House Raising T-Shirts

After much ado, trying to find an honest printer, dealing with vector software incompatibility, etc. - here are the house-raising shirts I designed. I had lots of helpful suggestions, and Caleb designed the beaver holding the hammer which adorns the front. Thank y'all!

-Tricia Ann

Our Trip to the North Pole...

...I mean, Illinois.

Last week, we took a road trip to Illinois for a wedding. On the way, we stopped in Indiana to visit our dear friends at Stonewall Farm. We had a great time at their house. We talked about farming, theology, movies, and all kinds of stuff. They fed us plenty of wonderful homegrown food. We were only able to stay for one day, and we were sorry to leave.

On Friday morning, we headed on to Illinois. We took a couple short-cuts, so it took longer than we were expecting.

It snowed a lot, but the roads were pretty clear.

Daddy drove.

Jacob intently played a game, and acted as DJ.

I took some pictures and looked out the window at the scrolling cornfield scenery :)

And guess what...I saw a tree!

Mom read to us and tried to keep her feet from freezing.

Huh.

Yep. It says 5 degrees. And this is at NOON! Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

We arrived at our destination without accident. When we piled out of the truck, our host came out on the front porch and greeted us with, "Welcome to the Himalayas!"

Everyone likes to hear Aunt Trish read.

The wedding was scheduled for 10:00 Saturday morning. We got there really early to help out, but the folks from the church already had most everything under control.

Laura played with Jonas so his mom could do other things.

I didn't take any pictures during the ceremony...I just wanted to watch and enjoy it. Besides there were plenty of photographers.

The bridesmaids and groomsmen ;)

There was an abundance of wonderful brunch food at the reception, and lots of pretty ladies to serve it. Here are Melinda and Grace.

Colton and Raquel

"Clean shirt, new shoes; and I don't know where I'm goin' to..."

Someone was kind enough to remember their brethren visiting from the other side of the Mason-Dixon.

Grace the lovely bridesmaid with Laura her lovely friend.

Sam and the other groomsmen decorated Colton's get-away car. ;)

We departed for home on the Lord's Day after worship. It was a wonderful trip.

-Tricia Ann

Planting Time - Already!

Can you believe it? Last week, we cleaned out the greenhouse. We washed everything off, repaired benches, buttoned up holes, etc. And today I planted the first seeds of the year. In the beds under the benches I planted a whole bunch of leek and onion seeds.

Gimli likes to help me in the greenhouse. :)

Snow!

We got about 4 inches of snow this week. It was so pretty. I recently got a new camera - a Nikon D90, and I LOVE it! I had fun taking pictures in the snow. The pictures I took with my old camera usually needed tweaking...these required none. We did go sledding, but I didn't take my camera with me.

I don't know if y'all have met Hoss yet. He's our Pyrenees puppy. Yep, a great big puppy. Don't let that innocent look fool ya.

Here's our house now. Notice all the doors and windows! The front porch is finished too.

Here's a view out one of the front doors.

~Tricia Ann

House-Raising

It's been awhile since I've been able to post, but I hope to make it up to y'all. Several people have asked me to publish pictures from our house-raising. Until now, I haven't had the time or the internet.
The house-raising was early in November, just after our church's annual Reformation Day celebration. It lasted three days. We were expecting a few people to help, but more came than we ever imagined. I counted 30 people that Monday. Not only did we have builders, but we had garden helpers too. And still others brought lots of good food for all the workers. It's amazing what we accomplished. We're so thankful for the wonderful Christian community that came to help us with a huge project.

We had a lot of fun those three days. We ended them with a cookout on Wednesday night. We ate hamburgers and hotdogs and drank IBC root beer. Afterwards, we sat around a fire, toasting marshmallows, while Claire and Kyle played and sang some bluegrass for us.

Thanks to everyone! We'll never be able to repay you. May God reward you for your selfless service.

And now the pictures. Drumroll, please...

Mr. M. and his sons did an excellent job digging our basement and pouring the concrete for the foundation.

The M. boys know exactly what to do, even when their dad isn't around. They poured the footings mostly by themselves.

Here's the basement. Notice that black-ish tar stuff. That's the waterproofing. Daddy did that part himself. It was a difficult, nasty job. The tar was super-thick and had to be smeared on with a trowel.

The framing begins.

Ben and Jacob look a lot alike from a distance. People get them mixed up sometimes. ;)

This prelimenary framing was done the week before the actual house-raising.

Mom had a full time job feeding the guys.

The House-Raising begins:

First wall on the first floor

John had his work cut out for him. He had to keep over 20 guys busy at all times, and oversee all the work they were doing. He did a great job. We could have never, ever done it without him.

John has trouble remembering people's real names, so he makes up nicknames for everyone. He's quite creative, and most of them are hilarious.

Ben is "Hot Shot"
Here's a view from the front. You can see the shop on the left.

Here's Caleb. (He doesn't like his assigned nickname, so I might be in trouble if I blog it :)

We had no less than three Calebs on site. We also had a couple Jacobs.

Olivia took some beautiful pictures for us. Maybe I can upload some of hers later.

John's patented Advantek elevator.

One floor down; one to go

"Pocket Hercules" :P
This Caleb came all the way from Indiana to help us. I understand he has a few nicknames; "Boom Boom" and "McLain" being the most popular. :)
Some farmer friends of ours sent their interns to help.

Jacob likes giving orders...

I wonder who he learned it from. :)

Josiah is from Illinois and Henry from Indiana. They both made special trips to be here.

Sam and Chris cutting up

It's beginning to look like a house! Kyle headed up the deck project, and did an awesome job.

Synchronized hammering? *insert Blue Danube Waltz*

I love the porches! Hoss does too.

Here's one I took a few days ago when it snowed.