A City Life For Me

I redesigned the "Wise Men Still Seek Him" subway art sign that I see around a lot at Christmas.  I wanted it to go in a frame on my mantle.  I thought I would share the file here for those who may want it. It's a 8.5x11" printable, but trim it down to 8x10 to fit inside a frame!   Download JPG // Download PDF I also popped it into a bookmark format to give away to our Bible Club kids with a Bible for Christmas.  Download just the boomark in JPG format // Download 3 per page in PDF format *All files are for personal use only please!

I, Andrea, take thee Ben, to be my wedded husband.   As the Church is in her relationship to Christ, so will I be to you. I will joyfully give you my life, and in confidence submit myself to your leadership, as to the Lord. I will live for you - loving you, obeying you, learning from you. I will always strengthen, help, comfort, and encourage you. Therefore, Ben, throughout my life, for better, for worse... for richer, for poorer... in sickness and in health... at home or abroad... I pledge you my life, as a loving, faithful, and obedient wife,  to have and to hold from this day forward, 'til death do us part. Happy {ten} year anniversary, Ben.  I still do.  

One of my goals this year was to teach my kids a new hymn each month.  I am just learning about what some homeschoolers call "Morning Time," but I guess we've had an abbreviated version of this all year.  We open our homeschool day with pledges, prayer, and a hymn.  Then we divide up into our various Bible classes and play times.  For pledges, we say the pledge to the American flag, the pledge to the Christian flag, and the pledge to the Bible.  Even Henry tries to say the words, and the twins know all the pledges just from listening every day.  The kids rotate who gets to hold each flag/Bible, and who prays. We have done well learning our hymns this year, except for June, July, and August.  With the house purchase, renovation, and move I totally fell off of anything goal related or routine encompassing.  But we started back in September with "Power in the Blood" and now we are learning "Jesus Paid it All."  It's fun to see the delight ...

Last week was one of the busiest, overwhelming weeks in a long time.  I’m still trying to figure out the best schedule/order for homeschooling four kiddos on three grade levels, plus the addition of a precocious two year old who intervenes every 3 minutes.  We hosted a five-day Bible Club for the kids in our neighborhood, and we continued our free-coffee Friday outreach.  Saturday we had Bible Study, and Sunday was a full day at church.  Somewhere in there I need to fit piano lessons, Patch the Pirate Club devotions, art class, and monthly grocery shopping trip.  Not to mention that for the last nearly ten years the biggest place we have lived is 1,000 square feet…now we own a house with twice that plus a basement, porch, garage, and back yard.  (Huge blessing…huge responsibility!) We really did have a good week in Bible Club, but there was a lot to prepare and do for each day.  On Saturday I was sweeping and mopping the floors in preparation for...

While Ben replaces the staircase at home, we came to visit Grandma & Grandpa in Pittsfield.  We enjoyed a beautiful fall afternoon at the local pumpkin patch, Whitney's Farm .  All photo credits go to my talented sister-in-law Meredith! There is a petting farm area.  Elaine loved on the horse a lot! The boys discovered how to hang upside down... Bean bag toss On top of the tractor. Too many pumpkins...too many kids...too few parental hands! Oh my!  I love this picture!  He wanted to carry his own pumpkin so badly! She wanted to pose.  So nice to have a kid that likes to get their picture taken! He's smiling! Henry-Man Not so thrilled with his picture... Little feet I love this one! Elaine and Grandma!

Elaine and I have been memorizing Philippians this year.  I am behind schedule, and behind Elaine.  But we continue to press on, because hiding God’s Word in our hearts is important.  I have been reminded of that recently because He is using those verses that I am learning to comfort my heart and reassure me as I walk through some uncertain and sad waters. I lived most of my life just thirty minutes away from my mom’s parents.  Grandma and Grandpa.  They were a part of everything – every birthday dinner, every piano recital.  Everytime I flew to college they came to say goodbye and press a $20 into my hand.  Every Christmas Eve we spent crammed into Grandma’s basement or living room with my crazy extended family singing carols, reading the Christmas story, and opening more presents than should be allowed. Grandma is not doing well right now.  She went to the ER this week with intense abdominal pain and they found a hole in her small intestine....

If you missed the other posts, you can find them here: UPSTAIRS (part 1) MAIN FLOOR (part 2) BASEMENT (part 3) This project was definitely a family affair, but we also had a lot of helpers.  Ben’s parents came to Bronx four weekends in a row.  My parents came from Colorado for a week.  The Jackey boys helped knock out the basement.  Alex spent 4 or 5 days assisting Ben with anything.  Freddy came to paint, and Pastor Dan helped with painting and flooring.  After we moved in, Diane helped us paint the main floor, and the Bickels helped us paint trim.  Here are some misc pictures of the process…    Ben and Nolan working on the basement bathroom sink // Kids pulling staples to prep for the new flooring.  They got a penny for every staple they cleaned up!    Elaine prepping the floor // Twins scrubbing paint off the steps   Elaine was Pastor Dan’s runner for doing the new floor // The kids also pulled a lot of nails out of the...

If you missed the other posts, you can find them here: UPSTAIRS (part 1) MAIN FLOOR (part 2) Basement – Before The basement is long and skinny, and from the front of the house to the back there is an alcove, main room with old kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, and then the furnace/laundry room.  The previous owner’s dog lived in the basement, so we had to rip everything out.  Now there are no walls, and we have poured new concrete.  The bathroom is functional but needs some tile repair.  Ben uses the alcove as his workshop. We haven’t done much changing, except for the demolition process.  The refinishing will have to be completed a little at a time, as the budget and time allows.  Ben will do most of the work himself, even the drywall mudding.  There was a drop ceiling and we’d like to put in a regular ceiling, so there is a good amount of work to be done.    Furnace room/laundry room.  We knocked out walls and doorways to make this more o...