Apple-pickin' Field Trip

Apple-pickin' season always sneaks up on me, and we've often missed it entirely or gone in mid-October when the pickins are slim.

But we actually made it there this year before the official beginning of autumn.  Two half-bushel bags full and overflowing with apples.  Most of them have already been transformed into apple sauce for the freezer.

Missy was eager to help and carry the bag - for the first few minutes when there was hardly anything in it.  Then it became Mom's job.

The boys were eager helpers and picked 95% of the apples - yay!  They even managed to work the picking-stick pretty well.  That freed me to take pictures!

And here they are...

Eight Years Ago

This picture is a precious one to me.  Luke was such a little guy, just four months old - a real cutie.

But it's more precious because it's the first picture that I have of Stephen and Luke after Stephen's surgery.

Family and old friends remember the time when Stephen fell ill and ended up having brain surgery (twice).  But I imagine most of the friends we've made in the more recent years aren't aware of it at all - because, praise God, he's made a full recovery.

And he even managed to get into (and out of) law school in the years since, to say nothing of passing the Bar exam!

I missed the anniversary of the seizure that alerted us to the problems last month, and I missed the anniversaries of the actual surgeries earlier this month, but today is the 8th anniversary of the helicopter trip back to the ER after his surgery.

So I'm remembering that night and giving thanks to God for preserving Stephen, for preserving our family.

I can't say that I look back on those days and weeks with fondness, but I do look back with thankfulness because God was so kind to us not only in giving Stephen a full recovery, but in giving us so many friends and family members who helped us practically and prayed for us faithfully.

Week 6

 Here's what school looks like for us...on a good day!

Boys working diligently...

And something to keep Miss Cupcake busy. 

She was interested in drawing today, and she actually did a good job of keeping the markers (mostly) on the board!

 And now...time for an afternoon nap!

Water, Water, Everywhere!

If you're anywhere in the northeast, then you've no doubt been deluged with more rain than you can stand.  It seems like it's been raining here for two weeks straight.

It hasn't.  But between Hurricane Irene's effects and the dumping we're getting from Tropical Storm Lee, there is no where left for the water to go.

There hasn't been much flooding around here, but friends and family in Pennsylvania are now evacuating their homes and businesses.  Stephen's grandfather's family home lies in the flood plain near the Susquehanna River and was badly flooded during Hurricane Agnes in 1972.  His aunt and uncle as well as our tenants were evacuated this morning, along with 100,000+ other residents in the area.

While praying that all will be kept safe from the rising waters, I'm praying too that God will use this frightening experience to draw sinners to Himself -- the only shelter in the time of storm.



Basement Project

Our basement has been unfinished (except for a bathroom) for the three years that we've lived in our home, and it's finally time to change that.

We had planned to contract out the work when we got around to finishing it, but when faced with the actual cost of it, we wimped out.

Well, sorta.

We wimped out on reaching for the wallet.  But there won't be any wimping out downstairs.  Everybody is being drafted to help!  

Actually this was the last time the kids were allowed in the basement due to the influx of power tools...dangerous ones that make Mommy rather uncomfortable!  There's that...and the insulation that was removed looks remarkably like "fuzzies." And if you know little Miss Cupcake, then you probably know that she LOVES to hold a fuzzy wadded up in her fist while she sucks her thumb.  More danger.  So kids are banned from the basement for the time being.

  

Here is the "before" picture...

Here's the man with the tools...



Here is what we accomplished on our first day of actual framing...