Spring, Summer and vacation 2019~by Beth

There are a lot of good things happening because of our stay-at-home mandate, one of which is getting caught up on things that seemed to be perpetually on the back burner.  Blogging sure seems to be one of those back burner projects.  It's easy to think one will have more time later.  So on to the subjects of my post.
Last Winter Katie had begun looking for a house.  She sensed that she needed to start thinking about a more permanent place to live, stop losing money renting, and have a sense of putting down roots.  God gave her favor with her bosses when she asked for a very significant raise and got it.  She looked at various houses but one came on the market that was sure to be sold in days.  It needed no work, though it was a bit dated, and was underpriced.  There were 12 offers that weekend, Katie's being one of them, at her top price.  She included a letter about why she wanted to be considered for this house and a picture of our family.  God moved the widow to choose her offer.  For an outside payment the widow also left everything in the house minus her clothes and a few personal items.  What a blessing!!  Here she is in May in front of her house and in the back yard.  The little girls came one day to pick up leaves.  The group shot is in her kitchen.  God is good.

Before we left Nathan's family was blessed by the birth of their first son, Josiah Luke on July 3.

Vacation Bible School, where our children have attended for years, took place the week we left.  Stevie is the only one young enough to go so he was able to attend for a couple days before we went out of town.  July 11, slurpee day, we packed up and hit the road.  Our first stop was the Ark Encounter in Williamsburg, KY. 

Johanna and Emma at Creation Musuem

The landscaping at the Ark was beautiful, just like these girls

 After an overnight in a hotel Jon took Emma and Johanna to the airport in Cincinnati to fly up to Chicago.  They were gone for over a week for a retreat called Journey to the Heart.

 The rest of us visited the Creation Museum, (Jon also took the girls the night before their flight to the Creation Museum) then drove up to my mom's house in NE Ohio.

Just had to have ice cream before we left for Grandma's house

The day we arrived my niece gave birth to her second child, a girl named Emma Reese.  Saw her at one day old.

A highlight of a visit to Grandma's is her pool!

We love attending my Mom's church in Cleveland and timed it to be able to worship there two Sundays.  We left from church the second week to go pick up the 2 girls in Chicagoland.  Then we headed to our son and DIL's house in Irving, TX.  Jon and I had the guest suite in the cottage all to ourselves.  Felt like a retreat.  Hannah has a way with decorating.  We got to an estate sale and there are now some pictures hung above the bed.

What is morning without a cuddle from the little people.  I told them they had to wait for the sun to come up and then they could come over to the cottage.  Such fun!

Project at Katie's

Boys night at the game

Girl's night at Katie's

We left Irving to travel to our conference in Big Sandy.

On our way back to Florida we stopped at a Bucees in Alabama.  It was later in the evening and the place was packed!  It is huge, but the best and cleanest bathrooms.

Our last stop is usually IKEA in Tampa.  Love that place.

Those are the highlights of the Summer.  We began school shortly after arriving home.

Our second client job, the big one~by Beth

We were very blessed to be a part of a large reno at one of the older park models.  Jon did a lot of the carpentry and supervised the job over the months it took to complete it.  Charity and I did a lot of work there as well.  We began in the Summer, mostly after we returned from our vacation (that post is coming).  It went through the first few days of November when the snow bird, who was renting this home, was due to arrive.
It began with a total gut of the kitchen.  It was old and not well made.  At the time code allowed 2 x 4 joists, and 1 x 1 trusses.  There was water damage under a window, and termite damage on that side which required replacing the bottom plate in segments.  Jon reinforced every 2 x 4 and put cross bracing in as well.  Then we put in new insulation and laid new subfloor using plywood.  The previous subfloor was press board which turned to sawdust as we removed it.  Then there was the reinforcing of the trusses, first with gussets and then 2 x 4 x 12' spanning the width of the kitchen.  Between Jon, Charity, our friend Art and me, we were able to get the whole ceiling level across both the width and the length of the whole kitchen.  Jon would not give up until everything was level with everything else.
I was able to help the client with flooring, paint, and counter selections.  We did all the painting, including the new front door, which we subbed out for installation.  Charity did a huge amount of work when we laid the new vinyl floor.
The electrical and plumbing were subbed out, along with a lot of the drywall (we did a wall going down the hall) mudding, and texturing.  We also had the cupboards and counter installation subbed out.  The result was just beautiful.  The pictures tell the story.

I really enjoyed working together on this project.  We had a great client to work for.  I hope we do more of these renos in the future.

Dad's health scare~by Beth

As our parents age it is no surprise that their health will decline.  On Labor Day my mom had her usual cook out with family for the last day of "Summer."  This past year my parents celebrated their 60th anniversary on Labor Day and had a cake, which would actually happen a couple days later.  The very next morning life would change.

Mom couldn't get Dad up so she had him taken to the hospital.  He had a UTI but it was so bad that they told the family he would not live.  I booked a flight on that Saturday and flew in, hoping he would last through the flight till I arrived.  All my siblings, except my brother in England, and several of their family members were in the room when I got there.  I was able to share Scripture with Dad and then we all sang a few songs to him.  We all were in choir when in school so we really sounded good.

Dad seemed to know who I was

Dad was not ready to pass into eternity, and though they had stopped feeding and hydrating him, the Monday after I arrived my brother and I got him back on food and water.  He was then transferred to a nursing home.  The weather was still warm and beautiful so I took Dad outside for some fresh air.  He seemed to do well after a little adjustment time (getting out of bed and even falling).

While I was there my brother and sister-in-law took me to a football game at our alma mater, Lutheran West.  It was great to be back there and I even bumped into some people that I knew, including my sister's husband Woody.  What are the chances?!

I even got a chance to meet up  with my aunties, who are my mom's sisters.  One lives in town but one lives in Arizona and happened to be in town.  She extended her stay for a week since we initially thought we would be having a funeral.  She also came to church with us Sunday.
I don't know how long God has planned for my father to live on this earth, but he will be 90 years old in August.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have visited and thank God for a father who is so godly.