For now, I’ll leave you with a sampling of today’s pictures. The work is progressing!

Sarah for the rest

Cutting out the door way.

Jesse did a ton of fastening!

John

Cutting another piece of drywall.

Jesse

Anna helped the guys all day today. And, she is GREAT help!

“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalms 118:24).

Nathan’s studio office is taking shape! Joseph, John, and Jesse have been working hard to do this remodel in a few short days. Here are some pictures from yesterday’s work. The guys framed out the project, did all of the electrical, received the electrical inspection sign-off from the city, and insulated the office. Dad ran errands, stocking the boys with the supplies they needed.

Today it will be sheetrock, mudding, and who knows what else.

Joseph

Jesse

Unloading sheetrock

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Progress! The demolition is nearly completed in this photo!

We went out together with Nathan and Melanie as a coming home celebration. Christopher and Anna Marie weren't able to join us.

We brought a few edible Canadian souvenirs back with us for Nathan and Melanie.

A souvenir for Abby from Wall Drug.

“But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.” (Psalms 68:3)

Christmas Eve day, as is our tradition, we had a special time of giving gifts to each other. We like to set aside Christmas afternoon to visit the nursing home, and the rest of the day fills in .

Jesse's guinea pig died Wednesday afternoon. Mitch had been his little friend for quite a few years. Mary surprised Jesse that evening with a new little guy!

Decorations for the girls' room.

For those of you are grandparents, you probably had a discussion as to what you wanted the new little one to call you. A little over a year ago, we tossed around some names, and most of us had opinions, because we were picturing our children eventually calling Dad and Mom by their "grandparent" names. Well, it came down to not being very original: Mom was going to be Grandma, and Dad was going to be Grandpa. Well, Abby decided differently. Lately, she's been calling Dad "Pa," and Mom "MeMaw," which we think is cute, so I guess it'll stay!

Waiting for Anna to get her new Leatherman to open my box ... (Guess who gave it to her? You don't have to guess very long, if you've paid attention to posts and to whom she helps a lot.)

Abby received a toy fiddle, which even plays songs. Anna demonstrated how a fiddle is to be played, and Abby watched intently. You could almost "see" her thinking.

A new family from Fort Leavenworth joined us at the nursing home on Christmas Day. They have four children, and our dear friends loved hearing them sing.

As I mentioned earlier, we had snow on Christmas morning. The roads were a bit interesting when we went out, and although the splendid combination of Dad's expertise in snow driving and the new tires on the Civic helped, it didn't negate the fact that the Civic isn't a snow plow. When we came to the last turn (which is generally cleared nicely) before the nursing home, we found out too late that it hadn't been plowed properly, so the Civic became temporarily stuck in the deep snow. Our car only had the girls, Dad and Mom, so we girls and Dad piled out (which made me very grateful I had decided against wearing nicer shoes), and with Dad instructing Mom, after several tries and us pushing, the Civic made it up the small incline. I had my camera with me, but sorry for not having a picture--I was needed to push ...

Christmas evening. Mark, our cousin, is in the middle between Jesse and Grandma.

Uncle Rob and Aunt Tami gave us cards with money, and just like last year, each card contained a letter, which was part of two words for us to figure out. We finally decided it said "Road Treat." Yummm.... We'll be sure to enjoy it sometime on the next trip.

“For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations” (Psalms 100:5).

Oh well. Someone had just made a comment recently that we ought to test them. They work, let me tell you! Very well. It’s been bitterly cold here in Kansas, so it’s way too cold to weld outside. Bus work is underfoot (less then 4 weeks until the next trip)–more on that later (thus the welding). Oh, and watch for a caroling report. We had a beautiful winter snow on Tuesday, so we sprang into baking action to prepare to carol that evening! It was PERFECT, and almost every, single person was home …

Sarah

PS – Thanks to Joseph for the picture! He took almost all of the A Taste At Home pictures too.

“Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north” (Job 37:9).

]]> http://www.titus2.com/blog/index.php/2009/12/10/what-does-welding-inside-a-garage-do/feed/ 1 http://www.titus2.com/blog/index.php/2009/11/06/decks-and-cement-work/ http://www.titus2.com/blog/index.php/2009/11/06/decks-and-cement-work/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:18:10 +0000 Sarah http://www.titus2.com/blog/?p=3939 What originally was going to be just a new deck to be built at Nathan and Melanie’s house grew into a bigger project. Starting Monday morning, Joseph and John, who are heading the project, began the task, which involved breaking out cement chunks from their “cement pad.”

They’ve invested many hours over the past few days in tearing out cement, preparing forms for the new cement pad plus a wonderful sidewalk to the shed, pouring cement, working on drainage (Nathan was having water in his basement previously), and much more! The building of the deck should begin tomorrow. It’s such a delight to see my brothers working hard together, enjoying it, and doing such a quality job!

Sarah

Preparing for the cement pour...

Jesse has been helping after school, and he's diligently helped as much as he can in the afternoon and into the evening.

Building forms

When the cement truck arrived, John directed him in, and I couldn't resist taking a picture as Abby solemnly watched the process.

All poured and setting up!

Finishing work...

John

Joseph

“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Proverbs 22:29).

This last week was spent in a variety of ways, including music practice for the song we sang at the funeral of our dear friend that passed away. Saturday morning many of us gathered in the basement for a much needed cleanup. Not to mention in the afternoon we compiled Chore books. With Abigail living around the corner, we enjoy her appearances at our house from seeing her on a walk to devotions to when they pop in for music practice – whenever – we greatly enjoy her! The Lord has blessed this past week filling it up to the brim with expected happenings and unexpected, and we look forward to seeing what He has for these next few weeks as we prepare to leave!

Joseph measuring for cabinets that will go above the driver's area.

Our kitchen cabinets!

John working on the HVAC.

Jesse - compiling chore books.

Shrinkwrapping!

The finished product!

Uncle John and Abigail. There are many happy playmates at Grandpa and Grandma's house!

Abigail loves dogs, and Honey is no exception! Here Uncle Christopher is helping Abigail feed Honey a treat, and Abigail finds this quite fascinating!

In Christ,
Anna

“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14).

A dad had written us and said that the only way they stopped their RV windows from leaking was to take them out and use butyl tape. As the boys were doing it, it became obvious that was indeed the correct solution to our leaky window problems.

John has not complained working even on the hot days...

Jesse has been a great help as well.

Jesse painted the new flooring for the bus bays.

If you remember the leaky window saga from last fall's trip, something had to be done about those windows. So, the boys have been taking the windows out and doing (according to Dad) an INCREDIBLE sealing job! There will be no more leaks.

Each window took quite awhile to do.

Joseph and John have been grinding out some of the sprayed-in foam insulation to make room for what we need in the ceiling. The bad part? Once ground out, the little yellow bits cling to EVERYTHING! I didn't stay long in the bus with my camera.

No, it's no snowing "snow" inside the bus but rather insulation. I overheard John say that Joseph does the best at grinding--he can last a long time John declared.

Dad has spent many hours as well working on the design, layout, and details for the bus. The water tanks will soon be on order, which is another big step in the process. Little by little, it’s coming along! We will be excited to have a “home away from home” where we can all be together.

Sarah

“Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field. . .” (Proverbs 24:27).

Not only has Jesse whole heartedly accepted the responsibility for the mowing – which he does with no reminding – but he also has taken on the maintenance of the yard. He observes weeds and pests in the yard, discusses them with his dad, and does research on how to deal with the problem, completing the designated course of action.  Jesse is learning the fertilizing needs of the yard, the fertilizing schedule, plus how to apply it to the lawn. Jesse has learned how to give a lawn mower a tune up, and he is beginning a little mower tune up business in addition to the neighborhood yards he mows. Recently he took a riding mower that was given to him but wasn’t working, did some troubleshooting of it, bought parts for it, fixed it, and sold it for a nice profit.

While Jesse mows and fertilizes, Steve’s time is freed up for his writing. In addition, Jesse is serving the family, being responsible, and developing income-producing skill.

Jesse mowing the lawn.

These are the fruitful years. The Lord has been faithful in teaching us, through His Word, the importance of implanting His Word in our children’s hearts in a practical day-to-day manner. Those years of planting can become discouraging when you give the same encouragement over and over but don’t see the results immediately.

Just as the farmer does what he needs to do and waits for his harvest, so we as parents do what the Lord Jesus calls us to do, looking forward to the fruitful years with expectation not discouragement. “Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain” (James 5:7).

We, as parents, are the ones who first get to enjoy that fruit that the Lord Jesus produces in our children’s lives. “The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits” (2 Timothy 2:6).

Jesse

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

Compiling the Chore books...

Hmmm... Out of the three of us in this picture, two are posing .

Jesse packed the boxes, but he also helped compile Chore books so we could stay ahead of Anna, the shrink-wrapper.

Mary measures out the paper with a "paper grabber."

There is always such a feeling of accomplishment after a “compiling” time! Now, we’re stocked up for awhile.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms!

Sarah

“I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works” (Psalms 9:).