Boys

While making home made pizza at lunch time today, I kept smelling what seemed to be an electrical fire inside our walls. Fortunately, it was just this wooden eggs scorching on the heating element in the stove. Who could have put it there? Hmmmm.....

Later today, Ben decided to dump the laundry out of one of my baskets and use it as the cover for some piece of machinery he was inventing. In this picture you can see Anna's standing frame. It is hooked to the dog crate by a couple of filthy, stinky, dog leashes. This is the part of the machine that is "hooked up and pulling." On the tray you find a wooden spoon. This is the "scooping" mechanism. I suppose the basket is like the protective wind sheild/grill part. You can't see this, but our copy of the church key is stuck in a crack in the front padding. This is the part that "cranks it up." Good times.

This evening, I decided to make a phone call. Silly me. Ben decided to cook. The stove is covered in flour, and there is sugar in my Spanish garlic press. Not to mention some random tomatoes were put into a plastic baggy and sealed. This all occured in about 2 seconds. I kid you not. The best part is when I asked him to clean up the sugar (meaning dump it in the trash and sweep up) he put it BACK IN THE SUGAR BOWL!! EWWW!

Ohhhhh, little Emily, what are you in for?

Frame Up

We've been framed! Last week was very exciting. The walls were up in a couple of days. Now we can wander through the house and get a better feel for the dimensions of the rooms. In one picture you will see where the framers began. They put up one side of the house and then the other. To put things in perspective, the half of the house that you can see in the picture is slightly larger than the home we live in now. The other picture shows where we ended last week- the plywood is going up on the sides. Meanwhile, Brad and I took another couple of trips to pick out cabinets, counter tops, appliances, and hardware. In the picture of the wood samples, the dark color is approximately the color of our floors. Actually, it's not- but our floor has dark streaks in it that are that dark. We picked the color next to it (some maple variation) for our cabinets in the kitchen and the bath. You will also see a picture of our marble for the bathroom counters being held up next to the cabinet color. The marble is white with fawn colored swirls. The kitchen counters are laminate, made to look like slate. The cabinets in the laundry room are white with a burgundy/purplish color laminate on top. We've gone with a GE front loading washer and dryer, a Frigidaire side by side refrigerator and a magnetic induction cook top. The wall oven and dishwasher are still open for discussion at this point.

Proverbs 19:21

I was reading the Bible today and this bit of wisdom literature spoke particularly to me. So many of my friends (us included) are in the middle of major life changes. We are having babies, moving to new homes, or changing jobs. I would say most of us have some sort of plan. However, last night I mentioned to our friends, Brian and Melissa (shoutout!), that oftentimes the path that we *think* God wants us to take is really just a detour to get us where we are really supposed to be. Then I read this passage- which I will share with you in a variety of translations:

There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. -KJV

Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.- NIV


Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.- ESV

Many plans are in a man's mind, but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand.- Amplified

You can make many plans,
but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.- NLT

There are many devices in a man's heart; But the counsel of Jehovah, that shall stand.- ASV

Ben's Birthday

It was pointed out to me that we never posted pictures of Ben's birthday. I regret to say there were not many good pictures of the occasion, due to my involvement in the festivities. It is hard to be both the orchestrator and photographer at any event. Here are a couple of Ben opening a present and blowing out the candles.

Card Shark

While visiting my parents, Emily joined us in a game of Apples to Apples. Forget learning to hold up her head- she needs to work on holding up her cards.

Slab

Here are a few more pictures. One is a cute picture of all three of the children hanging out in Ben's bed for story time. The others are different views of the slab. Ben and Anna went out this morning and ran/wheeled around on the house. I wish the photos were better, but it was way too bright to be taking good pictures outside. We like to walk around the floor and talk about what room we are in. Anna is in her bathroom and Ben is in the kitchen. It is fun to pretend.

Couple More Pictures

We finished bricking in the foundation last week. The plumbers have come and will be finished with their job in another day or so. They should be pouring the slab by the end of this week. Here are a couple more pictures of the foundation. There is an overview and then a picture of the front door. If anyone has any preference on shingle color, let me know, because I am making that decision right now.

Watermelons

This summer, Ben has been working hard growing watermelon and cantaloupe with Paw Paw (Brad's Dad). This was supposed to be an exercise in the value of growing your own food and enjoying the results, but last week Ben got a lesson in capitalism instead. One of the employees of North Carolina Farms wanted 10 watermelons to take home for a family gathering. Since she wanted so many, she offered to pay. Mitchell got a dollar a piece for the watermelons and Ben earned 50% of that. I used to hear all about how delicious the watermelons are and how much fun he had in the garden. Now all I hear is "Where's my money?"

The Foundation is Being Laid

Hooray! The brick masons came out today and started our foundation. Last week the footings were poured. The bricks were delivered to the site on Tuesday and arranged in groups on Thursday. Finally, finally, we are seeing something that looks like a house. I would write more, but Brad is out of town visiting his brother and playing in a ball tournament, so time is limited. (For all of you who just wondered how in the world I was staying by myself with the three children- my sister is here.)