Updates

As is apparent from my lack of posting, life has been busy.  I was hoping to get about four posts a month, but May flew by, so hopefully we can make up for it.  My camera battery died and I was lazy on recharging it, so there isn't much on the photography side of things.  We've been busy tackling projects for the basement, wrapping up the end of the school year, a quick trip up to Alpena to open up the camper last weekend, and shopping for a new camper have seemed to consume our lives.  We've decided not to buy a new camper, but build a barn/garage on our property instead with living quarters above.


As most of you know, my dear friend Adam Lackey decided to take his own life at the end of last summer.  This has been so difficult for me as well as many others.  He was a true Titanic fan and his family happened to find someone who had a relative traveling on a ship to the wreckage site of where the Titanic sank on the anniversary of her sinking.  This kind woman named, Helen Edwards, took some of Adam's ashes with her, and Adam is now part of a piece of history that captivated him.  If you Google Helen Edwards and Associated Press, you will find articles and a video of the event.  This amazing turn of events is the first time, I've really felt like I've had some closure in this whole awful event.  My heart can only imagine what his family has been dealing with.    Adam's parents and sister, Keri came back to Michigan from Montana on Memorial day and brought with them a beautiful stone from Montana to place in the Coldwater Cemetery where some of his ashes are buried with his grandparents.  I was blessed to be invited by his family to be part of this ceremony to remember him.  Jackie and Bill Heinrich and I all traveled over to Coldwater together.  A life gone from us too soon, but his love lives on.  Afterwards, Adam's Aunt Skip opened up her home so we could all get together to eat and share our beloved memories of Adam.

I know it doesn't look exciting to any of you, but we're thrilled it's in.  It was a lot more work than we anticipated.  We learned we have 12" thick walls, and no concrete company or tool rental place in the area has a saw to cut it with.  We finally found a place out of Marshall that came and cut it for us.  Then we had to get the giant piece of concrete out of the window and break it up and get rid of it.  I like how I said "we." It primarily was Andy, but I was there for support.  I did help get it out of the window and fell into the gaping hole in the process.

The excess dirt from the egress window hole built up my landscaping.  It still needs a ton more mulch, but I'm pleased with the end result so far.

Here's a picture of Olivia with the oodles of flowers from her recital!  We even had to combine a few to make them all fit.

My chair I painted and recovered that will hopefully soon, become part of our finished basement.

We moved this chair from the basement upstairs to the girls' room for the time being.  Mia wanted to sleep in it the night it went in their room.  I laughed figuring she wouldn't last long, but she fell asleep and made it most of the evening in the chair.