Handprints of our Boys

When the Lord made it clear it was time to leave Maine

almost 8 years ago, we began our search for the next adventure.

We put our home on the market and went to the

internet find our home.

We had certain things we were really looking for.

Location:  We decided since my parents live in PA, we'd begin

our search there.

Size:  My husband really wanted land.  Land for the boys to roam. 

  Land for privacy.  Land for building on.

A piece of land to call our "own."

Home:  Something adequate to fit our growing family of the male species.

Affordability:  We wanted an area that wasn't super expensive to live.

My fella knew he wanted to start a family business so this was also

important.  Would the area be able to support the business?

Was the area thriving enough to start work?

My fella began searching the real estate listings on line.

He kept going back to one area. 

Bradford County, PA

There were a few houses on the market that
might work for us.

We loaded our family of 8, headed to southern PA for the weekend

and began our search to start our next adventure.

Our youngest 5 boys stayed with my parents and  Tim came with

us as he was still nursing.

The three of us headed up to Bradford County, met our agent

and began the search.

We looked at around 8 houses.

We finally narrowed it down to two houses.

My fella really liked the house with 30 acres.  It was rather small.

Needed work.  Was very dirty and smelly. 

BUT he liked the fact it had land!

This house also had new windows and siding.

The house we were then living in in Maine was a total

nightmare to heat!  The wind would whip right through the windows

all winter long.  Windows were very important to my fella!

I liked a different house.

This house was much bigger!  It had much more potential

for our growing family!

BUT it only had 9 acres of land and they were all up a steep hill in the back. 

A narrow strip of land.  Not much could be done with it.

This house also had a wood exterior so it would need painting

as up keep and it also needed all new windows.

These were negatives on the list for this house.

That night, my fella and I went back to our motel and

discussed the pros and cons of each house.

Then we decided to stop talking about them and pray individually

and see what we both thought in the morning.

I already knew how he felt.  So it was what I felt

that needed to be decided.

So in the morning, we decided to see if the agent could show us

the smaller house with 30 acres once more.

We did go see it again.

  In the end, we both agreed on this same house.

That seems like such a long time ago, and yet it

seems like yesterday!

Now you can see the boy's hand prints all over our land!

Jordan has left his mark in many places.

He's always loved the outdoors.

When he was 13,  he built a cabin in the back part of  our land.

Now we go back there in the summer and sit by a fire.
What sweet memories!

He built this too.

Now he's begun collecting sap from the maple trees. 

Every morning when he gets home from work,

he runs back to the woods and gathers the sap.

He boils it on the woodstove.

So far, he's gotten about a quart of syrup.

Today the sap has been running well with the sun shining down.

Tomorrow will be another sap boiling day!

I'm so thankful for the Lord's leading.

I'm especially thankful for leading us to our very cozy home

and our GREAT yard for our gang!

Although I love all this
beautiful snow,
I'm very ready to see
the color green!