Mommy is the GC today!



Bye, bye pink bathroom!  These guys are workin' hard!  Scott is busy with work today, so I get to be the general contractor - two trips over there so far ...one more later...worn out!  But grateful to have something to check on - that means one day closer to moving in!



Bye bye blue carpet...this closet will be sheetrocked soon...

School room and drywall!  It's coming together!  Praise God!

Laundry room is drywalled...

Thankful to see lots of work trucks today and Big Red being filled up!

Drywall being delivered and unloaded into each room...Insulation inspection
passed today...expecting the drywall guys to be workin' hard tomorrow...

Scott did not have time to do this, but so thankful that he made tomato cages this afternoon...the plants are getting out of control!  In the years I've been gardening (small gardens), I haven't found an easy and tidy way to manage the tomato plants.  We've tried store-bought cages - too short, trellis netting, and staking...this year we are trying homemade cages (approx. 18" diam.) using concrete mesh (Homesteading for Beginners DVD).  I don't like how it's rusty (tetanus?!?), but couldn't find galvanized in this size locally.

You know you're a redneck if...
you have a bathroom sink - or two - in your front yard...

The best and the worst...in the kids' words...

From Hannah (age 9 years)...

The best is that~ this time next year we will all be in the same house.    

The worst is that ~we have two houses not one....and Daddy comes home so late.

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From Connor (age 8 years)...

Daddy never gets enough sleep.  One day, he stayed till five o' clock a.m. I wish he could stay with us longer than he does. But he does have a lot of work to do.  Daddy did the electrical and we all did the DEMO. We are all so tired because we do work every day from five o' clock to nine thirty p.m.On saturday Daddy goes to Forge at six - seven a.m. then he comes home to get  me at nine thirty a.m.Mommy comes at five o' clock p.m.  Mommy then takes us home and Daddy comes home at one o' clock a.m.

It's been hard...

Because my main purpose in doing this blog is for my children to have a record of this change in our lives and of God's faithfulness - even when life is hard...

Honestly, it's probably a really good thing that we did not know exactly what we were getting into when we decided to undertake such a big project.  This has been hard.  In every way.  Scott has been out there pretty much every night past midnight since around the middle of or the end of April.   I heard him last night come in at 2:30 a.m.  He left for work around 7:30 a.m. (which is late for him)...The kids and I go out there with dinner (during the week) and stay until it gets dark, then come home, get showers, and I put them to bed around 10 p.m.  The kids and I are usually out there more on week-ends...I feel like a widow and single-mom...it's hard to be going through this project while homeschooling three children, trying to manage a challenging 3 year old (I feel like he is frequently disobeying or complaining about something - usually that he's hungry, thirsty, or hot - and he drinks and eats more than any of us - and he has been like this since the day we "got him" from South Korea!  My hope is in the Lord's plans and purposes!  I look forward to seeing how God will grow him -- and me -- and all of these children He has entrusted to us with the privilege of training), and trying to maintain most of the kids' other activities - dance, homeschool group, baseball, swim team, piano, birthday parties...Now we're down to just an hour of swim team practice each day and five meets.  Scott has been functioning on very little sleep and maintaining his full-time paying job while undertaking this full-time renovation project. 

Then I feel guilty because I know this project will have an end (hopefully soon!) and it will not always be like this.  In another month or two, we will move and we will all be living in one place - no more trying to manage two houses!  Although I am so thankful that God has allowed us to live in such a nice neighborhood and house while we are working on our renovation project - just 10 minutes away.  I have a friend that really has been a widow for 3 weeks and is going through tremendous sorrow and pain.  I have another friend whose husband is about to leave for Afghanistan for a year.  I have another friend whose nephew almost died two months ago, has had terrible seizures, and - praise God - is in rehab and recovering.  Those are hard trials.  My trial is temporary.  My hope is in the Lord.  I want to be Spirit-led with Him directing ALL of our decisions...

When we prayerfully decided to buy this property, I thought we were going to demo the entire house or donate it to the fire department (and let them burn it down!) and build the house (same floorplan) we had just sold.  That was Plan A.  Then Plan B was to hire a general contractor to renovate the existing house.  Plan C was when Scott said he wanted to be the general contractor.  Plan D was when Scott said that he would be the GC and we would do most of the demo and he wanted to do the electrical work.  I guess we're on Plan E now...Lord, our hope and strength is in You alone.  We want Your plan for us.  Please help us to discern Your plans and purposes for us, and help us to joyfully obey what You have for us.  May we glorify You in everything.  Please give us the strength, peace, patience, and perseverance to finish this project well, and please somehow strengthen our family during this...Thank you for all of your blessings, for this property, for our family, for our health, for our freedom, for all that we've learned through this project...Amen.

*******

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. 

He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress,

I will not be shaken..."  ~ Psalm 62:5-6 ~

Insulation DONE...

Yea!  The siding and roof are DONE!

The front porch ceiling is DONE (it's so nice to say this word!)...
ready for decking, ceiling fans, lights...and rocking chairs...

Daniel in the foyer...

Laundry room...

School room/library/office....

Daniel standing where the kitchen table will go and
(me) looking towards the family room...

Looking towards the master bedroom and kitchen table area...

Sweet potatoes...starting to vine...I love cardboard...

We've planted lots of flowers in the fenced
area around the pool -- safe from deer (I think)...

Cantalope and watermelon...



Scott and Connor took two heaping loads of trash to the dump...it's so nice to
have all of the siding and roofing guys' ladders, scraps, and tools cleaned up!



The tomatoes actually do look "beefy"!  I didn't think our scrawny
little plants that we started from seeds would look this healthy! 
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(Sorry for the pics being out of order...the blog seems to "lose it" when I
upload lots of photos and I can't figure out how to make it do what I want!)



Insulation is DONE!  I've never seen this before -- it's a newspaper base that is blown onto the walls...Hoping to get inspection approval on Monday, then the drywall guys will start...We also have a guy scheduled this week to demo the two upstairs bathrooms...The plumber says he can get a one piece shower upstairs - yea!  We had hoped to avoid a sectional!  That should be the last demo - except for removing all of the carpet upstairs...



The master bathroom is completely gutted and cleaned up...shower is in...
ready for new cabinets, countertop, fixtures, toilet, and floors...

"Regular" potatoes - small for June...we planted late, but better late than never...  ;-)

*******
"The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.  Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?  Who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.  He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.  Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob.  Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle."  ~ Psalm 24: 1-8

*******

Liberty for Mr. Turtle!

Today was the day to set Mr. Turtle free!  We've had him in the baby pool and enclosure for almost two weeks and we decided to let him go at a nearby park.  I barely got this photo taken in time!  As soon as he saw the water, he took off for it! 

There he goes -- a beeline for the reservoir!  The kids all had good attitudes and were in agreement that it was time to let him (or her) go free.  This is a beautiful park with lots of clear water. 

You can barely see his head sticking up!  He took off and didn't
look back at us until he was well away from the shore!

Back at "home" to the garden...the weeds are so hard to manage that we decided to use black plastic for our pumpkin and gourd area (20 ft x 100 ft).  We can't keep up!  Scott hasn't had time to build a fence around the garden, so I cut up bars of strong-smelling soap and sprinkle it around the edges.  I read that helps to deter deer and other animals...so far, so good...

Not bad for our first "real" garden...14 beds at 4 ft. x 20-25 ft.  We've placed the
siding cardboard boxes down in the walkways - works great!  Then we added straw
to keep our shoes somewhat clean...Everything is growing pretty well...

 

Corn, green beans, sunflowers, cucumbers, radishes, melons,
tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes, squashes, onions, herbs...



I love hearing the kids notice something new in the garden and shout excitedly
for everyone to come look at it!  We stand in awe of God's design and creation...

 *******

Another 1am night (or morning?) for Scott...He and Jasen are just about done rewiring the new electrical panel.  The drywall guys came by today to look at what's been done and to finalize their price.  These guys did a great job on the repairs for our last house when we had the hurricane and tornado damage.  The cabinet people needed our final appliance and kitchen sink measurements, so the kids and I picked out our sink today.  The front porch ceiling is almost done...insulation is scheduled for tomorrow...4-1/2 weeks until we had hoped to move...we may ask for an extension on our rental...Praying for God's grace, strength, peace, perseverance, and patience...

Shutters are up!

BEFORE...(the house is really not crooked - that was my fault!)

ALMOST  DONE....Shutters are up!  Scott is ordering the front porch
decking called Azek.  It's similar to Trex but more stain resistant...

Siding is almost done!

The turtle didn't seem to like the pool in the sun
-- too hot...so we moved it to the shade.

 *******

We stopped by the house after piano lessons today - shutters are up!  Yea!  They are a little big since we odered slightly the wrong size (a little too small) windows, but we'll get used to it...We really like the simpler lines.  Scott had 2 inspections this morning - plumbing and framing - went pretty well.  We need to take care of a few minor issues.  Electrical inspection is this afternoon - praying....Hoping to get insulation in next week for a next Thurs inspection....then drywall....Finalized cabinets yesterday for the kitchen and bathrooms.  Thanking God that two issues that one of the inspectors was being difficult about a few weeks ago seems to be ok now...The man today said, "looks like a pre-existing condition to me" (one of our existing steps is too short and the back deck was built years ago with 2x6s, but today they use 2x8s and we have a small section to rebuild)...Praise God!

*******
Scott just called -- electrical inspection PASSED!  Praise the Lord! 
Hoping that he won't have any more midnight/wee morning work hours! 
The inspector said that the electrical work was VERY neatly done!

Jasen has been such a big help!  Working with Scott on
wiring a new electrical panel...look at ALL of those wires (sorry the pic is blurry)!!! 
So thankful for the people God has brought along to help us!