You Know You Are In a Small Town When....

Call 911...call 911
(You have to read on to understand :)

I have LOTS of updating to do. Life just got crazy again when the boys finally got over swine flu! They did make a full recovery and thankfully Steve and I never were struck!!

This week we are enjoying Spring Break. Whoever decided that students and teachers needed a week off at the beginning of the Spring is a saint and deserves their own celebrated holiday!! I am eternally grateful!!

So, on with the update post! Firstly.... I have to add snow pics. I know the excitement is over for everyone here and we are begging for some warmer weather and spring flowers but I never got around to adding them and all of the Colorado family that read my blog will never believe. So here are a few pictures for y'all....

Ethan Enjoying Hot Chocolate Made Over the Fire.
We were out of electricity for about 24 hours

Okay... enough of that... next.... our new driveway and paint job. I have to admit that I have not taken that many pictures of the house. I really was waiting for spring when I could hang some ferns and put some potted plants on the steps. I am going to take some more pictures when the weather is warmer. I hope you can see how it transformed.

Before....

After....

We finally have a sidewalk!!! I can't tell you how awful the driveway and sidewalk were!!
It was like off-roading just to get to the house!! It looks beautiful!! The kids actually get to play four-square and with sidewalk chalk now!

I will add more when I can decorate it up!! Still... the transformation is amazing! I knew this little house had so much potential.

Now on with the most exciting news and the reason for the title of this post. Our home under construction. Now...most of you are from East Texas and know all of its quirkiness!! I love it here and will NEVER move. But moving to a small community, like Union Grove pop. 458, can sometimes feel downright claustrophobic. Twice in the last week we have felt the pains of small town living. First, we were told by one of my dad's employees who also lives in Union Grove that we are the talk of the town. Everyone at the coffee shop wants to know "What's going on at Doc Howard's place?" "Whose building?" " How big?" and "Are they going to be on the Tour of Gladewater at Christmastime?" (the last one I am considering :). I am sure we will have a flood of people rubber-neckin as they drive by just to get a glimpse of the progress!! Next small town experience.... my mom was at home watching all of the construction in progress when a strange car drives down the driveway (we normally have the gate closed for just these kinds of occurrences but with all of the comings and goings, it was open this time). A lady gets out of the car and walks up to my mom "Hi ( can't you just hear the twang in her voice) I am frum the Upshur County 911 office. I was on my way to the Wal-Mart and notice that you have sum cunstruction goin on ova here. We need to get this updated so that y'all can get 911 service." So... she took down all of our information, went back to her office (after her visit to THE Wal-Mart) and signed us up for 911 service. Now that's hometown treatment. We didn't have to do anything ourselves! This will be some experience I am sure.

Now on with the pictures. We have gone from dirt to framed in about a week! It's crazy how fast this can go... We still don't have any idea when we will move in. We are going to do a lot of the interior work ourselves to save money but it should be in the dry by the end of next week!!

The before site

We will have lots of firewood next winter. We cut down two huge trees!

Dirt work

Foundation framing and rough in plumbing

We didn't get any pictures of the concrete pour :(
We both thought the other one had the camera. Turns out, I did all along !!
But we did get this picture afterward.

We are staining the concrete for our floors and our hand prints are
going to be in the entry way as you come in!

First floor framed

Our house sits up on a hill and we have the most beautiful view both from
the front and the back! My backyard neighbors are the cows.Second floor going up.
Its not really a true 2 story. The living room has vaulted 22ft. ceilings
and there is a loft over the kitchen area.

This is as far as they have gotten! Its so amazing to watch this go up. It still doesn't seem real to me. I told Steve this is like his pregnancy. He conceived this house from nothing, made plans and felt the excitement long before I even realized what was going on. I told him last night I think I feel it kicking !!! It still won't be real to me until we move in!

Just some other random shots... We have done lots of planting this season. Most of you know we have a small vineyard out on our land. We added 17 new vines as well as 8 new fruit trees to the bunch. Now we have 62 grapevines, 5 plum trees, 2 pear trees and 2 apple trees. We are trying to landscape our new home with only plants that can be eaten!! No flower garden for me, just an herb and vegetable. I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt!!

Grapes and Apple Trees

Vineyard

Plum Trees

And on just a fun, personal note.... Isaac learned to tie his shoe!!
It took my dad, who is also a lefty, to finally teach him! Thanks BB!!

Well that is about it for our update. On a last note, we still have not moved forward on the adoption front. The only progress made has been our decision to not go with Buckner. It was just not for us. We are thinking now about fostering first and then adopting. We are not sure how this will play out. All we know is that we have a heart for unwanted children and are waiting on God to show us how!! God is big and we continually want to put our faith in Him!!