just an update…

things have been pretty low-key around here lately.

I’ve been heading over to my parent’s house on Fridays (my day off) to help my mom do some things around the house. Last Friday was GORGEOUS and perfect for walking my mom’s gardens.

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the peeps are growingIMG_4797

a perfect day to hang laundry on the line

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peonies about to bloom

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the bees are buzzing

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a giant cabbage…er, just taking up space

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swiss chard

(I know, I know…it sounds like the name of a cheese or a wine. I said the same thing to my mom)IMG_4835

baby apples

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there will be a lot of cherries this year

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Also, I’ve started my own little garden.

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it makes me smile every time I come or go from our home

IMG_4866 really, I just ripped out a shrub and needed something to cover up the mess I made until I could get Chris to fix my ‘oops’.

please and thank you, hubby!

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The weather has been so nice here lately (following a sad snowy winter) and we have really enjoyed living so close to a nice park.

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This park is only about a 3 mile (roundtrip) walk from our house.

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Baxter enjoyed watching the pick-up basketball and football games

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of course he worked on gnawing on a stick

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and of course we brought a snack

(remember the 3 miles?)IMG_4899 

What do you like to do when the weather begins to get warm?

A graduate

 

yippee!

Baxter just graduated from puppy school.

I wish so badly that I could have attended his classes, but they began right around the time that I get off of work so I was never able to make it.

I’m pretty sure the boys enjoyed their ‘guy time’.

I don’t have any pictures from the class (which I regret), but here are a few from our ‘at home training’… which you apparently have to do regularly.

sometimes Baxter listens

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sometimes he doesn’tIMG_4545

It is really difficult for him to follow commands when he is outside (kind of like me, I guess… fresh air ADHD).

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We had to get a silly training leash, which I hated using because he kept leaping around and making it too tight and practically choking himself.

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I wish this picture had been more in focus on Baxter.

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um, does anyone else have fat knees?!

sheesh, where did those come from

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Yay, my little graduate!

He still doesn’t behave all the time – which, according to my newly converted pet owner’s mind, is unacceptable. Chris has to remind me daily that Baxter is still a puppy…and then I forgive him for being a dog.

stripping

Now, don’t get your knickers in a twist about that title. I’m talking about stripping our pup.

Baxter is almost 6 months now and he’s beginning to look a little scruffy; don’t you agree?IMG_3952

Border terrier’s actually have 2 coats: a dense undercoat and a wiry, coarse outercoat.

They really shouldn’t be shaved like most dogs; instead, the outcoat needs to be hand stripped – which basically means ‘ripped out’. I was very nervous about this process when we read about it, but there are many helpful tips and videos on the interwebs. And, interestingly enough, if you don’t strip your border’s fur, he will – by rubbing against furniture and your carpet and anything else that will make him feel better.

IMG_4303 The tub got a little messy, but it really prevents them from shedding around the house… which, as you may know, is a really big no-no in my house.

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Here is a shot when Chris was halfway through

– See the difference between Baxter’s neck and back?

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Obviously, we didn’t get to his head yet.

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Rock on, Baxter. Rock on.

Building progress + a dog fight!

This will be a big year for New Beginnings Christian Church.  Woop-woop!

Our church currently meets in a school gymnasium every Sunday morning.

We don’t own our own building yet, so we rent from a small private school.

That means…

Unloading giant container-carts full of supplies

setting up those supplies

setting up chairs in perfectly-placed lines

Putting together power-point screens and projectors

Running cables to and from instruments and sound equipment

and many other things

… every Sunday morning.

and then, of course, packing it all back up nicely to fit back in those container-carts, which are then placed strategically back into a trailer truck, which is then hauled away to be stored in a super secret location until the the following Sunday.

woops, you can’t find your keys now? You think they might have been in the ‘welcome center’ container? Too bad, that’s the first one that’s loaded into the trailer…you’ll see ‘em in a week!”

Anyway, I digress…

This is a big year for us because we are finally moving forward with building our own building!! We currently own approximately 15 acres in the sort-of-boonies, about 5 minutes from the border between Virginia and North Carolina.

The property was, and still sort-of is, zoned for farming. The first structure we built on had to be called a ‘pole barn’ instead of a pavilion, just to meet zoning rules.

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Lemme just say, we love our Pole Barn.

We’ll use any excuse to hold worship on the property under the pole barn.

Unfortunately, during really hot or cold months we aren’t able to.

We will hopefully break ground in the next couple of months and then be able to worship in a building with walls!

All this to say….

here’s what we did last weekend: a little bit of grunt work to get things prepped for the Easter service on the land.

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Also, Baxter tagged along to get some runnin’ around time.IMG_3878

We also used this opportunity to do some doggy socializing.IMG_3851

Our friends brought their dog, Casey, who is a Cairn Terrier.

In our minds: Terrier + Terrier = brotherly love.

Not true! Why didn’t you guys warn me?

After circling them around one another and ‘moving in slowly’ it seemed like all was going well, when suddenly…there was an ‘attack’.

Lemme just say…there was an immense amount of barking and gnashing of teeth.

It sounded like wolves fighting over the last elk left on the tundra!

When the event is re-capped by everyone else, they tell me that all of the screaming was actually coming from me! I don’t recall that part of it.

In my memory of that moment, all I saw was sharp pointy teeth and I heard the yelping of my little pup, Baxter!

Baxter didn’t even seem scathed by the ‘attack’ (as I’ve taken to calling it these past few days).

I guess in my naiveté I though “all dogs get along”… just like “all dogs go to heaven” .

Stop licking your chops Casey… you don’t get Baxter as a snack today!!!

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 Also… it was really windy that day.

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We sought refuge out of the wind to enjoy our Nathan’s dogs in the truck.

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And there was also a really pretty bird… who very dumbly made a nest in the middle of the field (where the lawn mowers and tractors roam freely)!

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This momma bird is very lucky someone spotted her nest before this patch of grass was mowed. The eggs are SO beautifully speckled and camouflaged.

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Happy hatching little fellas!