Let the Building Begin!!

So my mom and I are trying to entertain 5 kids this summer!! My two, Abby 6, Maddy 3 and then my two nieces and my nephew. Sarah is 7, Katie just shy of being 5 and then Sione 3. We go to the library, go swimming in the backyard, work in the garden, go to the park and well anything else we can think of to keep them occupied!! Here are a few pics from the park the other day.

Sione, Sarah, Katie, Abby and Madison
Last weekend, my brother-in-law Dan came over to help Matt get the safe room started. Here they are laying blocks. I think Matt said they need 11 rows. We have 6 rows done. It is very tedious because they have to be very level. It will all be worth it when we know we have a safe place to go during tornado warnings. So as soon as the safe room is done, they will start working on the rest of the house.

Phase One.....Complete!!

Papa waiting for the concrete to come down the shoot. My dad was such a trooper. We started pouring at 2:00 and Matt does not get home until 4:00. So for two hours he only had my mom and I to help. I have to say I have learned a few things about pouring concrete and I think I am bound to learn a lot more about construction as this project moves forward. However, I don't think I will be leaving nursing for construction anytime soon.
Maddy modeling on the new concrete. By the way, she dressed herself :)
The lighter area is the porch, and the dark area is the two new bedrooms and safe room. I couldn't get a good shot of all of it. As you can see, Matt has taken the siding off a portion of the house because, well
This is what a concrete truck will do to your yard. Nasty little ruts!!


Yesterday, we finished pouring the concrete. And yes, I helped....a little :) Anyways, now that we have the concrete done, we can start setting blocks for our safe room. Matt is building us a tornado safe room with a steal door and whatever else it takes to build a safe room. We are going to also keep all of Isabella's medical supplies in it along with back up discs of all of our photos and so on. You know, important stuff!! I am so excited about this new addition. I can't wait to get my girls out of their make shift bedroom that is really more like the size of a closet. They are going to love having all of the new space. Did I also mention, that we all share the same closet right now. So that will be nice to have a place for our clothes. So that is it for now. Hopefully I will have more pics over the weekend of more progress. Matt has a three day weekend so we should get a lot done!!

We have a porch

My dad pouring the footings
Maddy stopping to enjoy the flowers
Finishing the concrete
Leaving our mark. Notice Bella's little bitty foot.
So we have the porch poured, and now we are waiting for the rains to stop so we can pour the rest of it. I am ready to be done!!

Ava Rae Boeckman January 31, 2008-May 7, 2008

It is with a heavy heart that I post this about little Ava. Today she lost her fight and passed away. We love you Ava and you will never be forgotten. http://kadenboeckman.blogspot.com

7 Years of Marriage-April 28, 2001

A Wedding is for a Day....A Marriage is for a life Time
That was the basic theme for our wedding 7 years ago. We wanted to focus on a lifetime together. I remember in Matt's toast he talked about how he chose me because he knew I would be the mother of his children. I have often wondered what if God would have looked down on us that day and told us that if we were to marry that we would have to face some of the biggest trials in our lives. What if he would have told us we would have a child with special needs whom has come so close to loosing her life so many times?? Would we have walked away?? I like to think that no matter what we would have decided to face it together. Never did we imagine what the future was going to hold, but we would not change it for anything. And I can think of no better partner in life to take these challenges with. We have traveled down some really tough roads this last year, and I now know why people say that what we have gone through will either make us or break us. Well, to be honest, it has tried to break us time and time again, but I think in the long run it has made us stronger. It took us a long time to learn to lean on each other during the bad times. And still at times we forget to lean on each other, but at the end of everyday, we still have love. We choose to love each other everyday and it has gotten us through!!
So seven years have come and gone. They say the first seven years are the hardest!! So I guess that means the rest is easy sailing from here right??? But really, we are looking forward to another fifty or more years together. So HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY, I love you more than I could ever say.
Newly dating. Look at how young we look. These two pictures are from about 8 years ago!!
Engagement pics!! Again look at how young we look. I personally think this last year has aged us some!!

This was taken Friday night at my nephews B-day party.

Getting Ready for Concrete

Abby helping her daddy spread the rock. We have filled the new addition in with 60 ton of rock to help decrease the amount of concrete we will need.

Madison laying in what will be her new room. She kept telling her papa all day "That's my new room."



So as you can see the girls have been trying to help out. They are so cute out there helping daddy and papa. We are praying the weather will hold and that we will pour concrete next week!!

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Stay tuned for updated building project pics.

Milk

A young man had been to Wednesday Night Bible Study. T he Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice The young man couldn't help but wonder, 'Does God still speak to people?' After service, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways. It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, 'God...If you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey.' As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, 'God is that you?' He didn't get a reply and started on toward home. But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. 'Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.' It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home. As he passed Seventh Street , he again felt the urge, 'Turn Down that street.' This is crazy he thought, and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street . At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, 'Okay, God, I will.'He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi- commercial area of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed something, 'Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.' The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. 'Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.' Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the door, 'Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for some thing, but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here.' He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, 'Who is it? What do you want?' Then the door opened before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. 'What is it?' The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, 'Here, I brought this to you.' The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying, 'We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk.' His wife in the kitchen yelled out, 'I ask him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?' The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face.
He knew that God still answers prayers.

Again, thanks to my good friend Sherry for sharing this touching story with me!! Love you girl!!

The Silversmith

Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

" What does this statement mean about the character and nature of God? One of woman offered to find out the process of refining silver and share it with her bible study group.She made an appointment to watch a silversmith at work without mentioning the reason for her curiosity. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; Then she thought again about the verse: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time. The man answered yes, and that he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?' He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.' (IS THAT COOL OR WHAT? I love technology, but sometimes I wish we had a chance to observed more of these old-fashioned illustrations. Anyway sorry for the interruption!) If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His mage in you. Whatever you are going through, you will be a better person in the end.