House Project {Week 18}

We survived another week of renovations!  :)  Most of the time we're in a much better state than "surviving", but other times we are just done.  DONE!  

This week both Jared and R joined us.  Of course we couldn't stop just because they were here, but we also had low expectations of how involved they would want to be.  Turns out they are both incredibly hard workers.  Shaun did an amazing job of finding appropriate things for them to do, patiently giving detailed and clear instructions and then empowering them and enabling them as they showed worthy of it.

They worked for his praise and the sense of accomplishment as much as for the money.  Impressive in a day when video game skills are valued over hard work.

Our weather has been ideal, as in perfect.  

Grandparents gave us some much appreciated help with the kids...as good as they are around here, I'm happy for them to go have fun and get a change of scenery and some extra attention.  Our hope is that this summer will hold good memories for them, but you just never know.

More of the ceiling in my kitchen coming down.

Basement floor time.

Shaun is SO very patient and kind and thorough.  He gets hammered with questions all. day. long.  Should I?  Could you?  Where is?  How do I?  Will you?  Its madness, truly.

The boys took on the project of disassembling, moving and reassembling the pool table.

Who does this gaggle of kids belong to??

R and Shaun spent several hours moving a pipe a very short distance and/or making it tilted the correct way.

The kitchen designer came back out so we could discuss the new cabinets and countertop.  I decided on the cabinet (shown here) pretty quickly, the granite decision was harder.

My office, getting new outlets.

R loves to cook so he made a big breakfast for the boys every morning.

Several people have provided meals for us.  What an incredible, unexpected blessing!  The love and support and just knowing that there are some who, to a degree, understand what we are going through has spoken volumes to us.  That's not a hint to bring meals!!  We are just very grateful.

You know how much I love the dump!  :)  Thomas and I spent most of the day cleaning out the old house basement, getting rid of stuff that had been there long before we ever moved in.  Kind of nasty, but so good to have it done!

Nathan also made a scrap metal run.  Goodbye old treadmill....you've been a good friend.  Cannot even imagine how many miles I put on that thing in 14 years.

Jared worked on getting our internet moved over.

We have a friendly, brave bunny in the yard.  The girls set a carrot trail and it worked!

Dinner.  :)

Jared also worked on setting up the TV and speakers, etc.

Shaun's mom came to help pack up North Street.  She is organized, efficient and has moved several times...we made good progress.

The H/VAC person, who is also a friend, spent the day hooking up the new heat pump, or central A/C, depending on whether you are talking to me or Shaun.  :)

Laryssa and I sanded Shaun's beautiful taping job in the library/respite room on the third floor.

Its been so nice having the girls room done and most of their stuff moved over.  They spent quite a bit of time playing in there, mostly nicely.

On Sunday night, Daddy thought it would be good for morale to quit early and watch a family movie in our newly hooked up living room.  After trouble with the router (= no internet), I ran to RedBox and got the movie we'd started.  The kids all watched the movie and Shaun and I confirmed our new sectional is good for sleeping.  :)

I bought a new router and now we have lightning fast internet.

Project 365, Week 31

I feel like I sound like a broken record here.  Its just crazy....I don't know how else to say it.  Shaun and I refer to it jokingly (as in, all you can do is laugh) as chaos.  We normally operate under what we consider to be a fair amount of mayhem, but I think its safe to say we are above and beyond any level of sustained zaniness we have ever experienced.  And sure enough, we wake up every day and God gives us grace for one day more.  Only through Him, only for Him.

This was my song this week:

You're the one who conquers giants
You're the one who calls out kings
You shut the mouths of lions
You tell the dead to breathe
You're the one who walks through fire
You take the orphan's hand
You are the one Messiah
You are I am
You are I am

 You are I AM.  Love that!

A couple things about this week....we had our fourteen year old nephew Jared here for the week while his parents were away.  He was such an added blessing!  He made me laugh out loud everyday with his quick wit and humorous commentary on the goings on here, he was SUCH a hard worker and never once complained about the less-than-ideal living conditions he was (we are) under.  He found a way to get along well with R, who is not super easy.

That also meant we had three to four big boys at our house throughout the week.  Thomas is not technically a teenager, but since I am only a year younger than his mom, he gets lumped in with the teenagers. 

I can't explain it, but it felt very natural to have a house full of teenage boys.  Its the vision God gave us before we even got licensed, but I just couldn't picture it.  Now it seems to make sense.

Initial thoughts on big boys....they are easy.  Simple to understand.  Not too many layers to sort through (unlike girls!).  They eat a LOT and when they are not eating, they are asking what we are having for the next meal.  They make strange noises.  They are flexible, easy going. They develop a camaraderie with each other in record time.  They are fun!  After being so used to little people around, I'm finally starting to adjust to seeing more than one grown man walking around.

There are other updates to do about the MAJOR stuff going on in our lives right now, but we are in a wait-and-see kind of week, and I really don't have much that can be shared.  The daily emails and phone calls and visits and meetings with the State help add to the looniness of our lives.  :)  When I can, I'll let you know!

You'll see I struggled a bit finding "normal" life pictures and not construction ones, but its something.   Gosh...I can't wait to be blogging regularly again.  And SO many other regular activities, too.  :)

July 28

Stinkin' cute!

 July 29
Stinkin' funny!  Our three younger kids were gone for the night and the four boys were in the kitchen eating dinner.  Shaun and I were eating in the living room, trying to catch up for a few minutes.

We'd taken one bite when a bat flew past.  I know, a bat!  Except sadly, this is not completely out of the norm for us.  Its the fourth? fifth? bat we've had over the years.  Shaun got up to deal with it, closing it into one part of the house.  We sat back down to dinner, but five minutes later, it flew past, this time we watched as it went into the kitchen.

Immediately, we started giggling quietly, waiting for the reaction from the "men" in the kitchen.  It was 20 seconds and we heard R say, "Oh look...its a bird!  No wait....thats a BAT!!!  Then we heard school girl squeals and nervous giggles from the rest of the crew and they came running out to the living room to tell us all about it.  Hilarious!!

Anyway, they spent some time trying to corner it to an open window.  Eventually they found it in the bathroom, hiding in a towel.  R wanted to hold it and find a cage for it!  Uh...no.

 July 30
Aiden got scratched, so I brought him to the pretend hospital.

July 31
We have stuff here, we have stuff there.  Sleeping arrangements were interesting this week.  Both R and Z have to have their own room and the girls bedroom has been moved and Shaun and I have a mattress on the floor of our old room.  Each day we said, ok...where are we going to sleep tonight?  Most nights we each took a group and slept in separate houses.  I guess it could be construed as a luxury.  :)

August 1
Bright and early, I was at the skate park with Jared, Z and R.  It wasn't too long ago I would have said I would never in my life need to be at a skate park, but here I am, and its fun!  I love to watch them, even if it can be a little nerve-wracking and I'm slowly learning the lingo.

 August 2
We went in the late evening, but there were SO many people.

 August 3
Early the next morning....