Playing catch up.... again :)

Playing catch up is never fun, but when one is busy, it's all one can do at times :)

A job we have been working at in "Tenville" (a little town nearby us)

We are converting a garage into a living space...

We started by building a raised floor to level everything out- unfortunately the customer didn't like it, and we didn't find that out until we had finished it- so...

We had to tear out what we had done the previous day, and re-work our design. We ended up modifying our method and lowered the raised floor (does that make sense??) by 2 inches... we used our laser level and a combination of tape measurers to mark and custom-rip 2x4's for subfloor. It was challenging to have lost an entire day worth of work, but it was good for us :)

One evening, Dad made the mistake of putting me in charge of grilling some steaks-

I enjoy cooking and baking, but I've never really done much grilling...

Needless to say, they were... well done :)

At least we all ate that night :)

We've been remodeling a restroom at church.

The drywall finishing has been enjoyable.

Josh and Ben have been training in aviation, so we went to a friend of a friend's personal hangar and talked airplanes with him. It was really neat :)

Our Uncle Bernie and his wife Erin have adopted a baby from Ethiopia- it was her first birthday the other week, so we all had a celebration at their house for her :) Her name is Liya :)

One of the highlights of March was the Youth Bible Conference in Wellman, Iowa.

We stayed at Ray Garza's house and had a wonderful week.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures until the last Sunday of the conference-

They had to rent a different facility for the weekend, so we found ourselves in a massive amphitheater-like building for services :) It wasn't ideal for a church service, but it worked, and was a really neat place to look around in :) In this picture Dad is preaching... I'm hoping to grab some pictures of YBC from a few other people and post them on here later on...

On the way back home we encountered some flood waters... no problem!

What's a little over-the-road water flow compared to hurricane-like weather in Haiti?

Maybe I shouldn't say much.... :-/

Remember that garage remodel above?

Here it is- with all the drywall up, almost finished.

Ryan, mudding too!

We did a knock-down texture on the ceiling, while doing a standard sputter texture on the walls.

I just love the way a freshly finished room looks-

before it's all painted and covered up, that is...

They say that "A drywall finisher's best work is never seen."

See the big patch there on the wall, right above the red thing?

Unfortunately, a forklift at Menards caused some damage to the drywall and the installers didn't realize it... thus, when it came time to mud, it wasn't sturdy enough to take the finishing. So, we cut out the bad place and patched it- hopefully it won't show too much :)

Playing around with the YBC chorus audio files...

Hoping to have it done and ready to mail out in a month or two...

Breathtaking Iowa sunrise, with mist hanging low in the valley... 

It's moments like this, in which I take some extra time to consider what the Lord has done for me, and the immense mercy He's poured into my life- undeserving, I give Him thanks!

And last, but not least, the other night Ryan's van got stuck in the thawing mud- we were able to push it out, though, so it wasn't too bad :)

***

On Sunday Ry preached an amazingly clear Gospel message, entitled "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" 

I was so blessed by it and am praying it really entered into the hearts of the unbelievers there...

I'm considering taking a break from online/internet stuff for a while, to help refocus some things in my life... I find I spend much time on my computer/phone, and want to take a break from it so I can better focus- to what extent I'll be doing this, I don't know yet :) For how long, I'm not sure, but I'm thinking for a month or so. So during that time, don't expect much from my blog here.

But, looking at my track record of posting stuff on here this last month, you'd think I was already doing that, right?? :D

God bless you all! Peace be with you!

-nate