Stone wall

We have been preparing for few months now to have my brother Caleb come and help us install a stone wall and platform, to put a wood stove on. Caleb was a stone mason for about a year and a half, so he offered to help us put up stone.

We had a wood stove in our old house and we figured with a new house we would not need to burn wood since we would have an "efficient" furnace and windows that are tightly sealed. It did not take us long to realize that a big house takes a lot of gas to heat. Rob does really enjoy cutting/chopping wood. Since being a pastor is more of a sedentary job, he likes being able to come home and throw is axe around, and get a few blisters on his hands.

You can see the wall before we started yesterday and then this afternoon when it was all done. Caleb does an awesome job and he was great at teaching Rob how to lay the stone also. Emma, Garrett, Sharon, and I all were able to put some stone up too. In a few day we would be able to put the stove on the platform, when the cement is set, but Rob will be out of town so it will be at least a week (he is going to be at Denver Seminary starting his first class working toward his Doctorate in Ministry), and then we will need to have it all inspected too. So hopefully in the next couple weeks we will again be burning wood to help heat our home.