Longleaf pine seedlings after a site prep burn.

Hey friends! Darby is having severe blog withdrawals and has asked me (Justin) to let you folks know that we are, in fact, alive but that we still don't have internet at our new house. So rather than work on bonified billable work, I am blogging for her while she gets our house ready all by her pregnant self!

We have spent that past week in our new house and are enjoying it immensely--and we've added our cur to the list of occupants. I don't have any pics to share concerning our house or our family but I do happen to have a nice shot of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) seedlings that were planted on our farm after a prescribed burn last year.

By the way, I've been reading some of Martin Luther's sermonds that he preached in 1532 during the Advent and on Christmas day. Wonderful stuff! And did you know that he is to thank for putting lights on Christmas trees? It's true. You can find that and other great stories of Christmas traditions in Ace Collins' book The Stories Behind the Traditions of Christmas.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christ-centered Christmas!

Christmas

It's beginning to look alot like a...

2007 kitchen, rather than a 1968 kitchen!

Sorry I've been MIA, apparently this very small child that is dwelling in my womb has sucked every ounce of energy out of my body and I have 2 small children outside the womb that have 10x the energy that I have... what's a woman to do?! And, on top of all of that, Justin's been out of town this week, we're still in the rental house with no furniture (except beds) and things can only get better from here!

Now, for my "glass half- FULL version" ... we did get the granite installed this week and the plumber came and plumbed the sink and the dishwasher. I must say again... that it's beginning to look a lot like a kitchen.... for your viewing pleasure a few before and afters. I wanted to "photoshop" a microwave in above the ice maker and refrigerator drawers... then I realized I didn't know how to do that. A microwave will sit perfectly (on a shelf that hasn't been built yet) above the under-counter appliances. And we're still waiting for the gas company to run our gas line for the range... we saw some "spray paint" in the yard and hope it's a sign from them! We're also short one corbel for under the bar... you'll see the spot where it goes.

We'll start with the befores...

And the "almost" afters...