So in every old house restoration there is demolition and there is reconstruction. and with that comes lots of TOYS, TOYS, TOYS!!Oops! I meant TOOLS, TOOLS, TOOLS! Sometimes it feels like a UPS dropoff or an Amazon delivery comes every day? Don't know what it's like for other folks, but every project needs special equipment!

My husband loves to tell this story. When our youngest daughter Grace was 4 years old, her great grandfather passed away. Since we lived a few blocks from the funeral home, she and her father decided to walk home. They got about halfway home and sat on a bench to rest. As they glanced back at the funeral home, my husband proudly said, "Look how far we've come!" And our little 4-year-old turned and looked the other direction and with a forlorn look stated, "But look how far we haven't come!"

Have you ever looked at the pictures of all the incredible old buildings that are being torn down for modernization? Churches, banks, stores, castles, homes that took YEARS to build and numerous gifted craftsman to embellish, are torn down within a matter of minutes. I follow a site that shares photos of beautiful old buildings all over the world that are being restored and ones being demolished to build modern homes and facilities. It seems like such a senseless shame to lose such craft and history. Though, as we work to restore our old house, I can understand both sides. We just couldn't bear to tear it down!

Since we have very few old pictures of the inside of this old house, I have taken a lot of time trying to analyze the many layers of paint to learn what the first color on these walls might have been. I guess it doesn't really matter, but I'd like to see it from the original point of view.

As my husband bulldozes and cleans out around this old place it's hard not to park under an old tree. And he spends most waking hours--when he's not at his paying job--working on this old house. Well, one Sunday morning he got up at his usual 5:30 a.m. and took off to work for a few hours. He parked his truck as usual under one of the old trees and stopped working just in time to come home and get cleaned up for church. When he returned to LMV later the exact tree he had parked under had fallen in the EXACT spot he was parked! Talk about coincidence! I think not--he got the message! He doesn't miss church now!!!