City of Tyre...I mean...Tire!

Yesterday, the kids and I joined Todd out at the property to help him sort through tires.
Did you know that with this awesome property that we have purchased, we have been blessed with hundreds, that is not an exaggeration, hundreds of tires.  Big tires, small tires, fat tires, skinny tires....more and more tires.  (I feel like Dr. Seuss is whispering in my ear.)  The BIG dilemma is what to do with all of these tires.  We could hire someone to haul them away.  We figure that would cost us over thousands of dollars...i have done the math...OR we can get creative.  We have opted to be creative.  However.....if you want some....PLEASE...PLEASE...feel free to come over and take some.  Believe me, we won't mind.  Our creative idea for our awesome tires is to build a retaining wall. 

Todd has built a dirt ramp to the back "yard" behind our soon-to-be constructed house, however, to make sure it doesn't wash out he is going to shore it up with a tire wall.  Which brings me back to last nights project.  The kids and I went out to the property and sorted the tires.  After sorting them we had to haul them over to the ramp sight and stack them up according to their size so that Todd can then place them and fill them with dirt and build the wall.  Oh...just to add more work and to make it easier to fill each tire, Todd is also cutting the rim off each tire so that the dirt will go in easier and we can pack it tighter.  It is a LOT of work, but we hope it will pay off in the long wrong.

Although the kids weren't too excited about traveling out to the property to work they made it a lot of fun.  Before long the tire puns were flying.  "Mom, I didn't know that we lived in the city of Tyre."  or "Mom, this is soooo TIRERING.!"  "Mom, I am all tired ou."  lol  Glad they made it fun. 

Prepping the site

We are getting closer and closer to building our house.  We have had to delay the process a couple of months because we changed builders.  Our previous builder was not returning our calls or listening to us.  When he notified us that he was going to change our price by $20k because he failed to understand that we were still going to build in the hill even though we were not going to have the basement garage, we fired him.  I was worried at first, but we have signed up with a local builder that we know personally and is going to give us what we want and a few extras all for the original quote the first builder gave us.  Last week we met with the architect who will draw up our new house plans. The new house will be very similar to the old house plans with a few alterations.  I am excited, nervous, but excited. All of the changes give Todd more time to prep the land.  He has the initial hole dug.  Now he needs to push back the top layers of dirt away from the house to make it safe for construction. He also is putting in a dirt ramp so that he can drive the back hoe up to the yard area behind the house.  We are so thankful for the backhoe that my father-in-law had.

Speaking of my father-in-law, I have now taken on the job of caring for him on the days my mother-in-law volunteers at our local community cupboard.  So far things have gone well.  This past week, he did "snap" towards the end of my time with him.  I had to call Todd to come over to defuse the situation.  It was very sad, but now I know what Susan goes through and I am wiser on what Not to do when I am with him.  Susan wants me to get certified for in-home care so that I can get paid at a higher rate, so it looks like that is what I will be doing this summer.

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On the property

Bryce was on spring break last week and spent some of his time helping Todd on the property.   Todd added new lights to the backhoe so he could dig at night.

Wednesday

I noticed my last post got cut off...sigh...that's ok...it was more of me venting, unloading,  dealing with my pent up emotions..,,.

Life is slowly getting back to normal.   Bryce and I are once again at co-op although today is our last day for this quarter.  We get two weeks off then he will have one more quarter before summer break.  I have had hopes of continuing with this group next year, but a Leavenworth home school mom has asked me if our church will host a Classical Conversation co-op next year.  If that works out, we might join them, but there will be a lot to consider such as will they have enough students for Bryce's grade, teachers, etc.  of course, there is a possibility of me teaching which will pay for his tuition, etc.  

On a totally different topic, Todd and I signed the papers with the bank to start the construction loan process...eekkk!!   Exciting....Scary....  The next step is for the bank to appraise the land and verify that it is a good investment.  A geological survey was done last Saturday and they gave us the green light to proceed.  This Saturday Todd will start digging out the hill.  A church member has offered his CAT to help with the excavation.  Of course, as always, when you make a big financial decision everything falls apart.  Our vans transmission decided to act up and this time Todd is just too drained to deal with it. It is not like he has spent every weekend for the past three months fixing things on the vehicles, so we are letting the pros fix it...cha...Ching!   Oh well.  Thank goodness for tax refunds.

So here we are....praying for guidance one day at a time concerning parenting, schooling, vehicles, housing, ministry....

Sunday

It is technically Sunday even though we have not gone to bed yet from Saturday.  The girls are taking their showers now so they can sleep in little bit before hitting the road at 7:30am.  I'm waiting for everyone to get back to the room so we can go to sleep.  I screwed things up today. Everything has been going well on this chaperone thing til this evening.  While waiting for dinner the kids got a game...an game with situational events that are let's say "crude", "crass", "inappropriate".  Anyway the other chaperone who is a pastor...aren't these kids lucky to have a pastor and a pastors wife for chaps....decided not to prevent the game unless it crossed the line.   I listened to the conversations from across the room and didn't like what I was hearing, more than that though I was more disappointed that my son chose to play with the group instead of hang out with the other PK and his dad.  It was getting obvious that I was uncomfortable with the game and when one of the kids couldn't read a card because the situation on the card was too embarrassing to read out loud, the other chap told them to put up the game and I agreed with him.  When the kids started to argue I got a little stern and make it clear to put the game away.  Here is the thing, both chaps said put it away but they are mad at me. Mostly because I let it show that I disapproved of the game.  What still makes me mad is that the two kids who are mad at me are two "Christian" kids who serve as counselors at the local bible camp and are part of the praise team for Young Life.  Anyway,  I feel like I have been shunned and I am trying to figure out how to deal with that as well as how to approach the whole situation with my son.  This is why he is in public school.  To learn how to be a true Christian in a lost, perverted world.  To be a light of Truth, decency, honesty, uprightness, but if he hangs 

Day Two

Its another day in Moscow,  Idaho at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.  After eating breakfast at St. Mary's Catholic church we sat in on several performances performed by area high school students.  It was great to hear these young people play.

Our group then split up where two of the students and I broke off from the group to attend a workshop on campus led by Stefan Harris, talk about musical prodigy.  Wow. ... amazing artist. I am a music lover not a musician.   I am out of my league but I am enjoying the company.  

Shortly one of our own students will perform for the judges then off to dinner and finally two more concerts before heading back to bed at midnight.  

Wow, what an amazing weekend.

Jazz Festival

We are in historic Moscow, Idaho at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival with Brian and members of his high school concert and jazz bands.  I am exhausted.  My eyes are heavy with sleep, but we are having a good time.   So far we have attended two concerts given by the Airmen of Note, and a group of all-stars jazz performers.  Today we have attended workshops dealing with improvisation,  hearing notes and the emotions they evoked, and now we are waiting to learn about spacing your improv. Properly.  After a few hours of free time and dinner it will be time for a few more concerts.  I hope we make it to bed by midnight.

It is cool to hear the conversations around me, and see so many teenagers eager to jump up on stage to learn from the pros.  I know that by the time this weekend is over I will be worn out but it will be worth it.