If I had to describe Drew using only one word it would be faithful. He is so faithful in all areas. I sure praise God for him! Drew has been faithfully painting our houses exterior this summer. When he hasn't been wrestling with Jacob, playing catch with Jacob, reading to Abigail and Baruch, Listening to Mary Elisabeth, building gates for me, taking all of us camping. . . he has been PAINTING.
Painting is bearable while being encouraged in the Lord thanks to John Piper's free downloads!
Here are a few pictures from Scott and Debbie's wedding on July 21st.
New Carpet, old paint, new organization.
Per Mom's request here is a picture of the new carpet and paint job.
Drew's Mom came for her birthday at the beginning of the month. She and I took off for a day of window shopping in Galena IL. Drew, Pa and the kids went fishing, to some friends house, and to Dairy Queen where the kids cashed in their free blizzard coupons. They got the coupons from the library reading club for reading 15 minutes for 15 days. Piece of cake for these book lovers. The little ones could be read to so the four older ones each had a free blizzard!
On another note. School planning is coming along. I am really seeing areas of character flaws that need work on this year. I am praying for more consistency on my part, for wisdom and patience as I train up each one. Academically my planning has a ways to go but is coming along nicely. I hope to start Sept. 4th!
We now have a huge area rug in the living room. It matches the carpet in the office, halls and on the stairs. All of the kids really pitched in to help get the floor decent looking. The old carpet had been down c. 20 years. The padding was stuck to the wood floor in places. There is termite damage in one area (there were termites 2 owners ago thankfully we didn't have to deal with them). The area rug covers a lot of the damage but we will eventually have to replace several boards. Right now Drew is too busy with outdoor projects. The house painting is coming slow but sure. He really wants to get the trim painted as well as finish the house before the snow flies.
Cob is Jacob's nick name. A Cob is a male swan. We much prefer it over Jake (a male turkey) although our Cob is a big time turkey !!
We went camping Thursday night and Friday night. We took off Thursday right after the new carpet was laid in the office, halls and on the stairs! I wasn't aware of the rule of thumb for carpet. . . it looks a shade lighter once its laid. Oh man does it look light. A bit pristine for "The Tribe" but very nice and clean! I really do love it and am so thankful to have the old gone. The weather was perfect Friday and we did plenty of hiking. We also took many opportunities to have a fire and of course you can't have a fire without roasting a marshmallow. You can't roast a marshmellow without having a graham cracker and what is a marshmellow and graham cracker without a chunk of CHOCOLATE! S'mores were enjoyed by all (except Abram who was content with the graham crackers). In the middle of the night or early Sat. AM it began to rain so poor Drew packed everything in the rain while I tried to keep the kids dry :-). The camper is still out back drying because the rain hasn't let up since!
Friday night Drew STARTED to tell a scary story which ended up being a bit too scary. He ended it a bit short. . . to be continued. Everyone was really tired and fell asleep quickly.
