Hello from lovely June in upstate New York!
I’m writing today to fill in and catch everyone up on what the Siegrists are up to. The last time I wrote we were in Florida enjoying the non-snowy winter. So here’s what our springtime looked like:
At the beginning of the year, we put an offer in on a house that was in a distressed condition, but instead of being accepted right away, the property was in probate and took almost a month to get our obid approved. So we were in a state of waiting for the entire month, which was a little stressful.
Meanwhile, Aurora played on a soccer league and loved it! We went to see her games every Saturday. She would really love more recreational sports opportunities in her future.
For Christmas Giselle got a pair of new skates, and soon after that got a part time job at a roller rink. She really enjoyed working, especially with other young people. Aurora, Eric, and I tried skating a few times but soon left it to Giselle to enjoy. Ezra never came out on the floor, but we did spend a few hours sitting at a carpeted booth watching Giselle go round and listening to the current pop hits being played!
In January, Ezra and I celebrated 20 years of marriage. We had a nice date night at a little restaurant in Monticello, Florida.
That weekend, Ezra’s sister, Natasha, came to visit with her husband and some of her children. We made the drive out to the beach for the day. Even though it was one of the colder weekends of the season, we enjoyed the scenery and being together.
I got to enjoy being on the worship team at church fairly often, sometimes playing keys and sometimes singing. Twice I guest led as worship leader, and really enjoyed the people I got to work with. They had really excellent music skills and it was fun to work with them, and to be a part of the church over the winter as they welcomed their new lead pastor. But most of all it was fun to be at church with my mom, my sister, and my nephew.
Towards the end of February, we finally bought the house. We moved the camper from the campsite we had been living at since October to the side driveway of the property and began working. It needed clearing out, mostly, but it also needed new appliances, flooring, lighting fixtures, and kitchen cabinets. We also replaced almost everything in the bathrooms and redid the drywall in lots of the rooms.
Ezra worked full time for a company that was managing land as part of a development project. Sometimes he drove large truck, and sometimes he worked with equipment on the land. He enjoyed the people he worked with and I think he found it interesting to see how the land was developed. Land management, whether through cattle or bulldozers, has always been his biggest interest. Also I think the people he worked for appreciated him, and that’s always nice at a job.
Right after we closed on the house, Eric and I flew to Utah for my brother Preston’s wedding. We enjoyed 4 days at an airbnb, seeing a bit of Salt Lake City, and getting to know my new sister in law, who also happens to be named Aurora. She’s a real treasure and it was a beautiful wedding. My mom also went out, and so did my brother Shawn and his wife, Veronica. I’m so glad we got to go.
In February, we got a sad call that our house and shop in New York were broken into. Someone broke a few doors and then went through all of our drawers and things looking for valuables, but we aren’t the type to have gold and silver lying around, so they mostly just made a mess and moved on. It was unsettling to hear, though. I know that our treasure is not on earth, and we were never in danger, being a thousand miles away, but whenever you’re a victim of a crime it does make the world seem like a less friendly place for a little while.
Honestly, after it happened I just kept imagining the inside of our house in New York. I imagined some faceless unknown person walking through the rooms. What did they find? A lot of dust and some very worn furniture. But also- I thought about how I’ve spent years posting encouraging scripture around my home. Things like “Love One Another” and “Waymaker, Miracle Worker” and of course, the scripture painted on the wall of our staircase that says “Choose life that you may live.” I post them for my family to be encouraged, but I began to think- would this robber have seen any of them and been encouraged towards the Lord? If so, I guess I can clean up the mess he made.
March went by quickly. The twins were staying with my mom- Giselle was working and they both had online school to do. Aurora’s soccer ended but they were both involved in a small 4-H club. Eric and I worked on the house in the day time, while Ezra was at his job, and then in the evenings and weekends Ezra would come home and work on it with Eric. I would occasionally slip away to go see my favorite nephew, and Eric would sometimes find time to fish, which is his favorite thing. We took most Sundays off to try to rest, but we felt the pressure to get done with the house. Originally we had thought we would be done by April 1st, but everything seemed to get delayed.
At the beginning of April, Eric left to go back to New York to work at an auction and then to go on a fishing trip with some friends. The twins started coming to the house more regularly to help me with it during the days. Ezra gave notice at his work and when it ended, we really started pushing to get the house finished and on the market. We worked together at the house, ate on the little backyard patio, and on Sundays, we made a few trips to the little beach south of us. In the evenings we collapsed in the camper. Sometimes we played card games. I learned to complete the Rubik’s cube!
My aunt Jamie flew down and stayed for more than a week and helped us, too! She convinced us that a paint sprayer is way more convenient than a roller. I had a really good time with her. We spent a lot of time together when I was young but since I’ve been married haven’t had many extended visits, so it was really a blessing to me. Do I have a picture of her and I that week? No, but I do have way too many pictures of Lewis, the poodle that came with us this winter and did NOT enjoy being a city dog. I think he missed his runs around the fields with the side by side.
We finally had the house ready to list at the beginning of May. We had a few headaches getting it done, but at some point we just had to get back to New York so Ezra could get back to a regular job, because we were running out of our savings.
We loaded up the camper and drove it back to Minnesota to my aunt Jamie, who was the one who was so so generous enough to loan it to us for the winter, and then we spent a day visiting with her family and my Dad and my grandma, who also live in Minnesota. But pretty soon it was time to be on the road, and we made it back to Jasper on May 11th.
Eric had been home a few days before us, and had graciously cleaned up a lot of the mess from the burglary. Things were a little overgrown, but just after we arrived, the lilacs and apple trees started blooming, and we retrieved Aurora’s sheep from the family who kept them over the winter. Soon Lewis was running alongside the side by side and we were picking phlox for the windowsill again, and it almost felt like we hadn’t left.
The weekend we got home, we planted the sunflower field. It’s been a few weeks and so far there are a few tiny sprouts, but we need rain like crazy for the sunflower maze to work! If you want to keep posted with the dates of when we’ll be open, follow us at facebook.com/jaspersunflowermaze
Ezra started working at a construction company soon after we arrived- and then Giselle took a job up in Lewis County working for Ezra’s dad with bees. She’ll be headed out on Tuesday. Grandpa came home for a visit this week, and she’ll go back up with him when he goes. I won’t love having her gone, but I’m glad for her to being doing something she enjoys with people who love her.
That’s all the news for now. The house in Florida is for sale, (you can snoop on it at zillow) the sunflowers are hopefully going to be beautiful. The dogs are back to being farm dogs, Aurora is pestering me to get a kitten. I’m still leading a virtual prayer group twice a month and loving it We have other things brewing but I guess you’ll have to wait to find out!
I’m thankful that the Lord is always with us, wherever we go. Psalm 139 says, “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” No matter where you are, He is not far from you, either.
With lots of love,
Brianna
for
The Siegrists
Ezra, Brianna, Eric, Aurora, and Giselle
Ps: I forgot to mention! Eric cut his hair short this week! You’ll have to message him yourself for a picture. 😉
briannasiegrist.com 