January 30, 2008

I just realized it has been over a month since I posted anything. Oh well... best laid plans and all that. Here is some of what we have been up to. I finally did what I have been talking about for years. We put a free standing gas fireplace in the living room.

Yes, the wrought iron fence does kind of stand out. Becky and the boys were here when Aman an I got it installed (not even fired up yet) and within 5 minutes Adam had crawled over and opened the door on the bottom. So we decided to put up a decorative yet functional barrier. I kind of liked the idea of a hog panel but I got out voted.

Aman and I also did a remodeling job on the bedroom. Well, mostly he remodeled and I assisted. We put up new paneling


Installed a replacement window (it's behind the curtain)


And lowered the ceiling. I installed a track light over the bed so Sue could have light when she reads in bed.
The light in the bedroom closet now has a motion detector on it. When you walk in the closet the light comes on. After a minute or so with no motion it goes off.

Oh, and in my spare time we had 3 fire runs this weekend.

It's been a fun week

Since my comments Tuesday we cut a 10 X 3 ft hole in the living room floor and tore off Aman and Becky's roof. I suppose that requires a bit of explanation.

Tuesday Becky and the boys were here and noticed a gap between the baseboard along the west living room wall and the floor. The floor had settled. Well, Grandma found this to be a problem. So we peeled back the carpet and looked at it. Yep, it had settled. Wednesday morning we cut a hole in the floor to look at the floor joists. It appears the wall between the porch and the house leaks a little water when it rains in on the porch and the ends of 9 beams had rotted. So we cut a bigger hole and started repairs. We had to put a cross brace in, jack the joists up, put permanent jacks under it, then cut almost 3 ft long pieces of treated 2 X 6's and bolted to the end of the joists to set on the concrete plate along the wall. Then we had to replace the flooring. Shot one full day. Future project plans will include what to do about the porch. I fear construction is not yet finished.

Thursday we tore off the west side of the roof of Aman and Becky's house because it had suffered wind damage and was leaking. With Robert Ledermann's help we got the old roof off and tar paper on. Finished up just at dark. Friday Aman and I started laying shingles. Jim Turner came to help, which was good because shortly after he got there I had to meet with an equipment salesman to finalize some paperwork. Then I had another meeting to attend. And while I was in the meeting the carpet layers came to restretch and install the carpet.

I finally got back to the roof to find Robert had returned. We finished up about 4:00

BIG thanks to Robert and Jim for their help. But the old guy was ready for his recliner Friday evening.


And so far today I have installed a replacement medicine cabinet door, put together an RTA wall cabinet and installed it, and tried installing some child locks on the kitchen cabinets. Tried is the operative word. Couldn't get them to work with our cabinets.

How has YOUR week been?

December 18, 2007

I was looking at David's Caring Bridge site this morning ( http://www.caringbridge.org/il/davidbrooks/ ) and noticed something that just blew me away. Down near the bottom it says " This page has been viewed 20964 times." I realize Grandpa has probably done 10% of that, but over 20,000 hits! Amazing!



For those who don't know, David is transitioning to a new phase of life. He has qualified for a lot of aid over his short 3 years, but since he is reaching 3 years of age a lot of it is changing. The responsibility for that aspect of his care is being transferred to the school system. And that is a major simplification and probably not 100% accurate. The ladies David has been seeing won't be coming anymore. He can go see them ... or at least some of them. I don't know (or need to know) all the details. Bottom line is the therapists won't be coming to his house any more. So people who have been a big part of his life won't be there any more and new people will become involved. I guess that is life. But I wanted to pause and tell these ladies Thank You from a grateful Grandpa


Oh, and the new Sunday School class was different. I am teaching (along with 2 other much more qualified ladies) the Junior High Sunday School class. Sunday was our first class. Part way through class my Fire Dept pager went off. I said "Boys, I have to leave" and told the 4/5 grade teacher he had more students. I bet they remember our first class session!

It was a small fire. Outside wood burner caught the shed on fire. That is why you out them outside!

Nobody Visited

Maybe I should pause here and explain a few things going on to those who may not be aware. I've been an elder in my church for 9 years. I can think of no greater honor or higher responsibility. We choose elders for 3 year term, and they must get an 80% approval vote by the congregation to take office. Yes, that is a fairly high standard. This election I failed to get 80%.

That was mid-November. The Sunday following Thanksgiving the elders voted to ask the Preacher for his resignation. I was out of town for Thanksgiving and was unable to make it back in time for the meeting. Last night the board voted to accept his resignation.

There are a lot of hurt people in our church right now. Lots of misunderstandings. And it has caused me to set back and kind of reflect on things and go through some of what I've written since taking the office of elder. 9 years ... it really does not seem that long.

Here is a communion meditation I used 4-29-99:

I read a magazine article this week that had one sentence that really jumped out and grabbed me. The March/April Christian Reader had an article titled “House Fire!” It was written by a lady in Tennessee about a tragedy that struck their family about 25 years ago. Their house caught fire in the middle of the night. Both parents were injured trying to rescue their children. They lost one child in the blaze.

Let me quote one paragraph, written in her own words: ”I stayed in the hospital eight days and had eight units of blood. Not one church member as I recall visited me. An unbelieving friend of mine come by the hospital to sit with me while the family all went to the funeral.”

That one sentence, “Not one church member as I recall visited me.” Has really hit a soft spot the last couple days. As I looked over the prayer list from last week I saw 5 people in the hospital. I saw eight more in nursing homes. I didn’t count the “Family and Friends” list. How many of these could say not one church member visited me?

We had at least two folks in the congregation in the hospital this week. One had heart catheterization, another had surgery. How many of these could say not one church member visited me?

We have elderly folks who have trouble getting around the house. Not just getting to church, but getting to the kitchen table at times. How many of these could say not one church member visited me?

Before somebody thinks I am getting boastful of what I have done, I have to admit I didn’t go either. But that doesn’t make it right.

We have a nice building. We have a missions program that is fantastic for a church this size. We just had a great Ladies Night. Folks, it doesn’t mean a thing if we lose sight of the basics.
In Matthew chapter 22 Jesus was asked, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

Jesus replied: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

We can’t let our successes and our programs get in the way on the basics, Loving God and each other. This is one of the reasons we partake in the Lord’s Supper, or communion, every week

Communion is basic . The why of communion has not changed over the centuries, and will not change. The bread is to remind us of Jesus body, the juice is to remind us of his blood. We take part in this ceremony to remember, to honor, Jesus and His sacrifice for us. We do it in remembrance of Him. Let us also love each other, in remembrance of Him.

WUCC Revival 2007

Well, Y'all missed it. We just finished holding Revival meetings for the church.
First 2 nights Kevin Brimner spoke,
the last 2 nights Chuck McNeely spoke.

Our music was all done in house. We had a women's quartet the first night, conventional church music the second night, our contemporary group the third night, and the last night we had ... well sorta Bluegrass. If you were a purist the left handed electric bass guitar was out of place, but we really don't care. There was a bass fiddle and banjo and a mandolin and an acoustic guitar. Same guys had our special at church today, but Steve traded his banjo for a keyboard and Michael traded his mandolin for a sax. Big Daddy Weave better look over his shoulder !

But back to the message. Our theme was "If we are the body..." For those unfamiliar with it, that is a Casting Crowns song. You can hear it on at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44dzm71TKF8&feature=related

CASTING CROWNS LYRICS

"If We Are The Body"

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girl's teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgemental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

Jesus payed much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ

Jesus is the way

Kevin and Chuck did an excellent job developing the theme ... but it sure was hard on my shoe shine. They just walked all over my toes.

20th anniversary

Lest you think I am tooting my own horn, I am not. But when you have been involved in a project as long as I have you do talk about it. We had an open house this evening at the West Union Library in celebration of 20 years of service.


A Reading Center was started in 1985 by the West Union Merchants Association with donated items. The Wabash-Embarras Public Library Service started bringing a mobile unit twice weekly in November of 1985. York Township passed the levy for taxes to support a library in November of 1986. A grant was approved for one year until funding was received from the township. The library is located beside the Post Office. The library has always offered a summer reading program and the use of four public computers. In 1991 the library began a Summer Story Hour and became a member of LTLS. The library became the West Union District Library in 1993. In 1995 WUDL purchased the building, nearly doubling floor space. WUDL participated in an expansion grant and has annexed two thirds of Melrose Township into the library district. The library owns eight computers and seven offer high speed Internet. I've been a part of this endeavor since the get go. I was a trustee of the library from the beginning up until this summer, when I assumed the duties of the Assistant Fire Chief and decided there were only so many meetings one could attend in a month.

It was nice being honored. But even nicer to think back 20+ years ago to what we started with and look at what we have now. We struggled may years with a tax income of about $1000 a month to cover staff, inventory, building and grounds, capital purchases, and anything else that needed done. We had fundraisers, we applied for grants, we begged and pleaded ... and took whatever we could get to make it work.

To all who helped ... by donating time or money or books or oil wells (Yes! The library has a very small interest in an oil well somebody inherited and donated. It isn't much, but every little bit helps) I say thank you, and keep up the good work.

OK, so it's been to long

I know, I know, if I'm gonna do this I need to keep current. Why should this be any better than my desk? Anyway, here is a combine update. We got an axle extension from a guy down the road 20 miles as long as we guaranteed to replace it as soon as possible. Got her up and going in about 24 hours

Now the trick is finding the sheet metal. It is not available from a salvage yard I have found yet. The door is about $950, not counting other shields and hardware.

Here is another of my favorite photos


Gotta run. I'll try and keep it more current.