living with boys

Last summer my preschool/elementary boys room smelled like a well used out house. For weeks we rummaged the room, looking for evidence of something decaying or worst. A day before going on holidays, I was helping the boys put thier lego away and noticed that they were sticky, the lego :) . I looked further and the bottom of the lego container was "crystalized" yup someone peed in the lego box.
Our most recent occurence was similar. First off last night I was relaxing in the tub after a day of working around the house and cleaned up. Tonight my wife was giving one of our boys a bath and started wasing his hair. As she was washing his hair she smelled a strong urine scent. She tried ignoring it but it would not go away. So she leaned over and smelled our sons head....sure enough, someone had peed in the shampoo bottle. The thing that sucks is that after some further investigation we found out that it happenned yesterday afternoon, which meant that I washed my hair with shampee. Yes raising 5 boys is a joy, we have learned to never underestimate where a boy may decide to pee.

we have caught our boys peeing

- on the street
- on the sidewalk
- on/off the deck
- into the firepit
- into a candle holder
- into pop bottles
- off the bed
- puddles in the street
- off the tramp
- into ice cream pail
- in the kitchen garbage


Now that I posted this, I'm off to wash my hair.

If anyone else has other places their boys have peed please add to the list, it would be funny to read. (I'll bet flower lady can add to this list =)

Renovations

Phew a week into my holidays and i am tired. I have taken two weeks off but not to rest....at least not yet.
Three weeks ago when Holly and the kids went to Beechy I went to work on my house as well as working fulltime.
I ripped out my chimney, giving me more space on the main floor and in the bedrooms upstairs.
With the chimney out I was able to install a door in the boys room, something they have never had as the chimney obstructed it. I also continued the gruelling process of finishing my basement.
Since Holly was away and I was demolishing stuff I ripped out the archway between the dining room and the living room also.
Oh and I had the inspiration to rip the walls of Boy 1's room to insulate it...a day before Holly got home. Needless to say the house was not clean when she got home.
This past week I drywalled his room, the basement and installed a front door. I had some friends help me which was very helpful. One of my friends is a liscensed carpenter so he saved me a lot of time.

Upcoming winter projects:

- insulate the upper walls in the games room and boy 5's room.
- tape, mud and paint basement
- dig out concrete in basement and pour two concrete footings
- lift the house to set in place 2 teleposts for future kitchen renovation
-replace all my windows with energy efficient windows
- install cabinets for Holly's craft stuff (priority)
- Lift a corner in my bathroom where it is sinking and support it (That is where I am going to put my tub so I can have a stand up shower....stand up shower what a concept)
So with working full time and family life, and ministering, things will be busy.
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Loving Ave D

When Holly and I got back from Calgary in July I felt a strong conviction that we needed to begin praying actively for our community. Pray specifically for each individual as they were on our heart.
We have three other bible believing followers of Christ on our block so the 5 of us have been trying to meet Mondays to pray. The fruit has been amazing...God always amazes me. I try doing things in my own strength and they fall flat. I soak them in prayer and wait for God to move and he does amazing things.
There is one family on our block that is really on our heart. This family is the type of family that attracts the darker folks. They are the type of people that you would want your kids playing across the street rather than in their yard. I have no idea what their extra curricular activities are and probably dont want to know, but besides all that they are great people and Jesus loves them.
We have not had opportunity to spend time with them as there was always a reservation on both sides. The very week that we started praying we invited this family over to our house for a fire as is our custom every Tuesday, as we have been hosting weekly gatherings to keep our small group connected over the summer. This family came over and the husband started opening up and shared with me about his life and the churches that he has attended. I also found out that his dad was a traveling missionary in Canada. His wife has also been opening up and sharing some of the things that she struggles with. Just three weeks ago she came over and asked if she could take our 4 and 7 year old to the dollar store. With much reservation and discernment Holly let them go. When I got home that day, She informed me of that and we rejoiced in the fact that Holly had just opened the door for us to take her 4 year old out some time. We realized that if Holly had closed her heart and said no that it would have closed the door to us taking her little guy out for ice cream or to buy him some shoes. ( I honestly dont know if he owns his own pair)
As for the kids, they are a huge investment to our community. When we open our gate to the back yard, kids from all over the block flock to our yard. I'm sure it has been chaotic to our guests at times but our yard is a symbol of unconditional love and acceptance and it is good. Heck even last night I went out front and all the kids were playing on our front yard. A person would have to come and witness what God is doing here, it truly is a blessing.
About a month ago 4 of us filled up probably 500-600 water balloons and had a community water fight. It was so much fun it started with water balloons then we started filling up anything that held water to continue our water fight. We probably played for an hour or more. LOL we even went across the street and lured Jeff out of his suite and everyone attacked him.
We have been hosting people in our back yard all summer and people throughout the community come over at various times. We are really starting to see an impact in peoples comfort levels. In fact the family that I was talking about is interested in doing a parenting video with a few of us.
The bible teaches us to sow our seeds in fertile soil so that the seeds that you plant go deep. Well the family that we are spending time with have a load of crap in their lives. And as you know lots of crap makes great fertilizer. Good fertilizer makes good soil. So why not sow your seeds there right?
I was talking with one of my friends that is praying with us and was sharing with him that if God was to captivate their hearts, that family would have so much influence in the lives of their friends. Wow that would be amazing.
I cant wait to see what else God wants to do here. It's so easy to get involved when God sets it up.