Moving a little dirt...

Well, I guess you can say the building of our house has finally begun. We stopped by the property on Tuesday morning (June 28). Our hearts gave a little flutter when we saw a bulldozer sitting there beside a huge pile of dirt. This is stage one and what they call "scraping the surface". We figured things would really be rolling along now.

But, later in the day we discovered...there had been a delay. It seems the inspector who has to sign off on the building permit neglected to tell our builder, when he talked to him on Thursday, that he would be leaving on vacation Monday morning. So until the inspector is back, no hole can be dug. They were able to stake out the house....that means putting little stakes all over the property showing where the house begins and ends...but the real digging cannot begin until next week. So, we wait.

In the meantime life goes on. We had a nice, but short visit with Sange and her family on Sunday as they came thru on their way home from northern MI. That is one of the cool things about MI...it is on the way to other places. Because of that we fully expect to have frequent guests stopping by on their way somewhere or other. (HINT)

Today I woke up thinking it was Friday, the day that my sister and brother-in-law were coming to visit....I stripped Nina's bed and threw the sheets into the washing machine before I realized I was a day ahead...it is only Thursday. So we piled into the car and headed to the girls swim meet.

I'm hoping this blog will get more exciting...don't give up on us yet. I mean, how exciting can digging a hole in the ground...even a big hole....be?

Life on a Lesser Slant

Hello to all of you who care about what is going on in our life. It has been nearly a year since I last blogged. During that time we returned to Illinois, which I guess we should call "Life on the Level". (Any of you who have been to corn and bean country know what I mean). We were surprised to find that being back in Charleston, Illinois required some adjustment. We were surprised because we were returning home and thought we would automatically just feel "at home". After the initial feelings of being a bit at a loss faded in a few weeks, we did get back into the swing of things.

The start of the school year helped to bring a sense of normalcy back to our life. Nina opted to try a year at Charleston High School where she enjoyed being on swim team, doing some shot putting for the track team, joined the marching and pep band and participated in the school musical "Oklahoma!" This along with taking Drivers Ed made for a busy and exciting year... she also managed to keep a straight A average in all of her subjects the entire year.

Kati returned to Charleston Christian Academy for sixth grade. She participated in basketball
and soccer and got very involved in Olympic style weight-lifting, even going to meets in Columbus, St Louis, and Chicago to compete. Kati had begun taking guitar lessons while in Portugal and asked to continue with that instrument instead of returning to piano lessons as Nina chose to do.

Mike was asked to return to EIU in his capacity of Student Teacher Coordinator and also taught a high school history class at CCA for the first sememster of the year. This kept him very busy...a little too busy.

All of us were actively involved in our church (CCC) Mike and I helping with AWANA and hosting a home group Bible study. The girls were busy with AWANA and youth group.

Then...one day last fall...I happened to look around at our life and realized that while our days were busy and our lives were full, there was something missing. I think it really started when my great niece, Lauren, was born. I realized that all my sisters had grandchildren right there in Charleston and were enjoying being a part of their lives. All of our "grands" were somewhere else and we saw them only a couple times a year. Mike and I started to discuss this aspect of our life and a seed was planted.

We began to discuss our feelings with our adult kids, exploring different alternatives. After some debate, we came to the conclusion that the most practical thing to do would be for us to move to MI (where the majority of the adult kids and grands live) with the goal being to eventually get all or most of them living there too.

The first of the year we put our house on the market. It sold May 1 and by May 31, we were on our way to MI.

We are at present living in a two bedroom apartment in Kentwood, MI. We have a house plan and a builder and a wooded lot. Our builder tells us they should be able to break ground next week and the hope is that our new home will be done in 3-4 months.

I'm inviting anyone who is interested in following our progress to check into our blog periodically as I plan to update it as the building process moves along. Nina has promised to post pictures for me and Mike wants all the imput he can get on what "doorknobs to pick."

The only picture I have at the moment is an empty lot...but hey...you have to start somewhere.