Kitchen installed...yea!

Kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom cabinets delivered today! 
The bathroom countertops were also delivered...waiting on the kitchen countertops to be cut...

Baseboards and bathroom cabinets -- we're not ready for
them to install the cabinets yet -- need to finish the tile in the bathrooms...

Scott wet cutting the tile

Master bath

Upstairs hall bath...

Hannah helping Mr. Jasen with the laundry room tile...
Jasen continues to be a tremendous help...

Ashley walked out of the house today with her hands on her ears...

She said, "There are so many saws all going at once!"

(The trim guy, floor guy, and cabinet guys all had their saws going!  It was quite loud!)

Getting closer...

Floor guys got this part of the floor nailed down -- looks great!

Spraying more trim -- baseboards were delivered today...
So thankful for Jasen's help.  It was extremely hot today.

Scott, Jasen, and John got most of the front porch boards (Azek) down today -- it looks so much like wood with even a wood grain in it, but we won't have to paint it!  The nails (or screws - not sure which) are in the sides so they don't show much which I like.  Love the porch!

Scott and Jasen spent a long time putting down this special type of board for the tile in the laundry room and three of the bathrooms.  Jasen said this is the most time-consuming step.  I hope so -- we're moving in 2.5 weeks!

Our job this evening is cleaning upstairs so the floor guys can start working up there tomorrow.  Our kitchen is being installed tomorrow!  We also need to vaccuum the basement so we can start bringing stuff over.  We are soooooo tired.  This has been a HUGE project.  We have learned so much and it will be interesting to see how God uses that.  I do not believe in luck or coincidence, but in a Sovereign God who has a specific plan and purpose for each one of us as He says in His Word.  We are constantly seeking Him for wisdom, discernment, and guidance while desiring to be obedient and faithful stewards.  I am also asking for weather mercies for our move (7/30) -- we had record high temps (100 deg ++) during our move last summer -- and for strength and perseverance.  We are EXHAUSTED.  Never been this tired...tired for months...Still have to pack up the rental too...Not sure how all of this is going to get done, but with God's help, it will...It's almost over...

*******

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God...Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God..."  ~ Psalm 42:1-2, 5

*******

"Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done.  The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare...I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart...Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me.  You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay."  ~ Psalm 40:5, 8, 17

Paint, trim, and floors...horses go home...

Trim!  Starting with the windows...It has been so helpful to talk with the other contractors we've had work on the house.  Two people's names kept coming up -- the trim guy and floor guys.  Thankful that both of them could fit us in.

Wood floors going down!  White oak...3-1/4 inches wide...

Master bedroom...



Writing scriptures on our floors before they are covered up...

Justice with her fly mask on...

Hannah leading Cherry...

Pumpkins are coming up already!

Daniel's room!



Daniel's last ride...



It was so nice of Monica to get us this flag -- perfect -- Liberty...

 

The horses went home today...so sad...it was such a
wonderful experience having them here...Grateful.



Lots o' paint!

Doorframe and crown mold trim primed and painted once...

Whoa!  I love this green color...but maybe not in a bedroom...
another mistake...the girls don't like it, so...another repainting job...

Liberty blue in Daniel's room -- it's darker than
what we had in our last house, but we're keeping it.

Daniel doing his favorite thing in the world -- eating.

Hannah helping to paint her closet white. 
She chose a pale pink for her walls instead of the bright green.

Gammy is helping to cut in...

Scott working on Ashley's very pale periwinkle color
to match her comforter...(well, at least we hope it matches!)

Ashley discovered tadpoles in the baby pool and
on the pool cover - she is fascinated by them!

Jasen continues to be a tremendous help to us.  He and Scott set up this make-shift platform to paint the stairwell.  He even has his stilts on!  Yikes!  We were supposed to move today - that was our original plan, but as you can see, we are not ready.  We are so thankful that the owner of the house we are renting has allowed us to stay for an extra two weeks.  Our goal now is to move July 30.  The kitchen and bathroom cabinets are ready and waiting to be installed (but we're not quite ready!).   The trim and hardwood floor guys want to start tomorrow -- Sunday?!?  Just about everything except for the bathrooms has been painted -- exhausted.  Also grateful for MaryBeth and Stephani taking the kids for a few hours yesterday and today so we could focus on painting.  Stephani even brought a yummy dinner back to the house tonight.  Very thankful.  All the praise and glory to God.

Gardening notes...

Our lettuce, radishes, and carrots didn't really come up in the big garden,
so the kids planted seeds in these planters and they are doing GREAT!

Sweet potatoes

Our nine watermelon plants are growing like crazy (3 hills of 3 plants each). 
The cantaloupe (top of the pic) are starting to take off...

Cute little baby watermelons!

We planted three different kinds of watermelons --
here's another kind -- it's a little more round...

Potatoes were beaten down in the last thunderstorm...
The kids have been picking off potato beetles...

Zucchini and a few eggplants...We've been picking off lots of squash bugs...



The tomato cages that we built are doing really well...
these are my favorite way to control the tomatoes so far...



This bed is mostly herbs - the basil is thriving...

Rabbit guard fencing inside the bigger fence!  Rabbits are amazing
how they can squeeze through small places!  Yummy green beans...

We planted two kinds of heirloom corn...the kind in the front is very short with lots of cobs, but the cobs don't look very full.  The second type of corn is much taller (back of pic)...We need to support the corn next year with twine and stakes about 24 inches from the ground or so...



Cucumbers and radishes (going to seed!)...

 

Our first cucumber!  Almost ready to pick!

Zucchini that we'll pick soon...

Eggplant...first time growing it...



We didn't have enough of the tomato cage wire to make enough cages, so we tried to support the remaining tomatoes with stakes.  Quite a few of them fell over in the last storm...next year, we'll make more cages!  I think I also need to space the tomatoes a little further apart.  I'm so glad we made the pathways 24 inches wide (between rows) and the main walkways are even wider.

Butterfly bush

Ashley gets so frustrated that the Japanese beetles love her hibiscus!

We planted about 70 pumpkin and gourd seeds this week -- 2 rows in the plastic -- about 20 different varieties of heirlooms...We put a soaker hose under the plastic for each row (like Mr. Jasen) and amended with our manure/mushroom compost/peat moss blend.  I would like to plant earlier next year -- at least 2 weeks earlier.  They take about 100 days until maturity, so that puts us at October 15 or so this year which is later than I'd like.  The kids would love to have a pumpkin/gourd stand in the fall and veggies in the summer...I'm so thankful that Scott put down the plastic several weeks ago because the weeds underneath actually look dead.