Catching up a bit. . .

I normally put individual pictures of each of the kids on the blog after we have our family pictures taken at Christmas; I've probably had time to get them up in the last 6 weeks, but just haven't done it.  I have an hour before I need to pick the kids up from school, so I thought I would get them up here.  (I feel like snoozing a little, but this gives me a chance to check something else off of my "to-do list!" :-).

Here is the family photo.  Any of you who received our Christmas card have already seen this one.  It is also the photo on our church website.  The address is www.gbcpaxton.com if you haven't looked at it yet.  It is still under construction: I have a little more work to do on uploading sermons and completing the visitors page. 

Levi and Carol . . .

 

Joel (will be 13 on 2/9) . . . a teenager!

Laura will be 12 in May.

Grant will be 10 this year.

John will be 8 in July.  (That is how long we have been in Paxton; it is kind of interesting that our 4 younger children have only lived in Paxton - this is the only location they have known.  Joel and Laura remember Belvidere/Cherry Valley and Grant joins them with minimal memories of Shelby/Lattimore, but the younger ones only know central Illinois!)

Josiah is 6.

Kara just turned 5 (she shares her mother's birthday of January 10th).

And . . . Gardner - 2!  (Yep, the picture is an accurate representation of his personality!)

We paid a pretty good amount of money for all of these pictures.  I can take some pretty good ones myself that don't cost anything . . .

Believe it or not - the kids wanted to do this (take the pictures, they don't know that I put them on the blog yet!).
 
Other things:

For the Holidays
 
We spent Christmas Day in Belvidere with Grandpa and Grandma Bumgardner.  We went to Missouri for New Years; our crew joined Dad and Mom and three of my brothers and their families as well as my Grandma, my Aunt and her family for chili, oyster stew, some other soups, and crab dip (a New Years family tradition!).  A friend gave us 2 pigs to butcher while there, so we spent a couple of days working up meat - 180 lbs of pork total from our two.  The third one is for Dad and Mom.

 For the church

We purchased a baptistery for our new building.  It arrived in the middle of January; it was too big to fit through any of our doorways, and so we are going to have to remove on of the big windows this Saturday to get it in the building.  Consequently, it is now stored in the church garage,which we just had to jack up and put back on the foundation after a strong mid-western wind blew it partially off a while back.   We did fix the garage before using it to store the new baptistery (either spelling baptistery or baptistry is acceptable - for those of you who are curious).

Putting the south wall back on the concrete pad.

 It will certainly be a joy to have the baptistery available.  We have several people who are waiting to be baptized (a couple of them are my own older children; I'm very curious to know what it will feel like to baptize them . . . ?).

For the house/home

I finally got a chance to rebuild the back steps on the deck.  Sometimes, I'm overwhelmed by the work that I have to do around the house.  Slowly I attack little jobs, but it seems like others add themselves to the list faster than I can keep up with them . . . are you familiar with the carnival game "whack-a-mole" . . . ?  It seems like the story of my life!  :-)

12 Tons of gravel here - intended to make the driveway stretch all of the way to the garage as well as make it large enough for both vehicles - but mostly just to fight the mud in the wintertime!

Another little problem that had to be dealt with was that our washing machine sprung a leak.  I couldn't put that one on a waiting list, we do too much laundry in our family for that!  The washing machine is 7 and 1/2 years old and does an estimated 20 + loads a week which equals at least 7,800 loads of laundry - it is probably about time for some parts to start failing.  The pump had a little hole in it that probably was the result of some little piece of metal or rock coming out of Tom Sawyer's pocket (er, I mean, Joel's or Grant's, or John's or Josiah's pocket :-).  I can't complain about the longevity of the washer . . . it was pretty simple part to replace, thanks to the help of my brother being on his computer looking at diagrams and telling me what to look for and how to do over the phone . . . I have yet to stump him with a problem (you don't need to tell Stephen I said that . . . he already knows it!).

The hole is right next to the base of the tube on the right.  It's amazing that so much water could come out of that little hole.

Miscellaneous 

Grant had a skate night at school in their gymnasium.  There used to be a roller skating rink in town, but it's now our church!

Carol made this cheese ball "candle" for Christmas dinner at her folks - she loves to be artistic in the kitchen.  She had a picture and recipe, but it's still pretty good I think.

Finally, I was talking to my brother, Michael, on skype a few months ago.  As he sat down to talk (I think he was in the college student center), he innocently centered his head in front of the Christmas wreath - I couldn't help but laugh and quickly take a picture of his head . . . he knows about the picture and is pretty good natured about my humor, maybe even docile.

Well, I didn't quite finish the post before picking up the kids from school, but came pretty close.






 Enjoy! (I/we sure do . . . )

My heart is open to you . . .

My reasons for utilizing the public schools are now on my other blog www.baptistcitizen.wordpress.com. 

We appreciate your prayers, not only for our children as they grow in the Lord and in their education, but as I mentioned last post here - we have all been quite sick.

Thanks,

Levi

We're all sick . . .

Well, the whole family seems to have strep throat!  Grant bruised his foot quite badly in a fall last Saturday; it was bad enough that I decided to take him to the emergency room on Monday for an x-ray.  Because of his cough in the emergency room, the doctor asked if it was okay to do a throat culture?  His foot was not broken, but he did have strep.  The next day, 3 more of the boys had a fever and cough.  I took them to the doctor and they were each prescribed an antibiotic - while at the doctor with those three, the school called to say that Laura had a fever and needed to be picked up from school (she also is now on an antibiotic).  Within 2 more days, Carol, Gardner and Kara, also had it and were on antibiotics.  Yesterday, while finishing my drive home from Chicago, I started feeling very achy; by the time I got home, my temperature was almost a 101.  I decided to do what I haven't done before and that is to find another preacher to fill in for me tomorrow.  Josiah has missed 7 days of school; I don't want to give something this difficult to get over to anyone at church, so we are all just going to stay home. 

My job driving the van/bus will be ending next week.  Upon review my logbook by the DOT, I was told I would have to begin recording all of my church work as compensated labor and therefore could not drive more than 20 hours in a week if I worked for the church for 40 hours in a week.  Furthermore, I would have had to make sure that I didn't work more than 40 hours for the church in order to save enough time on my logbook to be able to drive one day a week and do some other odds and ends for the company.  Obviously, a pastor can't say, "I will only work 40 hours for the church."  So, the two jobs came to the point of incompatibility.  It was nice while it lasted, I enjoyed the work, but can see that this is where the Lord directed.  I am re-invigorated for my pastoring.

School is going very well for the kids (other than missing this week due to strep).  I'm in the midst of starting up my other blog www.baptistcitizen.wordpress.com.  On that blog, my first post will be an explanation of our decision to put our kids in the public school.  I've talked to quite a few people about the decision, but always only partially.  The blog post will be the most detailed explanation - like most people, I can express things best by writing.

I'm sorry there are no pictures this time, but will get some up here soon!

Life Changes . . .

Changes are a part of life.  I'm going to post some updates that show how much life can change in a brief amount of time.  But - I must begin by saying, that one thing that hasn't changed is that fact that I still don't update the blog as frequently as I should (or perhaps could).

Maturing Changes:

Since my last post, several milestones have been reached.  Laura turned 11, Carol and I celebrated 13 years of marriage, Gardner turned 2, John turned 7, I turned 36, and Grant has turned 9.  I'm not leaving out Joel, Josiah, and Kara - they just have not had birthdays recently. 

Laura  - she has matured into a young lady.  I'm so proud of her growth as a Christian and as a young lady.  Since Christmas, Laura had been saving her money in order to purchase a Kindle e-reader; her birthday gifts provided enough money to purchase one.  She reads as much as everyone else in the family.

Anniversary - 13 years of marriage to the best wife I could imagine.  The last year has seen us make family changes that have deepened our relationship tremendously; I couldn't be happier.  (F.Y.I. - the 16th of this month is the 14th anniversary of our engagement - it is appropriately sweetest day.)

Gardner - two years old and LOTS of fun.  His vocabulary has blossomed, he loves trucks, still takes good naps, and has finally matured to the point that we can let him outside without a fear that he will end up in the street.  He wants to be like the older kids - especially at the table when it comes to serving himself.

John - is now a very adept reader.  His energy has not diminished, it is just channeled into more things than just playing.  He still is "jolly!"  He has endured a black eye, a lump and gash on his forehead, and multiple bruises, scrapes and cuts this summer - so some things have not changed for him.  (The black eye happened during a rough housing session that Uncle Michael was supposed to be monitoring).

I'm 36 . . . . don't know what to say. . .

Grant - has given us reason to be pleased with his maturity.  He has learned some good lessons (some easy and some not) in the last several months, but they are all helping to develop him into a striking young man.

Minor Change:

We have nearly finished many of the construction projects at the church (a few still remain).  However, we did paint and rotate the auditorium.  We hosted an anniversary service in July along with an open house for the community and other churches to see all of the things that have been done to the building.  There is a report on the AIBCI website that can be seen here - http://www.aibci.org/files/Grace_Baptist_Church_in_Paxton.pdf

The auditorium went from this:

To this:

Moderate Change:

I have started working a part-time job.  I'm always careful to assert that this church has been very generous in providing for our needs; however, with 7 growing children, we just needed more income.  I'm driving either a shuttle van or a coach bus to Chicago from the University of Illinois campus three days a week.  I started in April with just the van, and then after getting a CDL, began driving the bus.  I have really enjoyed the job and am very thankful for the help that it has provided for our family.  If I could have created a part-time job that enhanced my pastoring, I don't think I could have done better.

 

Major Change:

After 7 years of home education, we have put our children in the local school system (we still are very involved in their education).  This decision was the result of nearly a year of prayer and deliberation.  I am not going to detail all of our reasons now (I will write much more on the decision at some point in the future), but will suffice to say that we were absolutely convinced that this was the right decision for our family and have been more than pleased with the results as they near the end of the first quarter.  Joel is in 7th grade, Laura is in 6th, Grant is in 3rd, John is in 2nd and Josiah is in Kindergarten.  (Kara and Gardner have adjusted to being home without the other kids presence.)

Well, that's all for now.  I got this picture in Alton early in the summer; they are looking over the Mississippi.  Joel, Laura, Grant, John, Josiah, Kara, and Gardner.  

A sigh of relief . . .

Just a quick update on the restroom addition at the church.  There are still a few odds and ends to complete, but the new ladies' restroom is now functioning and in use.  We still need to install the hot water heater, counter top and faucets in the men's restroom, as well as the door trim and some painting, but we are nearly finished! 

Below are a few pictures of the ladies' restroom.

The door on the right is a sliding pocket door.  It is the handicap stall; a 3 foot door to accommodate a wheel chair and does not swing wide into the main room.

There is a 6 gallon, "point of use" hot water heater under the counter that gives instant hot water.  Also, an open cabinet on one end to facilitate a wheel chair.

All of the door swinging directions were considered with the most privacy possible.

There is a 3 foot privacy wall that protects the mirror and sink area.

The individual stalls are not made with hanging dividers, but are fully enclosed rooms.

This project has taken far more time than I anticipated or than any of us wanted to spend.  However, we would have been unable to afford the addition if we had hired a contractor to do it.

I'll post pictures of the men's restroom and hallway when completed in a few weeks.  I'm taking a week off from the construction part of things; I have a class that I need to finish by the end of the week.

In case you are wondering . . .

In case you are wondering -

I'm still working on my education; 2 and 1/2 more classes and a dissertation. I should be finished by next summer . . . I hope . . .

(My thumb isn't in my mouth, but I'm probably about to doze off to sleep.)

In case you are wondering -

All nine of us do fit around the table, barely. We just moved Gardner to the table; a friend found a high chair that we could use to sit him at the table. He still likes to dump his drink in his plate while it is full of food, and he takes things that he doesn't like out of his mouth, but the general conclusion is that he eats better while sitting at the table with the rest of us - he even uses silverware (he pushes the food onto his utensil with his hand and then puts it in his mouth)!

In case you are wondering -

"How do they do all the dishes?" Someone gave us an anonymous gift at Christmas which was just about the right amount to purchase a dishwasher. We bought it then, but it wasn't until just a few weeks ago that I finally made time to install it (thank the Lord for a patient wife). Since I had to turn the water off for the job, I had to do it late at night when everyone else was in bed (the restroom isn't usable with the water off). Joel stayed up and helped me, but he was sure ready for bed when we finished at about 2:00 a.m. Though we were able to turn the water back on, the kitchen was still in disarray the next day, so Carol let the kids have a picnic outside. I also put in a new counter top, kitchen and drink faucets with a water purifier. By they way, whoever gave us that gift, I can't say thank you enough (nor can the kids who do the dishes).



In case you are wondering -

Do kids still do the things that we did when we were kids?

The kids have enjoyed the early spring. While I was working on our restroom addition this afternoon, the kids had finished their school work and took advantage of the big church yard and the gusty April wind. It has been years since I have used a kite; Joel and Laura have flown one a little bit at Grandpa's house, but we all kind of had a "crash coarse" in flying a kite. However, it didn't break, it isn't in the top of a tree nor hung up in power lines (there are a couple of string burns though).

In case you are wondering -

The building project is near completion! In the last 5 weeks, we have finished the sheetrock, texturing and painting. My friend, Bro. Jim Appel from Camp Joy, (with help from Samuel Briddick) has installed the tile. We have hung the light fixtures and have only one more of the pocket doors to hang. The restroom fixtures are mostly complete, the trim is all routed, painted and ready to nail (if you've ever done it, you know that the hard part of trim work is cutting it :-). We are ready for the cabinets, hot water heaters, counter tops and mirrors. The list may still sound substantial, but from where we were last fall, we are almost complete!

Joel and I both sanded drywall on stilts.




I took Gardner and John to Menards with me . . .



Jim Appel, Samuel Briddick, and the tile.


I thought it was pretty neat that the tile pattern on the floor matched the design in the glass in the doors.



Light fixtures, doors and restroom fixtures.


I still need to put the trim around the doors.


I've never installed a pocket door before, so I'm pleased with the result. Also, we were steered onto brackets used to hang doors - it sure beats the old way of shimming them. You can see them on the video as I open the door.




Thanks to all of you men who have helped over the last few weeks - I can't name all of you. Also, several of you ladies have done much to clean up our construction dust, etc. Thanks to all of you.

In case you are wondering -

I need to go to bed . . .