Changes

So much has happened in the last week ... in a sense my life has completely changed again. I've had fairly constant company for the last couple of weeks. Since my sister left I've had a family living here on an indefinite but temporary basis. They have 2 sons that are close in age to my boys so there's been the extra fun and challenges of having playmates around. The family sleeps in B's camper which is now parked in my driveway but most meals we share. It's working out pretty good.

My brother and his wife were here for almost a full week. They arrived Saturday June 28th and left the morning of the 4th. They were able to share a bit about their ministry in Bangladesh in church and we had a good time visiting.

Thursday evening we had a cookout at B's - that being the last night they were here. There was quite a crowd - B, Dipstick, B's parents, Squirrel, Stretch, me, my brother N and his wife I, Ginger and her two boys (hubby was at work), Suz, her hubby and 3 girls, B's stepson Jay (Ornery) and his daughter and Bob another friend who's heading up the construction at B's house. So food is ready and we gather for prayer. B leads - a huge step for him - and puzzles most everyone by his prayer. When it's over he gets on his knees in front of me and asks me to marry him. I was absolutely speechless though of course I said yes. For the rest of the evening I was pretty much useless as far as serving anyone or making decisions. Even though there was plenty of food I ended up hungry at bedtime I was that distracted. Thankfully Suz took over cooking, serving and everything else - including finding someone else to do my driving run that was scheduled for later that night. There was much 4 wheeler riding, eating, laughing and fellowship going on - in addition to several very very muddy exhausted children by the end of the evening.

Friday was a relatively quiet day. N and I. left around 10:00 am and made it home about 8:30 that evening. Stretch and I went to B's to help move stuff out of the remainder of the downstairs to prepare for Saturday. We went to Suz's that evening to watch fireworks with part of her family and friends. The picture below was taken when Ginger and I arrived Saturday morning. Saturday we worked...tearing off the roof and walls out at B's. He started at 8:00 am and we didn't stop for the day until well after 7:00 pm. Things look a lot different up there - ready, I think, for reconstruction to start. This picture shows what things looked like when we quit at the end of the day. We have just over 6 weeks until school starts again and 8 weeks or so to plan and pull together a wedding. Hopefully construction will be finished by then also though it already has taken longer than expected to get to this point.

The boys - for the most part - are excited about us. Dipstick definitely is thrilled as is Stretch. Squirrel is taking a bit more time to think things over but he's coming around. It helps that he is not being forced to change school districts and Suz has a pretty good insight into how his mind works. "Ornery" even approves. (And there's as much of a story behind that nickname as there is the others'.) There is a couple possibly interested in my place even though it's not "officially" on the market yet. It would be absolutely wonderful if it sold quickly and at a reasonable price.