Quarter Century

December 27th is a momentous occasion for the McGehee family this year, for we are celebrating the 25th wedding anniversary of Mom and Dad! This morning, the lovebirds took off on a special overnight excursion to Manitou Springs (a fact which Mom is not yet privy to).

I do not expect anything less than unconditional love, fidelity and devotion between my parents so I am certainly not amazed that they "made it" to this silver celebration. There is absolutely no reason for me to doubt that they will celebrate many more anniversaries. But our culture tells me that I am a minority: my parents are still together. Beyond that, they are still very much in love!

The pride that I take in my parent's 25th anniversary has nothing to do with the fact that they "beat the odds", remained faithful to each other, or even that they still exhibit affections toward each other. My pride in my parent's love and marriage exists because I know that they have a firm foundation in the Lord. Affection, tenderness, romance, attraction, and loving qualities are the natural result of a marriage that is built upon God first. So for that reason, Mom and Dad, I admire you, aspire to emulate you, take pride in your marriage, and love you so very much.

Happy Silver Anniversary!


1986


2011

Carl's Trusted Voice

Our dear friends, the Bobb family, have sought to encourage and pursue entrepreneurial endeavors for as long as we have known them (and even before!) One venture that is especially exciting for us as consumers is the initiation of Carl's Trusted Voice. Mr. Bobb has taken to his carefully constructed home sound studio and recorded incredible pieces of audio work that will appeal to listeners of all interests.

Mr. Bobb has provided a variety of demo sound bytes for those to express interest via his web site, www.mrbobbsvoice.com. As the greeting on the home page reads, "Carl’s Trusted Voice will make your ad copy, script, audio book or elearning material come alive...". I can say by experience that this is most definitely a trusted proclamation.

Most recently, we received the gift of The Hartz Boys audio book. This little treasure was republished by our friends, the Williams family and joyfully recorded in audio format by Mr. Bobb. My family spent three nail-biting nights listening to and discussing this book during our family worship. Each chapter spoken, each character and circumstance introduced kept us eager to hear more.

As we listened I wondered why it was that I was so intrigued by this book. Not only is it safe, wholesome, and valuable as a story, but the way it was presented by Mr. Bobb had a great deal to do with my personal reception of it. He was easy to listen to, expressive, and emotional. I never confused the characters voices as each was distinct and clear. I felt the fear, excitement, and repentance as the characters spoke their piece through Mr. Bobb, and I only wished that every book I could possibly want to listen to could somehow be brought to life by Mr. Bobb's voice!

Please visit his web site and hear for yourself. You will both laugh and be moved by the sound he produces. God has most surely given him a voice that people will listen to.

Acts of Random Kindness

This morning we broke out the snow blower to clear the driveway and sidewalks in front of our house. This relatively quick project became an adventure spanning multiple hours. Our neighbors across the street were struggling to shovel their driveway, so across the street we went with the little Deere to help them out. Appartently they had planned to travel to a family farm a few hours away, but were not sure that they could get their car out of the neighborhood. They left shortly after we finished their driveway.

When that one was through, Collier noticed that another neighbor was shoveling his driveway by himself. His name is Mike. Back across the street we went and his driveway was clear in a jiffy!

Meanwhile, I noticed that this neighbor's neighbor had their garage door up and car running as if they were preparing to leave. The deep drift in the driveway made me wary that the little Altima would make it out into the street. So, off we went to that neighbor's house and started on her driveway. When she emerged from her garage she was surprised to see us clearing a path for her car. Before we knew it, Mike walked over with his shovel and helped us clear that driveway to send our neighbors successfully off to work.

Yet again, I noticed a neighbor shoveling her walk way. Back across the street we went. When I asked this woman if we could help her clear her driveway, she replied that she didn't have any money to pay us with. I was afraid of that... I quickly stopped her and told her that we don't expect anything in return, just that she remember to pass along some kindness to another person. She was very skeptical of us and I truly believe that she felt like we wanted to weasel her out of money somehow. After chatting with her for a few minutes and blowing her driveway she had warmed up to us and we finished the walkway together. We ran the snow blower until it was out of gas. She told us what a blessing it had been to have our help and we knew that the morning's venture had been a success.

This Christmas we want to gently but pointedly remind people that there would be no CHRISTmas without Christ! To have the opportunity to bless other people is a gift. Our snow blower is also a gift, and it would be awful of us to keep it to ourselves.

As you go about your gift shopping and snow shoveling and whatever else you set out to do this Christmas, remember what a gift it can be to serve other people when you and they least expect it. You may never realize that God was using you to make an impact in another person's life at precisely the moment that they needed to see Christ's love displayed.

New Seams

The Christmas season is upon us! For the first time in three years, our family has made a real effort to decorate for Christmas. We have a real tree (a luxury that we sorely missed while living in Jacksonville), outside lights, and other touches that have become part of the feeling of Christmas in the McGehee household. Beneath the tree our beloved town scene (an inheritance from my grandmother) is proudly displayed to remind us both of sweet and humorous memories from previous Christmases.

Now that we have become mostly settled in Colorado and the fall semester has come to a close, I have had the opportunity to pull out my much neglected sewing machine for a few projects. I had forgotten how marvelous it is to see my bedroom covered in fabric and thread as I plan new projects. This season has beckoned much creative inspiration both for gifts and technical ventures. Here are a few of the projects that have been undertaken thusfar:

As we sifted through our Christmas decor I noted a severe lack of tasteful and festive hand towels. So, without spending a penny I sifted through our towels and my stabilizer and embroidery thread collection and created this cute little design (which was also free from my favorite embroidery web site).

The other two completed projects are actually Christmas gifts for Mom and Dad, so I will post pictures of them at a later date. Suffice it to say that the Bosch now has a custom quilted fabric cover, and we finally have a place to hang our keys!

I have also been experimenting with more precise techniques for sewing. I can figure out how to accomplish just about any project, but I have not mastered any one particular aspect of the craft. So, in an effort to train myself more formally, I decided to undertake my first real quilt. This project will require that I sew together blocks, stitch "in the ditch" for a quilted effect, and combine colors and designs in a cute and tasteful manner. After researching quilt blocks I decided to incorporate pinwheels into my design. After further research and a few test runs, I figured out how to make a "perfect pinwheel". Not that it is actually perfect by any means! I simply made an extra effort to use good technique and take no shortcuts during this project. A tutorial for these pinwheels is soon to come!

Think

For our family worship we are beginning John Piper's book, Think. Today we prepared by reading the forward, introduction and first chapter. Then we came together after dinner and read the introduction together. Our readings always evolve into thoughtful discussions as this one certainly did. The Spirit was especially present in this devotional.

There were many direct quotes from the introduction that I highlighted and intend to utilize in some sort of needlework display, but there was one in particular that really summed up our perspective as homeschoolers and which did not include the verse from Proverbs 22 ("Train up a child in the way he should go"). Often people ask us why we chose to homeschool. Many people find it odd and automatically label us as anti-social, ill educated and conspicuous, especially when they have not been exposed to the products of the process (Collier and I). Piper says,

"...that all thinking-all learning, all education, all schooling, formal or informal, simple or sophisticated-exists for the love of God and the love of man."

This is precise, succinct, and clear enough for people to understand. I hope that we find more of these little gems as we read through the book as a family this December and take the time to pray, be challenged, and Think!

To Colorado We Go!

We have finally arrived (officially) in beautiful, snowy Colorado! The journey didn't go exactly as planned, but God's grace brought all of us home safely. The last couple of weeks in North Carolina were riddled with stresses as we realized that we were truly coming down to the wire on time. We decided to only focus on work that was required to prepare us for our final inspection on the barn. The electrical work was completed, the gas company installed our heat and water heater, and Papa Don has volunteered to be our plumber.

Dad came to visit us for Thanksgiving, a wonderful addition to the family gathered on the mountain. Only three days afterwards, he and Collier loaded up one of our vehicles and drove home to Colorado. While this left Mom and I to complete the work without our right hand man, we anticipated and prepared for our final week by completing all of the most difficult work when the boys were still in town, leaving Mom and I with tasks that we were confident that we could complete.

In order to prepare for Papa to install our plumbing (sinks and toilets) we needed to tile, grout, and seal the counter tops in the kitchen and on the bathroom vanities. We spent one day cutting granite for the kitchen and piecing it all together to make absolutely certain that we had enough tile to complete the job and to decrease the time needed to actually lay the tile with mortar.



The bathrooms turned out nicely as well. As you can see we went ahead and set the sinks in for aesthetics. We couldn't help ourselves! We wanted to see what it will look like all put together.



Here are a few other pictures of the finished product with some staging and decor.






Also, you might find it enjoyable to go on a video tour with me. You can access it HERE. Please forgive the crazy camera angles. For whatever reason it did not occur to me that I would not be able to rotate the images because I was recording a...ahem...video. I tend to be a bit technologically challenged, and to be honest I did not have my go-to guy (Collier) there to correct my blunder.

After completing the counter tops, staging a few rooms, and organizing the work shop Mom and I took off with the remainder of our belongings and little Noah. We had planned to stay at an Air Force base in Missouri after about 15 hours of driving, but they were booked. With our truck-load of tools and the puppy we really didn't want to find a hotel so we decided to keep on going. We left at 9am on Tuesday morning and arrived home at 6:15am the following morning. With two time changes, gas stops, and one sit-down meal we thought we did fairly well getting home and surprised the boys (they thought we had stopped during the night). We actually made it in time to greet Dad as he left for work.

It is so wonderful to be home! There is still much moving-in and organizing to do, but we feel relatively settled for the moment. Currently we are looking forward to our New Years Eve bonanza with all of our dear friends here in Colorado. It is wonderful to feel like we are coming home to a sweet "Colorado Family".

On Friday we decorated our Christmas tree. Pictures and updates to come!

The End is Coming

Howdy family and friends, Collier here. This is the first time I have written to you since 'Collier's Chronicles' in Monterey, so my writing is mixed with a bit of nostalgia. Please bear with me as I write to you and figure out how to use Blogger!

Well, we now have less than a week until we make our final trip across country for the foreseeable future. This trip comes with mixed pain and pleasure, as we are excited to settle in our new home and see all of our friends again, but are sad to leave the east coast where all of our family is and to leave our barn in a partially unfinished state. We are working hard, though!

Since out last update, quite a bit has been accomplished. The most notable and exciting is the installation of our cabinets by our carpenter, John. He did a fantastic job, and the kitchen is starting to acquire a 'kitchen-y' feel. It is still a little empty without appliances, but we will soon remedy that problem once we finish the floors. There will be little cubbies above the shorter upper cabinets, so imagine small, lighted and tastefully decorated spaces where you currently see empty spaces.



Also high on the list of accomplishments is the staircase. It is yet to be stained, but John installed treads, risers, handrails, newel posts, balusters and trim. It looks amazing! The balusters that you see are the ones Grandma purchased for us, and I love the wrought iron look. The swirly pattern in the center is called a 'basket' and really completes the look, giving it a very fashionable look but still keeping it rustic.



The hardwood floors are completely installed, and we have just finished most of the sanding required before we can stain. After a great deal of trouble, we were able to sand them down enough that all the grade marks (the wood is cabin grade or grade '3', so each board had a little '3' marked on it in wax pencil) are gone. The biggest sign of our progress this last week is the tile. We have finished tiling the bathroom floor and the shower walls, and both await grout. We are almost done with the kitchen tile(the heating blanket is to keep the floor warm, it is below freezing many nights here), but in true McGehee fashion we came up about 10 tiles short, so we will have to make a Lowe's run tomorrow to pick up another box. We also started to lay slate in the corner where our wood stove will sit, I am especially looking forward to seeing that finished as the slate will sit in a small area we cut out of the hardwood floor, under the stairs in the triangular area, and about eight feet up the wall. It'll look amazing!






One of the biggest, most time consuming, and most daunting tasks we have before us is painting the exterior. About eight years ago when we first built the barn, we stained it with a weathered barnwood color. It gave it a grayish, old look which was great for the many years it sat without attention, but now we are seeing the need for something different. So, we bought a very, very high quality exterior polymerized paint. It is so thick, that we have to hand-paint the whole house. Yuck! It is especially difficult because the highest wall is about thirty feet high, and with our 28' extension ladder we can only barely reach, even standing on the second or third rung from the top. The entire process has taken a long time and we have had to do a lot of pressure washing to remove old stain, priming (which, thankfully, we were able to do with our paint sprayer) and repainting. The primary color is 'English Tea', a gray color, and the trim is an off-white color(I'm not sure exactly what color it is, Chelsey says I'm color-blind). The very light color you see is the primer. It is coming along slowly, but Lord willing we will get it done before we leave!



On a very positive note, Chelsey and I are wrapping up several of our classes this semester this week. All of our classes were 12 week courses, so we are able to finish up our A12 classes this weekend, and our B12 classes in about another four weeks. That is a huge sigh of relief! It has been difficult to juggle school and working as much as possible on the barn, but we have now completed most of the task, and with flying colors, too!

Well, writing has been fun, and I hope that you have enjoyed reading. We promise to update often our adventures in Colorado, surely to include great amounts of school, skiing, and other interesting activities! Now, to figure out how to post pictures to the blog. If you see them, then you'll know I figured it out...

Construction Update

Family and Friends,

We have been having some technical difficulties with our camera, which does not bode well for photographically recording our building adventure. However, we have been very busy with finish work in the cabin. I will post pictures as soon as I have them, but for now a written summary will have to suffice:


• The flooring is in. It was a long and arduous process, but we finally finished the installation.

• We have purchased carpet for the loft and tile for the kitchen and bathroom floors. Though we have not installed them yet, we are on the cusp.

• The kitchen cabinets are assembled. This was a significant accomplishment, not so much on the part of assembling, but more due to the fact that we finally planned, ordered, and received them! In order to reduce shipping costs, we picked up the two pallets of boxes in Spartanburg, SC (about a 2 hour drive from the barn). While it was certainly out of the way, we used this time to visit a building surplus store close buy where…

• We purchased granite tile for the kitchen countertops and bathroom vanities! While this is not as fantastic an accomplishment, they do provide a more complete picture of what the kitchen will ultimately look like when it is completed.

• The interior doors have been installed and all framing is finished. A huge thank you goes out to our fantastic carpenter, John!

• The floor joists were reinforced in the downstairs portion of the stall to keep the upstairs floor from continuing to sag (an unfortunate result of poor workmanship when the structure was built in 2003).

• Collier and I began construction on the “butcher block” bar that we will eventually fit over the half wall above the kitchen sink. This was a very unlikely project until we collected remnants of oak from our flooring venture and realized that we had the materials and vision for a very unique piece of fashionable yet functional art (if a counter tip can be considered such!)

• As I write this update I am in town (using high speed internet to its fullest) and just received our Rennai heaters from a UPS deliveryman, who was so kind as to meet me here rather than at our usual drop off location at the Pilot truck stop. I love meeting people, and this kind gentleman was no exception. We made each other’s day.

• Pine treads and kick plates have been purchased for the stair case. They are a beautiful contrast to the oak flooring and we anticipate them staining quite differently when we reach that point in finish work.

• Grandma (bless her) decided to order some beautiful iron stair rails. I cannot even envision what it will look like with the newel posts and hand rail; pine treads and the contrast of oak on the floor and faux on the walls. It is coming together beautifully and I believe that it will be a lovely representation of our rustic, eclectic style.


While there are still many projects uncompleted, we are coming along and the end is almost in sight. Our next major undertakings are to finish sealing between the wood slats on the exterior of the whole house and then to paint. We have already pressure washed in preparation. Aside from that (it is always a work in progress) we are essentially ready for our final inspection. Fixtures must be set and heat must be installed as well for this to occur.

Which reminds me...we have light! We are now able to work late into the night, thanks to our fabulous electrician. It seems that we are surrounded by talented, kind men in this regard. All of our hired helpers have been so refreshing to work with and they welcome our questions and inquiries. We feel like a team rather than helpless bystanders with a checkbook. Specifically, the inspector, carpenter, sheet rock engineer, and electrician have given us far more advice than we could ever pay them for.

Purple Sky, Mountain Majesty!

This is the view off of Grandma's porch during tonight's sunset/moonrise. The leaves are beginning to turn and the sky was playing in brilliant colors!

Meanwhile, things are moving along down at the cabin. We have begun laying hardwood floors! It's slow going, chiefly because of our inexperience, the rather small size of the planks, and the fact that this is "cabin grade" flooring (which means that we have between 30% and 40% waste). There is quite a bit of sorting to do. Once we finished the hallway things started picking up! Check out our progress...

Cabin Update

Since we haven't had a construction update in a while...

The trimwork is nearly done! Only the interior doors are left. It is so exciting to walk in and see beautifully stained window boxes!

We finished putting plywood up on the interior walls of the stall and workshop downstairs. Next step there is caulking all of the cracks and painting the ugly press board with a nice solid color.

Mom bought cabin grade flooring a few days ago. It is beautiful unfinished oak. This is going to be a new experience for us! We have installed pergo and laminate flooring, and we have refinished hard wood flooring, but we have never installed hard wood before. We'll see how this project goes...

It is hard to believe that we have come as far as we have. We are getting ready to lay flooring! So difficult to imagine that this place that has been sitting unfinished for so many years is actually beginning to look like a home.

I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I will take and post some in the coming week or so. We have a very busy schedule for the next few weeks and are scrambling to make it to a final inspection. Collier and I are hot and heavy into school and beginning to tackle the big assignments. Meanwhile, we are getting to the BIG projects at the house, so we are constantly on the go. Our final moving week will be the second week in November, so we must be done by then!

The Green Zone

As Dad so aptly commented, "We could definitely get into this!"

Tractor pulling has become a new family favorite hobby...or is it actually a sport? Trophies are awarded and there is a great deal of competition among the Ringers (professional level pullers who compete at an amateur level). See...we are learning the lingo :-)

Anyhow, we loaded up the tractor and drove to beautiful Hendersonville early on the morning of October 1st. Farm City Day is a much loved event in the mountains and as they say, "It wouldn't be Farm City Day without a tractor pull." We dove back into the Mountain Man Tractor Puller's Association group and excitedly prepared for our second pulling experience.

We can only pull in three weight categories, so we decided that I would pull in the 9,000 lb class (again), Collier would pull in the 9,500 lb class (again), and Dad would make his inaugural pull in the 10,000 lb class! At the last minute Papa was able to enter the 9,500 lb class with another tractor (which actually belongs to Mike McCreary, the gentleman who runs the pulls).

This pull went significantly faster than the previous pull, chiefly because it was so small in comparison. I was the first puller and the only lady to compete. So, I wore my boots, my John Deere socks, and a shirt that read "Put your big girl boots on and deal with it!" I beat my previous 112.6 ft and pulled a total of 160.3 ft!



Collier was the last competitor in the 9,500 lb class and pulled a total of 160.1 ft. Papa pulled second in the same class a total of 152.7 ft.

Dad pulled last in his class and beat all of our distances with a whopping 170.2 ft pull!

So at the end, our lineup was...

Chelsey - 1st place in 9K class
Collier - 1st place in 9.5K class
Papa - 3rd place in 9.5K class
Dad - 4th (no trophy...) in 10K class

Let's just say that Grandma didn't believe Papa when he told her how we fared.



So...have you ever wondered what happens during a tractor pull? What does a "pull" look like? Well, we have Collier's pull on video, so take a look!

Collier's First Place Pull!

When you hear us excitedly proclaiming that Collier is "duck walking" what we mean is that he is tapping each rear break in an attempt to move the tractor a few more inches before the tires started spinning. It is actually a tractor pulling technique.

Now, Mom was recording this video and accidentally stopped the camera before they announced the winners. Thankfully, she still got the announcement of Collier's first place win on camera! It is a precious video that you can watch HERE!

Here's a brief explanation of the pulling process:

1. Weigh tractor and driver. Add or remove weight to suit class.
2. Back tractor up to sled (that's the trailer with the big red thing on it), put tractor in neutral and hold hands up (safety measure for the chain man).
3. Chain man attaches chain to tractor, driver puts tension on the chain.
4. Flagger waves the green flag and pull begins!
5. Driver pulls as far as possible in 2nd gear (2 mph).
6. When tires spin a full revolution flagger waves the red flag and driver stops the tractor.
7. Driver removes tension from the chain, puts tractor in neutral, and holds hands up.
8. Chain man unhooks tractor from sled, and tractor weighs out.

This may not sound thrilling, however it most certainly is when you are able to participate in the pulling! But it is not the competition, or the trophies or the length of the pull that makes this so exciting for us. It is the sheer boyish glee that is written all over Papa's face because we are learning to do this crazy thing. He finds more joy in our successes than we ever could. Even if we never brought home a shiny trophy he would still be "plum proud" of his kids, and that is worth more than anything to us!

The Illusion of Timberline

The trim is going in!

After a few long hours of feeling very much like Mr. Miyagi's pupil (brush on, wipe off...up, down...up, down...) we stained and polyurethaned 25 boards of varying length that will slowly become the trim around the interior windows, doors and walls of the cabin.

This was indeed an adventure, and in true McGehee style we could not possibly find a simple way to complete this project.

We began with great indecision about which color stain to use. After trying what seemed like 100 samples (in reality it was only about 7 or 8) we chose Ipswitch Pine: a light, natural golden color. After painting our fresh white pine boards, we realized that this color looked more pink than "Ipswitch". So, we gave a theory a try.

Using one of our many sample colors, we applied another layer of darker brown stain, called Early American, on top of the Ipswitch Pine. The result was just about the color that Mom has been dreaming of. So, we re-stained all 25 of those boards. Then we coated them with polyurethane. The poly gave the trim a beautiful depth and enhanced the color remarkably. We had a winner!

So far, our carpenter has completed all of the trim work in the loft and it is gorgeous! Take a look...

The Little House Goes Down the Big Hill!

Yesterday we moved the little cabin from the top of the mountain down to our property at the bottom of the mountain. It was quite a journey that required every single piece of heavy machinery that we had access to!



It's headed down the big hill!



Collier decided to pick some apples from our tree while he waited for Papa to maneuver the trailer through the gate to our drop-spot.



Getting the trailer into position. The plan is to slide the whole structure off of the trailer so that it blocks the 8 foot pathway next to the well. This should protect the well by keeping other vehicles from driving too closely to it in the future.



Half way off the trailer.



And it's off!



Papa and Collier made quick work of the leveling process with a vehicle jack and some big rocks we scrounged up from around the property.

We achieved a few other goals during the day:

I went to town and took a Literature exam at the local Community College. I love exams that include short essay prompts. They inspire quick thinking and force creativity in a limited period of time. This time my two essays included a comparison of the protagonist in "'Repent Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" with the infamous Mork from the 80's television show Mork and Mindy, as well as a brief opinion piece concerning how the plot of Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas" might have dramatically changed had the Harlequin taken the place of the protagonist in this story.



Secondly, our carpenter completed a new set of barn doors! They are beautiful, and we can't wait to paint them with the rest of the house exterior.

Finally, we began staining the boards that will trim the interior windows and doors! Photos coming soon!

Little House in the Woods

Many years ago, when I was just a little girl, my grandparents built a little log cabin behind their house for the grandchildren to play in. We pieced it together with our own hands. We even used authentic mud and straw chinking between the logs. This is a little piece of McHistory.

Well, this little cabin is on it's way out, or at least that's what we thought. Papa's evaluation of the cabin noted areas of rot. He didn't think that the cabin would be salvageable. This was so disheartening, because the cabin was scheduled to be torn down to make way for Papa's new workshop.

A funny thing happened when Papa attempted to disassemble it. He attached a rope above the window, hooked the other end to his tractor, and took off! Instead of falling apart as he expected, the structure slid off of it's cinder block foundation. Papa preceded to pull the cabin across the ridge top.

Since the cabin is not actually rotten, we have a plan to move it down the mountain to our property.

So far, we have loaded the cabin on a trailer.



To accomplish this, we used two tractors and a bulldozer to pull the cabin up on the trailer and slide it into a secure position.



Almost up!



There she goes!



Papa used the bulldozer to slide the cabin forward on the trailer until it was secure enough to move down the mountain.



We did need a little bit of brawn to straighten it up on the trailer.



These two little characters watched us from a safe distance.



The cabin will stay on the trailer in the driveway until we clear a pad for it on our property.

Fred the Buffalo Head

Our new house wouldn't be a home without Fred the Buffalo Head! Dad had to fit some humor into move-in day.

On the Road Again

This is the view that greeted us as we drove into Fallon, CO, the location of our new rental home.

We set forth on the first leg of our 5 legged journey to CO (just a reminder of the legs: FL to CO, CO to NC, NC to FL, FL to NC, NC to CO).

On Tuesday we packed ourselves in my Cube and drove to FL. On Wednesday morning we picked up our Penske moving truck and began loading things from our massive storage units. As we packed the truck like a well-planned puzzle, we arranged and organized things in our remaining storage units (went from having 6 units to 3 units). We filled the truck by the end of the day. Went home and got a good night's sleep. There were still many loose ends to tie up in Jax, so we didn't make it out of town until 6pm on Thursday. We drove straight through the night and all day on Friday. After stopping for 5 or so hours at a hotel, we were rested enough to continue into Colorado on Saturday morning (this morning). After returning the car carrier, gassing up, and getting a weigh ticket we finally made it to our new rental house a little after 1pm.


We were greeted with such love! This sign has been around for a few years, as a reminder that even if we don't have a house, we always have a home in Colorado.

With the help of our amazing friends, the truck was unloaded in record time and we were able to enjoy a nice meal before beginning to unpack boxes. Collier and I were able to fit in some much-needed school work!


We also celebrated sweet little Katrina's 9th birthday! She was so kind and helpful in her eagerness to spend her birthday helping us unload our big moving truck.

We are incredibly tired, but there is still much to do. I am looking forward to worshiping as a complete family and spending time with the Nabeta family on Sunday night. It feels so good to be home!

Westward Bound!

We are finally moving back out to Colorado...but in true McGehee fashion, everything has to be complicated.

Here is the plan of the moment:

September: make one trip to CO with 1/2 of our belongings. Move these things into the new house that Dad found for us to rent (for our new address, please send a request to me via e-mail at brideofchrist88@gmail.com). Return from CO and continue working on the barn in NC.

October: Finish barn work. Get final inspection. Compete in another tractor pull.

November: Dad comes to FL to help us load the rest of our posessions and drive one last truck to NC, where we unload all of the stuff we have been saving to furnish the barn. Drive the truck the rest of the way to CO and STAY there!

Of course, plans are always subject to change.

Whirlwind Work Week at the Barn!

Last week was extremely busy and equally productive! In about 4 days we accomplished what would normally take us about 2 weeks. We were in a great rush due to our looming trip to Colorado. In order to meet our October deadline for the final inspection of barn construction, we had some essential repairs and improvements to make.

Our outside work consisted of a few major projects:


Continuing construction on the retaining wall to improve the appearance and stability of the bank and protect the house from it's tendency to erode.


Papa wrestled his bulldozer out of the garage and down the mountain to grade the driveway. Because of some unwise initial grading on the house pad, water tends to sit around the bottom of the barn like a moat! This has caused some unsettling rot around the entire perimeter. This grading will hopefully direct water away from the house.


Here, Collier uses the scrape blade on the tractor to smooth out Papa's heavy grading. To achieve an appropriate angle, Papa put some extra pressure on the left side of the blade by standing on it. I called this "mountain man surfing"!


We dug sawdust out of the Taj Ma-stall in preparation for it to receive a new cement floor. We have done a great deal of digging this week, to the point that I am developing bulging arm muscles again!


We chose paint colors for the exterior of the house, the trim, and the doors!

Meanwhile, on the inside of the house we finished priming the sheetrock...



Painting the whole house with the final interior wall color...



And faux finishing most of the higher walls while we had access to scaffolding!



Up close, the walls with texture (called Skip Trot), primer, paint, and faux finish looks like this...


While we are making this next trip to Colorado (see next blog), our carpenter will be pouring a cement floor in the stalls, cutting off about 2 feet of wood all the way around the bottom of the house and replacing it, and generally becoming our hero. Having this work done will set Mom's mind at ease about our rot issue and while it was not necessary for passing the final inspection, it was a major concern for the longevity of this structure. When we return from Colorado we will be continuing on with finish work!

There are many more pictures of construction progress in our photo album!