If you are reading this...................

Drywall guys are here! (applause)

But....we are having trouble finding help to put on siding.

Oh you are so clever, you guessed it before I wrote it.

I will be helping with siding.

BIG, BIG, SIGH.

Really I don't think it will be as bad as putting in insulation.

That was horrible and itchy and my sinuses still haven't recovered. Those wonderful high ceilings will be great when our stuff comes and we will have lots of storage space over the garage doors.

But when you have to put the insulation up you curse the day you built them so high.

I am really sorry that my posts seem so random and all it seems I am posting is updates to the remodel/build on to the house. That is just how mushy my brain is lately. I am doing physical work that has left me no time for coherent thought.

Except one.

I will be glad when this project is over.

I hope to post pictures later today or tomorrow.

We are having a 'real' Fall!

The temperature was in the 40s last night and today it is in the 60s. The trees are turning and leaves are falling--oh I love Fall!
The mountains are beautiful this time of year and the sky is so clear. I love the view from our front porch!

We have a terrific view of White Top Mt. from our porch so on Sunday we drove up to see the view from there. It is about the same elevation as Denver, CO and it is so interesting to see the difference in the Rocky Mts. and Appalachian Mts. at that elevation. There are more deciduous trees on White Top and lots of beautiful undergrowth. It was a lot like the Redwood forest in California, except not nearly as big. The ferns and moss were beautiful under the trees. There is also a 'bald' spot where people hike to the side of the mountain and the view is gorgeous. We are going again on Sunday afternoon to hike since we had not gone prepared to do that last Sunday.

It has been a very long week. Tracy had a spot of skin cancer removed from his temple on Monday. We were at the Dr's office for three hours and he now has another lovely scar to go with his others.

I painted the garage doors and the exterior doors on Wednesday with help from my momma. We had a great time and the doors look really good.

Siding was delivered yesterday and Tracy is excited to get started on it. I dread staining it but I am really anxious to see what the exterior will look like when it is finished.

The building inspector came this week, and we passed, so Tracy could move on to the insulation. YUCK! It was so hot the first day he worked in it but yesterday and today have been much cooler.

And our little kitten died.
I think we all knew she wouldn't live long but it was a shock. She had been doing so well, and was playful and kitten like, then we found her having seizures. It was very sad. The veterinarian had told me that sometimes a mother cat will reject a kitten because she knows they won't live or have something wrong with them that we just can't see. I think that was probably the case with Elsie. But we loved her, and made her comfortable, and did all we could for her, so we are at peace. Tracy and Anna buried her in the woods and Anna made her a little grave marker.

So...things are still moving along here. I don't think I have been this busy in many years. There is always SO much to do.

Oh! and we went to the County Fair! It was the first time we had been to this one in at least twenty years. It was lots of fun to see the exhibits and the animals. Tracy talked to tractor salesmen but we are still undecided about the type of tractor to buy.

This is a great article by Steve Saint.

It sums up how Tracy and I feel about short term missions and how western Christians go into a country and think they know what is best for the people there.
I particularly like what he says about orphanages.

Doors

The really big challenge for me was making the transition from high school to college. People with autism have tremendous difficulty with change. In order to deal with a major change such as leaving high school, I needed a way to rehearse it, acting out each phase in my life by walking through an actual door, window, or gate. When I was graduating from high school, I would go and sit on the roof of my dormitory and look up at the stars and think about how I would cope with leaving. It was there I discovered a little door that led to a bigger roof while my dormitory was being remodeled. While I was still living in this o1d New England house, a much larger building was being constructed over it. One day the carpenters tore out a section of the o1d roof next to my room. When I walked out, I was now able to look up into the partially finished new building. High on one side was a small wooden door that led to the new roof. The building was changing and it was now time for me to change too. I could relate to that. I had found the symbolic key.
From Thinking in Pictures by Dr. Temple Grandin expanded edition 2006

I keep thinking of this quote as we are in this major transition of life.

We are closing the door on our Military Life. On the life of moving and deployments and TDYs and uniforms and haircuts.

And opening the door to home in one place, moving if we want to and not because we have to, tractors and gardens, and civilian employment.

I am not autistic, nor do I think visually, but I love the analogy of the door and find myself better able to transition when I think in analogies.

Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

Talkin' to myself and feelin' old
Sometimes I'd like to quit
Nothing ever seems to fit
Hangin' around
Nothing to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

What I've got they used to call the blues
Nothin' is really wrong
Feelin' like I don't belong
Walkin' around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

From Rainy Days and Mondays by The Carpenters

Sigh~


It rained all day today. The plumbers finished today and we got the
window out of the laundry room and put it in the garage. Tracy also
finished framing the hall and pantry walls. He got the door cut out
yesterday and things are progressing.

But I am a bit blue.

This has been a very hard move for us. So many things have happened
this year and we just haven't had time to really enjoy many of the
good things.

Tracy's retirement will be official on October 1 and it has been hard to
adjust to the fact that we won't be going back to 'that' life. For 20
years we have come here to Virginia for a visit and then returned to
our military life somewhere else. All summer it has felt like we
would be packing up any day and going home. Then the girls started
school and it really hit that we weren't leaving.

This is home now.
We really don't have to move unless we want to. That is hard to get used to. And in the times we might want to move it is hard to be content that we won't be leaving all our troubles behind.

And what am I learning through all of the changes and frustrations and waiting?
I am realizing all over again that contentment is not in your circumstances but in your heart. I am learning that it's okay not to be in a hurry all the time. I am remembering to enjoy the journey because I know I won't get those moments back again.
I really long to be like the Apostle Paul and say:

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11-13



Now I realize that I have never suffered persecutions or trials as great as so many have and do each day.

But I want to glorify God in the little moments of each day.

And that can be hard when the sun doesn't come out all day.
I am trying to keep thinking of the things that will grow after the rain, both literally and figuratively.

I have tried to edit this post and can't without rewriting the entire thing (not happening). Sometimes Blogger frustrates me. Please forgive the awkward line breaks-they are not intentional.

Three random things that are making me very happy

• Tracy accepted the job offer!

He is so excited and we are especially happy that the timing worked out so well. He may just have time to finish the house project before he starts training but, if not, he will have the majority of work finished by day one on the job.

• The kitten we adopted is getting better!

First I must say that I did not want a cat. Anna and I are allergic to them and can not have them in the house. However, we can have one outside here and did have one until about a week ago. It had been my Mom's cat and is sweet and pretty. She is a neat cat that actually climbed the ladder to the upstairs rooms over the new garage-climbed the ladder and jumped up there. We really liked her and I wanted to keep her here BUT she started roaming to other people's houses. That shouldn't be a problem unless you have neighbors who just don't like cats or are mean to them. So my parents took her to their house where they are going to keep her and they will let her stay inside some there.

So....that said, Anna took pity on a little kitten that had been rejected by it's mother. She was a runt and was very likely going to die. She was also VERY sick. She had many, many problems and the first night she was extremely listless and weak.
Honestly, I just thought we would be making her comfortable until she died and I couldn't say no to Anna's pity and compassion. The second day she was here we fed her regularly and by the third day she was a bit stronger so I took her the vet. The vet gave her a special high protein food, some antibiotics, and other medication and sent us home with a wait and see approach. The vet bill was not that expensive and she gave us something else that was priceless--Hope. She couldn't find any internal problems and said since she had already started to recover her strength without medication she may yet survive.
So, unless things change and she stops improving, we have a kitten.
She is much better today so we finally named her L.C. (for Lost Cause) and pronounce it as Elsie.

• Doors and windows are in and we are getting close to finishing this major project!

This is where the Hallelujah chorus would play if I had a soundtrack.
We have been waiting for what seems like an eternity for the doors and windows. Work had to slow down a bit until they were installed and I wanted to see my sun room with the windows!
It is beautiful!
I love it!
It will still be a day or so until the garage doors are installed but work on the bedroom addition can be done. The exterior wall that will be a hall into the bedroom hasn't been cut out yet. And the bath tub that has to be moved out of the future hallway has to be put into the new master bath so that the plumbers can finish their work this weekend.

Hopefully I will get a few pictures up in the next few days.