Busy, busy

Life has taken quite a turn for us.  A week ago my friend Rosie was in a serious car accident.  You may remember the story I shared last summer http://enjoyingthescenery.blogspot.com/2010/07/lifes-curves.html.  Rosie's husband Genie was in a serious motorcycle acccident July 4th weekend and is still in rehab and is not walking or talking.  His brain injuries were very severe.  With Rosies accident this past weekend, it threw us all into a spin. Seriously...what is going on?  Why did this have to happen to HER of all people. 

Long story short, we are taking care of 3 of her 4 children until she is ready to have them home again.  She is currently in rehab and will be there for probably a week or 2 or 3.  Then we will see how strong she is feeling and when she will be ready to have the children living with her again.  Her injuries included a shattered hip and a fractured pelvis along with other bumps and bruises.  She is not allowed to put any weight on her left leg for 12 weeks and could possible be facing more surgeries in the future.  The 7 month old baby has a broken leg and a fractured skull but the skull is healing on it's own.  Other friends are taking care of the baby.  Hannah, the oldest was also in the accident but wasn't hurt very badly. 

Please pray for Rosie's healing and for the childrens emotional state.  They are doing very well with us, but it is tough for their little minds to wrap around.  I quit my job to care for them and see that their needs are met.  I had been planning on quitting in March sometime anyway to prepare for foster care  and plans were already in place for my replacement so it was good timing.  I do plan to keep my auction job because I love it and the income is nice. Not to mention the free and cheap things I come home with!

I write a note daily on my facebook page on life with the Leid children and sometimes specific ways to pray for them.  We do have an account set up for needs for them and Brad and some other men will be overseeing her finances until she is ready to take over again.  It's been quite an adjustment for Brad and I to have 3 children with us, but we are loving it and are just glad we can help out.  Besides...it sure is good practice for foster care although this is alot more.  Rosie is a dear friend of mine and it's hard to be here for the children and not be able to be with her all the time like I would want to be.  I have been with her 2 days last week when she started rehab.  The children were fine at a cousins house.  I do realize that taking care of her children and giving them stability in this crisis is one way I can ease her mind and "be there" for her.

Pray for us with these changes that we could minister to the needs of these precious children...

Here is a link to an article that was written in our local paper. http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/351877

The Leid Children.  This was after Elliot was released from Hershey and his caregiver brought him over to be with his siblings.  They were so glad to see him again.

New Office!

So 2 years after moving into this place, we are still working on getting things done.  You see... a few things need to be in place before projects happen.  1)  Money. 2)  Time. and 3)  Feellikeitishness. (yes, that is a word! )  Little by little things are getting done around here, but then there are always new things.  I already have a list a mile long of ideas for hubby to work on this summer.    He doesn't seem to mind though cuz I'm usually right there beside him helping in whatever way I can.   It's a hobby of both of ours..tinkering around and so much fun to do it together.  Brad is so patient with me and doesn't mind showing me how to use different tools or explaining things to me. 

On our list of things to do sometime is fix up our basement.  As of now, it's all block and nothing on the ceiling etc.  The winter we got married, we managed to get our big huge TV down after taking out 7 (yes 7) steps.  We threw down some remnant carpeting and put some furniture down there and it's actually quite cozy.  But little by little we'd like to finish the ceiling, do the walls and put some flooring down.   With the thought of kiddos coming into the picture soon we decided to move our office down there to free up a bedroom upstairs.  One corner was just the perfect size.  So we saved up to get lumber and carpet but everything else was free.  It actually didn't cost us that much.  Brad's grandpa had left a BUNCH of insulation here when he moved and the paint was leftover from the rest of our house. 

The main thing/project was a built in bookshelf.  Brad did an AMAZING job.  He is such a perfectionist with this kind of thing and the end result is beautiful!

The house we live in was built by Brad's grandpa and he left us all sorts of treasures when he moved!  Among them being old circus tent poles.  Grandpa had salvaged them after a circus was going to throw them out.  We were planning to use more of them in the bookshelf but they didn't look quite right.  I ended up painting them black and we used them in the corners.  Member that list for summer I told you about?  One thing on there is build a pergalo with the rest of these poles. 

The shelves took a while to do.  Brad notched them all out so they would fit into each other.  Talk about precise work!  I chisled the middle parts out.  And never mind the headphones.  I hate loud noises so this way he could keep sawing away.  And it is kinda tough to work with your hands over your ears! ; )

Thankfully we had the whole basement to spread out the painting projects

The window was FREE from a job Brad was on.  We framed it out with barn wood!

Dad tore out a bunch of cabinets at a job and wondered if we wanted them.  We said yepper and used  one as beside the desk.  I painted it black and distressed it.  The counter top was FREE from leftover scraps at a job Brad did. Yay for FREE things and yay for leftovers!

In our office upstairs I had a closet to store all kinds of stuff in.  These wire baskets were a "No sale" at the auction so I got to take them home for FREE and thought they would be cute organizers for envelopes etc.

Love that there is also room for my sewing machine in case I get inspired to use it again.  "Mending" is about all it does right now although there are all kinds of ideas in my head!

He also made a great storage area under the stairs. 

So...here's the after.  It's a little tough to get good pics in here because the room is so small!  I don't like that the first thing you see is the gun cabinet.  Maybe painting it black would look better?

The rest of the basement will have to wait...but for now, besides the big pile of kitchen cabinets in the middle of the room, this is as good as it's gonna get for now!