The Outside After Renovation

This first shot shows the Shutesbury house a couple of months ago. The others give you an idea of what the house looks like, as of today. We finished staining the new siding yesterday! The 7 windows in the original (front) part of the house are now all new and the old fake log siding has all been replaced with rough, cut ship lap boards.

Last Bash at Wendell Rd House

Yesterday we hosted our last big bash at the Wendell Rd house. We have been here 12 years!

We finished putting stain on the new siding of the house a couple of hours before the party. Around 35 people came. Many have lots of memories here....some stretching back the 12 years, some over the past few. There were also 3 newer friends here who had never seen the house. We gave tours of the recent work, had a BBQ and then a roaring camp fire in the fire pit until about 1AM. It was a great way to call it a wrap!

We are looking forward to hosting many more gatherings at the Lessey St. house...which will be easier for everyone to get to, except Williams and Franklins who live up here on top of the hill.

Tomorrow we close on the new house and begin cosmetic renovations in the afternnon. Our kids and some of our tried and true friends will help us yank old carpets, peel wallpaper and other such fun over the next couple of weeks. We are scheduled to move in June 3.

Stay tuned. More to come.

Hanging with emerging church folks, potting plants and other such busy-ness.

This last week brought some new stuff to my plate. I went with Ben, Jess and Sarah to Kairos, a gathering of emergent church types in western MD. Brian McLaren was there, sharing some thoughts, hanging out and chatting with us and the other 50 or so people gathered. It was encouraging to have such a low key and personal time with Brian. He shared some interesting insights and spurred on conversations about spiritual formation, the attonement and other things. I did not say "answers" mind you...but... food for thought, encouragement to explore & lots to more think about. I met some inspiring people as well.

The retrurn to Amherst found me scurrying to catch up on counseling work and teaching stuff. I also stained another side of the house. Then this weekend I divided up some of the plants in my garden, potting up around 100 plants to move to the new house.

Still no offers on the Shutesbury house tho..trying not to panic...

Well..that's it for tonight.

Long Overdue Update

I have not blogged in so long. Guess I have been really busy with work on the house, planning for the Lessey St house, teaching and counseling. Then 3 weeks ago I added gardening back into the mix as I began to clean up the yard in Shutesbury. So, blogging has gone by the wayside for a bit.

No new photos today but here's a few "snapshots":

House stuff:

The Shutesbury house is on the market. It has been shown 4 times plus a big realtors tour came thru. No offers yet.
:-( Hopefully soon.

The financing and other legal details on the Lessey St house are all set and we are moving towards a May 1 closing. I have begun planning out the projects to do there in May. Hopefully all the financial stuff will permit us to do what we need / want to before we move in.

I have booked a U-Haul for the first weekend in June to move the bulk of our stuff down to Amherst.

On other aspects of life's fronts:

Today I helped chaperone the eighth graders from Jess's class (about 100 kids all together I guess) on a field trip at UMass. It was a beautful day and a fun trip. Jess had done a great job planning it all. They were divided into small groups and rotated
around visiting labs (including Baird's Electronica lab) & art galleries, the greenhouses & student businesses, had a treasure hunt & ate lunch. After I had to leave they all went ice skating at the Mullins Ctr. I think they had a great time.

Jess passed her high school biology teacher's exam so now she is certified to teach both grades 5-8 general science and high school life sciences/biology (technically grades 5-12). She is interviewing for Summer jobs and will begin interviewing for Fall teaching jobs later this month. She wil complete her masters in June.

Ben is wrapping up his first year of a 2 years masters in education and working a bunch of part time jobs on campus (info technology stuff) and off campus (carpentry mostly).

Jess & Ben recently got 2 indoor rabbits, Peter & Mopsy. They are really cute and soft.

Aaron is wrapping up his first year at Umass. He's pretty into his sutainable living course and his bioterrorism course. He's taking a communciation course and Portuguese as well and has had a good semseter so far. He also works on campus at People's Market, an organic foods type student business, where Jess and Ben both worked when they were undergrads.

My mom's "companion" Conrad is still in the nursing home but after many months of tremendous spinal pain and immobility, he is now able to walk with a walker. Today my Mom took him out for a ride in her car. I think this is the first time he's been out in 11 months (except for a couple trips to the hospital). Amazing! He turns 92 on Saturday! We are having a little party for him.

On Sunday afternoon Jess and Ben and I will join our pastor, Sarah for a trip to a retreat in MD with author and pastor Brian McLaren with a focus on discussing issues rleated to the "emerging church." Should be an interesting and fun trip. I am really looking forward to it.

My neice, Karen, had a baby boy, Jackson, last week. Yeah!!

Well, that is it for me for tonight. Hope that gives you blog readers a little glimpse of our lives these days.