tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32575169276752898592012-01-13T23:55:21.813-06:00Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.comBlogger2741100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-33362963130655789872011-12-01T08:39:00.001-06:002011-12-01T08:49:28.662-06:00

(Brendan) Today we remember our precious Henry Blaise in a special way, as December 1st is the anniversary of his birth. This previous post has our remembrance video of Henry and the image I created for his grave marker. We love you so very much Henry! Please pray for us! On December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, mass is being offered at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-59899706176104834752011-08-24T22:37:00.000-05:002011-08-24T22:37:26.002-05:00

(Brendan) I was hoping never to need a storage shed, but one will definitely be needed. The real reason is that it's also become clear that getting a riding lawn mower would be money well-spent (I've spent an inordinate amount of time mowing the lawn this year, and it's just too much time away from the family). Our hydroseeded lawn has grown in nicely, and with all the rain this year it's needed

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-48181627235232342622011-07-23T16:37:00.005-05:002011-07-26T12:02:24.407-05:00

(Molly) In early June, Clara and Aidan had an opportunity to participate in a pioneer school experience at the West Riverside Museum School through the Isanti County Historical Society in Cambridge, Minnesota.  For one week, they toted their tin pails filled with old-fashioned lunches, delved into their textbooks from the early 1900's, and enjoyed schooling in a one-room school house.  There

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-34850952769266853952011-07-22T00:03:00.001-05:002011-07-26T12:02:44.669-05:00

(Brendan) As you can tell, posting on this blog has been a difficult task for quite some time. Neither myself or Molly has enough time to post much, and it's not a priority now that the house (phase 1) is finished. God calls us to more immediate and spiritually-important ways of spending our time right now. However, because I do occasionally have something to share, some news or little tidbit,

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-18334668896784616732011-05-28T22:32:00.000-05:002011-05-28T22:32:37.562-05:00

(Brendan) Recently our newest godson, Dominic, was baptized and Molly and I thought it would be a great gift to do a drawing for him. It was also a great opportunity to get back to doing some drawing; it always helps me to have a goal and a deadline :-)  I wanted to draw a picture of St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican order and our godson's patron saint, so I found an image of a painting of

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-25774825928252879202011-05-16T22:11:00.001-05:002011-07-26T12:02:04.249-05:00

(Brendan) Earlier this month we had the joyous occasion of attending the ordination of my brother, Evan, as a transitional deacon of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Evan is a seminarian at the St. Paul Seminary and, God-willing, will be a ordained a priest in May of 2012. But prior to that is his ordination as a deacon, and what a wonderful day it was! Praise God! (Click any pics

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-50771673207019993062011-05-13T14:39:00.001-05:002011-05-28T22:33:32.626-05:00

(Brendan) You might remember that I designed a grave marker for our son Henry late last year (see this post). Since then the marker has been created by a company near St. Cloud, MN, with Minnesota granite, and now that the ground has completely thawed the marker has recently been installed. We hadn't been able to see the completed marker until the first time we went to see it at the cemetery, but

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-18050467771180329942011-02-09T21:07:00.000-06:002011-02-09T21:07:14.832-06:00

(Brendan) I saw this on the Star Tribune web site and thought I'd post a link here, enjoy! It's all very true, though I'd rather not get the word out so that we don't have lots of people move here :-)

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-33743544239697025292010-12-27T14:00:00.001-06:002010-12-27T14:03:35.817-06:00

Here's wishing you a very merry and blessed Christmas to you and your family! Our first Christmas in our new home has been wonderful (and extremely snowy)! We've had a record snowfall for the month of December in Minnesota... Francis has been growing bigger and bigger (5 months old now)... We decided to have a "Little House on the Prairie" Christmas this year, which allowed us to do some fun

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-71688099499416125872010-12-01T06:30:00.014-06:002010-12-01T06:30:02.519-06:00

December 1 is the anniversary of our Henry's death and we continue to remember him with sorrow for our loss here on earth, and yet with great joy in knowing he is with Our Lord. If we "run the race, and finish the course, and keep the faith" as St. Paul says, we will be reunited with Henry and we will spend far greater time together than we ever lost on earth. Our remembrance video of Henry...

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-78297991613776223522010-10-30T22:17:00.001-05:002010-10-30T22:17:59.625-05:00

(Brendan) Somewhat predictably, now that we're past the open house I've kind of ramped down on the blogging. With such a busy house it's not a priority, but, although posting will be less frequent, we hope to keep it going for a while.  This is our first Autumn in the new house and I thought I'd post a few pictures of the tree colors and the kids enjoying the leaves (some from a few weeks ago).

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-78328788496132886522010-09-30T00:12:00.001-05:002010-09-30T00:14:32.913-05:00

(Brendan) Shortly after Henry passed away, in the whirlwind that followed, we were supposed to pick out a grave marker design. When we looked at the designs they had at the cemetery we didn't see anything that we thought would suit us for this marker. Most were too "cartoony" or had some angels or something generic, and it just wasn't something we were looking for. When we were told we could

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-72674532932562504772010-09-15T23:47:00.003-05:002010-09-16T00:09:19.532-05:00

(Brendan) Despite having home-schooled our children for a few years, we've never actually settled on a name for our home school. It seems kind of trivial to name your own home school, but I've come to think that doing so is actually quite useful for a number of reasons:For tax purposes, your state government or your local school district may actually ask for a name for your home school (this has

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-17058456023731535782010-09-05T22:57:00.002-05:002010-09-05T23:27:03.665-05:00

(Brendan) Well, we had an absolutely wonderful open house yesterday, praise God! It was glorious weather, and there were between 100-150 people who turned out, which wasn't bad considering it's Labor Day weekend. Thanks so much to all those who were able to stop by (and more than a few had a very long drive), and to all those who couldn't make it hopefully we can still have you over soon! For

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-24527988328136909882010-08-22T23:51:00.001-05:002010-08-23T00:05:31.397-05:00

(Brendan) As we get closer to our open house (on Sept. 4), I thought I'd post updated pictures of what our house looks like on the outside and inside. This is the outside post. There are three major developments since the last time I posted exterior photos: 1) Our grass has grown in, 2) I finished all the exterior painting, and 3) Our gutters have been installed. The gutters were a great find by

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-14027429941539266402010-08-13T23:58:00.000-05:002010-08-13T23:58:57.129-05:00

(Brendan) I thought I'd share some pics of our library area, which, though it will be unfurnished for quite some time, does now have the most important part: the library bookshelves. I researched options for library bookshelves with the requirement that we not spend a ton of money (so built-ins were out) but also try to go for something that would last us for the foreseeable future (not

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-38526423445393266262010-08-11T16:03:00.001-05:002010-08-11T16:04:00.830-05:00

(Brendan) If you read this blog, you are invited to our housewarming party! We are having an open house on Saturday, September 4th, from 1-5pm, so if you are interested to see the new home in person or just want to come to meet Francis :-) then please stop on by.  We are serving light refreshments, so in order to get an accurate count I would request that if you are planning to come that you drop

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-58898781505684343212010-08-09T22:43:00.001-05:002010-08-09T22:53:39.500-05:00

(Brendan) Francis has been leading a busy life the past 2+ weeks and I thought I'd share some more pics of what he's been up to (click any to enlarge). Mom and baby on their last day in the hospital... Francis' siblings were very excited to take him home... And they had prepared our sidewalk to welcome Francis home... This picture turned out quite funny, evidence that we Koops know how to

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-35102228279584182012010-07-24T21:52:00.000-05:002010-07-24T21:52:34.078-05:00

(Brendan) Here is baby Francis! And here's a better look at Francis' surprising (to us) head of hair, which he had combed by the nurse after his hair had a shampoo... His Mom was quite happy to see him... And he has some ecstatic and doting siblings... And of course a proud Dad... Thanks so much for all of your prayers, from the Koops! May you be truly blessed for your kindness and

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-34006749680218439912010-07-24T18:23:00.000-05:002010-07-24T18:23:32.796-05:00

(Brendan) Francis Simon Koop was born today, July 24th, 2010, at 5:42pm and weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and 20 1/2 inches long... Praise God! Thank you SO much for your prayers!

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-51673973600349228872010-07-23T19:51:00.000-05:002010-07-23T19:51:50.603-05:00

(Brendan) Well, Molly and I are here in the hospital for Francis' induction, one day earlier than originally planned. Everything is going well and our best guess is that Francis will be born tomorrow but you never know with these things.  We are in the same hospital where Henry was delivered, and we had a moment as they were hooking Molly up to the heart rate monitor where we remembered what that

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-79815775409042580892010-07-21T23:32:00.005-05:002010-07-23T20:25:55.258-05:00

(Brendan) Time for a little house update, and it regards a somewhat unassuming space: the main entry foyer.The right-hand wall as you enter the house (the left-hand wall in the pic above) has been empty until now, but that certainly wasn't always going to be the case. My brother had designed the foyer with some sort of shelving in mind on that wall, and so the main entry door and the door

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-16973498772140203052010-07-18T23:11:00.001-05:002010-07-19T10:05:23.000-05:00

(Brendan) Many of you will remember that the Lord spoke strongly and clearly to Molly five months prior to Henry's death, putting words on Molly's heart asking for the sacrifice of letting our son be taken to be with Him in Heaven. Molly recorded these words in a journal during a women's Ignatian silent retreat put on by the St. Paul Seminary, a retreat she went on while four months pregnant (

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-25603372002898213322010-07-03T09:01:00.008-05:002010-07-10T12:32:35.866-05:00

(Molly)I've been wanting to give an update on baby Francis for several weeks, but I've also been feeling the crunch to become settled in our new home before his arrival! Brendan keeps saying, "Well, by Christmas we should feel pretty settled." I think he's probably right, but I'm pretty sure come late July, I'll be nearly useless in the "getting settled in the home" department as I'll be too

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-39321962657761713362010-06-23T09:26:00.010-05:002010-06-23T10:55:26.122-05:00

(Molly)It was nine years ago today that the Lord brought us together in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. As I look back on those years, I can hardly believe all the Lord has done in our lives. Most significantly, he has blessed us with seven precious souls all of whom we have offered back to Him, two of whom He has already chosen to gather to Himself. We have moved from our one-bedroom

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-19813567491111076562010-06-21T00:03:00.002-05:002010-06-21T00:05:10.881-05:00

Old family vehicle... New family vehicle... Yes that's right, we finally fit in at our parish now that we own a 12-passenger van. The minivan just wasn't going to fit five car seats, especially three in the back seat, and there's really no point in getting a van that seats 8 people -- one more child and that will be at capacity too. We really had to stretch to get this van with all of the home

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-21564919604660850182010-06-09T00:34:00.002-05:002010-06-09T09:22:50.501-05:00

(Brendan) This past Sunday was the feast of Corpus Christi and our parish, the Church of St. Paul in Ham Lake, MN, held its annual Eucharistic procession (a good overview of a Corpus Christ procession is here if you are interested). Children who have received their first communion recently are encouraged to wear their dresses and suits and participate in the procession, and Clara was SO excited

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-73427645988640309422010-06-08T00:07:00.003-05:002010-06-08T08:38:57.566-05:00

(Brendan) This past Memorial Day weekend, we traveled southwest of the Twin Cities about two and a half hours through the scenic Minnesota River Valley to get to the tiny town of Searles (the "s" at the end is silent) just outside of New Ulm for a special occasion. A good friend of ours has been discerning a vocation to the religious life for some time with other young women, always known to us

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-34860666632764345462010-05-21T15:14:00.007-05:002010-05-22T23:22:27.839-05:00

(Brendan) UPDATED: Added two more that we just spotted (raccoon and farm geese) and moved deer to the sited list... almost ran in to one as we drove on our road tonight! Back when we owned the land our new house is built on, prior to construction, we used to drive to our land on Sundays after mass and just open our car windows and listen to the quiet, the wind blowing in the trees, and the

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-32816650867810135572010-05-17T22:10:00.005-05:002010-05-18T08:41:10.866-05:00

(Brendan) We had our construction closing on May 7th, and are officially owners of our new house! It's been a while since I posted some pictures, so here's a bunch to show how the house looks currently. (Click any to enlarge) Probably for many, the first time seeing the house in white, and the first time seeing the brick. It had just rained (and we still don't have gutters, which are being

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-55678605782852854402010-05-12T01:22:00.007-05:002010-05-12T01:39:02.683-05:00

(Brendan) Though it wasn't in the construction budget to get sod installed, after living in our new home for even a few days it was clear we were going to need to get some sort of lawn in this year. Almost every night is "bath night" here at the Koop household, because when you have a big dirt pile for a yard and the kids need to play outside, a nightly bath is just something you have to live

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-20867845404243941112010-05-06T16:33:00.005-05:002010-05-06T16:47:28.231-05:00

(Brendan) We are extremely proud of our eldest, Clara, not only for being who she is but especially because she has great spiritual maturity for her age. We have seen this in her for years, and she's only almost 8 (in June). She has always approached her faith and pursuit of holiness with such reverence and seriousness and purpose, it's at times amazing to witness. So, when Clara's first

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-59350273482814730092010-04-25T23:24:00.004-05:002010-04-25T23:31:32.941-05:00

(Brendan) One of these days, I will actually be able to do work on our house solely because I want to, and there will be no "have to" part. The continued dearth of blog posts is again due to more work on the house, this time mostly because of exterior painting. As you know, I have a bunch of things that I am doing that are actually part of the construction contract. Because these items are part

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-20910307838480605862010-04-06T16:56:00.000-05:002010-04-06T16:56:47.689-05:00

 (Brendan) A blessed and happy Easter to everyone! He is Risen!  Molly and I will be gone for the next three days on a trip to Georgia... Augusta, Georgia, that is. A few months ago Molly's mom called to inform me that I had won the 4 tickets to the first two rounds of the Masters in the school fundraising raffle for St. Hubert Catholic Church in Chanhassen, MN! I forgot I had even bought a

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-48379214331014590022010-03-27T01:46:00.004-05:002010-03-27T02:00:41.899-05:00

(Brendan) Here it is, all ready to move in. Enjoy! (Click any to enlarge) You can see here for the first time something we decided to do a long time ago: exposed concrete floors in the kitchen (and mud room and storage room and first floor bathroom). You can't get any more durable than concrete; water, scraping bar stools, you name it, it can take it and need virtually no maintenance. And we

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-32355191488801285232010-03-24T22:39:00.000-05:002010-03-24T22:39:17.166-05:00

(Brendan) We've hit a major milestone: our house has passed final inspection as of this afternoon! What this means is that the official certificate of occupancy can be issued by the city of Ham Lake (tomorrow) and we are cleared to move in on our scheduled date of this Saturday. It doesn't mean that everything is done at the house; far from it. I still have to paint all the interior trim, and

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-2487570891228495802010-03-18T00:55:00.003-05:002010-03-18T09:50:55.423-05:00

(Brendan) Okay, these aren't the best pictures I've ever taken, it seems like whenever I get to the house it's sunset time and dark soon thereafter. Nonetheless, these should give you an indication of where we are at (as of Monday). (Click any to enlarge) First, some pics of the home exterior (snow just recently melted, and it's a little messy out there). The siding is gray only because it is

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-14388824609754126112010-03-14T23:15:00.000-05:002010-03-14T23:15:16.376-05:00

(Brendan) Molly had her 20-week ultrasound last Wednesday, and we were both pretty nervous going into it. Molly and I met at the radiologist's office and confided to each other how nervous we were, given past events with Henry (full-term still birth) and Jude (miscarriage). There wasn't necessarily any reason to be nervous; everything with this pregnancy has gone well. And though we have given

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-62604861214247765912010-03-14T22:40:00.001-05:002010-03-14T22:40:33.788-05:00

(Brendan) Ugh, it seems like every post I do I have to apologize for the lack of posting, and I'm feeling especially bad about the lack of pictures. I'm still doing things at the house on some weekday evenings (thanks to my heroic wife and my heroic babysitting Mom!) and most weekend days, and the busyness prevents me from being able to post. But even then it seems like I forget to bring the

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-14021641189598205092010-03-02T16:32:00.001-06:002010-03-02T16:34:39.455-06:00

(Brendan) I was recently interviewed by Claire Trageser of SprayFoam Magazine, who contacted me after seeing our blog, for an online magazine article. Working with Claire was a pleasure, and she did an incredible job on the finished article. Please take a read and enjoy! Hot Roof in the Icy Cold: A Residential SPF Project During a Minnesota Winter

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-27359367080211501222010-02-26T00:01:00.002-06:002010-02-26T08:26:58.214-06:00

(Brendan) Tonight has been my first night not working at the house in a long time, and thus I finally have a few minutes to post some pictures. For those ever planning on building a house in the future, I do recommend doing some work yourself; you make a connection with the construction of your house that you simply cannot have when you just walk in to a finished home that was 100% done by others

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-73081260587983575322010-02-18T00:05:00.003-06:002010-02-18T11:36:53.052-06:00

(Brendan) A blessed and prayerful Lent to everyone, sorry for the lack of updates on the house; I've been, shall we say, busy. I am in the middle of the first of two weeks of "vacation" from my day job in order to work on the house. So far, with the help of many family and friends, the whole interior of the house (ceilings and walls) was primed last Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Tuesday was spent

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-14107401567763640472010-02-11T12:39:00.000-06:002010-02-11T12:39:24.520-06:00

(Brendan) This is hilarious! Though I think, after a while, little unborn child may have to have their Twitter account deactivated due to too many tweets.

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-83554354549223319812010-02-08T23:47:00.000-06:002010-02-08T23:47:51.023-06:00

(Brendan) I've got to get back to posting some non-construction content on this blog, so in that spirit, I wholeheartedly agree with this very humorous article: Why big families might be easier... I think this doubly applies for any large homeschooling families out there!

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-68444656141635062852010-01-31T20:16:00.005-06:002010-01-31T20:31:47.028-06:00

(Molly)Brendan's sister, Allison, has a tradition of creating beautiful crib quilts for each new baby shortly after his or her arrival. Each of our children have treasured their quilts which now reside on their big kid beds and often accompany them for a snuggle on the couch.Allison has always wanted us to find out the gender of our expected baby so she would have an excuse to peruse patterns

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-75297356019977101792010-01-31T00:43:00.001-06:002010-01-31T01:16:43.968-06:00

(Brendan) Well, all drywall, taping, and mudding has been completed (all in four days, which amazes me). The heat is on in the home and some of the windows are cracked open to get the dry air in so that all of the mudding dries over the weekend in time to start sealing and priming next week. Without further adieu, here's some exciting new interior shots: (Click any pictures to enlarge) Drywall

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-63678186401646308082010-01-22T23:10:00.007-06:002010-01-22T23:34:05.967-06:00

(Brendan)During our cost-cutting process after selecting our builder, we switched from using structural insulated panels for our roof to having parallel chord trusses with spray foam insulation. Even though we use SIP's for all of the other walls of the home, it made sense to make this switch for the roof because even SIP's need some additional structural beams in a roof application (at least

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-69239229278079074582010-01-19T22:13:00.012-06:002010-01-19T23:14:49.202-06:00

(Brendan)Good news! The home inspector ridiculousness is over, and he has finally given approval to move forward with the spray foam insulation on the roof. The spray foam is actually being applied tomorrow, meaning the heat is being turned on in the house tomorrow. Drywall installation starts on Friday. Also starting in the next few days: exterior siding installation and exterior brick

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-60965784754103895142010-01-18T21:46:00.011-06:002010-01-18T23:28:20.417-06:00

(Brendan)We've had a slow evolution in our overall fireplace wall design (and even the model of fireplace we selected) from the beginning of our home project up to now. Initially, the main guidance I gave my brother is that I really liked some pictures I had seen of fireplaces with an exposed flue (see this old post), and Molly and I both thought this would be great to incorporate into our design

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-21999094790810721322010-01-15T12:12:00.006-06:002010-01-19T07:50:01.010-06:00

(Molly)On Wednesday, January 6, I toted the kids up to the house for the traditional Epiphany blessing of the doorpost. Since the Middle Ages, people have been marking their doorposts in this manner and asking for the Lord's blessing upon their home.If I had been thinking ahead, I would have asked Brendan's dad to bless our chalk the night before, but alas, this was a last-minute decision on my

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-32458741027670568442010-01-12T12:55:00.002-06:002010-01-12T12:58:19.412-06:00

(Brendan)While I'm on blogger, I also wanted to post to let everyone know that Molly had her first OB appointment yesterday (new baby is about 12 weeks along) and, though we're nervous any time there is an ultrasound or they check for the heartbeat, thanks be to God Molly's doctor was able to find the heartbeat right away (166 bpm) and everything seems to be progressing normally! Thanks again for

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-85866774107335722672010-01-12T12:42:00.007-06:002010-01-12T12:58:41.122-06:00

(Brendan)Sorry for the low post volume, unfortunately there hasn't been as much to update on lately. As you may have seen in one of my comments on a previous post, the finish date (or at least the move-in date) has been delayed from the original plan of early February due to the cold weather, window delivery delay, and also a delay in getting the house roof spray-foam insulation done so that the

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-46415621465730457262009-12-31T00:07:00.020-06:002009-12-31T01:35:54.684-06:00

(Brendan)A very merry Christmas to everyone! Below is a new set of pictures from a recent visit to the house. Our windows have been delayed due to various reasons up until now, but all windows have finally been delivered to the site and are being installed. When Molly and I and my brother (he's in town again for Christmas) visited, roughly 2/3 of the windows had been installed.Other subtle but

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-42670310314164159512009-12-18T22:52:00.005-06:002009-12-18T23:09:54.421-06:00

(Brendan and Molly)This is well overdue, and not news for our immediate family (or Molly's Facebook friends), but for those who only keep in touch with us via our blog... we're pregnant! The new baby is 8 weeks along (due July 29), and we would definitely ask your prayers for its health and safety and for the Lord, if it be His will, to allow us to keep this one for a while (a long while). Molly

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-65677367164912733562009-12-12T23:47:00.003-06:002009-12-13T00:00:23.107-06:00

(Brendan)If you don't live in Minnesota, I can inform you that the past week has been bitterly, bitterly cold. Once in the past week I went to the house to drop off a sink for the plumbers and planned to take pictures for a blog post, and it was so cold (near 0 deg F) I just got the heck out of there without bothering with the pictures. Today it was mercifully warmer (20 deg F, heat wave!) and so

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-59272143468644299562009-12-01T06:30:00.008-06:002009-12-01T12:31:41.277-06:00

(Brendan and Molly)Today is the 1st anniversary of the day that changed our lives forever; the day that placed a rupture in our family that will only be healed in heaven; the day that our precious Henry Blaise was born and found to have been taken by Our Lord to be with Him. Henry is more alive than we are, for he sees God face to face, and contemplates His beauty for all eternity. Henry is a

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-14951006126052013712009-11-29T17:02:00.010-06:002009-11-29T21:02:13.443-06:00

(Brendan)Molly and I and kids were able to make a trip out to the house on Friday with my brother (also our architect) and his wife, who are in town for Thanksgiving, and also my sister and parents. It was great for my brother to see the physical manifestation of his design!(Click any of the pictures to enlarge.)The house was being wrapped in Tyvek when we visited, and since the windows and doors

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-74485264100718192992009-11-20T22:43:00.013-06:002009-11-20T23:57:42.567-06:00

(Brendan)Another trip to the house today, with the biggest highlight being a workable staircase that I could use to go upstairs for the very first time!(Click any pictures to enlarge)The home shape is really visible now with the addition of all of the roof trusses.After the bidding process we changed the roof SIP's to roof trusses with spray foam insulation, which saved quite a bit of

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-46438318739973350472009-11-13T23:37:00.005-06:002009-11-13T23:55:33.855-06:00

(Brendan)The floor trusses and second level sub-floor have been installed, as well as some of the second level SIP's. Enjoy!(Click any to enlarge them)It was a dreary day today in the Twin Cities. Here's a pic of the front view of the house.The view towards the kitchen, with second level floor trusses installed above.Looking towards the school room, the mechanical room is starting to be framed in

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-72527033670986482752009-11-09T11:10:00.006-06:002009-11-09T13:58:18.025-06:00

(Brendan)This mostly just gets the kids' thoughts on things :-)By the way, after watching this I figured out what Max was screaming about at the end... Aidan had dared to pick up his coveted stick. Don't mess with Max.

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-39632343234685415042009-11-06T21:23:00.009-06:002009-11-09T11:15:08.986-06:00

(Brendan)Moly and I stopped by the home site today, and once you look at the pictures I'm sure you'll see why I walked around with a big smile on my face the whole time I was there :-) It's beyond cool to actually walk through physical spaces in the house that have been three years in the planning.(You can click any of these pictures to enlarge them)Front view.Two words: Holy tallness! Looking at

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-4662139338420430482009-11-02T23:26:00.011-06:002009-11-03T15:30:10.526-06:00

(Brendan)The structural insulated panels are onsite and ready to be assembled (finally). If you've been wondering, there was a few more days of delay last week when the assembly crew was coming off of another job and needing to get their heavy equipment in place at our site. At any rate, here's a few pics from this morning:The SIP's have been off-loaded from the delivery trucks and lifted into

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-24843907997057497362009-10-30T21:32:00.004-05:002009-11-03T15:28:55.300-06:00

(Brendan)Last Saturday (10/23/09) Molly and I were able to arrange for my parents to watch the kids while we took a trip to LaCrosse, WI to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This was super exciting for us, as we had long wanted to visit the Shrine, not only for great opportunities for prayer but also to see the stunning architecture and beautiful art. Duncan Stroik, a classical architect

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-64363405273263946802009-10-21T21:39:00.006-05:002009-10-21T22:18:12.526-05:00

(Brendan)My brother Evan, a seminarian at the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, MN, was installed as an acolyte a week ago (what might be considered the second "step" in a four step process of eventually becoming a priest - lector, acolyte, deacon, priest). Here are a few pictures of Evan (who now can wear clerics in certain instances!) and the chapel at the St. Paul Seminary.The seminarians and

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-60398869340335914622009-10-19T23:08:00.005-05:002009-10-19T23:33:01.666-05:00

(Brendan)Well, the concrete floor has been poured and now the radiant heat tubing that we installed is safely encased in a solid mass of concrete. Here's a short video update...The project is mostly on pause right now while we wait for the structural insulated panels to be fabricated and delivered, which is actually great timing since it's going to be a wash out tomorrow and Wednesday for sure (

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-48788780518397204632009-10-12T23:00:00.004-05:002009-10-12T23:09:52.897-05:00

(Brendan)Sorry for the lack of updates lately, for a while the "scene" pretty much looked the same as my last picture update. The septic system has been installed and inspected, plumbing lines to and from the house have been installed, floor outlets were installed, and gas lines were put in place. All of that had to happen in order for the floor insulation to be laid down and the hydronic radiant

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-9908547138013751962009-09-30T14:06:00.005-05:002009-09-30T14:30:37.758-05:00

(Brendan)I dropped in on the construction site again today over my lunch hour, here's a few cell phone pics...The backfill within the frost footing walls is nearly complete, and some exterior grading still remains to be done. These next two pics show what the outside view will look like beyond the wall of windows (the wall opposite the side I'm standing) in the family room/library.The next pic is

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-57418761915184727962009-09-25T22:48:00.005-05:002009-09-27T09:34:24.234-05:00

(Brendan)Foundation work is highlighted in this update...Update: A panorama view of the foundation (click to enlarge)...

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-40634050445633940672009-09-24T21:17:00.005-05:002009-09-24T21:38:06.432-05:00

(Brendan)Now that we've started construction, I thought I'd post the updated construction schedule from our builder. The balance of everything will be done for us to move in at the end of January '10. There are a couple things that are going to have to wait for warmer weather next year: the driveway and exterior painting (May).I updated the "Construction Schedule" link under "Other Info" in the

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-48930819944056757002009-09-23T13:49:00.006-05:002009-09-23T14:01:19.935-05:00

(Brendan)Here's a couple pics I took on my cell phone when I went out to the site for a brief look during my lunch hour today. Just as I left they were getting ready to pour the frost footings for the foundation. I'll do a better update this weekend as Molly and I and the kids will visit the site on Friday afternoon and take some video and pictures.Looking toward the front of the garageLooking

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-64286633390837402532009-09-21T16:50:00.003-05:002009-09-21T16:57:23.074-05:00

(Brendan)The retreat with Miles Christi was absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend it for anyone around the US. Miles Christi priests travel all over the country directing these retreats (for men only and for women only) and so there has to be one reasonably close which you could take advantage of. Here's their upcoming schedule of retreats. Anyone looking for an extremely simple, practical

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-56717067873782245312009-09-18T14:00:00.006-05:002009-09-18T14:53:25.749-05:00

(Brendan)I'll be on a retreat this weekend in Buffalo, MN with these guys...The Miles Christi order of priests specializes in running retreats using the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. We became acquainted with them as they often have a booth at the Minnesota Catholic Home Educator's Conference that we attend yearly at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. This particular

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-78092518928092576032009-09-16T23:49:00.005-05:002009-09-16T23:55:06.851-05:00

(Brendan)Enjoy!

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-59796101974577681552009-09-15T10:46:00.002-05:002009-09-15T10:48:48.268-05:00

(Brendan)Ground breaking (starting with tree clearing) will be tomorrow, Wednesday, September 16 at 8:00am. We won't be able to get there as a family that early due to traffic, etc., but we'll be there later in the morning to take some pics and video!

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-90875206771626084942009-09-12T21:55:00.005-05:002009-09-15T10:49:05.798-05:00

(Brendan)Well, we successfully completed the loan closing on Friday without any hiccups. Once the mortgage is submitted to the county on Monday morning and is registered, then construction can officially begin at any time! The city building permits have also been approved. Right now the scheduled date to start clearing trees from the lot is on Wednesday in order to work with the schedule of the

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-22751602768599257952009-09-03T17:26:00.002-05:002009-09-03T17:35:55.182-05:00

(Brendan)First, turn on your sound, click play on the following video, and then continue reading...We just got word today that our loan has finally been approved!!! Our loan closing will be either next Friday (9/11) or Monday 9/14, and right after that we'll break ground!

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-41115189840710665322009-08-31T20:45:00.006-05:002009-08-31T23:31:00.486-05:00

(Molly)Yes, it's true. Our four oldest children all celebrate the feast days of their patron saints in August! Today we celebrated the Feast of Saint Aidan, the patron of our oldest son. While the name Aidan, and variations. are very popular these days, Aidan actually is a very old name! The name Aidan means "Little Fiery One." I have never known a child whose name suited him more!Saint

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-33416814410232410942009-08-29T23:22:00.004-05:002009-08-30T00:09:19.965-05:00

(Brendan)By now we had hoped to be doing a post announcing that we added a geothermal heating and cooling system to our project, which we were really excited about. In case you haven't heard of geothermal heat pumps, they've been around for a while but have always been prohibitively expensive and so haven't been widely used in residential construction projects. The advantage of geothermal systems

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-74074986017496230282009-08-20T00:15:00.004-05:002009-08-20T00:37:31.284-05:00

(Brendan)Molly and I decided on how we wanted the stairway to the second level to look quite a while ago after seeing a few images in some books that piqued our interest. We thought a nice clean look would be to have the "treads" (the steps) be the same dark wood finish and color as the wood floor on the first level, and have the risers (the vertical boards between the steps) be painted white. It

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-39355964707943161022009-08-18T20:04:00.005-05:002009-08-18T20:28:53.259-05:00

(Molly)Today we celebrated the Feast Day of our daughter, Eleanor, whose patron saint is Saint Helena. Helena (sometimes called simply, Helen) was the mother of the Emperor Constantine. Helena was sent by her son on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It was on this journey that through a miracle, Helena discovered the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified. It is on this site that the Church of

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-53509004881782524412009-08-14T07:00:00.002-05:002009-08-18T20:29:20.918-05:00

(Molly)Today is the Feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, patron of our youngest living son, also known as "Maxy Moo-Moo." Maximilian Kolbe is one of the most well-known saints of modern times. The Polish saint lived only a few decades ago.When Maximilian was ten years old he had a profound spiritual experience after his loving mother, in exasperation, said something to him that started his looking

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-41426938784209936022009-08-11T16:59:00.006-05:002009-08-13T23:33:08.033-05:00

(Molly)Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Clare. Each year, we recognize the patron saints of our children on their particular Feast Days. Today, on the Feast of Saint Clare, our eldest daughter Clara chose the family dessert (Strawberry Shortcake!). We also took some time during family prayer to remember the virtuous Saint Clare of Assisi and ask for her prayers, particularly for Clara in

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-11648112878419140792009-08-08T23:17:00.010-05:002009-08-09T00:38:04.707-05:00

(Brendan)While we get the loan stuff figured out, here's another change we've made since the contractor bidding process way back in December of last year. As you have seen repeatedly in the renderings my brother has done of our home design, the exterior siding material was originally planned to be cedar (either left natural or stained). We knew from our contractor interviews prior to the bidding

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-89403411700355108172009-08-02T22:28:00.004-05:002009-08-02T22:33:11.032-05:00

We're just working (daily) through the details with our lender to finalize the construction loan. It will be a relief when this process is over!

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-44489227840744000122009-07-24T10:24:00.002-05:002009-07-24T10:27:19.552-05:00

(Brendan)Our closing for our home sale went off without a hitch yesterday, and we can now (briefly) say that we do not have a mortgage. We're still shooting to break ground on construction of our new home by September 1.

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-40833633964787500682009-07-18T16:58:00.013-05:002009-07-18T20:16:29.000-05:00

(Molly)Today we spent a good portion of the day hauling our big furniture to our storage unit. I thought I'd share some of the photos from the day.Here's our living room this morning. It's totally cleared out now!And our lower-level family room...now empty!Clara in the garage--there's order in that chaos, I promise.Then Brendan and Joe realize that there's something wrong with the equation

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-37495043720562052682009-07-17T22:47:00.012-05:002009-07-18T00:03:02.362-05:00

(Brendan)In probably the first official action of building our home, yesterday (July 16) the surveyor for our project came out to our land and did the official survey for the home. The surveyor uses the foundation plan, prepared by my brother, to locate every corner of the home using GPS coordinates, after which he then places a stake in the ground with some written guidance on what corner of

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-87843316360981199822009-07-12T21:18:00.013-05:002009-07-12T23:25:03.504-05:00

(Brendan)In the recent post regarding in-floor radiant heat I mentioned a number of challenges we needed to deal with once the basement was removed from the plan. Two of the biggest were where to incorporate space for storage, and where to put the mechanical systems that service the house. Both of these items were previously accommodated by having a basement, and without the basement it was

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-55762204811764898342009-07-10T11:40:00.003-05:002009-07-12T21:16:46.438-05:00

(Brendan)The appraisal of our current home finally came back and it appraised well and there were no issues with our buyer's ability to finance the home. We have now set a date for closing: July 24th. Praise the Lord!UPDATED: Closing slots at the title company were booked on the 24th. New closing time is 2pm on the 23rd.

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-90358372763818207562009-07-04T00:23:00.005-05:002009-07-04T01:38:10.884-05:00

(Brendan)Again, it's impossible to adequately follow the previous post, so this post will seem kind of silly. Nonetheless, we are excited about closing on our house and getting started on our new house, and I thought I'd do some posts on things that have changed since our set of bid plans. For the best background for this post, I'd recommend re-looking at where we were at the end of the bidding

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-6515531431299716932009-07-03T08:23:00.002-05:002009-07-03T08:26:56.000-05:00

(Molly)We wanted to let you know that our baby is safely in the arms of Jesus along with his big brother, Henry Blaise.The miscarriage began on Sunday at the end my silent retreat experience and still continues. Although I had spent much of the time praying for a miracle for this baby, we are at peace with the Lord's will for this short, but purposeful life.Through prayer, we decided to name him

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-60173643232436454372009-07-01T09:38:00.004-05:002009-07-01T09:43:02.301-05:00

Happy 33rd Birthday to my wonderful husband. You have officially reached your "Jesus Year," as your buddies like to say. May it be the holiest year of your life so far!I am so blessed by you and praise God for the wonderful husband, father, spiritual leader, and provider you are. Thank you for walking this sometimes intense road with me. I wouldn't have it any other way.Love,MollyPS--Maxy

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-35851890723389274772009-06-29T23:33:00.008-05:002009-06-30T00:21:21.931-05:00

(Brendan)As you may know, today (June 29) was the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, one of my favorite feast days of the liturgical year. Because of the close association of these two apostles, and their martyrdom in Rome, Sts. Peter and Paul have always shared a feast day going all the way back to at least the year 258 A.D. (and that's only because it's the earliest Roman calendar of the martyrs

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-39334220097079594662009-06-27T22:47:00.003-05:002009-06-27T23:21:17.575-05:00

(Brendan)Just to try and keep it light around here (thanks again for all your prayers and support), I thought I'd report that in preparation for moving we decided to list a number of things on Craigslist. These are items that we either want to get rid of because they won't fit the style of our new house, or they are simply items that we have no interest in moving or storing. In total, we listed

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-4807619075020237642009-06-19T13:55:00.005-05:002009-06-23T10:41:48.695-05:00

(Brendan)I wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know that recently we found out, to our joy, that we were expecting a new child. However, last Friday at a very early 6-week ultrasound things looked concerning for the baby, and just yesterday at a follow-up ultrasound Molly's doctor confirmed our fears, and saId that a miscarriage would likely be occuring sometime in the next two weeks. I

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-51888077062192087502009-06-13T21:15:00.003-05:002009-06-13T21:27:43.853-05:00

(Brendan)We just signed a purchase agreement this evening! We got an offer today from a buyer who came through our house on Thursday (not the people I referred to in the previous post) and it is a fantastic offer. It's within $5,000 of our asking price, the buyer is putting 25% down (making financing fairly easy) and even put down 2% earnest money. It's a very solid offer, one which we were

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-89317403710708050622009-06-11T11:31:00.005-05:002009-06-11T12:10:36.148-05:00

(Brendan)This has been an interesting week for us. Out of the blue we had 3 showings scheduled on Monday and another one scheduled on Tuesday, and this is after having only one showing last week and no showings the previous 3+ weeks. It's quite a statistical abberation, and there has to be some sort of cause behind it. First and foremost, everyone's prayers are so very appreciated, and they

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-33224789302956605552009-06-04T12:27:00.010-05:002009-06-07T22:16:44.383-05:00

(Molly)I have wanted to pen this post for a while as we just passed this six month anniversary of Henry's entrance into Heaven. Some of you know that I've been dealing with a random flare up of tendonitis in my left hand and needless to say, typing has been quite a chore. So, as important as this post is in remembering our darling son, it has taken me a while to complete.For some time I have

Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537616411264726552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-83322519433624947322009-06-02T09:34:00.002-05:002009-06-02T09:37:17.427-05:00

(Brendan)We have a showing that just was scheduled for this morning from 11:30am-12:30pm! Thanks for your (very effective) prayers, keep them coming -- especially during the time of the showing.

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3257516927675289859.post-31931101466022238862009-06-01T00:15:00.007-05:002009-06-01T08:55:33.242-05:00

(Brendan)I'm sure many of you are wondering how the home sale process is going, and so I thought I'd give a brief (graphical) update. Here's a timeline of what has happened since we put our house on the market on 1/16/09 (click to enlarge):As you can see, we've had a decent amount of showings, and we've dropped our price three times. But it's discouraging that we haven't had an offer yet, and

Brendan Koophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265819790636987237noreply@blogger.com1