Friday, December 12, 2008

A run down of all the constuction work...

Renovation and Remodeling have somewhat taken over our lives for this period of time. First of all, we got rid of the fort we have had for eight years in our backyard! Then, Dad called and made arrangements for a worker named Martin come to our house with his assistant, Louis. At first Sam, John, Mom and I were somewhat doubtful of these two. After we started bringing them lunch and water, they started conversing with us, and we got to be good friends. The first project they started on was a shed. It turned out to be pretty impressive. The only thing I thought took a turn for the worse was when we somehow decided to paint the shed grayish and lighter green. For all I know I could be the only one who didn’t like how it turned out! Martin and Louis also rebuilt another fence on top of our other one to block some of the road noise. The next day Dad, Mom, John, Sam and I painted the shed and stained the fence. John and Sam have done a lot to contribute to the building of everything has gone on.

The second project our workers started for us was the screened-in porch. The project seemed to get off to a slow start, but then it really took off the second week. Sam and I contributed to the project by painting the 20 boards we used for the ceiling and the walls. It took us a while at first; then we learned how to get faster as we went along. I am not kidding. Those boards were really heavy. (Even Sam agreed with me!) Dad, John and Sam creatively came up with the tile pattern (alternating between a little white square and a large grayish square – and a hint of dark red)! Then John, Sam and I hauled approximately 3,000 bricks from the truck into our backyard for the outside of the porch. Mom and Dad found an awesome door with a Texas Star on it for the door. The porch screens were the last thing to be added, seeing that they didn’t come in until we had been done with the porch for two days.

Louis left, and Martin then worked by himself to build his next project – a deck. He completed the deck really quickly, with a lot of help from John and Sam. Martin put in a bench so we could sit out on the deck and enjoy the nice weather, especially with all of the cool fronts coming through! Mom, Sam and Martin put up some pipes so after it rains the water would run off the new roof.

We as a family were up in Fredericksburg one evening eating at a restaurant when Dad noticed the lovely path made out of brick. He took a couple of pictures of the walkway and brought it back to Martin, and Martin built a wonderful replica of the path! Everyone who came over for Speech and Debate really liked it, and even some people in the Milk Co-op that Sam and I run, asked Martin for his number.

Mom, Sam and I left for Dallas the next week for debate, and when we came back Martin had made the most breath-taking and beautiful pathway with flag stone on the side of our house, from the backyard to the front!

Mr. Spradling came a couple of months after all of the renovations had ended and started on the landscaping. We went from having mud to having a beautiful and green backyard and front yard in two weeks. It was an amazing transformation. We had a lot of plants planted, so I am looking forward to watching the few flowers we did plant bloom! When Mom had Samuel and me, the lawn sort of got forgotten and the sprinkler system broke. So, we had Angel come and fix them. They are now working great, thanks to him!

~s. jane

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Being Thankful...

First of All,



Happy Thanksgiving!! :) Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."



During this season our thoughts should be on God. Mom was talking to one of the workers (working at my neighbors house) yesterday, she asked him what he was doing for Thanksgiving. He mentioned that his family was having turkey and celebrating the fall season. He didn't mention anything about the real reason we celebrate Thanksgiving - the Pilgrims and our thankfulness to God.



Funny how this culture has gradually gotten rid of the the "Pilgrims" and "Thankfulness to God." Though I do hesitate to say funny - it is actually more depressing than funny.



The children in the schools are now being taught about scare-crows or pumpkins and fall things, but nothing referring back to the Creator of this whole plan.

The One who had in plan that the Pilgrims would move from the comfort of their homes and come to "The New World." Many of who in the effort to leave were either, separated from their families or deceived by the captains of their ships and given in to the English Church.



Without the pilgrims separating from the church of England and being brave enough to come to a world where they would face new problems and turmoils, we wouldn't be here!!!



So, let's try to be thankful for all the Lord has done and to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ...


Psalm 69:30 says, "I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving."

Psalm 95:2 says, "Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."

~ s. jane

Monday, November 24, 2008

Construction on the house! (part 5) - Landscaping and Walkways

Our new walkway up to the house!
Landscaping in the front yard







more landscaping....












The Shed
A view from the side of the yard to the backyard.











The shed one more time.... :D








~s. jane

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Construction on the house! (part 4) - Landscaping

Mr. Spradling and his men put in grass and plants for us! More pictures of the greenery to come... :)



























~s. jane

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Baby Is Born!


Lucy's baby was born last night about 9:30 PM, at the hospital in New Braunfels. Cody and Lucy went in for their regular check-up yesterday morning and stayed to have the baby last evening. The boy's name is Chandler Welch Carnett!! He weighed in at 8 lbs. 1 oz. Mr. and Mrs. Welch, Cody and Lucy and the Mike Carnett family are grateful for your prayers and ask you to continue to pray for Lucy as she recovers from the birth.

~Praise the Lord! :)
-- s. jane

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Construction on the house! (part 3)

The Beautiful Tile Work!! :)























































~s. jane

Monday, November 3, 2008

Construction on the house! (part 2)







We put up new boards so that it would block the road noise a little bit.
































The shed was the first project that our worker did for us.




Sam and I coated all of the ceiling wood with kilz! It got really fun, after we figured out the secret to "painting" fast! (extra sibling bonding I guess).


The wood pile/trash pile that grew and grew

Installing fans, a needed accessory in TX!


Excellent brick work done by our worker, Martin and unloaded by John, Sam and I! I think we unloaded in total about 3,000 bricks....something like that.

The tile before we put it in the porch.

We put in tile flooring outside. This pattern was Dad's idea. Way to go dad! (More pictures of tile to come. :D )
~s. jane