November 11th - finished sheeting the roof of the garage.
November 15th - Stephen's birthday (my younger brother is 33) and I'm putting shingles on the roof of the garage.
Here are a few more pictures from the 15th.
Our neighbor, Lynn Ingold, took this one. I can only imagine how many more steps I would have to take without Joel's help.
Carol has kept me supplied with hot chocolate or coffee (and conversation).
I thought the following picture that Laura took from the ladder was interesting because it makes it appear as though the pitch is much steeper than it really is.
November 19th - finished the roof, all accept for the cap (which was on back order). When I finally did get the cap and got it on, it started snowing just a couple of hours after I finished the shingles (that was on the 3rd of December).
Joel ordered some piano books with some money he had saved. He has been very diligent with his piano and has progressed very well in just under 5 months of lessons.
November 21st - my Mom wanted an updated picture of all the grandkids.Left to right:
John (5), Josiah (4), Grant (7), Gardner (5 months), Joel (10), Laura (9), Kara (2).
Thanksgiving week.
We went to Missouri. My folks were in N.C., but we stayed at their house and spent Thanksgiving Day with my Aunt and Uncle and family as well as my Grandma Deatrick. My friend Tim Kelly and I took a historical field trip to the grave of Nesbitt Nelson (an old Baptist pastor) and then found the original site of the Fox River Baptist Church - it is now under an exit ramp off of Highway 27 (called "Avenue of the Saints" and going from St. Louis to St. Paul) - knowing that the original church location is under the highway kind of gives a new and interesting interpretation to Avenue of the Saints. The Fox River Baptist Church was started by Jeremiah Vardeman in the 1st half of the 1800's. That church in turn started the 1st Baptist Church of Wayland (which is the church that my Dad now pastors).
December 8th - the school year is progressing for the older ones; all of them are growing (Joel is 15 pounds heavier than he was at the beginning of the year).
Kara is getting over a black eye - kind of yellowish now; she was a participant in some "rough housing" and met a chair up close - she is like John though, she only cried for about 20 seconds. I'm sure that you all are surprised that we ever have rough housing in our home. We had scheduled a family portrait for the next morning (to put in our Christmas letter); obviously the family picture has been postponed.
We took a trip to Lincoln on Tuesday (the 7th). Carol's Aunt and Uncle live there and have let us store some things in their garage. We had a surprise snow storm on the 3rd and 4th and got almost 9 inches of snow (right after I finished the shingles). Many of our winter clothes and all of our Christmas decorations were down there. We had a good visit and supper with them. We also picked up our little walker. Gardner's legs aren't long enough to reach the floor, but he still seems to enjoy it - and life.
Yesterday I went to Alton with a man in our church. He had a dental appointment and I went searching for information on John Mason Peck - the pioneer church planter in Illinois and Missouri. I was the only "tourist" at the "Loomis House" which is the first building that was built by Peck when he started the Rock Springs Seminary in 1827 (later Shurtleff College and now the SIU Dental School). I discovered much more about Alton, but unfortunately, didn't find any more about Peck than I already knew.
This afternoon, Joel and I finished putting up the vapor barrier on the front of the garage and installed another window. I had already put in the downstairs window and the "people door" (as our neighbor has gotten us in the habit of calling it :-). As soon as I get the big garage door installed, I can put heat in the garage so that the siding won't be so brittle. For the garage door, the instructions say that it takes 9-12 hours to install it (not including the opener) - I hope I can beat that expectation, because I seldom have 9-12 hours at a time to work on it.
These pictures are from today. You can see Joel in the upstairs window; he is standing on a crate that I put in the rafters so he could help hold the window as I fastened it from the outside.
It was warmer today (up past 40 after several days in the 20's with nights down to single digits); you can see the hem of Laura's skirt is wet from where she had been in the snow.
One more video of Gardner.
Until I get more time and pictures . . . :-)
Levi
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