for Christ project in Memphis. They sweated buckets, (and Toby suffered with some of that tomato salmonella poisoning!), but at the end of the week they were able to see amazing accomplishments. I’m going to work with Gary to get his pictures into some kind of order and we’ll get them posted soon. Here they are in all of their CfC splendor (post showers!)-

And that brings us almost up to today! Our drive north had a little bit of excitement when we were caught in an outta nowhere hail storm! We found cover under a bridge and watched the fury from there. Phew, thank goodness for overpasses! After we continued on our way we were blessed with the following sight -
, so we were encouraged that our destination had better weather than the drive! It turned out to be so….
Which brings us back to

Here is the view as we enjoyed our coffee -

Can you feel your blood pressure lowering?

Since all of the mowing has not yet been accomplished (flat tire on the riding mower!), the early spring wild flowers are still gracing the walk to the pond -

I almost hate to see the mower get fixed!

Gotta wrap this up and get dinner started! Company’s coming

(It’s kinda crazy being able to get internet here at the cabin, isn’t it!)