A Natural Stone Fireplace

 We now have a working fireplace at our place. It is so fun to use to make a fire to both warm us up and to watch as it flickers so merrily. What a pleasure it is!

The fireplace is thanks mostly to my brother-in-law Travis. He is married to my older sister Anna and they live in the Twin Cities. Travis now works for the railroad but he used to work in Masonry and when we said that we wanted to put a fireplace in our house he volunteered to do it. That was a pretty wonderful gift.

  We wanted a natural stone fireplace and we decided to do one with an insert (it doesn't take the months/years to make that a true masonry fireplace can). Ken ordered the insert and the kids and I were in charge of collecting rocks. We went through all the piles of dirt that were dug out of our basement and found many rocks. We also went and looked for rocks over in my parents pasture area. We also made many a trip to a farmer friend's rock piles and hauled a bunch of trailer loads from there. This summer/fall rock hauling helped to build up our muscles. :-) Even though we didn't use all the rocks Travis needed to have plenty of selection as some don't work as well as others.

Mara and Margaret

Back in September Travis and Anna and family came for around a week and laid the foundation for the fireplace and also got the fireplace itself started. Travis did pretty nearly all the laying of rock. My nephew Harrison mixed up the mortar, Our Contractor, Ken, Travis and my brother Peter and me a little built the frame and we ladies (Anna, my niece Margaret, Mara and I) hauled rocks, cleaned rocks, brushed the mortar and did what we could to be of assistance. Others including my brother Luke also came one Saturday that I was gone and helped with the work on it. Many hands helped in some way on this project.

Peter working on the frame

Anna and Travis

 It was so fun to watch the fireplace go up. It was kind of hard for me to be able to envision just what it would look like ahead of time and so it was a fun surprise to see it basically completed.

 Cleaning up the mortar.

 The hearth was the last step.

 The last day that Anna and Travis were here we ran out of mortar. There was just this small spot that didn't have enough. I was actually glad of it though as Ken's parents were coming later that week and I thought that it would be fun to have them bring a small rock to put into our fireplace. I already had a rock from my parents land (can you find the heart shaped one near the middle) and thought one from Nevada would be neat as well. Ken's parents brought a really unique and pretty crystal one that they had found on one of their hikes (they like to collect rocks when hiking) in Nevada. The picture above shows me putting that rock in and finishing putting the mortar in.

 We sure have enjoyed being able to have a fire!

 We do still need to add the mantelpiece but it is already cut - it just is drying more. My Dad has a sawmill and so He, Travis and Peter worked to make some lumber and mantelpieces (more than one just in case) from a really big tree that we had to cut down in order to build our house.  I also need to clean the fireplace and am planning to using an acid that will help to even out the color of the mortar (because it was laid in various conditions - including rain- it has variations of color) and it will clean the rock too. I am also thinking about sealing it to give it more of a "wet" look but am not sure if I really want to do that or not. If you have an opinion on that I would love to hear it.

This project took a lot of time (Thanks again so very much to all those that worked on it!!!) but I think it was worth it. It will be enjoyed for many years to come!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well the eating is over for the day, so is the visiting, music and game playing. What still remains is a very thankful heart! God has blessed us so very much - there is no way I can thank Him for everything. Today at the nursing home my Mother-in-law and I sang "My Tribute" by Andrae Crouch and the words in it are really fitting to how I feel. It starts: "How can I say thanks for all the things You have done for me? Things so undeserved yet You gave to prove Your love for me. The voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude......." Here is a Gaither recording of it if you want to hear the song.

  Try as I might I will never be able to express my gratitude. It is beyond me but that doesn't mean I am not going to try. :-)

   I thought here tonight - on Thanksgiving Day in 2014 I would share fourteen things that I am thankful for. I could list 2014 things but that might take a while and it would be pretty long to read. I did list over that amount this year so far in my Thanksgiving section of my prayer journal.

My dad and brothers singing a song of Thankfulness in church on Sunday.

Here is my list:

1. A Heavenly Father who loves me and has provided for my salvation through His son Jesus Christ. There is no greater gift.
2. A wonderful family. A loving husband, 4 wonderful children to enjoy and laugh with and love, parents, in-laws, siblings and their families and the list goes on and on. Family is wonderful!
3. The Church - the body of Christ. I am so thankful to get to be a part of it.
4. God's word. Instructions for life that never go out of date.
5. A warm home to live in. (After living in a chilly garage for a while this holds new meaning)
6. Music. Music is a wonderful part of our life. Something we can use to worship our Lord, something that our family and friends can enjoy together. We have found it to be a tool to bring sunshine into other's lives which then also brings sunshine into ours.
7. An indoor flushing toilet. After 3 months of outhouse use - we got a toilet on Monday and we are pretty excited! Our temperatures today were generally below zero and so that made us especially thankful for getting to stay indoors for this.
8. Written Words. We sure love books and we also have been enjoying writing too. I love seeing my children write. It is exciting how they might be able to use their writing to spread God's good news.
9. Work. I am thankful that God has given us purpose here on Earth. I enjoy being able to use my energy and work and accomplish things for Him.
10. Water. Having our own water from our own well now is pretty exciting. 
11. Health. We have been very blessed to be pretty healthy.
12. Beauty. There is beauty around us all the time if we look for it. I am thankful that God choose to make things beautiful not just functional.
13. Abundant provision of all that we need.
14. Sleep - that is what I am looking forward to right now. Goodnight! :-)

 

Thanksgiving!

  For my morning devotions I was reading in Psalm chapter 50 this morning and it has a passage that really goes along with this Thanksgiving week and I would like to share it with you.

It says:

   "Hear, O My people, and I will speak;

O Israel I will testify against you;

I am God, your God.

I do not reprove you for your sacrifices,

and your burnt offerings are continually before Me.

I shall take no young bull out of your house

nor male goats out of your folds.

For every beast of the forest in Mine,

The cattle on a thousand hills.

I know every bird of the mountains,

and everything that moves in the field is Mine.

If I were hungry I would not tell you,

for the world is Mine, and all it contains.

Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats?

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving

and pay your vows to the Most High;

Call upon me in the day of trouble;

I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me."

Psalm 50:7-15

 Our God owns everything. What He does really want from us is our thanks. Do you do that every day? It is something that we need to remember far more often than just the 4th Thursday in November.

Out of the Dust {A book Review}

A while back I was privileged to receive and read the book "Out of the Dust" by Avis Goodhart with Marti Pieper. It is the story of an "Unlikely Missionary" - Avis.

  The book was very interesting to read. It tells about Avis' growing up years and some of the hardships she went through. She had a Father who struggled with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from his time in the war and since he thought people were always watching them and about to get them they would move from place to place- sleeping in their car or wherever they could find a bed. As one who had a very stable childhood it is hard for me to imagine a life like that where there may not be food for the next meal or a bed for the night.

  The book also briefly touches on the sexual molestation that she had to face as a child from an uncle. That sort of thing is so hard for me to read - it just turns my stomach. I wish that no child (or anybody) ever would have to go through something like that. Avis tells of her early marriage and then also a divorce before long.

   A hard, hard life and we might wonder how God will use someone that has had to go through so much and just feels broken but what is super cool and awesome is that He can. He specializes in restoring lives and making lives brand-new.

   The book goes on to tell of Avis finding peace in God and then being able to reach out to others through teaching (special ed) and then of her desire to go to other countries to be a missionary and how God brought that about and how he was able to use her to do some pretty cool things where she went.

Our God is so good! He can work in truly amazing ways! It was very neat to read how Avis allowed God to work through her life. May you and I also be open to letting God work through us!

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Making the Most of My Time

A cool snow thing that we saw last year - we don't have this
 much snow yet this year but the accumulation has started.

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15 & 16

This verse always serves to inspire me. To make me do a little pondering on my life and my actions and thinking about if I am really walking wisely and making the most of my time. Time is a precious gift and one that we will never get back again. Please join me in trying to use our time in the best way possible this week.

  Can I share God's love with others? Can I be the example to my children that God wants me to be? Can I respect and help Ken the way that God wants me to? Those are some of the ways I hope to make the most of my time this week.

We're In!

 It's been a quiet week on this blog because we have had a lot going on. We made the move from the Garage to the House. The house is not done (still no toilets, sinks or showers - but we can get water from the pressure tank or the outside faucets) but it is warm and our garage was not. The temperature the last couple days we were in there did not manage to get out of the 40's (inside- the outside was in the single digits some of the time) which is just a little too cool for living comfortably.

   We have set up living quarters in the basement while we work to get the upstairs done. The current project for the house is mudding and taping the drywall which we have professionals doing. They said they should be done with that and ready for me to paint around Wednesday.

We also have the fireplace project moving forward. My sister and brother-in-law and their family are up from the cities and my brother-in-law is laying the stone with we ladies (my niece, my sister,  Mara and I) helping as we can while my nephew makes the mortar. It has been very fun to see this project progress.

  I would share more pictures but the computer that I usually use is still hooked up in the garage (and I just don't feel like trying to blog in frigid temperatures) and so I am using Ken's laptop and don't have pictures uploaded to it so I just have this one which I took from Ken's facebook page.
 

We are supposed to get our internet switched to the house on Monday and so hopefully someday soon I will be able to blog regularly again as my fingers will not feel like they are freezing. However regular blogging may have to wait until walls are painted, floors are down and we don't have company. We are excited to have Ken's parents coming to visit next week. We are hoping we will be able to get one of the upstairs rooms ready before they come (at least ready enough) and that we will have a water heater, shower and toilet!

Have a wonderful week!