I love my porch!!!!!!!!

This next week siding and sheet rock...Woo!!! Hooo!!! I must say this deck is awesome... the pictures do not do it justice! Our builder has done a marvelous job and has been so easy to work with. Trinity Homes is a great company to use if your looking for a builder. I guess the count down begins...I pray we stay at the same pace. If so we'll be ready for move in before July 4th.

More pictures next week!

We are headed to the lake tomorrow....I wonder what we'll find?

Moving right along.....

Well, here it is Mothers Day weekend... and a busy one it was! Friday night date with the man that I love...Movie to see Star Trek...Kohls to shop for new clothes for me...and a nice dinner.
Saturday up early...well not too early! Kelley loaded up the boat...per Kenzie's request... and we headed to the lake for a day of fun. The house is coming along quite nicely. The roofer, plumber, heating and air men have been very busy. It's finally beginning to look like a real home. Next week the electrician will be able to get the electrical done and hopefully the siding guys will give our little house a much needed beauty lift. We are really anxious to see how the porch turns out. We have doubled the porch width and plan on screening it in for those lazy days of relaxing when we are not in the water. I am now on the hunt for rockers and swings ... maybe even a hanging day bed for afternoon naps! While there, our son...the soon to be archaeologist... found a spear head. This was such an exciting find for him. This find sent us all looking through the dirt, to see what other treasures might be waiting us. After a few trips around the lake, we loaded up to head home. We are all counting down the days where we can just stay overnight at our little retreat. It's exciting to think of all the years ahead spending time with our family making memories!
Sunday was a nice day going to church and coming home to a nice meal my hubby and kiddos prepared for me. I must say they did a fabulous job too! We all then relaxed and watched Chonda Pierce DVD's. She's a singer and comedian who can minister to the heart of any woman.
Thank you Kelley for making this weekend special for me. Thank you kids for helping me to be part of this club we call motherhood! I can't imagine life without the 10 of you in it. You are the reason I strive to be a better wife, mother and child of God!

" Mom."...I wouldn't be one without you!

Dear Holcombe kids.... I sit in amazement that you are all part of me. I sometimes wonder what God was thinking when He chose to place you in my life. You have taught me more about life...than life itself. I would have never been where I am at this very moment had it not been for you 9 precious blessings. You have changed me forever...for the better. You have shown me what the important things in life are all about. You have given me more joy in 24 years than I have known in my 43 of being alive. I can't wait to see what God has planned for you and for our family in the next 24 years. My prayer is that you would choose to follow Him with all that you are and all that you ever hope to be. Watching you serve Jesus brings more joy to my soul than I could ever explain. I love how you share with me about moments of sharing Jesus with others. I never tire of hearing about those times that will forever change eternity.
Holcombe kids I love you more than I will ever be able to show or tell you! Have we had hard times? You betcha! It's those hard times that mold us all into the servant that God wants us to be. Our grass is definitely not greener... but keeping our eyes on Jesus gives us the grass that you just want to run barefoot in on any given day. I often hear kids don't come with a manual...God gave us His word and that's the very best manual I would ever want to read. I know I don't always parent the way I should and I'm positive I will make many more mistakes. Maybe by the time we have grandchildren we will have it all figured out!
I hope that the legacy your Dad and I leave will last throughout many generations long after we are gone. My prayer is that you will choose to follow Christ all the days of your life and leave a legacy of God's merciful love to the generations that follow you.
I love you Holcombe kids! You are exactly what God said... a blessing! You have been worth every prayer...sacrifice...ounce of energy...tear...dollar...patience...time...and all my sanity!


Mom

Progress.....Look how far we've come!

Friday we went up to check on the house...Wow! What progress we have made!
We arrived before lunch to see that the framers had everything framed except the roof.The trusses arrived at 2:30 pm. By 8:30 pm they had trusses up and ready for decking the roof on Saturday. Monday the roofers will be there and the rest of the progress should slow a bit....but maybe not. It has been rather interesting and exciting to see the progress from where we were this time last year. June will be 1 year since we began this out of the box adventure. I must admit the thoughts of maintaining 2 homes is a bit overwhelming... and at the same time exciting to think of all the memories we will make with our friends and family. I am really looking forward to relaxing on the screen porch and watching my kiddos play in the water. Come July my family and I are retreating to the lake for much needed peace and quiet...HAHAHA!!! Look out Lake Secession...the Holcombes are moving in!!!!!

We have a foundation!

It looks like we may be on our way to having the house done by July 4th. We rode up today to see the progress and the brick masons were there finishing up the foundation. Hopefully the framing will happen next week. Who knows...maybe we will be done sometime in June!!!! It was really great to see the excitement on Kelley's face watching the progress of the house. I sometimes think he might miss the construction industry...OH! and to see him in his overhauls again! Our long awaited dream is now moving along at energizer bunny speed. Our kids are so excited to see that we have finally started and not just talking about building. I can't wait to see the huge screen porch! I can just imagine all the hours we'll spend relaxing with friends and family. Relaxing! Did I say that? Oh! the thought of that sounds so glorious! More photos next week...I think we will be making day trips once a week here on out!

Cold and stormy week...at the lake.

Wooo! What a week! Our Spring break at the lake was a cold...wet...and a stormy one. We went up on Wednesday...Lindsey's birthday... only to find our screen room had blown across the yard. There must have been a Strong wind blow through to pick up this metal frame and toss it across the yard. It was windy and cold, so we didn't think we would get the boat in the water. But the crazy people that we are, zipped up our jackets, grabbed a few blankets and took a stroll around the lake. We were the only boat on the lake that afternoon. It was nice to see what changes some homeowners have made this winter to their properties. Kelley likes to drool over the floating docks and I drool over their yards and homes.
Thursday was better weather...the sun was out but still a little cool. After breakfast we took a trip into Abbeville, for ice cream at this cute little Christian owned ice cream parlor. I think I have started a tradition with my girls. The first thing out of their mouths when we tell them we are going to the lake is " Can we go to Abbeville for ice cream?" As you can see in my photos Mackenzie really enjoyed the superman ice cream. We then headed back to the lake for more boating and staking out the layout of our house. Hopefully next week the builders can start grading and maybe by August we can begin using our little retreat home. We had the younger six girls with us for the first couple of days and then Sarah left Thursday night.
Friday Emily drove up for a little fun with all the girls. Friday morning we had rain ...but that afternoon was really nice. We had a fun filled day of boating and rope swing making. Leave it to Emily to be creative. Watching her try and get the rope over the tree branch was the best entertainment. I think tying a rock to the end of the rope was what finally achieved the end result. They first tried a chair...then a branch and finally a 2x4. Genius! A perfect afternoon of entertainment!
Friday evening proved to end the day not so good. About 8 O'clock we received a phone call that a storm was headed our way. Tornado warnings from Tennessee to South Carolina were issued. Well, chilling in a camper during a bad storm is not where you want to be! I am so thankful for our good friends who have a house next door. We gathered up the kids and a pillow or two, and headed to their house for a couple of hours. The winds blew hard and the rain...let's just say it was blowing sideways. We weren't sure how the camper or the screen room would fair this storm. Finally about 10 o'clock the warnings were over and we headed back to our camper for sleep.
Saturday we spent the the morning cleaning and moving the camper closer to the lake. The fiasco of the morning was Jessica stepping on a rake and having the prongs go through her flip flops, one of which went into her foot! Oh! that swing...the rope broke and Megan did a face plant on the ground.Jessica is still limping and Megan is fine.We took one more boat ride before taking it out of the water. The storm from the night before...rose the lake a half a foot. We do have plenty of water on this lake!
I will be so glad to have more room for everyone when this house is finished. I am really looking forward to sharing this retreat with others. Hopefully it will be a place of rest and great memories!