Try and try again.

So Here's the deal.  I want to blog, I have every intention of posting bits and things to help me record what's going on in the boys and our lives.....I just never get around to actually do it.  I am going to try again.


It's November, I haven't posted anything since May....this post is a quick catch up:

JUNE:  was busy, the boys finished school, I started packing up the house.  Both boys spent time at camp, Elijah just one week, and Noah 3 weeks.  They both love camp and look forward to the next year.  We made a trip to camp every weekend for six weeks straight to either pick up or drop off one of the boys.  It was a blessing to be able to do so.

JULY:  also busy.  We celebrated the fourth of July with our friends the Raab's.  Spent the whole day at their house and then went to Holland to hear the band play and watch the fireworks.  What a nice day.  We also saw the Grandville fireworks the next night with Ryan and his family.  I got to give his girls their new dresses and hair pretties, they loved them.  The rest of the month was spent packing and planning for the big move.
Moving day was July 23, we picked up the truck on Friday and spent the afternoon and evening packing it.  The Raabs, MacDonalds, Shellie and Ryan's family all came to help.  It went really fast.  Saturday we Finished up with the loading, cleaned the house, said our good bye's and headed south.  We stayed overnight just south of Indi and finished the trip on Sunday.  It went really well.  We hired some men to come and help us unload on Monday, which was one of the smartest choices we ever made.  For around $200 we had 4 men for 2 hours and they got everything out of the truck and into the 2nd floor apt for us.  It was about 104 degrees out and very humid so I was very happy to just direct traffic as they brought in all our things.

August:  We are settling in here nicely.  We have found a church and the boys are making friends.  Jason is loving his new job and it looks like he will be getting really busy once the plant is open.  Jason and I are doing the hCG protocol again and it is going ok, not as easy as it was the first time for me, but I am seeing results.    The boys started school on the 10th and both seem to like it.  E has a boy from church in his class and that made things a little easier for him.  N had a rough first couple of days, having to eat alone but things seem to be getting better as he meets more people each day.  He is loving Guitar class and not so much the drafting class he is taking.  He is looking forward to drivers ed 2nd semester. 

Shellie and family came down to "check out our new digs" for a weekend.  It was so nice to have them.  It gave the boys something to look forward to, and it was a nice distraction for all of us as we are not quite sure what to do with all of our "extra" time right now, I am sure in a few weeks we will not have extra time, but for now we are feelin a little lost in this big new world.

Noah got to participate in a Youth Group retreat weekend and loved it...this chuch is going to be good for our whole family.

Noah turned 15, and it was a little wierd not to do all the family celebrations this year.  We did celebrate at home and he got to open his gifts, which included a new phone and other miscillani.

SEPTEMBER:  So much for "extra" time.  Both boys are swimming now, and that keeps me running.  We have decieded to join the Aquaticand Wellness center because Elijah would have to pay part of the membership any way to swim on swim team.  I am looking forward to going and working out after the diet ends.  I am still looking for a job, (found a job and started on the 20th).  Otherwise I spend my time at home cleaning, cooking, dong laundry, and working on my quilt top.  We finished the diet and both lost 25 lbs.  Jason is now working about 70 hours a week and while the checks are nice, I miss him a little.  We both had our birthday, very low key, and celebrated by eating at Johnnys....mmmmm loaded baked potato.

October:  Life has fallen into more of a routine.  I really like my new job, I am at St. Bernards Prep School and help with Alumni communications.  I take the boys to school everyday, and they both have rides to the pool after school.  I then go to the pool and work out while i wait for them.  Most nights we head home, Wednesdays we go to church from there. 

We spent a weekend in Atlanta with Jenn and Tracy and their families. Fun catching up with both of them after so many years.

The house sold!  I flew home on Sunday the 17th to finish packing things up, and Jason and the boys came home on that wednesday to help load the truck and drive everything down.  We will be storing all that stuff until we find a house.  The whole process went well, it was nice to get to spend so much time with shellie during that week. 

November - Today is the 17th, so up until now.....we received all the official closing paperwork and our check so we officially sold the Jenison house.  What a relief.  Now we have begun looking for something here to buy.  We are looking at something small in the "country".  AND we may just have found it!  We put an offer on a house in a little town south of here, and are hoping to hear something this week yet.  It is a small 3 bedroom (basically a starter house) but as we lose children to college and life it will become the perfect house for us.  The plan is to build a stand alone Garage and then to take the existing garage and turn it into a family room.  Hopefully having both done by next spring. The morgtage would be affordable and we would have somegive to make extra payments on our debt. 

NOAH Qualified for state last night!  He swam the 500 in 5:53.23, he needed to be under 5:54.99 so he even had a little bit of wiggle room!  State is at University of Alabama the first weekend in Dec....cannot wait!

Save a place for me, Save some GRACE for me....

cause' I'll need it when I get there.  I cannot believe how often I mess up in my christian walk, making my testimony suffer.  It's a good thing I have been saved by GRACE and not by my works, I'd never have made it on my own.


I am still struggling with an important relationship.  I am at a loss on how to fix it, when the other person only hears some of what you say and then takes that little bit and twists it when repeating the conversation to others.  I just keep praying that someday we will be able to repair what has been ripped apart at the seams.


I also just started a new queen sized quilt top.  I am piecing it in the evenings and on weekends.  It is taking me longer than I thought it would, but that is par for the course for me.  I must just be a slow sewer, or spend too much time thinking about the layout.  I haven't decided on a name for it yet, but it is made op of yellows, aqua/teals, and lime greens with a ton of white.  It is just a strip quilt, but it is turning out so nicely and I cannot wait to get to the quilting.   It will be our summer quilt so I may just use a white flannel on the inside instead of batting....I will have to think about that though. 

On the move front...the house has been on the market since mid March, we have had a few people go thru it, but no bites yet.  We have dropped the price down to the lowest we dare to go to get it sold, now we are waiting to see what HE has in store for us on this journey.  We are planning on making a trip down south to look at apartments, and rent a storage unit, open a bank account, and start getting the boys signed up for school.  I may even try applying for jobs while we are there, we'll have to see how things go.  It is only 2 months until we need to make the move, in some ways it has come up fast, in others it seems like we have been planning for forever.

 Hope to post some pics of the new quilt soon.

Be Blessed,
AMERICAN MOM

Scratching that itch......FINALLY!

I was so glad to get a chance to do some sewing.  Now that the house is up for sale, and the projects are all completed I have been enjoying spending time at the sewing machine.  My first project was a lap quilt to give as thank you gift to the neighbor that babysat after school for us this year.  She wouldn't let me pay her, and I thought a quilt would make a great gift for her.  It was a ton of fun to put together.  I love the process of selecting fabrics from my stash, laying it all out, and then watching it all come together.  This is what I came up with this time.  It is a mix of quilting cottons and cheaper cottons that I have in my stash.  I love, love love the pinks and greens together, and the hint of blue mixed in really added a nice break up color.

Front of quilt

Back of quilt.

I have come to love a pieced back, so I did a sort of "stacked coins" on the bottom.  I might just love the back more than the front.  I quilted it with wonky concentric circles starting around the circle on the front.  If I had to do it over I think I would have done some stippling or pebbles in between the larger circles, but it has already been gifted.  Maybe next time....   I bound it with a lime/yellow/pink water color fabric.  The backing fabric is the only thing I purchased specifically for this quilt, it is a vine pattern green on green batik.

Life is Good....and a mom can brag.

We moved into our bedroom last weekend!  WOO HOO!!!  Ok, we still do not have a door, or anything on the walls, but the carpet was installed Friday and Saturday, and we moved our furniture in Saturday afternoon.  I love having a real bed to sleep in again!  

The kitchen and small bath are coming along nicely, Patriot put the trim on all of the cabinet doors, and the sink base cabinets as well as a couple of the drawers.  I have all of those sanded, half the doors primed and a coat of paint on them as well.  I also spent some time putting primer on some of the door trim in the bathroom, back entry way.  To look at the rooms it doesn't seem like these projects should take as long as they do....painting is very time consuming.  The goal is to have all the doors back on the cabinets before Friday the 13th.  That date is important, and I will share more about it in the near future.  


Freedom and Justice have been working on getting all the leaves raked for us.  This has been a huge help, we usually bag up about 20-30 leaf bags full each year and this year it looks like it will be on the higher end.  Thank goodness for strong healthy boys to help handle the chores.


Speaking of the boys....(nice segwey huh?).... I want to brag a little about each of them.


Freedom, at 14, is a mix of high self confidence and low self esteem. (Does that make any sense, I don't know how to describe what I see any better than that.)  He thinks he is fat, and while he is not the stick that Justice is, he is not fat by any means.  He thinks he is not smart, but is able to pull honor roll grade with minimal effort.  He really doesn't seem to think that highly of himself, but he is always willing to put himself out there and try new things.  He is taking a speach class this quarter and seems to really like it and his grade is good so it seems he is doing well too. This year he decided to try out for the basket ball team.  He knew going in that it would be a long shot, but was willing to take the risk of being cut and go for it.  At our school they have an A and a B team, each team has 12 kids on it.  Each year about 80 boys try out for those 24 spots, not good odds to begin with.  He tried out, he gave his best effort, but he was cut in the first round.  He handled it so well I was amazed.  I am proud of him for trying, something this American mom would never have done at that age.


Now for Justice,  he is such a special boy.  At 9 he is sensitive, emotional, strong headed, helpful, fun, funny, loving, and generous.  Recently I have seen in him a trait that is so special.  He will often just take care of something, simply because it needed done.  He is not looking for a reward, not even a thank you.  Often I don't even realize he did "it" until a couple of days later.  I love this about him, he is so willing to give of his time and talents. For a quick example, One of the teachers at school shared with me that he spent time the other day organizing a game cart, he wasn't asked, no one commented that it needed done, he simply saw that is was a bit messy and straightened it up.  He wasn't looking for a reward, or special attention, just doing something that needed done.  Special boy, that child is.

I think I've got an itch.

It's going to be a real problem too because I won't be able to scratch it for a while yet.  The creativity bug has bitten me in a big way.  I keep wanting to take over the diningrooom table for a new sewing project.  Having the house torn up is a big problem for this particular itch.  I know it will be a while before I can get out any new projects to work on, in all fairness, Patriot has not been fishing for a very long time, and I would feel really bad if I got to sew when he cannot fish.

In the mean time I have been drooling over the quilts and bags and cute little girl clothes that I am finding on the blogs.  My new favorite is crazy mom quilts .  She is amazing, she makes so many quilts each year, and she is raising 3 young children.  She is also very good at choosing fabrics that will look ravishing together, and designs that are contempoary.  I love this quilt in particular, the colors are so vibrant, and the pattern is very balanced and organized.  I think it is just beautiful. I think I would love to try to recreate it for my own home.  

I am hoping to get a couple of cute bags done before an upcoming trip we have planned, but that may be the extent of my creative outlet for a while yet.  Guess I have to keep stacking up the ideas for now and hope that the first of the year finds me with time to start a new project or finish one I already have started.  

Many hands make light work!

Many thanks to Tracie B. who has dug right in and made my load much lighter each Wednesday night.  She has taken over much of the "hand work" of keeping the kiddo's records up to date.  This leaves only the computer work for me, it has reduced my at home catch up work time by a couple of hours a week!  I love that I do not have to worry about carving out time for records during the week, now if there is something to be done, it only takes a few minutes and it is no big deal!  So Tracie, THANKS THANKS THANKS!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I also want to take a minute to thank Patriot.  What a huge help he has been these last few weeks.  He has been getting up the ladder to paint, working extra hours at the shop, cutting a putting trim on the wall, and what ever else I can dream up for him he does.  Love that man.

UPDATE ON THE HOUSE:

           Exterior:  I think that we will be done with the painting this weekend if the weather holds.  We have only to finish the white trim on the sides and the back, I think one more coat will get that done.  Then we have to paint the underside of the eves green on both sides, two coats should do it so I think by saturday we will be able the say the exterior painting is done.  That will leave just the dirt work, we need to level off and put top soil on the west side of the house so that grass can be planted.  Hopefully we can get that done in the next week also.

        
           Basement:  I got two coats of white on all the walls in the open area and up the steps, I have a little touch up work to do and some high brush work that will be tricky, but the painting is basically finished.  We need to put floor trim and door trim up in that area and then I will fill the holes, prime and touch up the paint and the basement will be ready for carpet!  Yeah, only about two more weeks until we can get our bedroom back.


         Kitchen:  All the red cupboards are painted and just two of the doors need to be hung for those.  I need to paint the cupboards that will be white, but we need to remove the doors, sand, attatch trim, spackle and resand....and then I can paint the doors.  Once the cabinets are finished and the doors re hung the only things left will be the flooring (which is going to be a much bigger project than we first thought) and the counter tops, new sink and stove top.  When this project is done I will really breathe a sigh of relief.  


       Misc:  I need to paint the bedroom door and have Patriot re hang it.  I also need to paint the laundry room door, and both closet doors.  So I will be a busy little bee for a while yet.    Patriot needs to change out the light fixtures in the bedroom, and then change out about 8 outlets as well.


Once all of these projects are finished, we will look at the small bathroom, the back entry way, the front hall and the living dining room. All will need a fresh coat of paint, paint on all the trim, and something done to the walls.


I think we will be busy for the next few months.  But that is just fine with this American Mom.  Anyone out there that want to volunteer their many hands to one of these projects?

 

Its raining it's pouring....

but only on the days I have time to get out side and work on getting the house painted!  What. Is. Up. With. That?!!!? Monday and Tuesday we had no plans for the hours after work, but it rained and poured so no out side work got done.  Wednesday when we have to spend the whole evening at church it is beautiful and sunny, but we are all at church so no painting is getting done.  Today it is beautiful and warm, but Justice has Piano lessons and Patriot has to work until dark so again no painting.  

Now Guess what?  The weather forcast is calling for....yup, you guessed it!  RAIN, RAIN and MORE RAIN for Friday Saturday and Sunday.  ARGH!  I just want to finish what I started before it starts to snow.  Yeah, you go ahead and laugh.  You just try to tell me I have a couple of months yet before that happens.  

Well you can laugh, and call me silly, or stupid or  a whiner or WHATEVER.  Just let me say that this morning I had ICE on my windshield.  Yes ICE, not just frost.  So when I say I am afraid of the snow I am not kidding.

So if you feel up to praying that the rain will please just go away for another week I would love you for it.  I am just a wet and winey American Mom asking for a little sunshine.  Is that too much?