"Barn" Raising

I have always wanted to be part of a barn raising. There is something so cool to me about a whole community coming together to do something BIG - the hard work followed by a huge celebration. Unity of spirit, unity of action, and the gratification of seeing your hands actually produce something...

We had our own ECHO Chambers version... a swingset raising! My parents', with overwhelming generosity, gave their grandchildren a swingset for Christmas. So on Dec. 29th, my parents, my sister and her husband, Dan's parents and Dan's nephews all arrived to assemble and raise the swingset.

Mermaid Princess raked the site for over an hour in true barn raising spirit!


PopPop (engineer) and Grandpa (homebuilder) assembled the structure. And thank goodness, because I heard the following phrase more than once:
"Hmmm... this doesn't seem like the most structurally sound way to do this. (out come pencils and paper). Let's try reconfiguring it this way..."

There aren't any pictures of the swingset being hauled from the driveway to its new home because we were all too busy carrying to man the camera. But here it is, fully raised.

First pic of all three kids on the swings.

The swinging went on and on and on. JackJack would happily stay in the swing all night if someone just came out to push him a couple of times every 30 minutes.

We are SO blessed by this gift of time, of swings, and of priceless memories. How 'bout you? Gotta favorite "pull together" moment in your life this past year?