Another Eagle Scout and farm work

Our son K8 earned his Eagle rank back in December, but we finally held his Eagle Court of Honor last Sunday afternoon, at which our Bishop (also an Eagle, but in the last century...) presented it.

We waited until Spring break so K4 and her husband Ryan could bring their six children up from Texas. K5 also drove up for two days - she took care of the reception. We had a good sized crowd, but we failed to get a group photo.

I also forgot my cable for connecting my MacBook to a large TV, so I just played K8's photo slide show on my 13" screen. Made for a cozy gathering around the screen.

On my way home next day, I was treated to this beautiful moment when a little, bright window into Heaven opened up.

Ryan helped me finish splitting up the rest of the Sycamore tree we cut down behind our house in paddock #2. You can also see the new house we are building for Grandma. 

Friday, Ryan helped K8 and me do some more farm work - burning brush along our fence line and...

...using the tractor to drag big old dead logs off the stream bank, cutting them into manageable sizes, and building a burn pile. I poured on a little diesel fuel and K8 lighted it.

Once it was burning, K8 hit it again with another bucket of fuel for good measure...

...awesome fun, and we got this area along our stream cleaned out. Then we used the tractor to pull out an old stretch of barbed wire and t-posts imbedded in a thicket of thorny brush, which Ryan and I later took to our local re-cycling center.

Then we moved to the other side of the creek to drag this giant Sycamore tree out of the water before the next storm sends it down stream to break our water gap fence. It was cut down recently by the power company. It broke into three big pieces when it fell. We had already pulled piece #1 out before this pic - this is pieces #2 and #3. Thank goodness for a tractor. I would hate to have to cut and drag this kind of stuff by hand.

While we were outside working, our son Kaidan was having fun playing with his nephews from Texas (K4 and Ryan's two youngest sons). During their week long visit, K4 and Ryan found a nice spot up on our hill, on which they plan to build a house some day. We can't wait! 

Our new son, K9!

We were very blessed early Friday, March 11th, to adopt this beautiful and sweet baby boy! The Judge signed the adoption order and legally changed his name. He is 18 months old, and we have raised him since he came home to us from the hospital aged 2 days old. The following photos are not in any chronological order, so just enjoy...

We first discussed adoption over 41 years ago, when we were very young and newly engaged. A doctor had told my wife that she probably would never have children, and she was devastated. I told her no problem, we would adopt.

Little did that quack Dr know that we would have eight healthy, naturally born children over the next 23 years.

But there were times and events over the years that we would briefly talk of adopting...and then we would get pregnant again with a new little one on the way, and would table that topic.

Several years ago, in Texas, we actually took the nine week long mandated training to become certified foster parents, and then, two of our daughters announced they were getting married, and my wife became a wedding planner during the next six months. Also, K8 was only 4 years old, and we worried about the effect that fostering might have on him. 

And then in the summer of 2014, we took the training again. We told the State Children's Division that we were interested in fostering children aged 5 years old to about 12 years old, with the intent of possibly adopting. No babies, because I did not want to mess with diapers, bottles, or the "terrible twos". The week we were to be officially certified, we were asked to take in a new born drug baby because he needed someone medically trained, like my wife the RN. He needed to be de-toxed and carefully monitored...even if only for a short period, until the State could find someone else.

Well, my wife was scheduled to work four days that week, so I took care of him for the first few days. Then she got sick that weekend, so I continued to care for him. He pretty much was glued to the front of my shirt, with his little fists dug into the fabric and crying and grunting non-stop...for two weeks - the length of time it took to de-tox him. I walked him most of the time, and when exhausted, I would sit and lean back on the big green couch in our basement family room so his noise wouldn't disturb anyone during the night. He and I would take short cat-naps together, him snuggled on my chest. K8 would take over each morning for two hours so I could sleep in bed. 

Sometime early the first week we told Children's Division they could stop looking for a new home - we would care for him as long as needed. He has been with us ever since. From early July 2015 to late December 2015, we were involved in a very stressful legal battle to gain permanent custody of him. We were extremely bonded to each other and felt we offered the best home, family and future for him.  

At the end of an eight hour court battle on 30 December 2015, the Judge agreed and awarded us permanent custody. Then we had to wait for lawyers to draft and process the required adoption paperwork.

We could not talk publicly about him until now. Today, the Judge approved our adoption and legally changed his name (No, not to K9).  

He had a slight developmental delay in his muscle motor skills - he did not roll or turn over until well past the normal time other kids could do those things, and he never really crawled on his hands and knees...

...he would only scoot along the floor on his bottom until he finally started pulling himself up on walls and furniture. Yesterday, March 10th, he just started letting go and walking! It was amazing, so naturally, we entered the court room today with him holding one of our hands and walking between us.

He is bright and inquisitive...

...very loving with immediate family, but shy around strangers...

...a very good "eater" of just about any kind and quantity of food...

...funny and full of energy...

...very cute, and now able to climb up on anything...

...very sweet, contented and pleasant...

And loved by all.

For the past few years now, the 11th of March was already a special day for our family - ever since our nephew Rex was killed in Afghanistan. It has been a day tinged with sadness. Now it is a doubly special day, but filled with joy. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

3rd and final update. You are now current with most Wanch happenings.

We have been blessed with good weather for past few weeks which has allowed our building crew to get a lot of work done.

K8 had to finish some drain lines along both retaining walls.

The basement walls are finished.

The floor joists are completed. K6 is on the left entering the basement.

Have you ever seen a power pole burn? I had not either until I asked K8 to burn the fence line, specifically mentioning he be careful near the hay bales and the two new power poles, since they are soaked in creosote. Well, he didn't listen very well, did he?

The pre-built exterior walls, and then the pre-built interior walls, all went up in a day and a half!

And then we were ready for the crane to lift the rafters up into place - done in four hours.

The back porch concrete was poured just a few days earlier. Once the rain stops this week, we'll be putting up the 6" X 6" posts along the back and start build the back deck.

Looking good.

We have been blessed with a good crew and lots of good sub-contractors.

Unfortunately, all this blue sky went away the day after these rafters went on. We are now waiting impatiently for the rain to stop and dry out. The water well will be drilled in the next day or two, and the roofing crew shows up early Monday, and by next Tuesday evening, we'll have a new, red metal roof. Then they start putting the siding on while our crew installs windows and doors. The electrician arrives Wednesday to wire the house. I am pushing hard to get Grandma's house finished and get her moved in by end of April.

Unfortunately, there were a few victims of our house building. We had to remove four trees, oak and hickory. It took us a week to get them cut, split.

Everything is now gone except the stumps and root balls. The hickory and some of the oak went into our family's firewood racks for next year or two. The rest was donated to families who use wood to heat their homes. My friend Jack (just below his blue truck) comes to our farm often and spends 2 to 3 hours a day cutting down dead trees or cutting up old downed trees. He's a wizard with a chain saw. I then follow along with our gas powered log splitter, after which my boys or other Church boys, help us load and deliver to needy families. We re-cycle the wood while cleaning up our property.

The rural electric co-op sent a crew to take down 2 of the 3 Sycamore trees in paddock #6.

They took down the 2 that were leaning right toward the power line, and left the one leaning toward my fence line! The power company is very good about keeping the power lines clear, so we have fewer power outages during storms that break off big branches or knock down trees onto the lines.

And now you are caught up on most of the bigger events on the Wanch. Stand by for tomorrow's Big news... 

Update #2, covering January and February 2016

Beginning in January, I hired my friend Brian and his big dozer to come and finish clearing this section of my hillside once and for all - remove old tree stumps, thick brush, big boulders & rocks, and when done, burn or bury all the big piles, so that the hill is smooth and ready for us to spread seed. It took him a few weeks of working, waiting for rain or ice to stop, but he got it done, and it looks beautiful. I now how many more acres of pasture for our animals, and it will be shaded during the hot summers.

This was the last time we burned this pile. You can see K6 standing in front of it after getting it lighted and flaming with diesel fuel. Afterward, Brian buried the remains. The original pile was much bigger, and a few weeks before this pic was taken, K8 was the man burning piles, up until the day he fell 5 or 6 feet from the top and landed sideways on a giant boulder, cracking three ribs. He is better now, but was hurting for a few weeks, hence the change in workers. It never gets dull or boring around here. We then spread a lot of seeds on the bare dirt, and many varieties: red clover, white clover, lespedeza, timothy, annual rye, perennial rye, orchard, blue grass, rape, and turnip. The last two because they will attach deer and wild turkey (and the cows and sheep will eat them as well).

It broke my heart when this old giant white oak died a few years ago. I waited this long to make sure it was really dead. It had to be cut down before too many more big branches fell off. This pic shows K6, but it took several of us, spending many hours over the past month, to get it cut, spilt, loaded into trucks and trailers, and delivered to various people & places, but it is finally done. We delivered the last little bit yesterday to a single Mom. I love my gas powered log splitter. I can't imagine going back to swinging an axe or maul to hand split wood anymore. There will be a weeping willow tree planted about where you see the two little logs in lower left of photo.

K7 is first person on left in second row, wearing black t-shirt & ball cap. These are all the missionaries assigned to his Zone. They get time off every Monday, called Preparation Day, to do laundry, buy food at the market, clean their apartments, write letters home, one hour at Church or internet cafe to email family & friends, and sometimes they get a special outing, like this particular day when they travelled to a Park with a waterfall.

K7 said he was lucky (and happy) to do some service for this gentleman, clearing a patch of ground with machetes, because rarely will anyone let him help do manual labor or otherwise be of assistance, not even sweeping a floor.

Our house kit arrived on Tuesday, 16 February, which was a chilly, gray and overcast day threatening to rain. It came on two trucks. 

My buddy Brian was our designated heavy equipment operator, using a big John Deere tractor with forks to unload most of it.

I say most, because not all could be off loaded with the tractor. These pre-built interior walls were hand carried by human fork trucks. K6 is on the right with our neighbor David on the left.

K8's ribs were almost healed, so he helped. Our friend Jayson is the lead builder for this project. He was working with Brian to get trucks unloaded, and the material put in the right spot in the basement or around the building site.

The second truck had the long roof rafters, which took a thinking and planning to figure how to safely unload with a farm tractor.

But Brian got it done, as usual.