Our garden 2011

Last year when we were visiting some of our childred who live in Utah,  we were given a great gift from our son-in-law Joel's grandparents and parents, Iris plants.  This spring we were graced by blooms from all but one.

The one in the front is called wild sharon and the one in the back, Vibrant

This one is called Millenial falcon

the name of this one is Incantation.

We call this one "death Star" in honor of our son-in-law Shane.  All of these have been hybridized by Joel's grandfather Roberts.  Thanks.  We have had people stop and look at these striking flowers.

A year has past

Hi, much has happened to us in the last year. The biggest news is that our family has grown by leaps and bounds. Two more children and two more Grandchildren.

While we were living in Texas and Barbara was relief Society president in our ward of our church, she became very good friends with a single mother with four children, three girls and a boy. Through the years we became very close friends and our friend asked if anything ever happened to her, would we take in her children. Well a year ago January, while Barbara was visiting our daughters and I was travelling down to get her, I received a phone call from two of our friend Barbara, that their mother was in the hospital and not expected to live through the night. I was stuck in an ice storm in Arkansas and the interstate was impassable, my Barbara was not able to get to the hospital in time. Any to keep a long story short, in June, we brought Jessica and Richard up to Illinois to be a part of our family. Jessica is now 19 and going to Joliet Junior college and Richard is 15 and attending school here in wilmington. These last few months have been a challenge to all of us, and we love Jessica and Richard very much.

Trim the tree, I mean deer

Two weeks ago, I was out home teaching for our church when we came upon a very unusual sight. A deer with christmas lights caught in his antlers.

The deer had come to this house, knowing that the people who lived here would help. He had come to them before when he needed help and they befriended him, feeding him graham crackers to calm him down. They cut the lights off, and with a belly full of crackers, the deer was on his way until the next time.

Grammy has come to town.

Barb's mother (Grammy) came to town last week. We were originally going to there last Thanksgiving but, with our moving we postponed it. We were then going to go visit her in NY for her birthday. (Jan 8th). But, our house had different ideas as we were fighting the plumbing issue. So, we had her come here. We had a great time.

She, Barb, and the cat, Pumkin. enjoyed doing things together such as watching the City dig up our street.

Grammy loved getting to know some of her great grandchildren.

Our grandkids loved getting to know her too.

Mom helped Barbara get through a lot of boxes. Thanks Mom!

We even helped her celebrate her birthday.

She even got to meet new guys. She seemed taken with this guy, however, he seemed to be cold as steel to her attempts to strike up a conversation.

Any way, thanks for coming Mom.

The new house

We are now in Wilmington. We have had a bunch of bumps but, we love the house.

Our trip up was interesting. While we no longer have children to complain about the long trip, one of our cats, Pumkin, complained most of the way up. He meowed and meowed. I believe that it cat talk, he was saying "Are we there yet." or "can I get out of my seat (cage)?" or "He's touching me!" When ever we tried to get him out of the car to use the facilities, it was a rodeo. We finally figured out that he was afraid that we would leave him somewhere. Since we moved in, he has been very lovable and will not get close to an outside door.

When we arrived, we were thrilled to see the "sold" sign. But, when we were on our way to closing, we received a phone call from the mortgage people with more requests. Needless to say, we did not go to closing on the day that we planned on but, two days later. However, the lawyer for the seller, allowed us to take possesion of the house on Monday and we closed on Wednesday.

That has been two months ago and we still have many boxes to unpack, and we still haven't found all of our dishes.

Right after we moved in, the city gave us new side walks and a promise of a new drive way. Which, we now suppose will be done sometime in the spring after the snow.

Speaking of snow, as you can see, we are getting used to snow again. However, shoveling is not fun. We had about six to eight inches to shovel.

As we bought the house "as is". We have had some nasty surprises. Our basement has flooded at least four times due to a problem with our sewer line just inside the house! We first had a plumber rod it out (175 dollars for ten minutes work). Then I did it twice and then the City did it for us. Both the plumber and the City told us that we would have to have the line dug up in our basement and then replaced. Last saturday we went to Home depot to rent a larger snake and we spoke with the plumbing specialist and he suggested using a bladder device to clean the pipe until we could have the money for the "big fix". Needless to say, we tried it and our lines have been open since. Yea!! We are hoping that our lines will stay open. The bladder cost us 12.00, while the snakes are 40.00 for four hours or more, depending on who I rent them from. As I was having to snake the lines every two to three days, this is a major improvement. We are using the bladder every three or four days, just to ensure the lines stay open. So far, so good.

Another surprise that we have had is our clothes washer. As it has been in storage for three years, it has not wanted to work very well. It is computerized so, it is just not a matter of banging on it (though I have tried.) When we first tried to use it, it gave us an error, of which I was told that we would have to replace the pump. But, then it started working. Then we did not use it for a month because of the plumbing and when we tried to use it, the lid switch would not function correctly so we couldn't use it. Barbara called Sears, and was told it would be 129.00 just to look at it. But, tuesday, I tried it, just for grins, and it worked. and has been working since. The Lord has really blessed us.

A onother day, another house under contract

With the house in Coal City falling through, we came back up to IL to look for another house. After looking at 12 houses, we settled on two. One in Wilmington and one in Godley. A flurry of phone negotiations later, we have a contract on the one in Wilmington. This is our favorite, and we think, the best for the money. On Sunday, it had a partial inspection, there are some issues but, so far, nothing that is a deal breaker. The gas and water were not on so the inspection could not be completed and barring something real major, we will continue to pursue.



As you will note on the slide show, this house has a bomb (or fallout) shelter. The whole house is very well constructed with steel I-beams as the main support of the house (and the shelter). It is very roomy and has VERY LITTLE mold. There are a couple of spots in the basement and some in the shelter but, very little considering that the house has not been lived in for two years.



The house has a large eat-in kitchen(20x13), formal dining room(13x9), and living room(22x13), good size bedrooms and a full basement, (where we will be putting mom's sewing room and eventually my office). It has a large storage room and then " the shelter", which is accessed by a series of hallways. It also has a hidden exit in the backyard. The yard is large, about a 1/4 of an acre. It also has a two car garage.

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This is not the house you are looking for.

Last week we were so excited, we thought that we had found "our" house. But, alas, it was not to be. Thursday afternoon the house was inspected and many problems were found.





The heating and air conditioning systems had many problems, holes in the ducts; broken joints; inproper placement which could cause fires; un-insulated ducts, lack of proper venilation; etc.






On the roof, almost all of the vents were either rusted, not enough clearance from the roof or other problems













However, one of the biggest things was "MOLD" in the whole house. The house looked so nice when we looked at it, however with the lights out, a flashlight told the whole story. There was mold on every interior wall with the exception of the living room. There was mold in the attic and mold in the crawl space. The mold was up the wall in some places up two to three feet.





Because of this, I estimated at least 20 K for repair, we withdrew from the contract on Friday.

Well, back to the drawing board, we will keep looking. Young John and Mandi are being our eyes and feet there. We will keep you posted.