Some of you have probably seen pictures of progress on the house on Seth's and Jim's blog, but I figured it was time for me to update on the house as well. Things are getting more exciting around here all the time as the house continues to come together. Jim and the boys put up all of the facia, barge, and trim boards and then began work on the shingles.

Titus has been their little "go-fer" saving them thousands of steps up and down the scaffolding and ladders, etc. He's been a huge help, enabling them to keep their focus on  putting the roof on.

Isn't that a beautiful valley? They are doing such a great job!

A roof is really changing the whole look of the house.

Meanwhile, Tom and Pumpkin are still trying to learn how to live together under the same (only different) roof. Not an easy task for either one of them!

And a picture from my birthday. Among other things, my family gave me a roaster (which will be fun to use at Thanksgiving and other times when we serve large groups of people) and a large griddle which Titus wanted to put to use right away for pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

Our lives have been rather absorbed in remodeling since mid-June, so when a wedding in Tacoma beckoned us this past weekend, the girls and I listened and hurried away! We were also able to convince my folks that they ought to travel along so that they could see my brothers as well as many dear friends. It was a flurry of activity all weekend, but we had a great time.

The men were left at home to continue work on the roof. It's coming right along! (Take a look at those threatening clouds!)

I love this picture of Seth's silhoutte as he takes a picture of the nice job they did on the tar papering.

We left our house at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning in two vehicles. We delivered Froukje's car to her along the way and stopped in for a bit of a visit. Then we headed out to my brother's place where we petted some beautiful horses, had some excellent barbecued salmon, and got some good visiting in.

This is my brother, Steve, my Dad, and Abigail...

We left Steve and Deb's house at 1:30 and headed to the wedding. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Michael and Kristen (the bride and groom) but I have this lovely picture of my folks, Abigail, and Natasha, and the groom's grandparents, Joe and Barbara, as well as our hostess, Eunice.

We stayed in Harry and Eunice's cottage that night and then attended Faith the next morning. It was so wonderful to see many dear friends at both the wedding and at church. We were the last ones to leave that morning before heading over to our hosts' home for a delicious meal that had been prepared and which we were able to enjoy with the great group of people pictured here.

We headed home late in the afternoon. Mom and Dad were pretty tuckered out, but I talked to them this morning and they are very happy that they went. They were blessed to see so many dear friends. Thanks to you all for a great time of fellowship and friendship! We love you!

Today was the big day that we have all been looking forward to. Jim and the boys completed the pony walls and the trusses were delivered! Yay!!! The Lord even gave us a beautiful blue sky to work under all day. Tonight, we are all feeling a real sense of accomplishment (and exhaustion, but it feels good!)

Over the past several days Jim and the boys have been building these pony walls to rest the trusses on.

Seth and Jim help guide a set of trusses for the boom truck driver.

The boom truck was quite impressive...

Jesse and Seth help to guide another set of trusses to the correct location. You can see in this picture how bare our house looks. This is looking at it from the back yard.

A view of the front of our house. On the left side of the picture is our dining room. The front door is in the middle of the picture and the garage off to the right. It's looking pretty bare!

Isaac and Seth proudly display their handiwork on the trusses over the dining room! Great job guys!

While some of the men were up on the roof working on trusses, each took his turn working down below filling in the trench that we had to dig around the house so that we could pour the foundation. Here Jesse is, hard at it.

By the end of the day, it was all really taking shape!

I'm sick today. I have a cold. My eyes feel like they are buzzing and there is a funny humming sensation behind my nose. (I'm not sure why I wrote that other than the fact that they are difficult sensations to ignore). I decided to stay home from church so as not to share my germs. I listened to a church service, read my Bible and have been playing hymns, but it still doesn't feel like the Lord's Day. The family is going over to some friends' house for lunch and then back to the evening service so it will be a long, lonely, quiet day here at home. I'm looking at the clock and it is only 10:44 a.m. That means everyone won't be home for another nine hours!  Oh, bother. Well, I guess I will go listen to another church service, read my Bible some more and maybe take a nap. Cheers! (Lifts herbal tea cup).

After a few setbacks, the Ungersma household is pretty excited. We were able to pour the footing today! Yay!!! We had hoped to do it sooner, but ran into a few minor problems. None of them were costly, just time consuming and labor intensive. First of all, Jim discovered the work of some diligent carpenter ants. The majority of the damage affected an area about 2-1/2 feet by 4 feet, involving the sill plate, studs, and  rim joists and some of the sub floor. Also, the entire rim joist along the front of the house (25 feet) needed to be replaced due to what was probably water damage.

Carpenter ants really do amazing work. I mean, if this wasn't such an important board in our house, I would be able to say that their work is quite lovely.

While Jim was laboring away to repair the damage the carpenter ants had done, Jesse, Seth, Titus, and Isaac were all continuing to finish prepping the rest of the house for the next stages of remodeling.

They made sure that the three foot crawl space was good to go!

After several hours, Jim was able to have the pest damage repaired. In this picture you can also see the beginnings of the forms for the foundation.

Meanwhile, a leak was discovered under the house. It was a pretty easy fix, but time consuming nonetheless.

This morning the cement truck and the pump truck both arrived.

Jim got right to work and poured the footing. Hurray!

Then he leveled it all out. In this picture you can also see how very naked our house is looking these days! Tomorrow Jim and the boys will build the forms for the stem wall. So, we have definitely turned a corner. Instead of tearing the house apart, we are now putting it back together! I think it will be more fun from here on out to post pictures as our work comes together. If only the rain will hold off until the roof is on...

We are busy working on our remodel. We are still in the "tearing down" stage which began the middle of June. The boys have been excavating under the dining room, kitchen, and their bedroom, getting it all ready to build forms for a foundation and stem wall. There never was a foundation under that part of the house and the stem wall was uneven (six inches in places, three in others). Last night, they were showing a friend what they have been doing and he was all excited about the project and is coming over today to help them. I guess it's a good teenage boy project. We are just about ready to begin the "putting it back together" stage which will be fun to experience!

It is necessary to dig a two-foot-wide trench around the dining room, kitchen, and the boys' bedroom so that we can put up forms to pour the footing and the stem wall.

Seth and Isaac are still smiling after days of digging! Titus has been working hard on the house too, but unfortunately I have no pictures of him at the moment. He is also still smiling!

Our cat, Tom, thinks it's a new adventure. He has been spending a lot of time under the house watching the boys dig and exploring all the nooks and crannies that a cat loves to explore under an old house.

This is what the boys have to crawl around in while digging out a three-foot-deep crawl space under the house so that we can get the forms built. It looks like a nasty job to me, but they seem to rather enjoy it.

This is all the dirt they have removed thus far from under and around the house! Just to give you an idea of how much dirt that is, the pickleball court is 32'x16' and the dirt is piled 3'deep. One of you out there can figure out how many yards of dirt that is, I'm sure!

The old stem wall wasn't sufficient or even well-poured to begin with, so the boys have had to knock it all off the house with sledge hammers and then put it into Jim's truck so that we can haul it to the construction dump. Man! Am I glad we have three hardworking boys!

The goal is to start building the forms tomorrow and to have the foundation and the stem wall completely poured and the forms removed by the end of next week. Then we can begin work on the roof! That will be a relief!

Near the end of his life, John Adams, America’s second president could say this about himself:

“No virgin or matron ever had cause to blush at the sight of me, or to regret her acquaintance with me. No father, brother, son, [husband], or friend ever had cause of grief or resentment for any [conduct] between me and any daughter, sister, mother, [wife] or any other relation of the female sex. My children may be assured that no illegitimate brother or sister exists or ever existed.” [David McCullough, John Adams, 36]

My prayer for our boys is that they will live their lives, day by day, in such a way, that at the end of their lives they will be able to look back over the years and know that they have been above reproach in their conduct toward women and girls. May they never be flatterers. May they never give suggestive looks, speak endearing (although insincere) words, or imply in any way to someone of the opposite sex, that they have intentions, when in reality, they are playing some sort of game. May they always protect the hearts of women around them by behaving honorably themselves and never leading any woman on. May they guard their own eyes and their own thoughts, doing whatever is necessary to avoid being anywhere near things that they know will cause them temptation. And when temptation arises unexpectedly, may they have the spiritual fortitude to do whatever it takes to put it to death immediately. May they be loving their future wives now by keeping themselves pure, by praying for them, even though they don't yet know them by name, and by daily reading God's Word and applying it diligently to their own hearts and lives so that they will be prepared to take on the task of being truly Godly husbands, fathers, and leaders. Then, and only then, will they be able to experience the exhilirating joy of being totally fulfilled and enraptured by their own wives throughout the years the Lord gives them on this earth. Isaac, Seth, and Titus, you will never regret living in such a way. The Lord is kind and loves to abundantly reward faithful obedience. He will bless you beyond your greatest hopes and you will each have a clear conscience and a good name. These things are priceless, but only the wise man can lay claim to them.

In my last post I said we were trying to get back into our "normal" routine after being away from home for 10 days. Well, here's what my week has looked like so far:

Monday- washed twelve loads of laundry, went with my dad to see the vocal chord specialist, ran several errands, made a big pot of clam chowder and invited my folks over for dinner.

Tuesday-brought Isaac to work at 5 a.m. then went to work out, went with my dad to see the stomach specialist, went through the mound of snail mail and e-mail that had piled up while we were gone, paid bills, and returned phonecalls.

Wednesday-the kids and I worked ALL DAY on pulling nails, burning wood, harvesting and weeding the garden, mowing the lawn, etc.

Thursday-thoroughly cleaned the house in expectation of our company from California (Jim's brother and his wife and their three kids), went to town with Seth so that he could buy two digital cameras (one for himself and one for Isaac) and so that we could do our big Costco run. Randy and family arrived and we had dinner, showed them the remodel progress and stayed up and talked.

Friday-french toast, sausage and cantaloupe for breakfast. Randy and family left at 11:00 a.m. and then all the men folk hit the remodel hard while the women folk started packing to go to college with Cassie. Busy day making sure the guys would have enough meals while we were all gone. Salmon-going-away-dinner for Cassie. Grandma and Grandpa came and Rachel showed up a bit later. Cassie made a blueberry torte for her going away dessert. It was nummy!

Today (Saturday)-We four girls left home at 5:00 a.m. and met Uncle Benny for breakfast at 9:00. Had a great time with him before heading to the Costco nearest the college to buy stuff for Cassie for the year. We are now at the college and have already made several trips up and down three (!) flights of stairs to get Cassie moved in. She will be R.A. on the fourth floor so she will be getting her exercise all year! Next we are heading out to Walmart, then out for Thai food and then a long walk. We are looking forward to a great weekend before saying good-bye to Cassie Monday morning.

After that, maybe things will return to "normal"...

After arriving home at 10:00 p.m. last night, we are well rested and trying to get back to our "normal" routine. We had an awesome time in Santa Cruz and can't believe that it is all in the past. We all feel like Isaac who commented yesterday morning, "Well, only 350some days until the next WCWC!" Cassie (who was still exhausted and hyper (not a good combination) from the week) said, "Isaac, there aren't even 350 days in a year!" One of many humorous moments of the week!

We commenced our trip on July 27th after eating dinner with Jim. The rest of us piled into the van and waved good-bye to him. He looked pretty sad. Titus started crying before we even got to the corner and said, "I miss Dad!". He got over it quickly though and we arrived at MaryLynn and Doug's house two hours later. We had a great time visiting with their family that night and the following morning and then headed for Cave Junction, OR without Titus and Abby. Spending time at my cousin's house that evening was wonderful and we enjoyed catching up on all the family news and being given a grand tour of the farm by my Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Lowell. Sunday morning we worshipped in our sister church in Medford and we also enjoyed getting to know the congregation over a fellowship meal following the service. We were greatly blessed by our time with them! Then we headed for Ripon, CA arriving at John and Helen's at 7:30 p.m. They brought us over to Ted and Renee's for dinner and we had a delightful evening visiting with all of them before going back to John and Helen's and getting a good night of sleep.

They took this picture of the kids and I before we left to visit some friends in Escalon.

That is where we all got to hold this cute little baby, taking turns for 3 1/2 hours! He was the best natured little guy!

Then we headed for Santa Cruz for WCWC 2007! I had fully expected to be a counselor again this year, but upon arrival was given the pleasant news that I, and several others, were only needed as general staff this year. Thus, we were able to still enjoy every aspect of the conference (lectures, fun, food, fellowship, etc.) but we were much better rested! Pictured here are Jo, myself, Ann, and Wanda. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them all better and am looking forward to keeping in touch with them throughout the year!

Somehow, the kids and I were talked into singing together for talent night. We had a soprano, two basses, and two altos, but were in need of a tenor. John Hodges, who is a professor of music and one of our esteemed lecturers at the conference, graciously agreed to sing tenor for us.

And here you see the whole gang, minus a few who weren't able to make it for the photography session. I was so glad to get to know so many of you better this year and am counting down the days (with Isaac!) until WCWC 2008! All of you who couldn't come this year~WE MISSED YOU! We hope you can make it next year. It's just too good to miss!

Saying good-byes Saturday morning was sad.    We headed back to Cave Junction where we had another great visit with my cousin Carol, and her family. We enjoyed a night of restful sleep there and a wonderful breakfast of waffles with berries and whipped cream, and then headed out. We were able to attend church in the evening at our former church in Tacoma, WA, Faith PCA. It was good to visit with good friends there as well.

It was an awesome trip in every way, but it's good to be home again and have the whole family together.

The kids and I leave for WCWC in 48 more hours! I've been busy sprucing up the yard and flower beds, dead-heading all my flowers, mowing the lawn, harvesting the garden, fertilizing all the plants, watering everything, etc. so that Jim won't have as much to do while we are gone. Anyway, I just couldn't resist taking some pictures of my purple hydrangea and sharing them with you. It is so gorgeous this year and I find it very therapeutic to just look and look at it.