Here comes the rain

Severe thunderstorm warnings tonight.

I don't think I've ever been as aware of every rain over the course of a summer as I have been this summer! Matt climbed up quickly to tack the tar paper down in a few spots where it's blown up a bit, and he made an attempt at quickly re-grading and throwing a tarp down over recently added (not packed) soil to see if that makes any difference with our one sticky water issue spot. We moved a few sheets of 4'x10' siding panels that were up on sawhorses down to the ground so they don't get blown over and cracked, and are feeling pretty ready.

We had lovely weather today, and Matt got a lot done on the house that he is able to do by himself. A blanket of pink foam insulation is going around this entire house before the siding does, and it's light enough that Matt can do it on his own.

on the north-east side

on the front (south and south-east)

He's working hard to get this done because...on Monday (well, Sunday night so we can have all day Monday), my cousin and his wife are coming down from Duluth to give us a full day's work!! Yay! There's a lot that Matt can't physically do very well on his own, and I can't be reliably able to help for a variety of reasons (kids and various facets of their care being the primary one!) So this is super exciting to get a jump on siding, or prepping for siding, or upper level radiant tubing - who knows what will get done, but a whole lot more than just Matt on his own!

And we also had time this afternoon to take our two younger ones to the Children's Museum since Owen and Leah got to go down for the weekend with Grandma when she went home. (A friend from their church is coming up near our house on Monday and will give them a ride home). I'm sharing this with you simply because that little Rinnah can be so stinkin' cute!

Rinnah showing off her self-painted face.

And this is probably just as good a place and time as any to fill you in on why I don't get to be the one up on the roof!

Without any gap in between, God has chosen to give us another baby! Within weeks of losing the baby that was such a surprise back in June, we found out I was pregnant again. We're still kind of boggled by it, but also excited. And overwhelmed. And really excited! All together, all at once. Once again (still????) it's a wonderful thing to know that I'm not the one who has to be in charge. ;)

And I feel sick. I normally feel kind of queasy for the first trimester, but as long as I keep nibbling on something all day long I'm okay. Not with this baby. I feel queasy and nothing sounds good to eat - I often leave the room when others are eating! Chocolate usually works, if its the right kind, but even *I* can't stomach the thought of eating enough chocolate to keep the nausea at bay!

Who knows - maybe it's twins! ;) A friend of ours (who is, by the way, a huge encouragement to us, and super excited about Krassi AND both the first baby that we lost, and now this one) jokingly suggested that it might be time to change the name of the blog! But "No Vacancy" just doesn't have the same ring to it, though, so I think we'll stick with what we've got. Regardless, this change in "our" plans means we've got room for LOTS more of the grace that God has in store for us as he walks us step by step through all of this.

God is good. All the time. Even if that rainstorm comes. ;)

God is not surprised, revisited...

I wrote last week about the unexpected news we received regarding needing to postpone our travel dates by five weeks. I ended that post resting in knowing that God is not surprised by these changes that surprise and disappoint us, and knowing that God is not surprised enables me to move forward confidently and without regret.

The story had an interesting development today that is a pleasure to be able to share.

So, changing travel dates when you've already purchased tickets means that you have to pay re-issue penalties. We knew up front that cancellations were $200 per ticket and changes were $150 per ticket. Changing four tickets means $600 more for travel. Bummer.

But if you back up just a bit more, when we purchased our tickets in the first place, I remember marveling that when we totaled up what we already had set aside and what we'd been just recently given to cover the last bit of Krassi's adoption - namely, the trip to bring him home - that it looked like plane tickets were cheap enough that we were going to have roughly $500 left over! Who ever heard of there being money left over after an undertaking like international adoption? So, today, when I found out that changing a child's ticket only has a penalty of $125 instead of $150, putting our total penalty at $550, there were the numbers, staring me right in the face.

God was not surprised by this change. In fact, he gave us ahead of time just about exactly what we would need for the trip, and it was only our time-bound reasoning that thought there was extra.

The amount we had was exactly what we needed.

After nearly two weeks of more struggling through (I tell you, 90+ degree weather when it only cools down to the mid-80s at night doesn't help at all!) than riding high, this was such a beautiful confirmation that every step of this is in God's hands. Every dollar, every hour of every day. And every moment I can choose to rest peacefully in him or I can choose to worry and fret.

But there's more to the story.

The first tidbit is that, yes! we are changing four tickets because Dondi can still come!!!

And the second tidbit, which builds on what I noted in the first post about Dondi regarding God's delight in not just supplying our needs, but like a good father, also choosing to give us things just because we like them, is that I shared briefly with our travel agent about the ~$500 estimated "overage" that just happened to be just about what was needed to change the tickets, and how it was neat to see God's orchestrating of the timing every step of the way - God knew all along how much we would need for this trip and I didn't need to worry about having to leave my son in the orphanage for an additional five weeks. He emailed back and asked if he could share the story with his family over supper tonight. I responded with a resounding yes! One thing we have loved about walking through this past year is being able to share with others how God is working. He wrote back a bit later saying he had shared the story with his manager and asked if he would be able to waive their agency's portion of the change penalty, and his manager said, "Yes"! So instead of paying $550 for change fees, we will pay $350 in change fees, leaving us again, based on my estimates of cost for hotel, food, and various other known expenses for the week, with a little bit extra! His comment was, "Perhaps you can enjoy a nice meal or two on us en route."

One thing God has spoken
Twice have I heard this
That power belongs to God
And lovingkindness is yours, O Lord. (Psalm 62:11-12a)

What an incredible joy it is to serve a God who is both powerful, and who also apparently takes pleasure in delighting his children.

little things

My mom keeps painting. Tomorrow she should finish up the last of the lap siding, and will be able to start on some of the trim pieces Friday before she leaves for home.

Our hope, with the change of plans with Krassi's pick up dates, is that we can have the exterior of the house complete before he comes home. That means that those of you who have offered help will be contacted soon so we can plan a schedule of work days to put siding and trim on. We're thinking of renting a lift for a period of time - not inexpensive, but hopefully will make the work a lot easier, and more importantly, safer.

Today we got a nice surprise. One of our neighbors has been doing some re-carpeting and cleaning out, and had rented a dumpster. She finished up what she wanted to do and had room left, so knocked on our door offering us the leftover space. We spent the afternoon getting a LOT of stuff picked up around the work site which will greatly reduce our disposal needs - we can probably get by now with a "bagster" instead of having to pay for a whole dumpster!

First you carry the scraps over to the van...

...then you load them into the van...

...then climb on up into the driver's seat, all ready to...

...drive over and unload the van in your neighbor's driveway!

Reuben did much of the work "by himself."

More of the shingle story

Remember how Matt decided he wasn't able to do the roof alone?

Well, we got a wonderful answer to our rather specific prayer - Matt decided to talk with our framer at the end of last week about who he would recommend to do the shingling so he could start calling for estimates. Mike jotted down two or three names on a shim with his pencil, paused, stuck it in his pocket and told Matt he'd help him do it free of charge.

Woo hoo!!!

We're not sure when it will happen - Mike's got a busy schedule - but the tar paper will hold things for a good while yet, and we have plenty of other things to do.

My mom came up for the week to help paint siding. She's hoping she'll be able to get it all painted before she has to go back home on Friday, AND having her here gives me and Matt and little more wiggle room to get "real" work and work on the house done, too. Very, very nice.



Then will come some more visually fun work as we cover the housewrap with "pretty" stuff. We already have a few friends who have offered time - a day here, a weekend there, to help Matt with lifting things up there - lots of that type of work is hard to do with only one set of hands.

As much as we'd MUCH rather have Krassi home sooner rather than later, we will make the most of the time before he's here to get as much done as we can.

And a bit about what we've been doing lately:

My boys digging out roots and dirt for the lower down area to allow light into the basement windows. This is where the limestone retaining wall will be rebuilt

And what it looks like at the moment - all set to receive the rock!

Unexpected, to us

We got some tough news this morning. Turns out there is a discrepancy in some of Krassi's paperwork regarding his place of birth. It's been in his paperwork all along, but no one caught it until the office that was going to issue his new birth certificate with his new name (and new parents) was working on it. They can't issue a new birth certificate without this information corrected. Without a new birth certificate, he can't get a passport or visa, and can't come home.

In order to get this fixed, the judge who presided on the adoption hearing needs to sign a form making the official change. Remember the break? Six weeks when the courts are not in session? Remember how we *just* made it through to get our court hearing before and not after the break? Well, now we have to wait until after the break before we can get this signature from the judge and move forward.

So it looks like Krassimir will wait in his orphanage for five more weeks than we expected, and we will be picking him up in mid-October.

We sure did not expect this. It makes his mommy's heart so sad to think that I'll have to wait that much longer to hold him and for him to know he has a mommy.

BUT, this was not unexpected to God. This mistake has been in Krassi's paperwork for a long time. Months, for sure, and who knows - maybe even years. God knows. God is not surprised. We are surprised. But somehow this, too, is working for our good, even if its just so that we have more opportunities to learn patience. And because God is in the business of working not only in my life, but in everything that happens everywhere, I have no way of knowing the implications of this change, nor do I need to. I think sometimes I prefer not having to know "why."

tough week

I don't know that Matt's had as many days in a row feeling overwhelmed as he's had this week! (We're at day 3, with a few slight reprieves along the way.)

First of all, the good news is that he got the last bit of tar paper tacked down to the roof mere minutes before the sudden heavy downpour came through this afternoon. That means that the windows that were installed over the weekend are protected from the rain.

a shot of a nicely installed, flashed window on a sunnier day...

There were some leaks.

Matt was not happy about the leaks. (Can't blame him. The whole driving force in detailing a house is finding a way to keep water out and heat in!)

The positive side to getting a nice heavy downpour at this point is that we can investigate the few locations where there was water that we were not expecting when it's a LOT easier to see (and fix) what's going on than when all the siding is on.

Matt's also decided that he's not cut out for working on a 10:12 pitch (steeper rather than shallower for those of you who aren't familiar with such terms) roof. There have been a number of places along the way where we've asked God very specifically for certain things, and starting Monday night we've been asking him to take care of the shingles - whether that's through him sending someone who knows what they're doing to volunteer their time, or him providing unexpected funds to pay for it, we're not picky. But it took both Matt and Chad most of three days to get ice and water shield and tar paper on the roof. It shouldn't have to take that long. ;) (Hmmm. Notice that it was "Matt and Chad" on the roof and not me? More on that at some point, but this is a brief post...)

The kids and I started school on Monday in anticipation of Krassi coming home - figured if we started two weeks early we could take two weeks off - one to pick him up and one to adjust to life. Leah had a great day. Here she is dressed up for a "first day of 1st grade" photo.

Owen had a not-so-great day. (Ha!! That's an understatement! This week has been an overwhelming "more than you can handle" sort of week for more of us than just Matt!) But yesterday and today were MUCH better. Incredibly better. As far as school goes.

I've been vividly reminded, largely because this is what I'm living right now, that a God-glorifying life is not one that looks at life in a "if I can only get through this, then..." sort of way, but one that realizes that the only time I can live is right now in this moment, and the attitude with which I get through [whatever this is] is what really matters. I can despair, or I can trust. And not so much trust that everything will be "okay" so much as that everything will be "good". So I've been fighting to keep that primary in my mind. What a great week to practice that in. ;)

~~~

So, I quit writing so I had time to pick up my Bible, and this is where I was the last time I was in the Psalms: "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good." (73:28) Short and sweet to hold onto this week.

Windows

This is the weekend that our contractor friend Earl came down to help with windows. Matt was really hoping that they could get at least most of the windows installed before Earl had to head home Sunday evening. Here's the progress so far, starting a day or two back, since I've been slow at updating...

Wednesday

We did indeed pass inspection for the radiant tubing system Wednesday morning, and the concrete crew was here ready to get cranking. They were here most of the day pouring and finishing the concrete, and also doing the finish grading (last Friday the rough-graded ground was still too wet deep in there to smooth out nicely). Owen and Leah took these photos for me since I was with Reuben at his physical therapy appointment.

Right through the window comes the conveyor. This also lets you see the orange tubing running all over.

a fun in-process shot

and nearly done, waiting for the concrete to cure enough to finish

Unlike the basement floor, which is beautiful, this one did not finish up very nicely, so we're going to have to call him back to see what he can do about it. It would be fine if we were installing something over it, but this is supposed to be the finish floor. Of our living room. It's pretty rough right now.

Thursday

Matt had to do "real" work (for clients).

Friday

 Today's task was to do everything possible to get the windows ready so Matt and Earl could maximize their time in actual installation and not prep on Saturday.

Owen helping Matt rip down some OSB

Because we're putting 1" rigid insulation over the exterior of the house, Matt needs to build out (with the OSB strips) a solid nailing surface to secure the windows to.

nailing in cedar sills late into the night. Owen is able to finish the nails that Matt sets for him.

This was also the day that the windows got delivered! There are a lot of windows in this house. Twenty-eight, I believe, and that doesn't count the units where multiples are mulled together. Here are some of them.

Just as Matt and Owen were wrapping up for the night as the sun was going down, Earl showed up. He got to sleep in Krassi's bed.

Saturday

 Finally caught up to today! Matt and Earl got out there bright and early, getting things set so they could be pounding nails by 8:00. Rinnah and I took an early morning trip to Home Depot to get the appropriate nail. I'm not usually out that way at 7:30 in the morning!

By early lunch time, six of the living room windows were in!

Earl got to do the outside work. ;) Both of them were pleased with the progress.

This is a series of shots I took of where things stood after supper tonight:

As far as I know, the only ones that they haven't finished by now, as I hear them walking in the door because it's awfully dark outside, is the large horizontal one in the first photo. Wow!!! Incredible progress - and this means that they may be able to put in some time getting the roofing started tomorrow!!

Actually, Matt's sitting here now, and says all 28 windows are in place. Nothing like having a real contractor working with you to help you get a ton done!

So that gets you up to date on the house.

Dondi's coming!!!!!!

Just got the email saying that Dondi is coming!!!!!!  Yay hooray!

It will be SO good to have her as part of this trip. ;)

[mental note to Andrea: God is a provider, and a good provider, supplying not only what we need, but also many times what we want. This happens in all sorts of ways!]

And now to send an email off to our travel agency saying book those tickets!

By the way, isn't it...interesting...that Dondi wasn't able to get an answer about care for her kids until today. It was only today that the better tickets (leaving on the day we wanted, and slightly shorter layovers on the trip there) became available. If we had gone ahead yesterday, we would have missed out on these ones.

Wow.

preparing to buy tickets

I tell you, even the simplest thing like buying plane tickets can be something that God uses to give us opportunities to practice patience and resting in him.

As I believe I've mentioned, we have a friend who we're hoping will be able to travel with me and Owen to pick up Krassi. It will be nice to have another adult, and she is familiar with CP as well as just being someone who I think would be great fun to travel with. ;) There are, of course, many logistics to travel, and the more families you involve, the more logistics there are. The obvious one, that of paying for all those tickets, has been covered by my parents who emailed the day after I took a first pass at ticket prices and said they had already a few days ago decided to give us enough money to cover what my first take was with a little bit left over.

We're working through a humanitarian aid travel agency who is helping us to get better rates on our tickets because of our reason for traveling, and particularly for Krassi's one-way ticket since those tend to be pricier. He found us some very reasonable rates on flights that leave on the 6th and return on the 14th, and leave us even more of that chunk of money left over to put toward hotel and meals for the week.

But, it turns out that my friend can't leave on the 6th, but would need the 7th if she were able to go. And even that is up in the air as her husband has to be out of town through the 10th, so she needs someone to care for her kids while she's gone if she's going to be able to come at all. She is, of course, out of town right now, so is trying to get in touch with people who may be able to cover for her, but in the meantime the clock is ticking, and we have to choose by tomorrow whether or not to secure these tickets that are being held for us, or not, and if so, for how many of us??

This morning I got an email from the travel agent saying he found flights that would let us leave on Saturday the 7th instead of the 6th! Hurdle number one is gone. Now we are asking and waiting for God to move in the next 24 hours before I have to confirm the tickets, in hopes that my friend will be able to join us!

Because as it turns out, we have good reason to want another adult on this trip. ;) (More on that later, hopefully, but I have to keep making supper now while Reu and Rin are sleeping!)

And this is as good a place as any to tag on that friends of ours who we saw spur-of-the-moment yesterday gave us $252 towards getting Krassi. ;) God is so good. I have this funny feeling that we're going to be able to pull this trip off without needing to dip very far at all into our tight checking account, which is feeling even tighter after writing two big checks this week to the framer and the concrete contractor, and knowing that there's a big one for the siding, roofing, trim order that's been delivered over the last few weeks. That's three REALLY big checks in really close proximity.

[I'm adding to this now that supper is simmering and little ones are still napping!]

Way back when this started in April of last year, I remember thinking that it was crazy for a family of our resources to consider adopting. Adopting is expensive! But we were beyond certain that God had directed us to walk that way, so we did. And all the doors were slammed in our faces because...we didn't make enough money. So we took that as a "wait" and decided that when that barrier was gone we would know to keep walking. God took that lull in the adoption pursuit to introduce an even bigger (financially) proposition - even more seemingly impossible for us to accomplish - add on to our home to make room for his mother (and since we're adding on, do it "right" and look forward to what the future may hold for our family), and he was directing us to do it without incurring any debt. Completely insane. And we wavered on that one, and it was only through a technicality that we did not get around to asking Matt's mom if she would lend us the money to do the work before we heard that Matt would inherit a chunk of money after his Dad's passing last summer. (I remember thinking, borrowing from family isn't the same as borrowing from a bank, right, God? and all the while just not being completely settled about it. He had been clear - you do this without debt. But I couldn't figure how we were going to do it. Remember my favorite verse? (one of them) "Anything that does not come from faith is sin"? By his grace he dumped a bunch of money into our laps before we had time to pursue other routes.) And it was mere weeks after that when we learned that our assets could be applied to our income to qualify to adopt.

And that's where we were as we began 2013. On Dec 31, 2012 we took out as much of Matt's inherited IRA as we could for that tax year. We took out more in spring, and just last week took out the last bit we could for this tax year. And I'm looking at that thinking, it's not enough. Not if we want to have a toilet in the bathroom, and sheetrock on any of the walls (even just thinking of the upper level where Matt's mom will be living)! Once we get into 2014, we can take out the last bit of the IRA, and we'll be able to finish most of the rest, but right now every dollar we spend is thinking about that line in the sand: is this a purchase we can put off until 2014? And I have to remind myself that even my attitude in that is a way to honor or dishonor God. He has brought us this far, and has done it in many ways that have been very unexpected to us. How can we think that he's not going to be able to finish the work?

I think God delights in putting us in humanly impossible circumstances because then we get to recognize him more clearly when he works. ;)

whirlwind

As we expected, everything is moving so fast this week that I scarcely have time to think, much less take photos, download them, upload them, and then say things about them in a coherent fashion!

But then again, maybe a photo will save me some words. This is a now-out-of-date photo of the house with the upper level end walls up. It's out of date because at the moment the upper landing walls and all of the trusses are also in place!! Thursday we get sheathing, and then I can begin roofing. Apparently I get to do this by myself because neither Matt nor Chad feels particularly comfortable on steep roofs, and I still have enough balance and flexibility left from years of ballet (or else am just dumb enough after years of sleep deprivation!) that I'm okay with it. ;)

 Today was another "pump it up" day as Matt finished all the fittings for the main level radiant heat tubing. Can you believe I don't have any intermediate photos of that for you? You'll just to have to use your imagination. It looks a lot like the basement did before the concrete went in there. Our trusty bike pump and Matt together pumped 60 pounds of pressure into probably 800 feet of 1/2" tubing and a few hours into it we'd only lost a half pound of pressure. We've got to hold it for 12 hours, and last time the inspector was satisfied with 59 pounds. He comes at 7:30 tomorrow morning, and concrete at 8:30.

 Reuben really likes the plastic hammer he got for his birthday. Today he was banging as hard as he could because he learned he could make the top half of the pounding part come loose if he does this and then Owen fixes it for him. He got a kick out of this every time!

 Here's Rinnah watching the big boom truck deliver some trim and shingles!

 And this is where Owen and Leah sat to watch. ;) They love climbing all over the new house.

Today I also made my first attempt at airline tickets for the trip to pick up Krassi, and [gulp] came up with $5600, NOT including Krassi's one-way ticket home. I've contacted someone who works with adoptive parents in helping them to secure humanitarian rates, particularly for the one-way flight, so things are very much still up in the air on that. (ha ha!) (Wait. Maybe that's not really so funny, but it caught my funny bone at this hour of the night after this whirlwind of a week. Can you believe it's only Tuesday??)

How cool to get home from a meeting at church tonight to find a cryptic email from my dad suggesting that there may be help in funding those tickets. God has proven himself so faithful and so very creative in finding ways to funnel incredible amounts of money through our checking account this year, and yet I'm reminded so often of how very time-bound we are, and how every moment we have to wait is a moment to honor God by trusting in him or to dishonor him by fretting and worrying. So every moment I get to choose how I will live. I think that's why "walking by faith" is such an appropriate phrase. Walking is so very step by single step by single step, moment by moment by moment, not by miles or hours, weeks, or days.

Did I ever mention that two Sundays ago we came home from church only to find an envelope addressed to our family had been stuck into the diaper bag at some point during the morning? Inside was a card and $200 cash. We have NO idea who gave us this gift, but we do know Who directed them to give, and are so grateful for His provision and their obedience.

Travel dates

We got an email this morning with our dates - we are set to pick up Krassi from his orphanage on Monday, September 9th!!

the big picture

We got together with old friends tonight (our yearly college Bible study reunion) and realized that if some of them were having trouble placing where the addition is located in relation to our existing house, that maybe other people were, too. This of course is no help if you've never seen our house, but for reference, this is what the big picture looks like as of this evening.

You may notice that the work on the upper level that I talked up last Friday doesn't look like much. It doesn't. At least not from the ground. But if you look out those double windows in the existing upstairs, you can see the two fully framed, sheathed and wrapped end walls laying there just waiting, supposedly, for tomorrow. Our framer, for obvious reasons, doesn't want those two walls standing up like flags in the wind with nothing to support them, so he's got them ready and plans to put in a really long day tomorrow putting them up, building the supporting side walls, and putting up the rest of the trusses. Now that should be an exciting day!

Friday work

Lots happened today. The back-filling started promptly at 6:58am. It's really neat to see the house sitting into the ground instead of floating pink in its hole.

This is just the rough grading - when they're back to pour concrete for the main level next Wednesday or Thursday and the soil has had a chance to dry out a bit he'll work it a little bit more. The house is now a LOT safer for little people to be milling around! That means we made it through weeks of a big tempting hole in the ground without anyone falling in!!!

And remember those trusses that were scheduled to be delivered in the afternoon so the grading work would be done and they could be set down nice and close to the house? Well, apparently time works differently in the construction world and 9:30am counts as "afternoon." Once again we're grateful for neighbor Larry's willingness to let us take over his yard and driveway. He has a simple stipulation - as long as he can get his truck and trailer in and out whenever he wants to, he's fine with pretty much anything else. So the trusses are waiting there in Larry's driveway behind the big pile of limestone we pulled out of Larry's retaining wall which is now filled in with lots and lots of dirt that we didn't have to pay to truck out. What incredible provision in so many ways!!!

Matt also made great progress on putting down the 1.5" rigid insulation that will go under the concrete on the main level. Leah decided to bring a book out and enjoy the new living room while Daddy worked. I'm standing on the entry landing looking up toward her and in the background you can see our existing house with the siding pulled off. That window will come out eventually and become the doorway between the old and the new.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a big day - supposedly our framer will be here to start putting up the end-wall trusses (with the walls underneath) and start the final push to get this thing weather tight!

bullets 2/2

Let's see if I give myself 10 minutes (not including photo uploading time, during which I can be doing something else) if I can get this blog up to date!

- All six of us were out in the basement running more wires Saturday afternoon. Notice Reuben wearing his new tool belt and wielding his new plastic hammer.

- Notice that stairs are rough framed from the basement to the entry landing and from the landing to the main level. This makes the basement less useful as a large confined play space, but also makes navigating a LOT easier!

- Four cuties on the main level in the space that will someday be the fireplace wall.

- A new way to stay occupied - sit on the pile of scrap wood and watch the sump pump run nearly continuously after Monday's rains

-  Fast forward to today: Matt and I worked on finishing up the skirt board that runs around the house at the point where the dirt will abut the house. This is pretty neat stuff - made of PVC, so moisture is a non-issue, and we can just run it right into the dirt. Most siding materials need to be at least 6" above grade, so this should help the house sit nicely into the ground (since with a wood foundation wall we can't just leave the foundation exposed like you can with concrete. Anyway, who wants pink stuff showing at the bottom of your house???)

This is a good view of the PVC skirt running along the office at an angle. I'm excited for how the office will nestle right into the ground.

 - There's my 10 minutes. Let's see - just a few more photos, and Matt's finally getting his shower, so I'll try to finish up...

- Leah found a great sized hammer that tucked into the hammer holder of her overalls (dressing like mom today) and she was searching out stray staples in the Tyvek.

 - Next we moved upstairs to the main level to begin putting up the foam strips that will serve as both thermal break and concrete form for the main level floor which is getting poured next week. Days like these are really fun days - part of the work where we can all hang out together in the same place. The big kids can do real help, I can help with an adult is needed, and the little two can play and run around. I have a feeling that with a cozy blanket Krassimir will find his place on days like these before too long!

Uh-oh - Reuben found a "big boy" hammer. Thankfully he remembered his 'only tap on wood' rule

Owen was cutting up foam scraps and the other three were pretending they were sponges for cleaning the floor.

- Coming up:
   - tomorrow morning the excavator comes back to backfill (I have two more plants I want to move before this happens. Ha.)
   - tomorrow afternoon the trusses get delivered (thankfully on the "2 week" side of "2-3 weeks")
   - while all that's happening Matt and Owen will start laying rigid insulation on the floor of the main level and marking for the radiant tubing
   - Saturday our framer plans to start framing up the upper level now that he'll have the trusses
   - hopefully early next week the upper level framing will be nearly complete and Matt and I (read, "Andrea, who's more flexible and less uncomfortable on roofs than Matt") will get tar paper on the roof so it's water tight
   - Wednesday morning we have the inspection of the radiant tubing (think "under pressure")
   - later that morning (or Thursday) the concrete for the main level will get poured!
   - windows get delivered Friday morning!
   - Friday our contractor friend from up north will come down in the evening ready to install windows over the weekend

And by that weekend we should know our travel dates to go get Krassi. And then begins the rush to get the house completely tight on the exterior - shingles need to go on, siding needs to go on - we'll be looking for male friends who can do some of the heavy lifting (4x10 sheets of siding material for some parts of the house) that I'm just not strong enough to help Matt put up. It would be fantastic (though maybe not possible) to have the roofing and the majority of the siding done before Krassi comes home. We'll see what happens. ;)

bullet points, 1/2

I'm WAY behind on updating on the house. I think that's partly because the news on Krassi over the last week has been much more significant, but also because we've been working so much on the house that there haven't been a lot of minutes left to post. Matt and I are both trying to get our work-work done (we're both self employed, with three small businesses between the two of us) as well as get house work done. And do dishes and laundry sometimes, too. ;) But tonight Matt and Owen are out picking stuff up from Menards, and Reuben is having a hard time settling down to sleep, so at times like that it works best to have someone close to his video monitor on the computer, which means I might as well share a bit of what's been going on!

- first of all, here is a slightly better picture of the proof that the addition really is attached to the main house.

- Reuben's favorite thing to do with the new addition is bang rocks on it. He's thankfully learned from us that he can't bang on the pink insulation, but only on the wood.

tap tap tap

tap tap tap tap

- My parents came up for an extended visit to get some work done last week. Apparently I was too busy working to take many photos.

Here's my mom sanding the piece of wood that will be inlaid in the main level concrete floor. (See photos at the bottom of this post)

This is the closest I have to a picture of my dad - three beautifully installed can light housings! (He and Matt got a good start on the electrical in the basement - definitely enough to give Matt some confidence to move forward alone.)

Rinnah was helping Grandma sweep off the dust.

And Reuben appears to have fallen asleep, so I'd better head downstairs and do some of my work-work! This post gets us updated through noon on August 3rd. There are five more days worth of progress that I will try to get to soon!

Well, I suppose to be fully updated to noon on the 3rd, we need a photo of Reuben with his birthday cake. ;)

Little man had four seizures before his party - more than he had in the whole month of July. You never know. So he wasn't that enthused about the party, with the exception of the hot dogs!

The cake was BLUE! He picked out the mix, which is a big deal for a guy who usually doesn't much care.