One Apartment Down

The apartment is done, rented and occupied!!  Big huge Thank You, Jesus!  Even now, as I think about it, I cannot believe we made it.  

There are four units in this building and this particular one housed a single woman who has lived there since before we owned it, more than seventeen years ago.  She paid next to nothing in rent and asked for very little.  Shaun was always busy with other things so he didn't push it.  Well, she got an inheritance so in May she finally moved out.

I don't have any before photos, but imagine an apartment in an old house that hasn't had ANYthing done to it in more than two decades.  Bad!

Shaun overhauled the plumbing and electrical.  He put in insulation, all new windows, closed off some doorways, skim-coated lots of plaster, scraped, painted, tiled, re-finished the wood floors, gutted the kitchen and bathroom, new shower, sinks, toilet, appliances, cabinets.  I'm sure I'm missing lots, but those were the major things.

His goal was to have it done for August 1.  Since we live in a  college town, experience has taught him the best pool of tenants come looking around the time school is starting back up.  So he mapped out the project and started working 80 hours a week, which ramped up to nearly 100 for the last couple weeks.  Its hard to grasp how much time that is...essentially its seven days a week from very early (somewhere between 6-7am) until very late (usually about 10 pm).  He'd come home for 30 minutes for lunch and sometimes for a little bit before the kids went to bed.  Day after day after day.

That left me at home with the house and the kids (and the dog!), a job and a growing business. It was one of those times where you don't stop to think about it, you just get up each morning and determine to do that day to the best of your ability.  And that saying, If you want something done, ask a busy person is so true.  You just go and you do because you have to.

It was such a lonely time without Shaun but I knew complaining about it and dwelling on it would help no one.  Shaun didn't really complain either.  We just both knew we had a job that needed to get done.  It was really, really hard on both of us.  I'm so thankful for the little pieces of time that our families gave us...Shaun's brother Nathan put in lots of hours at the apartment and my dad did some too and family pitched in to help with babysitting when I had weddings and photo shoots and such.  That help came at such a desperate, low time for us and will never be forgotten.

One more apartment to do, though this one will be done at a slightly slower pace.  Then we'll get to work digging out of the $25,000 investment we've made between the two apartments.  Isn't is beautiful? One thing about Shaun is he doesn't do anything half way.

(Avery's shot)

The night he more or less finished up, he got home about 6:30.  We took the kids and the dog to the river, came home and ate dinner at the table, as a family and then he and I watched a movie.  It was the first time I'd sat in the TV room since May.  It was just an evening, but it felt like we'd had a week's vacation together.

So thankful we are through the worst part!  Everything is better when Shaun is around!

The LORD upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down.

Psalm 145:14