Happy New Year (and belated Christmas)

Hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas... I had full intentions of getting these pics on the blog by Christmas day, but such is my life.
We had a great Christmas. We're currently house sitting for our neighbour and enjoying her huge house immensely!! We had Christmas morning/afternoon on our own as a family which was awesome and then headed over to Chris and Bill's cabin they're renting for Christmas dinner. It was really nice to be in a house for Christmas even if it's not our own. We've even had overnight guests! My Mom and Dad and Nana spent the night on the 22nd and
Christian's Dad and Step-Mom spent the night last night. The kids have all been sick with horrible coughs. You can probably tell that Brennan is sick in the Christmas pictures. Abby is the sickest today and kept me up for almost an hour last night with a high fever and talking strange talk about her hair and characters from "Dora". I'm pretty sure she was halucinating.
All being said, I've really been dreading tomorrow as it means cleaning the whole house before we leave on
Friday to go to Campbell River for a few days. All this moving around has been exhausting for me and it is stressful staying in other people houses. I worry about wrecking things. As of Tuesday, we will be in a 550 sq. ft. house until the end of February. Small, but still bigger than the trailer and it has a real toilet, bathtub, washer, and dryer!! We sure are thankful to not be going back into the trailer. When I bring the kids in there now so I can check phone messages and check email etc., I want to strangle them after about fifteen minutes. God definitely gave me a special frame of mind to live in there for six months! I keep hoping Ty from extreme home makeover will appear at my door and say, "Stonehouse Family we're here to finish your house. Come back in three days and it will be done!" I can dream, can't I??
We wish you all a healthful, peaceful, and adventurous year for 2007. If you get a chance, drop us a line.
Love Us

Moving to Angel Cottage :)

We just got a phone call today from our realtor that runs a bed and breakfast. She told Christian that she wants us to move into her 600 sq. ft. cabin for the next two weeks and that she won't take no for an answer! This is soooooo great as our water pipes have been frozen for the last two days, so we have no running water, which means no showers or doing dishes. God always provides at the right time. Also, last night when we were at our friend's house for dinner, they told us that their neighbours who live in a one bedroom house are looking for a family to stay there for January and February and just want enough money to cover utilities. That means if we go there that our trailer days may be over until the house is done!! I am so happy!!!! Being in this trailer was starting to get to our mental sanity.
Yippee!! I'm going to start packing...

Some Of Us Like Snow

Here's some pics of how we're enjoying the snow, well some of us are... The boys are having a blast as you can see and Abby won't go near it! She just wants to stay wrapped up and cozy in the trailer. She says she's scared of it and the bumps that the boys are going over in their sleds. What a girl!
The trailer is a bit chilly in this weather but we're going to tough it out. The cold is supposed to break by Friday. Thanks to all of you that are phoning to check in with us. We're doing fine and don't worry if it gets too cold, or if we loose power we'll book into a cabin or something. If anyone would have told me that we'd be living in this trailer in the snow and winter six months ago I never would have believed it!
Christian stayed home from work today to work on the house as we can't really get our vehicles out of here anyway.
Hope you're all enjoying the early snow and drinking lots of hot cocoa :)

We Have a View!

Pleased to say that our second floor is up and ready to have a roof. I don't have pics of the day the walls went up for that floor but I wish I did! We used an excavator to lift the walls up to the guys and the exterior and interior walls were up in one day. It was not the best weather, but we did get some sunny breaks :) Thanks to my brother-in-law Russ, and Christian's brother-in-law Peter for the help. We are feeling so blessed by all the people who have devoted time to helping us. Peter used his holiday time to be here for four days! The house is getting high and Abby's bedroom is going to have a nice view of Mt. Erskine. The rest of the house has views of trees :)
Also, I'm including a pic of our temporary home under the maple tree. We stayed in Randy Bachman's guest house last week for five nights which was a welcome break from the trailer. The only things that sucked was that Brennan had a one day flu, I had a major three day gallbladder attack and the hot water tank stopped making hot water on our second day there. I had to boil water to do dishes and clean the house for leaving! Our life never seems to be boring!
Now we're back in the trailer and I must admit the first couple of days back in here were hard to take. It's shocking how little room we have and how much stuff we try to shuffle around and fit in here. I hardly slept last night as we had a major wind storm and the trailer kept shaking. I lay there hoping a big branch from the maple tree was not going to come and crash onto us.
One of our neighbours has asked us to house sit for her from December 15th-30th, so were excited to have a house and kitchen (and hot tub!) for Christmas. God is good!
Sorry if you've been trying to get ahold of us. Our phone has been down since Monday and Christian is trying to get it up and running again. Oddly enough, our internet is still working. Good thing, or I'd feel completely cut off! I've also been horrible at returning phone calls. I get so exhausted be evening and don't feel like being chatty on the phone. I'll get to you eventually!
We'll really feel better around here once the roof is on the house. Hate to see all that water getting in there right now...

First floor work party!

A few weeks ago, we had a crew of family and friends help us put up the walls for the first floor of our part of the house. This was a great day! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, seeing the house start to take shape. By the end of the day, I could take people on a tour of our first floor. Very fun... Thanks so much to John (Christian's Dad), his friend Jim and our neighbour Barry for the extra hands. Those walls were heavy!! Especially the vaulted walls of the entrance. They were a bit of a challenge to put up. The next week was spent leveling everything and fixing some problems with the walls (a couple were too short)! It was great to all share a meal together too. Thanks to you too Mom Cairns for taking care of all my kiddies. I couldn't have helped and cooked with them running around.

The Basement

O.K. I'm spending tonight trying to get updated on our blog. These first pics are of the building of the walkout basement and of the two men who we can credit most of the work with. Most mornings, I greet them by saying "Good morning Dad and Dad!" Thanks Dads for all your hard work on making our dream come true :)

Pouring Concrete

Hello! No, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Life just seems really busy for us right now and I haven't got off my bloggity butt to post anything. So, here are some pics of pouring the foundation which I think happened about three weeks ago. I will get going here and take some pics this weekend of where we're actually at with the house which is laying the floors for the second floor. The walkout basement is framed up. It feels like things are moving slowly right now but I'm sure they'll speed up soon! Sure hope we're in there by Christmas :) We're all doing well... Isaiah just had a girl at school tell him that she has a crush on him and now has invited him to the movies with her family. Please someone tell me this doesn't begin already in grade three!! Isaiah is not interested in girls yet, thank God! How this stuff brings back memories of my own childhood. How sweet puppy love is!

Progress!

Just thought I'd post some pictures of the past week or so... We've moved the trailer to the other side of the property to be out of the way and basically now, we're living in a dirt hole! I CAN NOT keep my kids clean anymore! If I want Abby to look nice, I get her ready and carry her to her car seat and strap her in til it's time to go :) Every night I spray them all down before bed so they don't get dirt in their sheets... I'm really just trying to keep a good sense of humour through all of this. We're still having lots of fun though as a family so we're doing good. Unless I've lost all sense of sanity now and I'm not completely aware of reality! The day we moved the trailer, Bill backed it up too far at one point and the trailer hit a bump of dirt and ripped the septic tank off the bottom.
Let's just say it was a horrid sight and smell (I won't go into details). That morning I said to Christian, "is this our real life or some kind of nightmare we're living in?" Go ahead you can laugh... I figure that one day we'll have a lot of good laughs over this stage of our life, so we may as well start now! HAH!

The footings for our foundation are all ready to go and have been inspected and the load of supplies to get our house to lock-up arrived on Friday. Christian rented a bob cat with a fork lift (thank God, cause I don't know how they would have done it without), and we had seven guys here for over six hours working hard to get everything off the truck. We ended the day with a big barbeque which was nice but exhausting. Christian said he can't remember the last time in his life when he was sore in every muscle of his body.

My parents have moved to Salt Spring as of today (no not onto our property!), and will be here for at least a month to help out. That will be a huge blessing to us. The kids are all starting school. Isaiah in grade 3, Brennan in kindergarden, and Abby in preschool two mornings a week. I think it will help a lot to have them busy and out of the way of the goings on here.

I've noticed none of you are phoning us wanting to come for a visit lately. What gives?? ;)

Things are moving along!

O.K. You'll just have to trust me on this one cause I don't have the pics to prove it, but things are starting to happen around here!! I need to find the recharger for our camera and as such can not take any pictures...
This last weekend, our excavator arrived and pulled our the tree stumps, roughed in our new driveway, tore down the cottage, and dug the hole for our foundation. It was VERY exciting to say the least and the kids throughly enjoyed watching the huge back hoe do it's work. Those machines are amazing to watch up close!
We also met with the bank today and everything looks great to finance our construction loan. It feels really good to have things moving along with the dream of building this house. I still can't imagine the house being here, but it's getting closer in my mind.
I took the kids to family camp at Camp Qwanoes July 30th to Aug 5th and that was a blast. I'd highly recommend this camp to everyone. The staff had such a servant attitude and the kids were thrilled with all the activities. I have to a say though that I will never do that again without Christian. The only reason that I went was because Christian's Mom paid for us and she also came herself with Josh and another grandchild. It was exhausting for me! I had tons of fun, but I definitely need a husband next time to help with the kids! I had to trek to our cabin to change Abby's clothes due to pee accidents a few too many times and the trip up from the waterfront is not funny with grumpy kids in tow... Isaiah counted that there were ninety six stairs to climb up from the waterfront! Christian did join us though for the last day, and that was my favorite day. What can I say? I love that man!
Our spirits are up around here and our first load from Nelson Homes arrives on September 1st. That load will have everything we need to get our house to lock up.
I'd better get to bed now as it's late, but I just wanted to give a little update.

Life is funny

We're just sitting here laughing because our life seems quite funny right now... We just finished eating pizza out under the trees, listening to the swing band playing tunes next door. Our neighbour is hosting her own birthday party and has hired a band of eleven members which is playing on her large deck as I write this and there's over a hundred people milling about on her deck and yard, which looks directly over ours. This is funny because our property looks slightly like a bomb hit, definitely a construction zone! So, we won't be going to bed til late tonight as the tunes will keep going til late. We're just getting the dirt cleaned off the kids so we can go over and dance and join in. Last month she hosted a healing through laughing seminar and the whole weekend we got to listen to many people laughing at the top of their lungs. She's a sweet heart though. Well, off now to dance and laugh...

Tubing rocks!

I've been wanting to post these pictures for quite sometime... We went to Powell River at the end of June to visit my Nana and my Uncle Gord and Auntie Jan. Gord took all of us tubing and it was a thrill! The reason I really want to show you all the picture of the boys tubing with Christian is because it's so shows the boys personalities. Isaiah is much more of a thinker about things and gets scared more easily, but Brennan just jumps in and has a blast doing everything whole heartedly without thinking about the safety issues. The whole ride, Isaiah's and Brennan's faces looked exactly like the picture shows. At the end they both said they loved it, but I think the picture tells the whole story!! Brennan with a huge grin and Isaiah with teeth gritted. I was honestly terrified watching my precious jewels ride around on a tube... If our kids turn out anything like Christian, I'd better get used to it as he was a cliff jumping thrill seeker when we dated. Thanks for all the fun in Powell River Uncle Auntie, and Nana!

Fun in the Fraser Valley

The kids and I just got back from a fun filled week in Chilliwack and Abbotsford. We decided to go and visit my sis Heather and family who just moved into their new house a couple of months ago. Also, we hadn't yet met my niece Violet who is now three months old. Sadly, I don't even have a picture of her cause my camera broke right before I was going to take her pic. She is a cutie though and I'll post her picture another time.
We went to the Vancouver Game Farm one day which the kids LOVED. Their favorite part was getting to see the lions and tigers eat their meaty lunch.
Most of all though, it was great to visit with my sister and her family as well as some of our good friends from Abbotsford. The boys were so excited to drive by the condo, Isaiah's old school and the hospital where they were born. Brennan said, "Mom, I really am a true Abbotsforder!"
While we were gone, Christian and his parents were working hard taking down all the interior parts of the cottage. I know they got a lot more done with us gone, but I did feel guilty at least once for having so much fun ;)
Now we're back to our sweet little trailer. The only horrible part is that Isaiah now has the runs and Brennan and Abby spent our first night home throwing up. I guess we picked up the flu somewhere (probably Adventure Zone, hey Rachel?) Everyone is still not completely back to normal. I've made too many trips already to the laundry mat to wash sheets and blankets. Yuck!!!

WAITING...

House Of Stone

Our patience muscles are being tested! It seems like we're waiting for everything right now; the financing to go through, the building permit, hydro to come and switch our power to our new pole... I truly think this beginning stage is going to be the hardest part of building our own home, at least I'm hoping so ;) The financing is the biggest sorce of stress. When you apply for a construction loan you have to give a cost estimate that includes the prices of all labour that needs to be done. We're doing tons of the work ourselves, but the bank does not want to know this as they want to know that the house will be built quickly. So, you need to get qualified for a much bigger sum of money than you'll actually end up using. Christian and I were laughing last night thinking about what we would do in the financing fell through! This verse I read today gives me comfort:

Psalm 62:5 (New International Version)

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.

I know this is so true. When Christian was out of work and we were waiting to know what he was going to do, God gave me so much peace in the middle of the waiting. So today I'm going to rest and wait to hear about everything.
In the middle of all this waiting though, we've been very busy. Christian's Mom and Step-Dad (Chris and Bill), sold their motorhome that we were going to stay in and bought us a 31 ft. trailer. It's a funky 1976 special but it has a lot of cupboards and a lot more room, so that makes me feel happy. We're almost completely moved into it now and we'll begin tearing down the cottage tonight. I'll take some pictures of our new digs in the next day or so. The boys are tenting it for now and Abby sleeps on the couch in the trailer. Abby has been a challenge as I think it's hard for her to understand why we keep moving to different beds. She's been VERY grumpy. It's so hard for a three year old to understand what it means to be building a house...
Well, I should get back here to packing up the cottage. If you read our blog, leave a comment and then I can keep track of who's actually reading this thing :)
-Jenn

Another Day at Work...

Well, looking out the window from the studio last night, I couldn't resist taking a picture. First day of summer and all. As I snapped the picture, I realized something was flying in from the left side. I didn't think it was captured on the camera, but it was...man, I feel blessed by God that this is the view from my office! -Christian

Funny things kids say...

A few days ago, Brennan said, "Mom when I grow up I want to be a basketball player, because they can draw all over themselves!" I then told him that those are called tatoos and they have to put the ink in with a needle. He then said, "Well, I guess I'll have to be a basketball player without tatoos."

Trees a fallin

I'm wondering where the past week and a half has gone! It's been very busy around the property... Many trees have come down, more salal cleared, many branches wood chipped or burned, the shack torn down and a new shed almost built. We're finding that we really find it rewarding though working on our own property. We ordered the house from Nelson Homes today and the first load will be delivered in about eight weeks. We were hoping for more like six weeks, but that's o.k. this will all happen in God's timing. I'm sure I'll be one of those people who build and say "I hope we're in the house by Christmas!" Our little boy monkeys caused some havic last weekend when they decided the windows we salvaged from the old shack would be fun to break with a sledge hammer. That was not fun to clean up... They were all disciplined by having to wash the vehicles spic and span on Sunday afternoon. I find interesting things usually happen when you get a group of three or more boys together with creative heads!

This first pic was Brennan's last climb on this tree before it came down.
I can't believe how much more light we're getting now with the one grove of trees gone. I think our neighbour almost had a heart attack when the tree falling truck pulled up. I told her the trees were going but I don't think she thought about how fast it would happen. I don't like being a "tree killer", but those ones had to go to make room for the house. We've actually been so blessed by our neighbours. On the one side, our neighbour has a little bobcat and took all the logs off our land over to his to use as firewood. He's also going to help transplant some trees for us. On the other side, our neighbour has offered to store the rest of our furniture when we move into the motor home. I love friendly neighbours :)






x

We're on our way!

Well, I've been inspired by reading my friend Rachel's blog and how it is such a cool way to keep up with friends that I've decided to start one too :) I thought since we are building a house too, it would be a good way to keep you all updated on the progress... Things have been crazy busy around here. I can honestly say I didn't realize how much work has to be done before you ever even get started on building a house. Construction loans, building permits, sewage permits, electric permits, temporary power pole, and the list goes on... Every night we hit bed exhausted! We are still living in the cottage on our property but that should be torn down by next weekend and then we'll be moving into a motor home for summer. Here's a few pics of things:


This is where we're living now












This is one of many burn piles we've had and will have












The horrid shack in the back of our property that we're tearing down. It's full of old bottles of wine and other junk. Many trips to recycling are yet to come...











This is what we'll live in by next week. Aaaaaah! What have we got ourselves into!