The best things in life...

...aren't things!

Walking on watermelons

Last weekend Dave took the four oldest boys on a little trip, so we decided it would be a great time to tackle the girls' bedroom. Our goals included: painting walls and ceiling and replacing the carpeting. Those tasks are pretty substantial. But in order to do them, we had to empty the entire room and closet, disassemble and remove the built in bunks and curtain hardware, pull out the old flooring and do some patching and priming.

But typical to our manner of working, we decided to do some preliminary work on the rear (a.k.a. the "yucky bathroom"), which meant disconnecting our front loading washer, and moving all the stuff we store in it to the mudroom. So our laundry was being processed outside on the wringer washer, and every usable nook was used for storing things that could not be in their normal place.

Since Walmart had seedless watermelons for $2 a piece, we had stockpiled a bunch of those on the front porch as well. So, certain of us were literally walking on watermelons! (We don't recommend this though!)

Well, the boys helped with moving the big dresser, and then we bade them goodbye, and got to work. Our girls LOVE power tools!



The pre-painting work went well, but took longer than expected. The girls kept finding long, lost items....


Giddy enjoyed helping (or would that be looting??)...


We sure got our money's worth out of this coat of paint, don't you think?


Further complicating things, our garden was really needing some attention, so we tried to do a batch of salsa.


My hopes to can green beans were happily postponed, so we just froze them.


Joshie spent a lot more time in his high chair, as there were few safe places for him to make his rounds. Sometimes when we are packed like this, we will eat at the dinettes in the bus. Our normal practice of eating outside all summer didn't work during the rainy weekend, though.


After putting a few coats of Kilz on some spots, we painted. The old color was a sunny green color, even in the closet and on the ceiling. The closet is under the stairs, so painting that (which was also green) was pretty time consuming.


The walls went fairly quick.


The carpet was a provision from the Lord...from the side of the road. I found it last summer, very plush, high quality, with pad, and in nearly new condition. No smoke or hair. And, it was pink! So we stored it all winter in the old bus, and then the garage. There was a lot of it, but we did need to do one seam to cover the girls' floor. So, we rented a seam iron. We got some instructions off the internet for installing carpet and doing seams, and Sarah gave them a good read.


The weekend was rainy, so we did everything indoors.


The boys were on their way home by the time we got to the carpet laying part. First step was to install the tackless boards, which actually have tacks....


However, the instructions Sarah had didn't mention that the tacks should point towards the walls, to hold the carpet. So after they had done the whole perimeter, I remembered to tell them, in some literature I had read, that the tacks had to point to the walls! Fortunately, they only had to remove and replace 3 of the strips! All the rest had just happened to be installed correctly!

During most of this time, Abi was hard at work doing all our tons of wash on the wringer washer outside, and Joanna was priming and painting the girls' bunk beds to match the walls. There was no way around re-installing the bunks, but they would look much more "inviting"...


The pad was very high quality, and both carpet and pad was so clean! Abi and Sarah pieced the pad together and stapled it down, taping the seams with duct tape.


After a brief break to clear out the boys' bedroom so they'd have a place to sleep, we were back to the carpet. It was a little hard to find a place outside to lay out and measure the carpet, so we could figure out how to cut it to fit the room. The ground was still wet. And there was no place in the house, obviously. We used a tarp on the grass. Zak helped in cutting the corners of the carpet, so it would lay properly in the bedroom. The whole house was filled with smoke from the seam iron...but Sarah was able to figure it out, and it was securely bonded.

The next step was using the knee-kicker to hook the carpet perimeter onto the tackless strips. That was pretty simple. Sarah got some help from Zak with the tool and cutting. Abi also did quite a bit. Here, Solomon is just enjoying being on the nicest carpeting in our house!

Installing the trim and the threshold for the door gave the room a finished look.

The closet also needed some help. After being painted to match the room, we realized with a couple of inexpensive closet rods placed just so, we could double the amount of storage we had previously (with just one rod). This design used the space under the stairs more effectively.


At the earliest opportunity, the girls had Joshie into the room to try out the new carpet! He enjoyed the nice laminate flooring in the main rooms, but the carpet was such a treat and he crawled happily in circles all over the room!


We had a fair amount of carpet left, even after the closet floor was done, so we decided it would be so nice to do the attic stairs as well! They were painted wood, and were pretty worn and did not look that great. Working late one night (out of necessity, as nobody could use the stairs during the process), Sarah transformed them into a plush, non-squeaky, pink elevated pathway. Dave really enjoys his trot up to the office now!


So, while they are not completely done with everything, the room is mostly put back together, and the sisters are really enjoying the transformation...everyone is!

One for you and one for me

Sammy is plodding along in his reading. We encourage him to sound out words he finds, sometimes with funny results.

We were reading the account of Noah last week, and I could tell Sammy's comprehension is there, as before he finished reading Genesis 7:23, which includes "and Noah only remained alive..." he paused and said, "No, the rest of the people in the ark were alive too." I told him to continue, and it read, "and they that were with him in the ark."

In chapter 7, the text reads, "...and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons..." So we discussed how some words with a f change when you make them plural. We got out his little composition notebook and went to the white board, and I made a little table for him to copy in his book. Singular words with f and then their plurals. We used the words wife, knife, and life.

I explained, "If you have one wife, its spelled with an f, but if you have several wives, its spelled with a v."

With the sense of great injustice, like someone missing out on their brownie after supper, Sammy loudly corrected:

"You can only have ONE wife."

My brother's peepers

Zak had an eye appointment today, as his three year old prescription needed to be revised! Most of the kids are pretty good with their glasses and make them last a long time, with occasional accidents. Zak's lenses had been scratched quite a bit, from the anti-reflective coating (which we no longer specify, as it peels off in tiny scratches and renders the glasses almost useless).

So, the doctor examined Zak's eyes, and then asked if he had any problems. Zak said that about a week ago, his glasses just started working poorly. He couldn't see the leaves on the trees. The doctor asked a strange question...does Zak have any other glasses at home, like his previous pair, that he might accidentally be wearing. No, the previous pair (over 3 years old) had been long retired, and besides, they were a completely different frame style and color.

Well, the reason he asked, the doctor said, was that the glasses Zak was wearing did not match this doctor's previous prescription. He was stumped. We were too. Was an error made three years ago, and all this time, Zak was wearing the wrong prescription?

When a clerk checked the computer, it showed Zak's 3 year old order had been filled for the correct prescription. Yet, the machine which tests eye glasses showed that Zak's glasses did not match that prescription. I was not buying it. They must have made an error.

Then a new detail emerged: on a lark, the clerk discovered that the glasses Zak was wearing were the same prescription as Benjamin's.

Well, at that point, I put two and two together, and though I didn't get four, I was pretty sure I did. I was convinced an error had been made on their part, and that the obvious remedy was for the optometrist's office to give us a free, correct, new pair of glasses for Zak. My suggestion baffled the clerk and the doctor, because,

Zak's prescription was over 3 years old.
Ben's was less than one year old.

Zak was wearing: his brother's peepers.

As Zak and I emitted some embarrassed guffaws, another piece of the puzzle clicked into place : Ben had been struggling for the last WEEK with his glasses. The anti-reflective coating, apparently just in the space of a week, was horribly scratched, and a screw was missing. Two days ago, he had taped the frame to keep his lens in, but it frequently popped out. We hadn't gotten around to finding a eyeglass kit. Since Ben has inherited his father's history of being "hard on glasses", we did not think too much of this. In fact, today I had obtained Ben's written prescription at Zak's appointment, so we could order some $8.00 glasses for him on the internet.

It was humbling.

So, as soon as we arrived home, the brothers met on the porch and hastily exchanged glasses. All at once, they both looked the same and yet saw differently.

We have discovered color-coding toothbrushes, but apparently we may need to apply the principle to other areas of life.

Still waters run deep

This morning, when we started assembling at the table for our morning Bible time, Zak noticed Sammy (6) staring wistfully at the ceiling. The day was dawning, and the room was quiet, except for Zak tuning his guitar. Zak noticed Sammy's blank expression.

As Zak tuned, he wondered: was Sammy thinking about his new goldfish? Was Sammy glad he got to wear his overalls today? Or was he just sleepy and dazed?

Suddenly, the quiet was broken, and Zak's wondering ended, by Samuel's unusual question:

"Zak, what is an isolated thunderstorm?"

The grandparents return!

To pass the time while we waited for them to arrive at any minute, Sammy and Susanna made this sign, using drinking straws. Grandma prefers to drink her daily can of decaf diet Coke with a straw....

This week, we enjoyed several full, fun days with Grandpa Richard and Grandma Jemelie. We always appreciate their cross-country treks to visit and hug everyone.

This year was their first time meeting Joshie in person, who got his first major facial injury hours before their arrival. He pulled himself up using a stepstool, which fell backwards onto his little lumpy (head). His cut is healing nicely now, and when sympathetic folks sympathize with his owie, we say, "You shoulda seen the stepstool!"


Here he is with Grandma. He prefers we only photograph his good side.


Grandpa hits the backyard trail with Sammy (6) and Gideon (4). Gideon prefaces most of his statements with, "I need to tell you something..."


We were blessed with wonderful, cool weather during most of the week and no rain. Though our property backs up to a huge wetland area, mosquitos have been pretty light lately, probably due to the dry weather. After her bumpy experience feeding our mosquitos last summer, Grandma was packing extra protection, however, with this cool device clipped on her back. It blows a constant stream of repellent into the air around the wearer, and she says is really worked well.


Still showing up stacks of index cards for the children to use for drawing, Grandpa's fancy new high tech gift for the children this year was: rope. It was a big hit, and made for hours of entanglement, tripping, tree-climbing, follow-the-leader, and greatly increased the time it took to get everyone seated at the table.


Grandma's grand finale was walking the girls through a repeat performance of her world famous cabbage rolls and banana cream pudding pie, saying, "They did everything themselves."


Cabbage rolls (beef, brown rice, tomato soup, onion soup mix, chopped onion) with tomatoes and cucumbers and rolls on the side....mmmm good!

A new activity for this year's visit was a few rounds of Klein on Klein volleyball. Apparently stuffing all those cabbage rolls has given Grandma quite a good return hit on the court! She taught us a thing or two. Coupled with Dave's high-speed, earth-bound serves, the Kleins won... and lost ... repeatedly. It was very fun!

Grandma and Grandpa are off now to spread more love and cheer to our little cousins to the south.

The Event Horizon!

Here is Dave, following Noah, to The Event Horizon....

Event Horizon: For the case of a horizon perceived by a uniformly accelerating observer in empty space, the horizon seems to remain a fixed distance from the observer no matter how its surroundings move. Varying the observer's acceleration may cause the horizon to appear to move over time, or may prevent an event horizon from existing, depending on the acceleration function chosen. The observer never touches the horizon, and never passes a location where it appeared to be. -- Wikipedia

It seems that at the start of each year, as the calendar begins to fill out, we start looking for the "event horizon", when we'll be done...with travel, projects, whatever. Of course, that won't happen this side of heaven, for we must work while it is yet day. New things always come up. But the term "event horizon" is what we often playfully refer to when in the midst of the busiest of times...and we used that term quiet a bit this spring!

We have had a very busy past several months...and continue to be so...but a break in the clouds became apparent. For months, Mommy and the kids, during full days of multiple deadlines and projects, have been discussing "when this is all done," having a surprise for Daddy. For even though there were plenty of things for us all to do, nobody's list was longer than Daddy's. We had already planned to take as much of the load off of him as possible, but there was much that only he could do...

Then, a couple of weeks ago, some things clicked:

1. In addition to all the many things we had done, we witnessed the arrival at a major milestone in the completion of Dave's upcoming programming book.
2. On our preferred surprise day, our next door neighbor agreed to let our guests park in his backyard, adjacent to our campfire area. Hee, hee, Dave would never guess!
3. We finally had all parts of our yard spruced up at the same time (since we were having guests the day before the surprise!)

We really wanted a God-glorifying celebration, with the opportunity for all to share the things that the Lord has been doing in their lives. We had really been missing spending time with many of our brothers and sisters in the Lord. So, the surprise was kind of set in motion by Dave's book milestone, but it was not merely a party for Dave, but a time of Christian fellowship. And the Lord greatly blessed us...and those who came to share it with us!

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon as people arrived and parked in our neighbor's backyard.


From there, they walked to our campfire area, which had been cleared, decorated, and tabled. Once the first two guests arrived, the fellowshipping began, though the surprise hadn't taken place. We assured everyone that Dave had no idea what was going on.

Dave, Zak and Ben were upstairs working on computer projects. Though Dave's book was done, he had lots of edits and review suggestions to go through. Meanwhile, we were stringing up holiday lights and moving yard furniture and party supplies. At times, we were frantically racing around for tools or supplies, running from the woods to the house and back. Whew!

Nothing was out of the ordinary when I summoned Zak, and later Ben, to help me with something. Once everyone was assembled in the woods, Noah came upstairs to escort Dave to a surprise he wanted to show him.

Noah led Daddy past a few cutely handcrafted "This way to the Event Horizon" signs (by Susanna). Perhaps he noticed there were cars in our neighbor's backyard, but that was hardly unusual. Then, Dave entered our little trail in the woods to the campfire area. Nothing unusual there.... until he spotted Steve, our tall brother from south of Madison. Since we see Steve and family so rarely, this did not compute, and Dave's brain started heating up.

When the whole group yelled "Surprise," this further complicated things. Surprise for what? It wasn't his birthday, and since the book was not completely done, it didn't register that this could have anything to do with it.

Due to technical difficulties, nobody actually captured Dave's surprised look at the moment.
Our brother James described his look as "priceless".
This picture was snapped after he was able to comprehend what was happening.

To help clarify things for Dave, we enlisted the help of troubadour Mark:


Mark attained inKLEINations fame last summer for his on-the-fly (pardon the pun) composition of "Mosquito Blues". This time, he helped polish a ditty that I wrote to help commemorate Dave's completion of all the chapters of his book. Mark added the title "Tech Writer's Blues". I don't have Mark's final lyrics, which were much bluer than these, but here is the core...

You see him over at Culver's plunkin on that Mac keyboard

You see him over at Culver's a plunkin on that Mac keyboard

He'll be the one with the decaf soda

Typing stuff that makes normal people bored



Now he's over at McDonalds, hoping that his laptop batteries hold

I saw him over at McDonalds, hoping that his laptop batteries hold

There's no power outlets at McDonalds

But he'll be there till the fries get cold


He's got that kid that does his proofin, adding commas like he's a wealthy man

He's got that kid that does his proofin, adding commas like he's a wealthy man

That kid's drinkin leftover decaf soda

from his daddy's decaf Sam's soda can



He's got a table of contents, and its over two pages long

I say he's got a table of contents, and I say its over two pages long

If that thing gets much longer

I won't have time to finish this song



Now he's got that thing in beta, and he'll take a break for tech review

He's got that thing in beta, and he's breaking for a tech review

Bet they won't add any commas

But parentheses -- he might still need a few



He couldn't persevere unless the Lord gave him his power

He'll tell you he couldn't persevere unless the Lord gave him his power

because that man was at Culver's

writing just about 2 paragraphs an hour!



After that interlude, we began the process of seating everyone around our campfire pit, which was not ignited, so everyone could have a chance to share what the Lord had been doing in their life and family. That took a while, because most of the folks had never met each other and were busy talking and laughing, etc. But, we did manage to get the ball rolling. Since Dave had no advance warning, he was to take the last turn. I think I caught him massaging his facial muscles, as he told me he was hurting from smiling so much.


This was such a special time and everyone seemed to have a different angle, so there was not much repetition. God is so good!


After Dave wrapped things up, he gave thanks for the food, among other things. Another reminder to our children, its only because of the LORD that we can have such special times with our family in Christ!


So, we had it pot luck, and it worked out so cool, because we just brought what we were making anyway for our lunch, nothing that Dave would notice. Folks brought lots of yummy stuff!


Here are Jay and Mark.


Here are the hard-working Klein fellowship committee girls enjoying the company of Abigail, their friend. The weather under the trees was so pleasant. The Lord gave us a perfect day for an outside event, sandwiched between two rainy days!


And what would we have done if it rained? Simple: we just knew it wouldn't!


Getting acquainted with distant family...


Dave was so blessed to overhear and/or participate in so many great discussions with the brothers.


Baby Zipporah was a happy camper, and found many welcoming arms.


The kids enjoyed exploring our bit of woods and decided to build a fort, Lincoln log style.



These same energetic young-uns would soon be enlisted to haul ice cream out to the backyard!


We discovered the fun of family volleyball at the home of our dear friends, the Criggers. As Giddy (foreground, age 4) put it, "I liked playing volleyball, and I never even hit the ball once!"


Our visitors enjoyed checking out our new batch of Muscovy ducklings, of which only 4 of 9 remain.


Linda Crigger didn't miss a beat in taking up the scoop and dishing up brownies and ice cream for the crowd. Thanks so much, Linda!!! Susanna made 8 pans of brownies, and we learned that 8 pans of brownies, to Daddy, smelled just like 1 pan of brownies. He was so clueless!!!


We located the dessert table out by the volleyball game, realizing it was not going to be easy to get them to take a break.


As the shadows grew longer, folks started to depart for home. We began the process of saying goodbye...


Our Abi and friend, Hope.


Hope and Sarah. Though ALL the children helped tremendously, Sarah's organizational skills and willingness to lift heavy objects was a blessing.


Susanna, our certified brownie baker, takes the cake!


Zak and Lee Crigger, both are the oldest in their respective families.



Certain friends, who wish to remain anonymous, found it hard to say goodnight.

What a wonderful time! Thanks to our dear friends who came out, and mostly thanks to the Lord Jesus for everything! We love you!!!