As you can see from the photo above – last week we had the opportunity to hang out with some really great people!
I actually grew up with Alex – I’ve known him since literally before I was born. Our dads were in the Air Force at the time, and we were both born over seas in Germany. Our folks ended up in largely the same spots over the years and we basically grew up as brothers. So, as you can imagine, it’s been fun to start watching him on TV now that he is with Nelson Treehouse and Supply and being featured on Animal Planet’s hit show, Tree House Masters!
With all the travel that he does for the show we typically only get to catch up once or twice a year so it’s always a treat when ‘Uncle Alex’ comes to town. For my boys, having an uncle who’s a famous TV personality, treehouse builder, rock climber, and all around adventurer is pretty cool – especially when compared to plain old dad 😉
Alex has actually been in our neck of the woods for the last few weeks working on a build and so we’ve had the pleasure of catching up with him a bit. He even made it to the final football game of the regular season for my oldest son Logan and got to cheer him on from the stands while trying to keep a low profile with all the locals who kept recognizing him from the show!
Incidentally, in other big news – Logan’s team won the PVL (Pioneer Valley League) Championship and Logan was declared Defensive Player of the Year for the entire league!
Here he is making a diving tackle to force a fumble below.
Last weekend Alex invited us to come check out the current treehouse that the crew is working on for the show. He had ordered in Nelson Treehouse and Supply T-shirts for all of us, and he showed us around the site, giving us the full tour and letting us climb up into the treehouse to check everything out. We even got to meet Pete Nelson and get some photos! The boys had a really great time checking out everything at the job site!
Afterwards, he came out to the house and we had a very enjoyable evening of sipping hand selected single barrel Jack Daniels, sitting in front of a roaring fire, and just catching up. We also ended up recording a podcast while we rambled on about everything and nothing at all. Here’s a link to the show – enjoy!
AFFL #013 Masters of the Treehouse (and maybe the Universe)
And then there were all the septic issues…
So, we ended up with a backed up line which resulted in this over the last week and a half.
Initially we thought that we could just have a plumber come out and snake the line, but then it turned out that a clean out had never been installed. No problem, I figured we could save some money by digging down to the pipe ourselves.
Turns out the septic tank was about four and half feet under ground and the main line had become disconnected from the tank! Yep, you guessed it – time to replace all the lines from the house to the tank and get it done right! We talk about it in the podcast below and play a little game I like to call, “Where did you Poo?”
AFFL #012 It All Runs Down Hill…
Other than that, life’s been fairly uneventful. I’ve begun to realize that I don’t pray consistently enough. And I’m not saying that because of the septic problems! I’m just acknowledging that it’s an area of my life which could use some work. I often feel as though I get far more out of reading the Scriptures, studying theology, or reading some other religious work than I do from prayer. It is as St. Jerome said, “When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us.”
And yet I know that I need to be far more diligent in speaking to God.
A few quotes on prayer:
“Man by prayer merits to receive that which God had from all eternity determined to give him.” St. Gregory
“For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.” St. Teresa of Avila
“It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life.” St John Chrysostom
“To recite the rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ.” St John Paul II
If you don’t mind, share some of your favorite quotes on prayer with me in the comments section below. Pray for me, and I will pray for you. Until next time,
– An Tiarna leibh –
(the Lord be with you)
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