Its February already! I keep saying I thought I would blog more often! We are getting settled in our new home. We started moving stuff to the farm around 3 years ago so we have all those boxes to unpack. We put up some Christmas decorations this year. It was fun to put up a Christmas tree again after all these years! The stuff we didn't use this year we moved and put in the attic.

Our boxes of books are open and put on the shelves we had built for that purpose. They are deep in both rooms so several layers of books can be stacked. I continue to be amazed at how much the book cases can handle. Thank God for Josh; while visiting over Christmas he organized the bookcase so it looks wonderful. We keep finding stuff and are able to find a place for it. Otherwise we plan to sell what we can't use. Thank God for flea markets!

I need to start painting again. Maybe we'll have some sunny days coming up in March. I want to be done giving all the trim work its paint. at this time I don't plan to change any wall colors. The bathrooms are white . . . so maybe after this summer I'll have some fresh inspiration and come up with a color to paint them. They need another coat of paint, so we might as well wait and see if we want to keep them this color of white.

Now that hunting season is over we are seeing deer again. Sunday, our dog starts to bark, but after dark we can't see anything. When we walk to the mail box in the morning I see deer tracks out and about so she must have been barking at them.

Both Ed and I are so totally enjoying living out here on the farm! I didn't know how this would play itself out but so far its really been fun. We still don't have any curtains up . . . that has really been nice. I know the sun will start shining before I am ready to get up so I am thinking about some window coverings. When summer is in full swing our dining room will get hot so we will need to put something over those windows too.

Our children gave us this Homer Lane address for Christmas. We will hang it on our house around the front door somewhere. So cool!

We Moved to PA

We moved the first week of December 2011. This year has been the most work in my life! I feel like I painted and painted and still not finished! We painted enough to pass inspection. Thank God we hired a crew of Amish men to give our house the under coat of paint. All we need is to give everything the last coat of paint. Plus paint all the trim, doors, we have many windows which all have trim! Baseboards all around!

We hired my brother Stephen to do our carpentry work. When he saw what all needed to be done he asked if his son Stevie could help us. So, along with Ed's brother Paul, we got finished. Paul hung all the doors, put on many or most of the handles. My brother sprayed all the doors and trim. He finished all the doors. (Some of the frames were an off white that I painted). All I need is to give the trim its final coat of paint which is a big help. I quit painting until maybe February?

We painted most of the walls a sunny yellow. Without furniture it looked like it could overwhelm everything. Since we moved in with our furniture it is blended very nicely.

We had a big bookcase built right into the living room which helps with our books and trinkets. Its amazing how much went into the bookcase! We are still finding books and finding places to put them in the bookcase! Josh spent several days of his Christmas vacation helping us get organized. He worked at least a day on organizing the pantry! Thank you Joshua!!! I am starting to find things without spending lots of time looking!

The bookcase looks great thanks to Joshua spending several days working on it. We still haven't put up any curtains. Its amazing how much light we are finding living out in the country without curtains! I am sure we'll want some before spring when the sun rises early in the morning!

I am thankful for all the help we had moving both in Sheboygan and PA! We had so many people helping us in Sheboygan, it rained and so the people they lined up like a brigade which helped. Thank God for Ed Horvat, he's a professional mover and volunteered to direct the loading of the truck. It took several hours but we got the truck loaded with more stuff then we could imagine! Our new church provided 4 men to unload which is an easier job by far! By noon the truck was unloaded! Thank God for the church!

Getting the House finished

We are working to finish the house before the snow flies, before winter! The trim is getting done, slowly, one day at a time.

We planted a garden this summer and enjoyed eating fresh vegetables. I had to use the recipe book since I haven't canned for several years. Its been interesting and I am looking forward to enjoying "the fruits of my labors this winter".

The windows and doors are getting framed. Most of the doors have handles which is exciting. Some doors even have locks.

The fill around the house is getting worked on a little at a time. We can walk into the kitchen and use the front entry, completed with cement steps.

Josh came to PA and installed some of the kitchen cupboards which helps to make it look like something that can be lived in. Anyone wanting to see what the house looks like can look at all the updates and progress by going to dodyhouse.blogspot.com/

I hope to be more faithful to this blog and continue posting the progress.

Finishing up our new house

Ed and I are working on the house trying to paint and get everyone working. The floors are going in. Its looking good!

Hopefully next month we'll get the fill done around the house and put in the septic too. We need to get the water turned on, the well and soften is in place. Everything has taken a looong process. We were in PA for most of July and are going back next week. Hopefully we can finish up soon.

Josh is taking a weeks vacation from his job to come and help out. Maybe I'll have a kitchen when he gets done? Looking forward to putting in the hardwood floors too.

I'll try to post the slate floor that's getting put in. I forgot that the pictures are on my IPhone and I don't know how to get it on my laptop. Maybe when our sons come to PA I can learn many new things . . .

We have a house!

We have a house! The roof is there, the garage has a roof! Yeah! These guys are great! My posting hasn't been about Amish/English lately, but today I will talk about the house I grew up in.

I was born in a single story home, at least a hundred year old house. I was the 6th child and this house had only 2 bedrooms with a little room at the end of the house used for storage, without heat too. I was going to school, I am guessing 1st grade, my dad had a frolic and put the 2nd story on the house. They work during the day and I was in school when it happened, it was a big surprise when I came home from school, and the 2nd story was framed in.

Pictures you can see out and about from Amish having frolics look awesome. I don't know how many men were at our house that day, some ladies come to help in the house with the noon meal, they eat well too. We are paying for the construction of our house, not a frolic, but its so much fun to watch the house getting built, they are all workers and every day we see what they get done. Soon they'll start working on the inside, but they'll still be working hard.

When we were in PA we bought them donuts for 2 days.

Its fun building this house, more fun then I could ever imagine!!!

New House

Ed and I took a quick trip to PA to celebrate his sister Sharon's 75th birthday this week. We also got to see our house you can see posted here.

These men start working before 8:00 a.m., so while there we treated them to donuts, which made them happy.

Two semi trucks arrived with the house. My brother in law told us, here's your house!

Can you tell we are excited? Yeah! I am sure you'll be hearing from me more often now that the house is really happening!

Happy New Year 2011

Time keeps moving, it doesn't stop for anything or anyone! Our house has started in PA. We're going to see if we can build living 5 states away. The basement should be brought to the house site Friday.

We are driving to PA to celebrate Sharon's 75th birthday. The party will be given by her daughter Candy flying to PA from AZ. Ed & I are driving Sunday & Monday, hopefully arriving early Monday afternoon.

We are going to leave my car in PA so Josh can drive back & forth taking care of business. I need to remember when anything comes up to take a deep breath and not stress out. Hopefully we'll get enough pictures to remember.

I am sure this winter will go fast for both Ed and I. We are still driving to Watertown every Sunday serving as interim pastor.

Now that the house is getting built I can believe God for the next step in our lives.