Buckets and buckets

So...Rain has not been our friend as the day after we started digging the basement the rain came. It's been upsetting but we're trying to roll with the punches. A corner caved in yesterday and the footers were filled with a foot of water. My mother in law suggested we go and bucket the water out so that we could get most of it out so the heat and sun will help dry it tomorrow. They are supposed to come Thursday and pour the walls.


This is a pic of Skye and his Grandpa trying to figure out what to do next with the frost footer being filled with a foot of rain!

 This picture is AFTER we bucketed all the water out that we could get!

 It doesn't look deep but it was almost to my knees, good thing I had those awesome boots!

No blood, No sweat...just tears!

Well today was the 1st day of tears...not for any reason other than pure exhaustion and the reality of the mountain we're climbing is starting to really settle in. We've been in transition for almost 4 months and it's like a new wave of transition is setting in. It's hard work building a house mostly by yourselves. Skye's been on the excavator for the last 2 1/2 day and I've been in the hole, in the rain, and wind, and mud. I know he would have totally switched places with me if I was capable of running that huge piece of equipment.
He finished digging the basement and footers today. All that is left is gravel but it's so wet and muddy he's going to let the sun dry it up, hopefully, in the next few days. No more rain!!!
J has been a wonderful little guy all day. He was mostly stuck in the excavator with Skye all day, but at one point we got out and we were just watching Skye so I snapped this shot. He's such a sweetheart...we are blessed! Hope there never comes a time when we don't stop and realize the blessings we have!!

Rainy day...still work, no play!

Cold rainy day here in Central Ohio, but still we needed to work as we're on a timeline! Thank God for good boots and gortex weather gear I was only cold on my legs where my long johns just didn't cut it. I was running the transit while Skye was digging, at one point with all three kiddos in the excavator with him. Still not done with the basement yet, but tomorrow we'll get more work done as it is not supposed to rain like it did today! Progress though, we did make progress.
Here's me freezing, running the transit.
 
Skye with the 3 kiddos in tow.

 My view of the sky tonight!

Day 1...of many, many more!

Today was the first day of the start of a dream, and how extremely surreal it felt. How are you supposed to feel when you are at the starting line of the one dream you been dreaming about, praying about, talking about for the last 15 years. It was neat, weird, overwhelming, crazy, and in some ways felt like it wasn't real. Like somehow it would all end, eventually.
We were late getting out to the property due to many small set backs. Skye got the house layed out, and we all got together for a family shot of the first "ground breaking". It was a funny scene as we really had  no idea how all 5 of us were to use this one shovel and then when the "chunk" was tossed poor J got his poor nogged bopped. Go figure, right?
I tried to "capture" the beauty of what I see when I stand at the top of the hill and look out...but I just can't seem to get the digital picture to do justice of what I actually see. The grass it turning greener, the trees are starting to bud. All in all, it's simply wonderful and those who can see God's precious hand in it, will see the beauty no matter how the digital picture looks!

 Nosey Neighbor...he kept driving up and down the same strip checking us out! He he...probably wondering what in the world we were doing!!

 Those bushes GOTTA go...but it's our "new to us" mailbox!

 First big scoop!

 Family pic...it's a keeper!!

Softball in her blood

Z comes from a LONG line of ball players...REALLY good ones. I can't tell you just how proud of her I am that she in just a few weeks of practice and one scrimmage has cultivated that love like her parents, grandparents, and GREAT grandparents! Makes me so happy that SHE has found her niche and she's pretty good for a first timer. My pride comes from the heart she puts in the game... the teamwork and competitiveness with herself. This summer is going to be so fun! ,

A dream...100 years in the making!!

There was this day, a "few" years back when this really cute guy and I sat in the front row of choir class and had our first conversation. I never, ever expected that this single conversation would seriously change my life forever, and ever!! That conversation was over 15 years ago, and with a ton of prayer, and a lot of tears and begging, God has given us this dream...well the start of it. Skye and my first conversation was about having a farm. Lots of land, lots of trees, and horses. The only thing missing is mountains, but you don't really get those in Ohio. We smiled at each other shocked that we wanted the exact same thing. Life has thrown many curve balls, God as prepared us, and tomorrow 23April2013 we will be the proud owners on 20 acres. We are so blessed to be proof of God's love and listening to very long time prayed for dreams! He is so faithful...I can start a list of how he has always provided for us, he's given us so many of our dreams, this was the big whopper though! I can't believe THIS will be all ours! We are building our own designed house on this property. Skye has spend many hours designing, changing, planning, figuring out materials and such on this plan. We are so excited to start...Breaking Ground tomorrow!!! I can't believe it, God is so good, We are so blessed!! So much to do, Anyone want to help??

Testing...1, 2, 3???

I'm back after an extremely long hiatus, and after a hour of trying to figure this thing back out! :) YAY, I'm back online! So much is going on and so much to tell I just thought I'd start this thingy back up. So...I'm testing out my blogging skills to see if I still "got it"!