We got back from Austria and enjoyed two weeks at our cottage, up in Lanark County. It was good to have that break before we started building again. We didn't catch too many fish, but just being away from town and out on the lake was wonderful.
Jonathan has finished a video about building our house- it doesn't quite bring you up to date but another video is on its way. I start to think that we will need another computer so that there isn't a queue for working on this one! To date we have ('we' being Dominik!) managed to finish the wiring of the house, the inside walls are framed in, all windows and doors are installed, the chimney for the woodstove is already in place, and the outer walls of the house are insulated. Our next steps will be to wire the breaker box and lay the plumbing, then we can insulate the ceiling and install our woodstove. Then we will be able to chip away at work in comfort! We won't drywall the interior walls yet as this will allow the woodstove to heat most of the house. Dominik and the kids cut a lot of firewood in the fall, so we're ready for the stove! Our new 'hope-to-move-in' date will be as soon as we can in the spring. When the ground thaws a bit we will get the septic done and the well dug. By that time we hope to have enough finished to have it liveable.
We have decided to make this house an off-grid home. We hadn't really seriously considered it when we started planning, but the cost of hooking up to the electric system here made us re-examine solar. We visited a friend-of-a-friend nearby and he bought his solar package from a company in British Columbia which is really very affordable. With that decided, we then have to think differently about appliances and anything which runs on electricity. This doesn't really change too much in our lives, but it certainly gives us a satisfying feeling that we will be able to be more independent and self-sufficient in our living. We already want to use propane for the stove and for hot water. Maybe we can find a way to connect the woodstove to the hot water as well, in future. For now we just want to get set up and get in the house! :-)
In other news, Jonathan, Jeremiah and Josiah have been enjoying playing hockey in the Kids Christian Hockey League in Brockville. They each play just once a week and they all look forward to it! Rebecca has continued with Irish Dancing and is able to help with the younger classes as well as being in a class of two at her level. We attended the performance at Christmas and could see how she and her dance partner had improved this year. Elena did some riding in the fall and will continue with that in the spring. It was great for her to get out and ride and to become more confident around and on the horses and ponies.
Besides house-building and home-schooling, Dominik came in to work for 6 weeks at the Christian school because one of the teachers was found to have cancer and had to go for treatment. This was a grades 6-8 class. I was still working, although mainly part-time (an occasionally supply-teaching), and it was fun to be in the same work environment together! Now he knows about all of my co-workers and who the kids are that I see every day. He's had his 'retirement' in December and I will be taking the grade 6 class in January.
We have begun meeting with friends to have church on every other Sunday, and this has been going really well. It's an answer to prayer to have a group to be involved with, where people can use the gifts that God has given them, and to be where others can come to 'church', without it maybe feeling like church. We've had a good number of people come out to that and we look forward to see what God will do with this in the new year.
We stayed here at my parents for Christmas and have two Austrian Bible students from Colorado visiting us. They are the sons of co-workers of ours from Schloss Klaus. It's great to have more Austrians around for the kids to speak German with and to play hockey and endless games of 'Jungle Speed' with!
We wish you a joyous time over the Christmas holidays and a blessed New Year in 2020!!!!
