Family Time

My family is having the specialist of special visitors this week. My wonderful big brother, Jonathan is here ALL WEEK LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He had his girlfriend, Bethany, her mom and sister out visiting him in Virginia, for the Marine Corps Ball. And then after a few days of just visiting, and seeing the sites in the D.C. area, he came here. Now, this was a major surprise for Bethany, she didn't know he was coming until they were all at the airport in Omaha, NE. He had taken another flight and arrived first, and then waited for Bethany and her Mom to arrive. Then after staying with her family for a day,
we went to Yankton to meet Mrs. Abler and bring Jonathan here for a week. (YAY!!!)

my plans < His PLANS

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Isaiah 55:9
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

You know when you plan something, and then it doesn't go the way you want it to? You get so frustrated and kinda sulky? Then you see that its actually okay, things are just fine, and it all turns out in the end.

Well, I am very much a plan ahead person. I need to know the least detail far ahead in advance, and if it doesn't go in the way I expect it, I'm not happy. And usually after it all pans out I see that my grumpy attitude was all for nothing. That if I had just gone with the flow and let it happen I would have had a much better time.

And if I had only thought about what God wanted to have happen. His plan is way better than mine could ever be. He knew what was happening, and it was as he wanted.

I had plans to go to Children's Vision in Bogota' Columbia the beginning of December. But that apparently is not God's plan for me. Due to traveling conflicts I may not go until February. Which isn't what I want, but it must be what God wants.

So I trust God to let me in on His plan, when I need to know my part.

Romans 8: 28
And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.

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The House Project

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This entire week I have been having writers block. I couldn't think of a single thing to say! AHHH!!

SOOOO...... I decided to tell you about our house project. Way back in August of 2005 my Daddy thought of an idea for a new house. See, our house was old, and drafty, and Grandma would soon be needing more care than we could give her, living 13 miles away. And the house was not handicap accessible. So Daddy's idea was to build a new one, that Grandma would be able to live with us in. He didn't want Mom to feel burdened with having to care for her mother-in-law, so he asked God to give her the same idea, so he would know it was alright. And He did! Mom came to Daddy with the idea to build a house for all of us, including Grandma. He works in mysterious ways!



And so we got to work packing everything up. And while we were down in San Diego, CA for Jonathan's boot camp graduation, the house was demolished. We came back and all that was left was a huge pile of rubble.



Construction was started as soon as the old house was cleared away, and the right shaped basement was dug. The work continued all winter, and by January 2007 the basement was enclosed. The interior walls were not done though.



Then over the summer there was a major stand still, because the upstairs walls are made of strawbales, and we couldn't find any straw for sale. We got the rafters and roof on in the fall, and Daddy put tarp up along the outside, to keep the wind out so we could work from the inside all winter.



During the winter and spring he got most the straw bales in, and then this summer he built the loft area.



And now lots of work is getting done on the outside, and inside of the strawbale walls, so that before the winter hits we can get the walls stuccoed. To keep the stucco on the straw you need to attatch a kind of chicken wire to it. Oh, and all but 2 windows are installed as of Saturday!!!!



Things are definitely moving along, and we love giving tours! I think the current word is to move in by Christmas, but that depends on how much Daddy and Nathaniel can get done each time they get out there. Pray for good weather for them!


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