Raising the rafters

  There was quite a bit of sweating going on in the attic today. Thankfully most of it was not done by me but a few muscular handy men (my husband Matthias and our friend Tracy :). In preparation for "attic insulation day", we (I use that term very loosely lol) are building a storage platform which must be at least 10" tall. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is if you have never done that sort of thing before. We got instruction from the insulation guy (over the phone) then headed to the attic with a tape measure and notebook. After about 2 minutes of what seemed like 150 degree heat, very little light and a lot of dust I decided to take a break and leave this task to the handy men *laughing*. I listened from the bottom of the pull down ladder for a few minutes before retiring to the kitchen for a glass of ice tea where I waited for the grand plan. After a while the guys emerged from the attic (totally drenched in sweat) with a list of supplies needed for the project. I am always down for a shopping trip and though home building supply stores are new territory to me, I was ready to go. I made a list of some pretty unfamiliar objects and headed out with my daughter Hope (who was a lot less thrilled than I was) *smiling*. I really like these home building supply stores. The one I chose to go to was Lowes in Sulpher. It was very easy to navigate, with lots of signs, wide isles and people in uniformed vests ready to help if need be. Find a person with a uniform vest, ask for whatever object you need and they will either point you in the right direction or often times find it for you. :) I have been to Lowes on several occasions now and have always found what I needed. This time I needed some big 3 1/2" deck nails and 6- 10' 2x4's. I found the screw and nail isle and was immediately overwhelmed! I had never seen so many screws and nails in my life! I resisted the urge to "find a person to help" and in my pride it took me 15 minutes to find box of nails that I needed. I decided to seek help with the 2x4's. I browsed the entire lumber section and ended up in masonry department where I began to get a little discouraged. Suddenly, I saw a sign that seemed to be put there by heaven that said, "press button for help". Angels were singing in the soundtrack of my mind as I pushed the button and the loud speaker announced, "customer needs help in the masonry department". A 6'7" man in a uniformed vest appeared out of nowhere. Ironically his name was "Michael" like the biblical archangel. My 5'10" daughter and I both felt short standing in his shadow *laughing*. I told him that I needed 6- 10ft 2x4s with no knots or curves and without hesitation he led the way. We followed him as he grabbed a special "lumber" cart (I was still pushing a regular buggy with a box of nails in it lol) then carefully he picked out the needed 2x4s without defect and then took us to the front register. I love this store! I didnt want to push my luck but considering things were going so well I asked Michael if he would load the lumber into the truck. He did :)! I wish all shopping trips were as awesome as this! After Michael loaded the lumber into the truck and strapped it down with the bungee cords my husband had given me (I wondered what they were for), I asked if I needed a red flag on the back since they were sticking out the back of the truck? Michael smiled and went and got a flag and nailed it to the end of the lumber! WOW....I was impressed and he had such a nice attitude about it, he didnt seem annoyed at all. This was a very successful day, I must admit. When I got home I saw that the handy men had wasted no time. They had installed the mailbox I had purchased from Lowe's a few days before *smiling* and believe me, God had a hand in helping me shop that day as well but thats a whole other story.

Making a "house" into a "home".

*jumping, clapping, and screaming in celebration* We just cant stop celebrating the fact that we have a new house! :D Its's time to make this house into "our home". We have so many great ideas but where do you start? We are super creative but not very organized and never having had our own place, we have never had the opportunity to implement or practice home improvement. The Bible says, " Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success" Proverbs 15:22. We have many wise and caring friends from which to draw this precious advice from. We would be lost without them thats for sure! I mean there are some good videos  on the internet but they are no substitute for experience! We have less than a month to whip our new place into shape AND move in so we had to get a "move on" right away. Our deadline is August 1st and that seemed very reasonable until we actually started trying to "get er done" LOL. Big plans, small budget, and no tools is where we started. Thank God for giving friends with knowledge as well as tools! Carolyn Nelson has helped me map out the plan (as well as get back on track when we got excited and strayed off the plan lol), Craig Brown for major crown molding skills and tools! Veachel Courmier for his electrical and general everything skills. Summer and Bryson Skinner for their awesome yard working skills and tools because we have none of those yet either lol. My mom and dad for their sandwich making skills as well as laundry help since our washing machine bit the dust. Jessie and Erin Randall, Justice Brummet and Tracy Rice for all their painting help (and Tracy and Justice for the extra muscles in debris removal lol).You dont know how much we appreciate the help our friends and family have already given us. We have a ways to go and go to bed exhausted every night but its a good kind of exhausted! Thank God for his faithfulness to us. His loving kindness is better than life!

God gives the Hofmann's a home :)

In the beginning, 20 years ago this November, God created a new family. A small town American girl and a brave young Swiss boy were joined in holy matrimony and began a new life together. 6 years later, after many trials and much prayer, God blessed them and added a beautiful daughter to their family. They named her "Hope" in honor of the blessed hope that their God continually gives them. The Hofmann family was blessed with love and life, although they had food in their mouths and a roof over their heads, they had no place that they could call their own. The Hofmann family longed for a place to call "home". They prayed and searched and many times thought that their dream would soon be realized but they were disappointed when the doors were closed on their dream time and again. They knew their God was faithful and that he had a plan but hope seemed to fade with time, but God is good and he looked down into their despair and lifted their heads. A new day is dawning in the lives of the little Hofmann family, for God has blessed them once again and given them a home of their very own!