House Project {Week 20}

I'm stealing a few minutes at the end of another long, hard day.  I take that back....NONE of these days are long...they are far too short....I guess what I mean is they start very early and end really late.

At the moment Shaun and our three are in bed and I have the rare job of supervising the boys while they shower and get ready for bed.  Z has Nathanael sleeping over on his last night with us and I can hear them just above me trying to be quiet while they giggle and fool around.  I conned them into going to bed "early" with the promise of the skate park in the morning.

Unfortunately, I fade to gray after 9 PM, which it is, so I may have to "spruce" this up a bit in the morning at 4 AM when I am fully functional.  (I know...I'm crazy...it is what it is).

Morale was better around here this week.  The weather has been divine, which helps, and we have more and more spaces that we can go to for living.  We were still doing quite a bit of back and forth between houses....eating and packing mostly.  The whole house echos and its a little sad.

Still no signed lease.  Trusting.

And I continue to empty it, truck load by truck load.  The dumb dog is afraid he's going to get left, so he sticks close by.

No more towels or bath toys (or toothpaste globs)....

...pool table and boxes cleared out.

 The kitchen, making headway on the coffered ceiling.  Tedious work, but I love how its coming out.

Shaun also built a new wall where the fridge and cabinets will go.  I know all is right in the world when  I can hear him softly singing along with the radio, always off tune.

I was at HD the other day, investigating the recessed light covers.  An employee was helping me and when we were done, he went on to help another woman.  A clip on the can of her recessed light had broken off so it fell out....she was exploring her options.

The employee said, Oh, you don't need to buy a new one.  You know whatchya do....put a rivet right here..blah, blah.

She was all flustered and more so as he continued to explain how easy it was and she'd just have to purchase a small tool and it'd be fixed up.  She said, Ugh!  I'd have to hire an electrician and have him come out...I don't want to go through all that!

I walked away feeling so thankful that I have an electrician, plumber, floor installer, etc living right under my roof.  To be sure, I take him for granted and even sometimes grumble about the downsides, but he truly is incredible.

 

 Working on the dining room floors that need to be refinished.  Truth be told, they desperately needed to be done 15 years ago when we moved in, but it didn't happen.  And I'm glad.  The dog ran, the nieces and nephews drove their toy car and played hockey and my kids did all manner of wear and tear to it and I didn't mind a bit.  :)

 We watched out the LR window in dismay as one by one the college students moved into the three-family rental house behind us.  So far, so good though.

 Attempt #1 to pull the tooth.  Shaun is never to busy to stop for the kids special requests.  Daddy, will you please make me a paper airplane?  Daddy, can you try to pull my tooth?

 The new wall is sheetrocked and taped....and sheetrock on the ceiling, too!

Amanda and I went to pick up the new refrigerator.

Back at the old house, silverware was almost non-existent.

 Our first campfire in the backyard.  Shaun had to rescue us from the smoke and Aiden was thrilled that we were using some of the wood he'd carefully stacked earlier in the season.

The older boys aren't quite as clever at making fires as they thought they were.

 My office:

My temporary office in the LR....I spent hours here working through a system migration with work.

Another room complete!!

 

 It was SO amazing to have our new home full of people on Sunday for Z's going away party.  Shaun and I love to entertain and it just felt so right to have it full of family....laughing, catching up, sharing big news, watching and talking Sox, kids running in and out...but mostly out, paired with a cousin.

Having a party here gave us a glimmer of hope that maybe someday this place will be more than a construction zone. :)

Project 365, Week 33

August 11

No picture, but I got to have a leisurely breakfast with my dear friend, visiting from CO.  I was sad to not see her kids, but without hers or mine we had precious, uninterrupted conversation.  :)

She's the kind of friend that you can show up to your date wearing your church staff t-shirt that you had on the night before because none of your clothes have been moved yet.

I'm so grateful for our times together, it just always leaves me wishing we had more!

August 12

After still not hearing back from the interested would-be renters, we put our house on the MLS, so I took a couple extra pictures.  Home sweet home, for the last 15 years.

 August 13
Since it was Thomas' last day working, the boys had their promised Risk game.

August 14

My monthly training this month was fairly disturbing.  It was all about transexual kids.  What was disturbing was how young some of them were.  We watched a video that interviewed families with children as young as 5 and 7.  The 5 year-old was born a girl, but (at 5!) insisted to her parents that she felt like a boy inside.  They buzzed her hair, bought boy clothes, redecorated her room and changed her name.  They now refer to her as him and have joined a support group, etc.

The 7 year-old was the same basic story, just a boy turned girl.  At seven.

 We're trying to squeeze in a couple more "Z things" before he leaves this Friday.  One was making use of the fire pit he and R built in the backyard.

With the knowledge that R is a seasoned Boy Scout, Shaun let the two of them do the fire themselves while he supervised from afar.  We tried to sit next to it, but it was SO smokey, so Shaun eventually stepped in to fix it and explain what went wrong.

We cooked cheeseburgers and hotdogs and the kids roasted strawberries.

And....Amanda lost her FIRST tooth!!  She's so excited to finally be joining the ranks with her sister, cousins and friends.

August 15

R is going to be a Junior in highschool this year.  We were hoping to transfer him to a tech school, but they don't really take kids that old because they've missed too much of the program.

So we were left with two choices...a daily commute of two hours round trip to the school he's attended the last two year (state paid and operated) or transfer to our walking distance highschool, which I know of as having a questionable reputation.

While making his decision, I thought it might be helpful for him to at least see our HS, so he and I walked over.  As it turned out, the doors were open, so we actually ended up sitting down with the principal and being able to hear about the programs and get our questions answered.

We left with our heads spinning, but armed with information.  I actually left feeling like I would at least consider sending Avery there, something I wasn't willing to do before our visit there.

R has decided to attend our HS and will be part of the STEM Academy.  AND....Shaun and I have committed to keeping him as a permanent placement, to see him through these next two years of HS and beyond.  We are excited about the potential we see in him and being the forever family he's been so long without.

Surreal to be at HS with my kid?  Uh, yeah.

 August 16
Love these pictures that Kiki sent me.  Amanda and Aiden helped with the service at the assisted living place....doing "the Lord's work".  :)

 August 17
And the next day, after a bike ride they stopped for some singing and praising the Lord.  :)

House Project {Week 19}

Another tough week.  Our flesh is weak and our spirt isn't even all that willing.  We figured out that with the exception of the three days we spent in Maine, Shaun has worked about 100 straight days.  I'm right there behind him and we are drained.  Our reserves are depleted and many days its out of sheer will power to get up and do it again.

Of course we keep the end-goal in sight and know it will soon be a memory, but it is hard.  Now, in addition to the renovations, we've put moving into high gear.  Over lunch one day Shaun and I were talking about a couple of failed marriages.  I joked that if our marriage can withstand all of this, we are probably home free.  :)

I really didn't get too many pictures this week.  My hands were busy and much of it I spent at the old house packing and loading and then unloading at the new.  Its really quite embarrassing how much stuff we have....the part of being an American that I'm not particularly proud of.

Amanda flits and flutters every where she goes and enjoys dancing in the new spaces.

 The boys tore out the plaster part of the wall.  That plaster makes SUCH a mess.

 The boys also got it in their heads that they wanted a fire pit, so with permission, they got shovels and started digging.

 The swing gets used often.

The bathroom off the spare room on the third floor got put back together this week.  All that was there was an old cast iron tub and Shaun transformed it into a useable bathroom.

(This color looks much nicer in person.)

 Screens, but so cute snuggled up together.  Most likely Disney Junior or Barbie something or other.

 R and Avery took out the carpet in the basement to prepare a storage area for all the stuff from the old house that doesn't yet have a place to be.

 Aiden is so helpful and trustworthy.  He's a reliable tool fetcher...Shaun will ask him to go get something and after a time you think he's forgotten or gotten sidetracked, but he always comes back, usually with the right tool.  This time it wasn't, so Shaun had to plug it in and pretend to use it.  Both of them...so sweet!

 The brand-new fuel pump that Shaun put it went bad, which meant the truck was not running.  At least this time he was in our driveway and it was about 20 degrees cooler.

 We've also had several apartment vacancies and this day we all went over to get the place ready for someone to move into.

 Spent the morning moving...in the rain, then loaded up for the dump...in the rain.  Good times.

 I guess you could say this week we officially moved...our old mattress with the valley in the middle went to the dump and the coffee pot (which also needs to go to the dump) found its way over.

 Our three kids are having a blast in their new space.  Aiden's room is not ready so he's been sleeping on the top bunk bed.  Its a big party room...we'll see how that works once school starts.

 So many treasures to be found while going through stuff.  This is a great picture of Shaun's family from just a couple years ago.  :)

 All the rooms are clearing out.  :(

 Stay tuned next week...already there are lots of fun changes and progress reports!

Project 365, Week 32

Time seems to be flying at an unprecedented speed.  It feels like we are only getting about a quarter of our 24-hour allotment and Sunday rolls around again without the week feeling like it even happened.

Update on Z: we had a meeting this week (an ACR for those who know the lingo) with Z's mom, grandma, various social workers and attorneys, a mediator, reunification worker and me.

In short, the decision has been made to reunite Z and his two siblings back with his mom...looks like it is definitely happening.  Talking with my social worker in the parking lot she said, Lisa, you looked like you were going to throw up. The State paints a rosy picture of how things look now and will look once all the kids are placed.  May it be so.

The day he leaves us for good is August 23, but the visits with mom have been ramped up, so he is only with us four full days between now and then.

How are you all doing with it? is a question I'm getting a lot.  The brief answer is we are okay. 

At the risk of over-simplifying it, I trust God and I know He is sovereign.  We have done our very best with Z, upending our life as we'd previously know it on his behalf.  As I've told Z so many times, I don't understand why God has allowed this path for your life, but I know He can use what was intended for evil for good.  Its just what He does, if we continue to allow Him to be a part of our lives and seek His will for our lives.  

Will we be sad?  Absolutely.  It is the strangest thing to look through a year and a half of pictures with Z a part of everything right from the beginning and then to think there is a chance we never see him again in this life.  Weird.

But our family life is such that we don't sit around much dwelling on the past, but try to make the best use of the present.  We will turn our efforts towards R and whatever else God has for us.

And...here's our week!

August 4

Avery earned a free ice cream at DQ through our library's summer reading program and she'd been asking to use it, so just the two of us snuck away for a little bit.

 She has been obsessed with these arson signs that are hung all over town.  She has talked about and analyzed every detail of it and really wants to find out who it was and how they might be discovered....and what she will do with the reward money.

 The sign we stopped at to take a picture of the sign happened to be in front of the first home Shaun and I owned.

 If you look close you can see the double rainbow...right from our front porch.

 August 5
So sweet how Aiden sits at the table.

 R had earned enough to buy himself an iPod.  I said, there is no wifi available for you to use at the house, it gets plugged in downstairs every night and I can check anything on it anytime I want.  Do you still want one?  He said yes, so off we went....he was quite happy with his purchase.  Wait til he hears about how little screen time I can tolerate.  :)

 Such a beautiful sunset at football practice pickup.  Sadly, Z won't be playing football on any team this year, but he sure has enjoyed practicing with the team.

 August 6
I noticed all the kids were wearing plaid.

 Amanda's tooth is loose, so I wanted to get her baby grin before it goes away.  :(

 The kids found the dress up bin.

August 7
Caught Aiden reading to himself while home for lunch.

 August 8
Mom, take a picture...I'm going to be like a parent.

 August 9
After an exhausting day (they all are, by the way) we ended up going out for dinner...a rare treat!

August 10
The kids are having a BLAST sleeping in the same room...and they make it party time!  Its aggravating at night when they are supposed to be sleeping, but in the morning I love listening to them giggle and read and fool around together.