SEWAGE!

Thought that might get your attention!

Thanks to the help of two friends from church (may not be as good of friends after what I put them through) I now have a dug-up back yard and a fixed sewer line. I think I have the problem figured out:

It appears that water washed away the dirt under the clay sewer pipe, causing the pipes to lose part of the flange and drop about 2 inches...as a result the next elbow dropped as well. There was a large cavity under the sewer pipe. Today I decided that it is because the old septic tank (only used a year or two in the 50's) still had a pipe running from it. Well, we found that septic tank and it was FULL of water. So, I think water was coming out of that tank and washing out the dirt under the clay pipe. After digging in my own waste for several hours, in pouring rain much of the time, the sewer was fixed. Not a job for the faint-hearted.

Now I need to get the water out of the septic tank, beat a hole in the lid, and fill it with ALOT of sand. I also need to tear out the bad parts of the retaining wall and then have them replaced as well. Then we can back-fill and have a party!!!

The pictures below show many stages of the work, including the roping-off to keep the kids from plunging to their death (so far that does not interest them).



Tom was up for several days and he also helped me get my wood pile in order. We cut down some more trees, cut and split wood (he showed me a few tips from years of experience) and I am left to a relatively small pile of wood to split. Glad to be moving in the right direction. I have six pallets filled and plan on filling four more by October ( I hope). Sure was nice to have his help around the house and with the wood.Work is becoming intermittent. I am trying to get stuff done at home, spend time with the kids, and work occasionally. I had three days last week and looks like it won't be full this week either.

Thanks for your thoughts, prayers, and concern for us. We are making it just fine, despite the war zone in the back yard!

-Dave

just because I want to remember...

that we have a lot of fun in the summer. that darkish picture is of the kids playing in the rain, one of their favorite things to do.
We are having some struggles this summer with our older three arguing & being unkind to each other (to put it simply). This gets really old. We are working on staying positive, because even if they are just testing us to check & see if we mean what we say, we can expect this phase to last a little bit. Eventually they will get it, right??????
Anyway, here are some fun pictures, because we really have fun. And I will try not to forget.

missed a birthday

I will have Dave write a post about the manly part of Stephen's birthday (a.k.a. the part of the day when Dave & two very dear & helpful friends dug a huge hole where our sewer pipe is & fixed it up just so fine, only then to find out about the "rest" of the job).
But as far as the birthday goes, there is just something about having your oldest turn 12. I mean he is practically gone, if you know what I mean.
He is truly growing up to be quite the young man. He works hard, will always bend down for a kiss from one of his bitty sisters (not so willingly from the one who is his height), can whip up quite a few things in the kitchen & do an impressive job with the laundry. He will work beside his dad for a good long time & really is a good example for his younger brother. He is a great student. We are proud of him.
He was thrilled to open a cool gift from his aunt & uncle in Brazil, & disappeared for a while to create this oh-so-unique birthday tee. Check out his dessert of choice: a cherry pie with the criss-cross top! It was delicious!

learning to swim

Everyone is taking swimming lessons.
They are improving their strokes, learning to hold their breath & to not keep their feet on the bottom 90% of the time.
Enjoy some shots of our first week of lessons. Grandma P. is in town & got to do the Mommy & Me class with Maci while I took pictures one day. The underwater child is Caleb, who we are happy to see underwater at all.

Weeks are Wasting Away!

Last week went by faster than we could imagine! Stephen ended up in the er with a suspected appendicitis (ended up being swollen lymph nodes). So, an x-ray, ultra sound, blood and urine test, and CAT scan - and 9 hours later he got to come home! We did find out he has gall stones! Fun for him.

We sat down and looked at the calendar to realize the summer is wasting away. I have been glad to have work! I also have a pile of wood to sort through in my back yard! YEAH!!! And fun of all fun - we are now getting beans, hot and bell peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini from our garden! With 79 degree highs it is a great time of year! We will be taking some time this last month to do some family activities as well as jobs around the house.

Today the kids start swimming lessons. Should be a PARTY!!! Most are pretty excited about it. Tomorrow we go to the judge to request domestic adoption. The kids are ours...but this makes it official in our state. Then we get the IL birth certificate and is suggested by all that have gone through the process. Should be great!

Hope all is well with you and yours!

happy birthday Ana!

Our little princess is finally FOUR.
She has been looking forward to this birthday for seemingly forever. Hers is the fifth birthday since our arrival home from Ethiopia, so I'm sure she just felt like her turn would never come.
A few tidbits about our girl:
she loves
princess dresses, books about animals, trying to write her name, balloons, swimming (!!), ice cream, having her hair done pretty, going to church, watching Sesame Street with Maci, sleeping in the same room with her two sisters, playing Match (a matching tile game), rolling around with Stephen, swinging, rocket books with Caleb, any extended family, the LeapPad
she is not so fond of
folks laughing at her when she is cute, having mom pick out her clothes, calming down for nap, anything out of her "routine", most veggies, most fruits
She's truly a happy girl & brings our home so much joy. Her adjustment to our family is going so well, for which we are extremely grateful.
Enjoy a few photos & we'll get some from today posted later.

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Sick House!

You may have noticed the black flag hanging on our door. Or the cries of torture coming from within our dwelling place.

We are in a sick house.

It is like those 1970's movies where people are just all lying around and no one can comprehend what plague may be impacting them. Yeah, that is us!

Sonya has had a cold, KILLER cough, sore throat, and aches for days. To have mom go down is bad enough!

This morning I felt a bit stiff. I attributed it to the fact that I had worked third shift to help install some stuff at CAT for the company that seems to be holding my attention this summer (i.e. summer job). Getting to bed at 5:30 a.m. and waking up after 3 1/2 hours of sleep will do that, right. So I got up, took some ibuprofen, and went about my day (talking to excavators, getting leads on firewood, etc...)

Well we could all hardly wait to fall into bed at nap time. Sonya and I both had great naps. She woke up refreshed...I woke up after 2 hours feeling stiff-er. So I ran a few errands in town, realized it was getting worse, took some medicine again and went back to bed - for nearly 2 1/2 hours! Felt better again...but just until the med wore off.

In the meantime - Sonya is well enough to recuperate and function (like I hoped to) and Stephen, Abi, and I all have aches, temperatures, and foul emissions ('nough said). Ana has never seen us sick like this. In fact, rarely do both Sonya and I get sick at the same time. She is a bit concerned and wondering what to do about us and our sicknesses!

Truth be told. I am a baby when sick. I roll around, think woe is me, and occasionally a moan has been known to eep from my lips. It is sad really, a solidly built man curled up, emitting foul odors, and letting out an occasional "OOOOHHHHHHHHHHH."

We'll get over it I guess. Just watch out - it may hit you next!

We Made It (not much worse for the wear)!

We made it home this evening around 5:30. Our dog was happy to see us (as were those caring for her!) Our garden had one monster zucchini and several beans and tomatoes (yeah!) and our sewer seepage was dry (for once). We had managed to leave the house in decent order and were thankful for that when we got home. Super-duper new air had no problems catching up!!!

On the way out we had a 45 min construction wait in Ohio. We got through that pretty easily and were happy for it! However, when we came within an hour from home we found the highway COMPLETELY shut down and a back-road detour that took almost an extra hour! Oh well - glad to not be involved in the accident.

Last night we stayed with our good friends the Webels in Ashland, OH (an hour closer). I teased him that the blogging world was going to crash once two bloggers met and blogged. It was great to catch up a bit and to see how the changes in their lives are going (they moved since we have seen them last). The kids just played and played together.

We also went to the great Ashland Balloon Festival. I have included a few pics. Ana wanted to know why she couldn't go up in a balloon. I told her it cost to much...and was reminded that I shouldn't make it about money. So I changed my story and said we need to bring our own balloon but we didn't. That seemed to satisfy her (for some reason). Later I asked her why the balloons didn't pop. She couldn't figure that one out either (we had about 5 from Maci's b-day pop on us).

In case you are wondering, Maci is still singing as song that goes something like:"Happy Birthday to you Maci" whenever she sees a gift. It is cracking us up!

Maci's Birthday!

We FINALLY got to Maci's birthday today! Since we are in Ohio, we celebrated it with my parents. We also threw in a few gifts for Ana since her Birthday is a week away and my folks wanted to see her open her presents as well. All in all a fun morning.

While here we tried to take pictures of the kids for my mom's 8x10 collection. We included a few of those along with some birthday pics below. (click here if you can't see the slide show):

Happy Fourth!

What happened to all the work? Well, we took a little break to visit my family in Ohio.

The trip here was not anywhere near as bad as feared...the younger girls had never been in the car more than 3 hours at a time. They handled the 9 hour car trip well.

Since here we have been taking in the sites and tastes of the Akron area. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park is far better than anything I remember as a kid. We did some fun hiking/exploring in the area and hope to do some more later this week. I was personally thrilled that I was able to get a national park emblem for my walking stick (not quite the effort of Bryce or Zion, but still cool). We also had Swensons...apparently popular with tourists after getting best burger in Akron award...a guy from South Carolina was videoing the burger experience. I didn't go that far!

The boys spent a week in Ohio with my folks before we came out. We met a nice, seemingly trustworthy young man at church and he was happy to bring our boys out here. I was feeling a bit crazed by the thought of sending them with someone I had never met...but he came with good references and delivered them safely to the door in appropriate time, well fed and happy. Thanks to George.

Other than that, I just assume that we will be heading back this weekend and I will start working at the shop I was in the previous week and a half (more wiring and twisting and ...) We are grateful for the opportunity to earn some extra cash. I also hope to dig into the sewer problem in the next week or so...and start gathering wood (I am already late!). I'll attach a family pic from the hike (first and only try - not too bad):