Back to the 21st Century!

My computer's hard drive crashed last week. Monday morning I had used it to check email, the weather, etc. Then I took Ashlyn to school, came back home, tried to check something else and...NOTHING! When my in-house IT department (aka Britney) came downstairs, I asked him to look at it. He gave me the bad news, followed by the good news that it was covered by Apple Care and we would just have to send it off for them to fix it.

All in all, it took them less than a week to fix it and send it back. Pretty impressive and I am SO GLAD not to be using the antique laptop that we just happened to have lying around.

And of course I had like 3 posts that I wanted to do last week, but without access to pictures, I figured it was pointless. I'll try to remember what they were about and catch you all up on what's happened here in the last week!

Finally Coming Home!

I just read Kristin's blog and God has been faithful! He worked a miracle for her today and I know her faith will be forever strengthened. She will be leaving Ghana tonight WITH her new children, Raymond and Delali. After countless holdups and run-arounds with her paperwork for visas for them, the visas were issued this morning. On a Friday. A day when they don't normally do exit interviews or issue visas. And they're also only open a half-day on Fridays.

Prayer really does work. Thank you to anyone who reads this blog that may have said a prayer for the Spittles. I know their hearts are full and overflowing and now the stress of the last 34 days perhaps was all worth it - for all NINE of them to be together again in a couple of days.

Kristin and the kids leave Ghana tonight!

16

Today is my nephew Chad's sixteenth birthday. I can't believe he's 16. I know his mom can't.

I was 16 when he was born. I remember that day really well. My mom missed him being born because she was with me at the doctor. I remember her crying in the waiting room because it happened - the birth of her first grandchild - and she wasn't there for it.

My mom and sister describe Chad as a "difficult" baby. I don't really remember much about it except that if he was asleep, you were not allowed to talk - at all. I do remember him being at our house and playing with my mom. They would have coffee by the front door and watch for the cats. They would play Scooby Doo and Mom was "Haggy" - that was how Chad said Shaggy.

I never thought that red-haired little boy would grow up to be such a nice young man. He is such a great kid and I'm sorry I didn't spend more time with him when he was younger. We got to spend a day with them while we were at Disney World this summer and it was probably one of the most fun days we had on our whole trip.

Chad is playing football this year, but since we live so far away, we won't get to see any of his games. That really makes me sad. He's also in ROTC and hopes to go to West Point one day. I can't believe he's growing up.

Happy Birthday, Chad! We hope you have a wonderful day!

And if you're in South Carolina, watch out because he's on the road driving!!!!!!!! Chad - in the words of Nana, Watch out! This is a curvy road!!

Please pray, again!

I've blogged before about my friends Scot and Kristin who have adopted the two children from Ghana. Kristin is there right now (and Scot was until last week) meeting the kids and getting the paperwork in order to bring the kids home. But, they've hit a snag.

I don't know a lot about bringing someone into the US, but apparently there are a lot of papers to fill out and of course they have to have a visa. There has been a hold up on the paperwork for Raymond and Delali's visa - on the part of the US Embassy.

Scot and Kristin are both frustrated. Kristin is in Ghana, alone, with their two new children, trying to find ways to pass the days without going crazy. Not because the new kids are bad, but life in a foreign country where you don't know anyone and don't know your way around much, can be chaos.

Please pray specifically for:
The paperwork situation to be resolved today
The visas to be issued quickly
No more hang-ups
Speedy and safe travel for Kristin, Raymond and Delali
Patience for Scot and the kids here in the US waiting for their wife and mom to return with their new siblings

Thanks for praying with me for them in the past, and I know that they would covet your prayers now. I'll keep you posted!

DONE...For now!

Today I installed the last of the eight windows I've been working on since July. It felt SO GOOD to get that last window in. The amount of time it took me to get the last window in was maybe 1/4 of what it was for the first window. I guess practice does make perfect :)

Now, I wonder what my next project will be.....

Window #3!

One of my favorite things to do is work on things around our house. I love that it's old, even though that means astronomical heating bills in the winter. And pipes that need to be worked on every couple of months. And doors that don't close right - or at all for that matter. And un-doing 100+ years of "re-decorating" that various owners have done. I waffle back and forth about making the house truly ours or restoring it to what it probably was in its prime. Paint the woodwork or strip it? Replace the windows or restore them?

I posted awhile ago about starting on the window restoration. It's a VERY involved process, but overall isn't hard. Just time consuming. When you have two little ones running around all summer, time is one of those luxuries you just don't get much of. Luckily, this summer, my kids played together better than they ever have before, and we developed a very healthy give and take relationship! I would take them to the playground or the lake for a couple of hours in the morning and then I would work on the windows for a couple of hours in the afternoon while they played on their own. I think it worked out pretty well!

Considering it takes about one month from start to finish to restore a window, I accomplished a huge amount in getting eight complete windows done while still enjoying summer with the kids. For all of you inquiring minds who are just dying to know - here's the process from start to finish:
Step 1 - removing the window. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? WRONG! When you have 123 years of paint on the window, trim and everything else around, sometimes removing the window was the hardest part! All that's involved is basically removing some of the interior trim around the window and the bottom one comes right out. The upper ones were a bit more of a hassle, but with a little (or a lot) persuasion and some taps with the hammer, out they came.

Step 2 - stripping the window of all paint and putty (otherwise known as glazing). If I hadn't stumbled upon a used Silent Paint Remover for sale, I would probably still be at this stage on the first window...The SPR is the BEST tool ever invented! It basically works like a heat gun, only using infrared heat. It softens the paint so that it can just be scraped right off. Usually one pass with the SPR and I was scraping right down to the bare wood! That was a wonderful sight considering I spent 4 months stripping the woodwork in the guest room. After the paint is all off, you have to chip away at the putty. Most of the time with the SPR, it would be soft enough to just scrape it out too, but sometimes it was pretty stubborn and took some real elbow grease - all with trying NOT to break the glass!

Step 3 - removing the glass. After all of the paint and putty has been scraped away, the trickiest part is finding the glazing points - little metal diamond shapes that actually hold the glass into the wood frames. Occasionally I missed on and cracked a piece or two of glass, but when you're removing 29 panes of glass, 2 or 3 broken ones isn't too bad :)

Step 4 - priming the frame. Enough said.

Step 5 - Reinstalling the glass. This is where some people reinstall the panes of glass, the glazing points and then apply new putty. But, after my first window (and a conversation with my dad!) I decided to check with the glass shop in town to see how much they would charge me just to reinstall the glass and the putty. Lucky me! The charge was only $2 per pane. Well worth the hours of work it saved me!

Step 6 - waiting. Yes, this is an actual step :) Once the new putty is in, it can't be painted until it has skinned over. This actually takes about 3 weeks in mild humidity. July in Minnesota is not typically mildly humid :) This summer I got lucky and didn't have to wait much past the 3 weeks to continue working.

Step 7 - prime and paint!

Step 8 - Reinstall the window! YAY! I was so excited when the time came to install the first restored window! It took me ALL DAY, but I finally got it in. Putting new rope through the pulleys so that the window weights actually work is the worst part of the job. It takes quite awhile and has to be done so the weights hang and balance the windows when they're opened or closed. It keeps us from having to have prop rods in EVERY SINGLE WINDOW! The most important part of this whole process is installing weatherstripping! That's right! We survived a cold Minnesota winter with no weatherstripping around our windows! We're anxious to see what a difference it makes - especially in Britney's office which was one of the draftiest rooms.

So, if you're still reading, congratulations! You now know how to restore any old or new wooden windows that are in need of a little TLC. Now, when are you coming to help me?? I only have 32 more windows to go! By the way - I chose the red for the windows to go with our red gingerbread roof that I HATE! But, at least the red windows make me think the house is now smiling a little :)

First Day of Preschool!

Today was Carter's first day of preschool. Ever since Ashlyn started preschool in 2006, he's asked every day that she's gone to school if he could go too. Well, wouldn't ya know that the day finally comes for Carter to go and the first thing out of his mouth this morning was, "I don't want to go to school. I want to go play at Jacob's house." UGH! I could've screamed! But, I wouldn't expect anything less from the Little Tonado.

His excitement came back after breakfast and he was ready to go before his slow-poke sister. She was having a sub this morning and didn't want to go until her teacher came back. Anyway, we got to school, walked Ashlyn to her locker and then took Carter to his class. He walked right in, without a kiss, hug or goodbye.

It sure it quiet in our house right now, but so far this morning, I've gotten a walk in and am starting on installing another restored window. We'll see how much I get done without 100 interruptions. And maybe I'll even have time to post later about how Carter liked his first day!

Pictures here.