Word.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Ivy's Dedication
Nothing is promised.
Our homes, safety, family, health, wealth, success, food, water, heat, clothing, vehicles, comfort, friendships, spouses, life.....none of it is promised to us.
Our family holds firm to the belief that all things come from The Lord....and the only reason that we have anything, the only reason that we have been blessed with ANYTHING, is to turn around and give it back to Him as an offering of praise and to use those blessings for His Glory. Our children included.
We, as parents, have been entrusted with the care and guidance of our children, but, ultimately, they belong to Christ...He made them, He's known their souls and loved them since the beginning of time (just like he did us).
This weekend, we had Ivy's dedication: a physical gesture of our commitment to recognize the blessing that we have been entrusted with and our promise to dedicate our lives to pointing our little girl to the love of her Creator. Chrissy's mom and step dad drove up from Jersey, as did her twin sister, Susan and husband, Dave (Ivy and Gavin's Godparents) with their 2 awesome boys Charles and George. Here's a few pics from the weekend...Oh, and just in case there's some of you who hadn't heard...you may see Ivy's big, bright pink cast on her right arm....yeah, she took a tumble off the bed and fractured her arm....3 weeks in the cast and she ought to be right as rain. Anyhow, back to the pics:
It was a PERFECT New England Autumn Saturday. We all started it off at Old Sturbridge Village, one of our favorite haunts....
...when we got home, we had a small dedication ceremony around the campfire in the backyard. Prayers, Scripture, Song...
...we then went to the front yard and planted a dogwood tree for Ivy on the same strip of land that we planted a tree for Gavin a few years earlier. Everyone wrote a scripture verse on a card, something that they wanted to communicate to Ivy, read it, and put it in the hole...as the paper decomposes, it will provide nutrients for the tree to grow, just as God's Word provides us with the necessary spiritual "food" to grow in Him. We capped the afternoon with some delicious soups, sandwiches,apple desserts, family, friends, and laughter.
The following day, we brought her before our church family and had her dedicated publicly.
To everyone who participated in this past weekend's activities...thank you so much for the love, friendship, hard work, delicious food, great fellowship, and overall awesome time that you showed our family. It was such a pleasure getting to host you. How blessed we are to have not only such wonderful children, but also such amazing family and friends. I pray that as the years grow on, that our bonds only continue to tighten.
Last but not least, my not-quite 4 year old nephew Charles cut his first ever piece of wood with the chainsaw...check it:
thatta kid.
alright...one last shot of my baby girl:
Blessed are we.
Our homes, safety, family, health, wealth, success, food, water, heat, clothing, vehicles, comfort, friendships, spouses, life.....none of it is promised to us.
Our family holds firm to the belief that all things come from The Lord....and the only reason that we have anything, the only reason that we have been blessed with ANYTHING, is to turn around and give it back to Him as an offering of praise and to use those blessings for His Glory. Our children included.
We, as parents, have been entrusted with the care and guidance of our children, but, ultimately, they belong to Christ...He made them, He's known their souls and loved them since the beginning of time (just like he did us).
This weekend, we had Ivy's dedication: a physical gesture of our commitment to recognize the blessing that we have been entrusted with and our promise to dedicate our lives to pointing our little girl to the love of her Creator. Chrissy's mom and step dad drove up from Jersey, as did her twin sister, Susan and husband, Dave (Ivy and Gavin's Godparents) with their 2 awesome boys Charles and George. Here's a few pics from the weekend...Oh, and just in case there's some of you who hadn't heard...you may see Ivy's big, bright pink cast on her right arm....yeah, she took a tumble off the bed and fractured her arm....3 weeks in the cast and she ought to be right as rain. Anyhow, back to the pics:
It was a PERFECT New England Autumn Saturday. We all started it off at Old Sturbridge Village, one of our favorite haunts....
...when we got home, we had a small dedication ceremony around the campfire in the backyard. Prayers, Scripture, Song...
...we then went to the front yard and planted a dogwood tree for Ivy on the same strip of land that we planted a tree for Gavin a few years earlier. Everyone wrote a scripture verse on a card, something that they wanted to communicate to Ivy, read it, and put it in the hole...as the paper decomposes, it will provide nutrients for the tree to grow, just as God's Word provides us with the necessary spiritual "food" to grow in Him. We capped the afternoon with some delicious soups, sandwiches,apple desserts, family, friends, and laughter.
The following day, we brought her before our church family and had her dedicated publicly.
To everyone who participated in this past weekend's activities...thank you so much for the love, friendship, hard work, delicious food, great fellowship, and overall awesome time that you showed our family. It was such a pleasure getting to host you. How blessed we are to have not only such wonderful children, but also such amazing family and friends. I pray that as the years grow on, that our bonds only continue to tighten.
Last but not least, my not-quite 4 year old nephew Charles cut his first ever piece of wood with the chainsaw...check it:
thatta kid.
alright...one last shot of my baby girl:
Blessed are we.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
We're Stacked
literally.
5+ cord ready to go. Bring it on, Winter.
A few random pics from a recent day 'round the ole woodpile:
Pa and Gramma workin' the splitter
Loading
Unloading
Train up a child in the way they should go....know what I'm sayin'?
Great-Gramma Leo overseeing the operation.
It's all about the criss-cross end caps
Dishes are done, man.
Here's to a steady 70 degrees inside 'til Spring!
5+ cord ready to go. Bring it on, Winter.
A few random pics from a recent day 'round the ole woodpile:
Pa and Gramma workin' the splitter
Loading
Unloading
Train up a child in the way they should go....know what I'm sayin'?
Great-Gramma Leo overseeing the operation.
It's all about the criss-cross end caps
Dishes are done, man.
Here's to a steady 70 degrees inside 'til Spring!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Voila, A Viola
Well....a fiddle, actually.
Let me explain.
Our family watches very little TV....almost none. We do own a TV set, but we keep it packed away in the garage, only to be brought upstairs and plugged in on the rarest of occasions (although, I must confess that it's been up here a few extra times since the Phillies made the playoffs). We believe in guarding our hearts, and especially in guarding the hearts of our kids, and, let's face it, the TV can let a lot of garbage into a home...but I'll spare you that whole rigmarole and get to what us not watching TV has to do with a fiddle.
On Saturday nights, we gather 'round our computer and watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie before Gavin goes to bed. Gavin loves to see how they did things back then. He also gets to see that how we live at our home is similar, in some ways, to the life of the Ingalls Family; modern conveniences not withstanding: (the planting/gardening/harvesting, building/fixing/using tools, wood chopping/burning, baking/cooking/recipes, family joining together in worship/ Scripture reading/social time, etc. etc.)
He's taken quite a shine to Pa Ingalls. In fact, Gav likes to play Little House and pretend that he's Pa. Sometimes I get to be Mr. Edwards, sometimes I have to be Laura or Mary (depending on which episode we are recreating). Mama is always Mrs. Ingalls, and Ivy's always baby Carrie. One of the things that Gavin likes most about Pa Ingalls is when he plays his fiddle.
Gavin decided one day that he needed a fiddle just like Pa Ingalls. Being the resourceful and creative type that he is, his "fiddle" was a 12 inch long piece of tree bark left over from the wood splitter and his "bow" was a 9 inch twig that he found in the front yard. Now, you could see a kid, in the heat of the moment of creative play necessity grab these items to quickly use as a fiddle for whatever scene he was recreating and then quickly discard after the child's attention was focused elsewhere.
Nope.
Gavin kept that bark and twig for weeks.
And weeks.
"Where's my fiddle, Mama?" he'd ask. Mama would point it out to him, and he'd grab it and pretend to squeak out a verse or two of "Old Dan Tucker". Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE the kids resourcefulness, creativity, and contentment...but at some fatherly, nurturing level, it bummed me out that he was using a freaking piece of bark as a fiddle. So, in true Ingalls spirit, Gavin and I headed down to the workshop yesterday to build him a proper fiddle. Here's what we ended up with 2 hours later:
We sketched out a basic body shape on a piece of paper and transferred it to a 3/4" piece of scrap plywood which we used for the body, bow, and raised bridge...then we cannibalized a bungee cord for the strings, weather stripping for chin padding, and 4eye-bolts for the tuners...sanded it down and threw in some etching with a rotary tool. We used a piece of ribbon for the horse hair of the bow. Please allow me a "Proud Papa" moment and say that Gavin used, at some level, every tool that we used on this project (except the table saw). I love that he loves tools and building, but I love more that he's so content and gets so excited to just be with his family. It's no Stradivarius, but we had an awesome time together in the workshop...and, let me tell you, this kid plays a MEAN plywood fiddle.
Watch out Charlie Daniels
Let me explain.
Our family watches very little TV....almost none. We do own a TV set, but we keep it packed away in the garage, only to be brought upstairs and plugged in on the rarest of occasions (although, I must confess that it's been up here a few extra times since the Phillies made the playoffs). We believe in guarding our hearts, and especially in guarding the hearts of our kids, and, let's face it, the TV can let a lot of garbage into a home...but I'll spare you that whole rigmarole and get to what us not watching TV has to do with a fiddle.
On Saturday nights, we gather 'round our computer and watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie before Gavin goes to bed. Gavin loves to see how they did things back then. He also gets to see that how we live at our home is similar, in some ways, to the life of the Ingalls Family; modern conveniences not withstanding: (the planting/gardening/harvesting, building/fixing/using tools, wood chopping/burning, baking/cooking/recipes, family joining together in worship/ Scripture reading/social time, etc. etc.)
He's taken quite a shine to Pa Ingalls. In fact, Gav likes to play Little House and pretend that he's Pa. Sometimes I get to be Mr. Edwards, sometimes I have to be Laura or Mary (depending on which episode we are recreating). Mama is always Mrs. Ingalls, and Ivy's always baby Carrie. One of the things that Gavin likes most about Pa Ingalls is when he plays his fiddle.
Gavin decided one day that he needed a fiddle just like Pa Ingalls. Being the resourceful and creative type that he is, his "fiddle" was a 12 inch long piece of tree bark left over from the wood splitter and his "bow" was a 9 inch twig that he found in the front yard. Now, you could see a kid, in the heat of the moment of creative play necessity grab these items to quickly use as a fiddle for whatever scene he was recreating and then quickly discard after the child's attention was focused elsewhere.
Nope.
Gavin kept that bark and twig for weeks.
And weeks.
"Where's my fiddle, Mama?" he'd ask. Mama would point it out to him, and he'd grab it and pretend to squeak out a verse or two of "Old Dan Tucker". Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE the kids resourcefulness, creativity, and contentment...but at some fatherly, nurturing level, it bummed me out that he was using a freaking piece of bark as a fiddle. So, in true Ingalls spirit, Gavin and I headed down to the workshop yesterday to build him a proper fiddle. Here's what we ended up with 2 hours later:
We sketched out a basic body shape on a piece of paper and transferred it to a 3/4" piece of scrap plywood which we used for the body, bow, and raised bridge...then we cannibalized a bungee cord for the strings, weather stripping for chin padding, and 4eye-bolts for the tuners...sanded it down and threw in some etching with a rotary tool. We used a piece of ribbon for the horse hair of the bow. Please allow me a "Proud Papa" moment and say that Gavin used, at some level, every tool that we used on this project (except the table saw). I love that he loves tools and building, but I love more that he's so content and gets so excited to just be with his family. It's no Stradivarius, but we had an awesome time together in the workshop...and, let me tell you, this kid plays a MEAN plywood fiddle.
Watch out Charlie Daniels
Sunday, October 10, 2010
By The Numbers...
Some random facts and figures which I'm reporting for no particular reason:
Total Cords of Wood cut, split, and stacked over the last 2 weekends: 5.5
Number of generations of Leos who helped out, or at least hung out while we cut wood: 4 (1:GG(Great Grandma), 2:Pa/Grandma, 3:Daddy/Mommy, and 4:Gavin/Ivy)
Last night's outside low temperature: 32.2 F
Last night's inside high: 68.7 F
Number of years that I've been together with my wife (including dating) as of today: 17
Number of turtles caught this summer: 5
Species breakdown:
Painted turtles: 80%
Snapping turtle: 20%
Number of bee stings collected this Summer by the Leo family: 8
breakdown by family member:
Ivy: 0
Gavin:0
Mommy: 0
Daddy: 8
Number of total regular season innings of baseball I've watched this season: 6
Number of post season innings of baseball I've watched this season: 18 (Go Phils)
Number of cigars smoked by the Leo family in 2010: 2.5
breakdown by family member:
Ivy: 0
Gavin: 0
Mommy: 0
Daddy: 2.5
Number of catechism questions memorized by Gavin: 17
Number of catechism questions memorized by Ivy: 0
Number of times Ivy called my name today: 237
Number of Cinnamon Rolls I ate today: 2.5
Number of shirts that I bought at Wal-Mart last night: 5
Number of T-shirts that I currently own: 27
Number of those that are black: 24
Daddy's approximate kiss distribution for today:
Mommy: 27%
Gavin: 14%
Grandma: 2%
Ivy: 57%
Happy Columbus Day, everybody. Have a great day off.
Total Cords of Wood cut, split, and stacked over the last 2 weekends: 5.5
Number of generations of Leos who helped out, or at least hung out while we cut wood: 4 (1:GG(Great Grandma), 2:Pa/Grandma, 3:Daddy/Mommy, and 4:Gavin/Ivy)
Last night's outside low temperature: 32.2 F
Last night's inside high: 68.7 F
Number of years that I've been together with my wife (including dating) as of today: 17
Number of turtles caught this summer: 5
Species breakdown:
Painted turtles: 80%
Snapping turtle: 20%
Number of bee stings collected this Summer by the Leo family: 8
breakdown by family member:
Ivy: 0
Gavin:0
Mommy: 0
Daddy: 8
Number of total regular season innings of baseball I've watched this season: 6
Number of post season innings of baseball I've watched this season: 18 (Go Phils)
Number of cigars smoked by the Leo family in 2010: 2.5
breakdown by family member:
Ivy: 0
Gavin: 0
Mommy: 0
Daddy: 2.5
Number of catechism questions memorized by Gavin: 17
Number of catechism questions memorized by Ivy: 0
Number of times Ivy called my name today: 237
Number of Cinnamon Rolls I ate today: 2.5
Number of shirts that I bought at Wal-Mart last night: 5
Number of T-shirts that I currently own: 27
Number of those that are black: 24
Daddy's approximate kiss distribution for today:
Mommy: 27%
Gavin: 14%
Grandma: 2%
Ivy: 57%
Happy Columbus Day, everybody. Have a great day off.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
First Fire
I'm riding on the coat tails of my last blog where I'm so excited about the changing seasons. Chrissy went grocery shopping tonight and I LOVE seeing things that she brought home in the grocery order like molasses, canned pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice....I'm loving every second of October so far...even the rain. I especially love the wood burning.
It's amazing that even though each year, by February it's such a chore, the wood stove is so exciting at the beginning of the season. We heat our home solely by burning wood. Our weapon of choice is the Jotul F400. She's a beaut of a stove...Norwegian design (and believe me, they know cold winters)..it's geared for about 1,600 sq ft. We need to heat about 1,300 sq ft. but our bedroom is the furthest room from the wood stove...which can make for some night-cap nights. But...we love it. especially because it's free heat. We've been blessed to be able to get our hands on wood for the past 7 years or so, and we've got another year or two worth of wood stored on our property already. Folks that have needed trees knocked down and offered the wood as payment...friends of the family who have needed favors or to borrow tools and have been able to compensate us in wood....it's all such a blessing.
We burn about 5 cords in a season. For those not in the know...a cord is a stack of wood 4x4x8 feet. It's no small task cutting and splitting and stacking all of this wood...but thankfully Gavin has become an asset in helping us get our wood together (Ivy still pretty much just supervises, and Mama does us good with hearty lunches and coffee).
I'm always amazed at how much wood we burn and how little ash we get in return. After all is said and done, by April we will have burned about 640 square feet of wood which will yield only 30 or 40 gallons of ash. It's amazing ...the energy potential inside 1 piece of wood. We'll use the ash as compost in our garden for next Spring.
I LOVE using wood to heat our home. Maybe part of it is because I feel like I was born in the wrong century. I watch old Little House on the Prairie episodes and part of me longs to be Pa Ingalls. I know that life was far less glamorous than they portray on the show and that after about a week of living like that I'd be loving the creature comforts that I now take for granted...but there's some thing so primal, so fun about the fireplace. No one gathers for hot chocolate and song around the electric heat register or radiator. You'll never hear a song written about "Chestnuts Roasting on an Oil Furnace". There's something so wonderful and nostalgic and pure about heating with wood. For some reason, as humans...we're drawn to fire. It's psychologically communal, and comforting.
Anyhow...here's a few pics of 2010's First Fire. I'm please d to say that Gavin used the hatchet and chopped ALL the kindling for the fire:
Gavin and I reassembling our stove after replacing a few gaskets.
"Houston...we are GO for launch"
Diggin' the heat
Ivy digs it too.
It's amazing that even though each year, by February it's such a chore, the wood stove is so exciting at the beginning of the season. We heat our home solely by burning wood. Our weapon of choice is the Jotul F400. She's a beaut of a stove...Norwegian design (and believe me, they know cold winters)..it's geared for about 1,600 sq ft. We need to heat about 1,300 sq ft. but our bedroom is the furthest room from the wood stove...which can make for some night-cap nights. But...we love it. especially because it's free heat. We've been blessed to be able to get our hands on wood for the past 7 years or so, and we've got another year or two worth of wood stored on our property already. Folks that have needed trees knocked down and offered the wood as payment...friends of the family who have needed favors or to borrow tools and have been able to compensate us in wood....it's all such a blessing.
We burn about 5 cords in a season. For those not in the know...a cord is a stack of wood 4x4x8 feet. It's no small task cutting and splitting and stacking all of this wood...but thankfully Gavin has become an asset in helping us get our wood together (Ivy still pretty much just supervises, and Mama does us good with hearty lunches and coffee).
I'm always amazed at how much wood we burn and how little ash we get in return. After all is said and done, by April we will have burned about 640 square feet of wood which will yield only 30 or 40 gallons of ash. It's amazing ...the energy potential inside 1 piece of wood. We'll use the ash as compost in our garden for next Spring.
I LOVE using wood to heat our home. Maybe part of it is because I feel like I was born in the wrong century. I watch old Little House on the Prairie episodes and part of me longs to be Pa Ingalls. I know that life was far less glamorous than they portray on the show and that after about a week of living like that I'd be loving the creature comforts that I now take for granted...but there's some thing so primal, so fun about the fireplace. No one gathers for hot chocolate and song around the electric heat register or radiator. You'll never hear a song written about "Chestnuts Roasting on an Oil Furnace". There's something so wonderful and nostalgic and pure about heating with wood. For some reason, as humans...we're drawn to fire. It's psychologically communal, and comforting.
Anyhow...here's a few pics of 2010's First Fire. I'm please d to say that Gavin used the hatchet and chopped ALL the kindling for the fire:
Gavin and I reassembling our stove after replacing a few gaskets.
"Houston...we are GO for launch"
Diggin' the heat
Ivy digs it too.
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