The latest update: Christmas edition

Merry Christmas!

This post is doubling as a Christmas update this time, with details on the house at the end.

Since last year, we have finished a bedroom and bathroom in the basement, which has really helped out our family living arrangements in our small house!  After a few deep breaths, we decided to tackle another house project (yes, right after I said no more house projects), and do flanking east/west additions, nearly doubling our livable space.  The thing that makes this project different than any we have tackled so far is the inclusion of a General Contractor.  We can now claim most of our weekends back from the clutches of house project intensity!!!!  For this I am thankful.

A glimpse of simple floor plans:

We spent Easter in VA with my parents, touring the Goodstone Inn, a country bed and breakfast remodel project my dad had been working on for some time, and celebrating my mom's birthday.

The Good grands with their grandchildren:

We managed a trip to Ocean City, MD for Mother's day, which included a few rainy days, a visit to Assateague, a discovery museum, miniature golf (of course!) a visit with dear friends, and a bad burn on Zoe's ankle from hot coffee.

For Father's Day at a local restaurant:

Our family also got a chance to visit Mackinac Island on a leg of our trip up to Michigan in August.  I had never been, and it had been a long time since Gabe had been.  We spend 3 days at the Grand Hotel with Gabe's parents, exploring around the island while Papa Cropsey attended the prosecutor's conference.  Judah and Zoe loved biking around the island with Daddy and I loved taking in all the grand decor of an iconic hotel.  We enjoyed sunny days touring an old fort, biking around the island, dressing up for fancy dinners and meeting up with dear friends there as well.

The next leg of that trip was to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes and Traverse City on the way back to Gabe's parent's place.  Gabe and Judah had fun hiking up the dunes, while my fond memories lie in looking for Petoskey stones at the shore.  Both children enjoyed playing together on the beach at Mission Point Lighthouse:

We stopped at Grand Rapids for a brief visit with some more dear friends, before arriving at Gabe's parents place to spend almost a week there with them.  We enjoyed cousin time playing Legos, watching some fireworks, riding tractors with Papa, visiting new playgrounds and good ol' fashioned sitting around the dinner table reconnecting with family members.

The whole Cropsey clan with two to be added in the next couple weeks/months:

And Cropsey grands with their grandchildren:

Later in the year, our family at a local fall festival (a la Christmas card):

Next is the kiddos in their Thanksgiving best, Judah reading a book to Zoe (his one and only, so far, reading to sister debut.  Staged by Gabe, knowing this book reading would get them to smile and be distracted from the camera!)

Same book, different day.  Super cute video!!

Lastly, we were honored to have Gabe's parents come visit from MI and my brother Ian and his wife Kate visit from NYC for Zoe's dedication-a time when we as parents make a public profession to nurture and raise children for the glory of God.  We are thankful to God for the blessing of our children and wanted to acknowledge before Him and our community this responsibility and our reliance on God in this endeavor.

We also took the opportunity to get a Good family photo while we were at it :)

An outtake:

"Just us" photo:

We also had an opportunity while family was in town for Thanksgiving to visit the National Zoo.  It was Zoe's first time at the big zoo and we enjoyed hearing tigers chuffing, seeing a baby orangutan and big pandas, and other interesting "am-als".

If you are still reading (Hi!!) I'll give a brief update on each of us.

Gabe started with a new company in May and continues to engineer solutions both for his job and his building/remodeling hobby.  He enjoys playing and reading with the kids when he gets home, getting his hands dirty in house projects when he can (wanna switch out a septic line, anybody?) and occasional game nights with guys from church.  We are thankful to have joined a shepherd group  again, after a few years hiatus.

Bethany (I) have been nursing a few maladies this last year, while juggling parenting responsibilities and house designing.  I was diagnosed with tendinitis in my left foot (diagnosis changed to chronic foot pain later in the year) as well as a ganglion cyst in my left wrist that was giving some problems.  My wrist has currently resolved itself with a minorly invasive procedure and I am in physical therapy for my foot, trying to practice the art of relaxing to alleviate the nerve issues that have arisen since the original diagnosis.  May this not define me next year!  I am grateful for any chance have to hit the gym and hang out with other moms, in playgroup and in my evening "mothership" group.  When I can, I enjoy jewelry making, sewing and dabbling in homeschooling :)

Judah is learning and growing so much!  He is 90% for height--usually every where he goes, people think he's older than he is.  He is exuberant, can be gregarious and boisterous--enjoying a good laugh with his Papa and Gramps, when he can.

He is really getting into Legos these days and he loves books.  He has a very helpful and thoughtful spirit, seems to be mechanically minded, and has a flair for anything silly.  He occasionally will put puzzles together, if he can get around his sister's grabby fingers.  When he has some alone time with Mommy or Daddy, he likes to play Chutes and Ladders, Go Fish or Crazy 8's.  He and I have been going thru a preschool curriculum called God's Little Explorers, loosely, making scripture stories come alive with fun activities, such as acting out David and Goliath---he liked that one :)

This kid is probably the sweetest boy I know and I'm so glad he's my son!!

Zoe girl is also really tall for her age (go figure)--about 90% too.  This girl is FULL of personality--she attacks life with gusto and enthusiasm.  She is very nurturing with her baby dolls and has a knack for destroying books with love.  She's in a phase now where she is saying new words almost every day, which is a lot of fun.  Zoe is particularly curious, being our climber and adventurer, so far.  She happens to love Judah's boisterous play, having always been a pretty tough cookie.  She plays hard and she sleeps hard.  You could say the girl has spunk.  Ok, I'll say it.  The girl's got spunk!!!

And she gives so many kisses!!  For how busy she is, she can be just so sweet!!

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And now for the latest, in house project news, and I'll be brief:

Concrete footers poured:

Concrete setting on the east addition, driveway side:

Concrete setting on the west side, where master bedroom will be:

Looking down at the east addition from the deck:

Walking on newly minted concrete:

Repairing septic line:

Concrete block foundation going up, starting at the corners:

Note repaired septic line

Hopefully, the garage slab can be poured next week!  But of course this depends on the weather and the availability of the concrete guy.

May you experience wonder and joy in God's love for us through Jesus this holiday season and always!

"See" you in 2018!!!