House Build Progress in Pictures

Bryan is back in PA as of Oct. 31st.  As you can see by the pictures, he was NOT able to get it under roof before he left.  However, the good guys of Council Mountain Construction have assured us that they will continue to work diligently to get the house under roof as quickly as possible.

These first pictures show the first snow which greeted Bryan upon his return to the job site on October 23rd.

 

 

We look forward to the house being finished.  For now, after November 13th closing on our Lititz property we will be wintering at our vacation cabin/home in Huntingdon, PA.  I'll be sending updated address info via email in the near future.

8 Weeks In Idaho - Winding Down

I return to Pennsylvania on Saturday, October 20th.
Bryan was home on business this past week, and will come back here to Idaho on October 19th to oversee finalizing house building/weathering in details, and then he will drive home with the two dogs and a load of hay to deliver in Lancaster the following weekend.

We were so blessed to enjoy a visit from Samantha this past week.  She arrived on Thursday, Oct. 11th, and boarded a Greyhound bus for Seattle, Washington early this a.m. to continue her journey.  She will also visit friends in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles + San Diego, CA before flying back to PA on Nov. 5th. We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her and catching up with her.  Here is the link to her website where she is posting on her blog as well.

 http://www.thetravelingadvisor.com

We enjoyed looking at her pictures from her time in Columbia this summer and her trip across the country so far; we ate out; we went to a couple movies; we walked part of the green belt rail trail along the Boise River on Sunday since it was so gorgeous outside;  we went to the Boise Art Museum; we did a little shopping in the city; ...it was a great time together!

Here are some pictures of the log home walls going up.  These pictures were taken on Monday, Oct. 15th.

Yesterday morning it rained super hard and long and was super windy.  It's good because it'd the first significant rain storm that Idaho's had since early summer.

I will see you all very soon.
With preparing for closing on our house and finalizing moving out of our Lititz Property by Nov. 13th, I am sure I'll "hit the ground running".  Prayers are appreciated.  Thanks.

Blessings!
Cindy

 

Moving/Living in Transition Musings

As I was out walking today, my thoughts flitted from

•  enjoying the warm "Indian Summer" weather that we've been having, and being grateful for it...
•  to the beautiful birds I was seeing on my walk, yet was unable to capture on my camera which I took along to get  pictures, [especially of the magpies for Dorris Runk who wanted a magpie picture so badly, and I see many magpies every single day];...yet the birds evaded my capturing them on my camera...
• to thoughts of Samantha's arrival on Thursday and preparation of moving the RV down to "the low country" to be closer to Boise and things to do during her stay with us here in Idaho...
• to "Wow, I only have tomorrow up here in Cambridge yet, before I fly home to PA..".
• to all the things I haven't accomplished from my list today...
• to all the things that I need to accomplish before leaving Idaho on October 20th...
• to "I wonder what time it is, I wanted to go to Bible Study for the last session before leaving Idaho so that I can say good-bye to all the ladies before I leave, and get a picture..
• to "Kelby, NO!, stay out of the grass...there are sharp burrs in there!  COME!"; and  "Man is she filthy dirty.  I have GOT to give her a bath today!"...
• to "Oh, I need to organize the Idaho addresses and phone numbers of the phone company and utility company, and contractor's numbers/info, AND I need to call the Lititz Post Office to be sure that we're on the same page as to stopping the forwarding of our mail, and to let them know when I'll be in to pick it up...
• to "That reminds me, I really need to set up a PO Box in Huntingdon, PA so that from the time we move out of the house on November 13th until we return to Idaho, (which we're not sure when yet) we'll have a postal address for our mail to reach us...

and on and on and on... my thoughts meandered regarding details enveloping our selling our house in Lititz and choosing to build our Log Home and transition our lives to living out west in Idaho.

OTHER REALIZATIONS rambling through my brain with regard to this huge transition:

THINGS A PERSON TAKES FOR GRANTED WHEN THEY ARE SETTLED:

• Having a settled address and phone number and email connections.
• It takes faith to proceed with what we firmly believe to be God's will and plan for our lives when we don't have a detailed understanding and clear "Road Map" regarding exactly what God means for us to be doing as far as jobs/ministry/income stream etc. once we finally get all the way moved out here.
• Security/ Emotional Comfort ability -Such a huge transition does not come without it's own set of insecurities and emotional drain, as we deal with the same questions over and over again...."PENNSYLVANIA!  What brings you all the way out here to Idaho?" (or if in PA -"IDAHO! Why Idaho?"  and..."What are you planning to do out here (there)?"...and while understanding these very normal, real, concerned questions having wrestled with them ourselves for the past four years when this move was first discussed, we've come to accept that it does not make sense to the average person...nor can we give a satisfactory answer. Because it isn't "normal" to move away from a place you've lived your entire life, particularly if your entire family and friends network still live there.  Dream chasing and God's affirmation of the move is often not followed through with when 2500 miles separates a person from their already established lives. And I honestly understand why. This can unsettle a person's security and emotions if one dwells on the opinions of the main stream and disregards one's own inner "knowing" and clarity of God-given direction and peace with the wrestled through final decision.
• Living Close to Family & Friends - we often take for granted.  Regardless of whether you only see those family members at holidays and maybe a time or two throughout the year, and regardless of busy work/social schedules keeping us busy... when we are established, when we live close to family and friends, unfortunately, we too often take these precious relationships for granted. 

DETAILS ONE MUST COORDINATE WHEN ONE NO LONGER HAS AN ESTABLISHED ADDRESS:

• Where to direct the mail.
• Changing Banks/Insurance Companies/Medical Providers Etc.
• Current Phone Number (s)/ Cell Service Provider(s) 
•  Internet Connections
• Current Email
• Where are we staying?  for how long?
• Sensitivity to Other People's Established Schedules and Lives + Being More Flexible & Adapting your Own Situation so as not to impose upon them.
• Mailing Address Change Cards (and in our case, more than once within a year's time)
• Striving to not forget anyone or offend anyone

Well, that's a L-O-N-G list of musings.  I'll cut it off there, and

I shall leave you with a picture of my Bible Study group that I took this afternoon, despite arriving just in time for prayer time. (About seven ladies are missing today.)  They all graciously consented to my picture taking and wrote down their contact info for me.  This is a wonderful group of women!

Updates from Idaho

Idaho Updates

We've been in Idaho almost 8 weeks now.

Here is what's been happening.

Building Progress:

concrete footer walls were poured 

Plumber has the floors ready for radiant floor heating.

The house is ready to have the log walls go up on Monday!  Yeah!

By the end of the week the walls should all be up and it will look more like a house.

What I (Cindy) have been doing with my days while Bryan is out working with the contractors on the house building project:

• Tuesday Bible Study - I've been enjoying getting to know the 19 ladies attending the Tuesday Bible Studies. We're studying the fruit of the spirit "Patience".   Quite appropriate for me given all the transitions.  This week I went for a walk and had a great visit with one of the ladies from Bible Study.  She is also new to the area and we have a lot in common.  I look forward to spending more time with Amy and building on our friendship when we return to Idaho after the holidays.
• Bike Rides -   I needed to overcome my fear of being on the Weiser River Trail by myself, so last week I rode my bike from Cambridge to our house.  It was approximately a ten mile ride.  It was a gorgeous sunny 80 degree with-a-breeze day.  And I didn't run into any large wildlife on the ride, for which I was extremely grateful.  (I did have my pepper spray though just in case.  ha ha.)
• Local Events - Bryan and I attended the new Hot Springs Pool Open House a couple weeks ago.  SO NICE soaking in the natural hot spring pools.  The owners of the hot springs pool are super nice people too.   We watched a Regional Cattle Dog Herding Competition the weekend that we went to Lewiston, ID.  Today we walked up to the little local Harvest Days Arts & Crafts Festival and then we watched a part of the Jr & Sr. High School Rodeo Competition.  Interesting!!! It is such a different world out here.
• Window Shopping for Lighting, Ceiling Fans, Floor Stone/Tile, Fireplace Stone & Kitchen Cabinets
• Arabic Class -  I sat in on an Intermediate Arabic class and hope to sit in on an 1st Level Class to gauge where to enroll should it work out for me to study Arabic at Boise State.  The instructor was very helpful. I'd love to take the Arabic classes if the timing of our return works out.
• Exploring - I've been driving all over the place learning my way around and seeing where the shopping spots are etc.  Last Sunday Bryan and I both drove to the C Ben Ross Reservoir, The Crane Creek Reservoir, & The Mann Creek Reservoir.  We saw tons of beautiful birds and over a dozen deer.  The water levels are really, really low.  Idaho has not had much rain all summer.
• Life Stuff  - Oh yeah, and I still have the day to day responsibilities of meal prep, laundry, and cleaning the RV etc.  There is so much dust!
• Agility with Kelby -  I've attended a few agility training classes and a Match at Ann Morrison Park. On  Oct. 12 & 13th I have Kelby entered into an AKC Agility Trial at the Expo Idaho center in Boise.

Bryan and I are both looking forward to Samantha's visit.  She is driving my car out for me and enjoying her own cross country trip.  She should arrive in Idaho on Thursday, October 11th.

I'll post more later.

See you all in a few weeks.