Westminster Confessions

The Summer of 2006 (brief glimpses)…

Visiting the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in Charlotte, NC with Sarah (and actually being able to read what I saw).

Going down the “big slide” with Ethan at the pool and being egged into jumping off the “high” diving board by John (and doing it). Dancing with Maggie.

Learning to play Settlers of Catan (and then playing with the “Seafarers” expansion pack).

Seeing dear friends in Cville. An amazing “reunion” picnic at the Goings. A sweet evening at the Schmidts. Precious. Ties retied and tightened.

Driving through the night to one of the most special places I know: the Crags on Bailey Island. Spending three wonderful days with Eric and Penny talking, eating, walking, and nailing cedar shingles on the 100-year old cottage roof.

Denise–working on the roof at the Crags is my reply to your tag for Molly’s meme.

Picking up Seámus and Éva in Bangor (so Hannah and Philip could stay with Olivia and family as she was prepared for her first surgery). Driving through the night with the kids to the Adirondacks.

An amazing, fun, crazy, joyful, wonderful time with all the grandkids, daughters and sons-in-law in that special place for our family (the High Peaks of the Adirondacks)… and especially introducing the little legs to their first hikes (Owl’s Head and Marcy Dam). Marshmallows and pillow fights, bug spray and sticks, water to play in, fish in, splash in and fall in. And having my sisters join in the trip too! You’ll have to see Mark’s photos for all the fun.

Renovating, repairing and rejuvenating the Tyson Ave house. Demolition, sheetrocking, cleaning, painting, wallpapering. Spending more time in carpenter pants (and shorts) than in anything else. Wielding hammers, screwdrivers, sledgehammers, putty knives, and paint brushes. Thank goodness for Henry’s sliding compound miter saw and other power tools. Henry could open a store AND a museum for tools. What a blessing to have access to all those tools during our work. Nancy did awesome work reworking some of the wiring. So many friends pitched in. We are really blessed.

Before it was all finished… Philip gets the job at Westminster and the Waldens need a place for 6 weeks before moving into the Gatehouse at WTS. So, the Tyson Ave house becomes instant community: Mark, Karyn, Hannah, Philip, Éva, Seámus, Jireh and Sam Boyd. The remaining renovation work gets back-burnered as we have the little ones running around here. Bubble wrap encases all the unfinished baseboard heaters. We at least make an attempt to make the house “child-proof.”

Just one week after arriving in PA, the Waldens’ car dies. Mark’s laptop gets a dose of 2-year-old (Seamus poured shampoo onto the keyboard), my cell phone literally fell apart, and the refrigerator stopped working (we discovered this when food started going bad) and had to be replaced. Oh, and the utility sink in the basement had a cinder block fall into it and crack a hole that wasn’t discovered until two full tubs of water found their way through the hole onto the basement floor (wash and rinse cycles). Thank goodness for sump pumps.

Summer Hebrew. I’m the Teaching Assistant for the two semesters of summer Hebrew (aka Hebrew Boot Camp). I love it.

More trips to Ikea than should be allowed. And I can (humbly) say that I “am” the queen of getting Ikea merchandise into a small vehicle. I single-handedly purchased and loaded into our Hyundai Accent (in one trip) a loveseat, a sofa, 10 seating cushions, 10 sets of covers, multiple storage containers, several bookshelves and a pillow. Oh, and cinnamon rolls for the guys (and a bunch of last minute stuff that you always buy as you go through that “marketplace” area… talk about marketing). And I actually safely drove home too (by staying in the right lane all the way since I could only see out the left hand mirror). Most of that furniture is for Hannah’s new place but for now some of it is in the kids’ bedroom in our house and the couch is the emergency guest bed that Sam is using.

Early (very early!) mornings are now filled with the sounds of young children playing together (even if it does sound like pterodactyls locked in mortal combat). Seriously, it has been fun to see Éva, Seámus, and Jireh in day to day activities (early morning oatmeal with Daddy, bathtime, and of course Seámus’ incomprehensible naptime positions). It will be very different in a few weeks when they move out.

In the middle of all this… packing our old apartment up (and realizing just how many books we’ve accumulated so far at seminary). More cleaning, packing, and then unpacking at the new place. Since the Waldens actually officially moved in to the Tyson house before we did we put some of our stuff in storage until they move to the Gatehouse (Labor Day weekend). So Mark and I are wearing limited wardrobes and sleeping on the floor in what is his temporary office. My office is actually almost unpacked (it has been “unpacked” several times as we have moved more and more stuff into it “temporarily”). We still have more painting and fixing to do on the second floor, but we will get there eventually.

Trying to get a headstart on stuff for the fall semester. Some translation work, etc.

Reading, but not as much as I had hoped (unless you count the HUNDREDS of books I’ve read to Seámus and his siblings…they cannot get enough). I did make time for one fluffy fiction book - The Penultimate Peril (just so I can say I read something recreational). Note: I did not write a digest for anything I read.

It’s pitiful how little my bicycle has been outside. Maybe in the fall when the weather is cooler.

Mostly it’s been a great summer of working on projects, being with friends and family, and putting my hand to lots of challenges. What a great couple of months!

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 19th, 2006 at 11:10 pm and is filed under General, Generations (family stuff). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.