One year ago, exactly today, we moved from our house of almost 20 years to a house built with much hard work and prayer. It was about four years ago, when it was clear the Titus2 ministry had outgrown our home, and Joseph and John said, “We’ll build you a house, Dad!”

It took two and a half years of hard work building the house. Christopher bought our previous house.  We took that money, lots of sweat equity and some more funds that the Lord provided to build it.

We took thousands of pictures, so for the sake of time, I wasn’t able to pick as many as I would have liked to, but here’s a chronicle of the journey of building it. Remember, you can click into any picture to make it bigger.

The Lord protected us every step of the way! There were many times throughout the process, Dad was seeking the Lord when things looked impossible. Jesus always gave the direction Daddy needed.

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalms 127:1).

It all started with tearing down the old, small house, whose foundation was falling apart.

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” (Isaiah 28:16).

Watching the demolition...

“Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am” (Psalms 39:4).

The cement work begins!

“In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury” (Proverbs 14:23).

“A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast…”  (Proverbs 12:10)

“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers…” (Malachi 4:6).

Truly, many times of sweet fellowship were had!

Pourin' the basement!

“Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” (Psalms 127:4-5).

In the middle of the process, we discovered tons of "rubble" that had been buried underneath the top layer of dirt in the backyard. I guess an old house had been torn down and "buried." It was an interesting experience to haul it all away!

Tons of caulking...

“And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee” (Deuteronomy 12:7).

Electricity to the house!

Seeding was definitely a job!

“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38)

The whole goal of the house was to allow the ministry to have the room it needed so we could be used of the Lord to equip, exhort, and encourage families in our Savior! Truly, we’ve seen Him do that over and over again. This was just a tool in His Hands! We sometimes wonder how the ministry fit in our old house. The Lord must have multiplied our space like the widow’s mite.

It was a big day when the sheetrock arrived!

Some days, the guys worked late.

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalms 133:1).

This was taken on Anna's birthday!

Dad did tons and TONS of painting!

Tiling was another HUGE job!

Many doors to paint and then hang!

Joseph spent many hours on the fireplace...

It passed inspection!

“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme” (1 Peter 2:13).

Putting together shelving before move-in!

And the move began one year ago today...

If you want to read a few blog posts on our move, please see the posts from March 2009.

Sarah for all the family

“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35).

Fridays are cleaning days for us, and today we cleaned two houses — ours and Nathan & Melanie’s. Abigail has learned to be a great help so in the photos below you will notice that she is helping to dust. Tomorrow we clean Grandma’s house.

Life has been very busy here! With Melanie being on bedrest, we’re over there a lot. Grandad and Grandma’s health isn’t doing very well so we help them! Not to mention all the other things that are going on.

With the reassurance of hearing the baby’s heartbeat, there is a new spark of joy that has reappeared in everyone’s countenances. There is renewed hope in looking forward to this new little one!

Melanie and Abi!

Dusting!

Sarah vacuuming.

Spring is here so Mom changed the flannel sheets on the bed back to the normal ones!

Miss Abigail is full of energy and life. It is such a joy to be able to spend time with her!

Abigail and Aunt Mary have matching pigtails!

Abigail helped Me-Ma fill the water purifier.

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
(Romans 15:13)

Seeing Mount Rainier brought back many memories from the time we lived in the Seattle area. I really loved looking at the mountain, well, at least when you could see it. I remember when I was told that the locals could even forecast the weather by looking at Rainier. If you could see it, that meant it was going to rain. If you couldn’t see the mountain, it was raining. I wonder if that is why it’s spelled “Rain”ier? It truly is a very beautiful place to live.

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”
(Psalms 90:2).

Steve

Things have been busy as we continue on with normal life–at least as normal as life is when we’re at home! Last week, Dad took two days to visit Gram (his mom) who is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s. It was very hard for him to see her doing so poorly physically. It’s amazing how frail our bodies are.

We’ve been busy with school, working, ministry things, and family time. Grandad had minor hand surgery yesterday, which went well, so Mom was with Grandad and Grandma in Kansas City for a good portion of the day. On Monday, John installed a stove in the basement, and we’ve been enjoying the warmth–it’s not quite spring here in Kansas. Our other wood stove was not heating the basement enough, so it’s a blessing to have it warmer!

May Jesus give you grace to rest in Him, joy in Him, and delight in Him!

Sarah

John positioning where the pipe will go.

We had a spur-of-the moment visit Tuesday night: a fiddler and a mandolin player! Several months ago, Dad had met the mandolin player at a convenience store.  As they walked out, Dad made a friendly comment to him striking up a conversation.  The man mentioned he comes to Leavenworth sometimes to visit a friend, who is a fiddler. They enjoy playing their instruments together. This man played the mandolin. Dad invited them to come over sometime! Tuesday evening, they called and wondered if they could come over, and we assured them they could. The fiddler had been playing for about 50 years! We were thrilled to listen, and several in our family brought out their instruments to join in. It was a special time. Grandad and Grandma were also with us, and we had a wonderful time in God’s Word after music.

Fiddlin'

Pickin'!

Jesse’s guinea pig had died right before Christmas, and Mary had surprised Jesse with a replacement one the same day! Sadly, the new one died right after Christmas. It wasn’t a good time to get another one right before we left on our trip, so we waited until we arrived home and settled back in.

Pretty cute!

Even Abby likes him.

“A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day” (Deuteronomy 11:27).

We were able to send out the February Dad’s and Mom’s Corners yesterday; they are a little late (we like to send them out the first week of the month) due to our trip. May you be encouraged by what Dad and Mom have to share this month!

Many blessings,
Sarah

P.S. At some point soon, Dad’ll be doing a blog post on the funeral; thank you for lifting up dear, sweet Mrs. B.

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).

You all did a great job of guessing the obstacles for our bus found in the photo, and you mentioned many more good ones than the three we had targeted for you to find. Below is the retouched photo numbered with the three things we were particularly watching out for when we were at this point in our drive: 1) Power/cable lines. Especially getting onto country property, you need to be very careful not to snag one of these. 2) Low trees. Our bus is 13′ tall – taller than two grown men standing on each others’ shoulders and then add two more feet to that. Unlike power or cable lines, if the hazard is small branches or leaves, we can sometimes pull/move branches out of the way to provide for access. 3) Tight turns.

Thank you, Joseph, for your help on the photo!

“O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:” (Psalm 66:8)

Anna

During our time in Victoria, five of us were blessed with the privilege of being able to hike and enjoy some of the scenery on the island. Our conference coordinators had left their van at the house we had parked at so that we could be able to go sightseeing. On Monday morning, Dad, Mom, John, Jesse, and I went on two hikes.

The first one was down to the sound, and then we still had a little time so we decided to see if we could make it to the top of Mount Work. The trees, ferns, moss, and water were so lusciously green. It was a beautiful time, and the scenery was breathtaking. Even though it was cloudy at the top, we still enjoyed the hike, and we just imagined what it would look like if there were no clouds!

“Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.” (Psalms 96:6)

Anna