1) a very large maple that is in the middle of where the living room will be
2) a smaller mountain ash that's kind of been on its way out over the last few years and whose roots will be disturbed by the excavation for the office
3) a black walnut and
4) some other tree, both of which are in the place where we're hoping to ditch a lot of the dirt from the excavation to avoid the costs of hauling it away
Today Matt and Owen took down and cleaned up tree #2 and took down #4, but don't have it totally cleaned up and out of the way because we're hoping maybe we can find an alternate way of disposing of that. Besides, there wasn't time to finish it up before supper.
We have tentative plans for our small group people to come over on Sunday afternoon to take out the big one. Lots of busy chain saws... but getting that down ourselves will save a few hundred dollars that we don't have to pay a tree service to do the work, and we have a nice rope, a big truck, and a friend who's done tree work for a job in the past, so we have the brains to do it right and safely.
It's funny. One of the things that I was hesitant about when we were beginning to pursue adoption was how our kids (especially Owen and Leah) would react to the idea. Matt and I realized that we couldn't let their potential emotional response prevent us from following where God was directing us to go, but needed instead to trust that he would only lead us in ways that were good, and even if that meant bitterness and jealousy in our children, that even those could be used by him to bring them to a point where they would joyfully learn to trust him. God uses all sorts of ways to get the attention of his people! So with those fears, it was so neat to see and to continue to see the way they are eagerly anticipating K's arrival as part of our family.
But I never anticipated that we *would* get those emotions with the house addition. You would be amazed how much consternation the cutting down of these trees has caused around here! Even today before Matt and Owen went out to start the work on the mountain ash Owen's face started to wobble, and he had to come over for a great big hug from mom before he could gather himself to go cut it down. Leah watched from the window bawling, though pulled herself together long enough to go out and get a picture sitting in it one last time.
Here's a view after it's down...this shot also gives you a good look at the large maple (I can't say "huge" because we have other "huger" trees in our yard, but it's still awfully big!) that's hopefully coming down on Sunday. That one's going to be tough to lose. It's our air conditioning all summer long being right on the west side of the house, and also serves as a great privacy screen in the summer - our bedroom is the pair of large windows upstairs. (Reuben's little room-in-the-eave has the little square window.) And it's just a beautiful tree.
And here's one last picture I took after helping Matt and Owen pull on the rope to get the second tree of the day down, but before they cut it up and moved it to the side. Owen's a champion worker most days - notice how he just gets right in there and starts getting to work with his loppers? There's a lot of work in that small kid.
Every little step makes it feel more real. Still hard to believe all of this is really going to happen this summer!!
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