At home

We've been so busy settling in to our new "old" home that it's been hard to post anything lately. We love being home and are slowly but surely making our way down that to-do list. We have been working on various projects around the house as well as beginning new friendships with our neighbors. We are so excited to have such friendly neighbors both right across the street and to the left of us. I'm praying God will open doors for opportunities for us to share His story through ours. I would love for you to pray with us. We do not want to set our eyes on anything else but His cause. And though I love renovating and remodeling an old home, I know that He has us here for something much greater than that.

And I've been at war within myself, this flesh that I fight... but God is so good. I've been reading about Paul's conversion in Acts 9 and Paul's words in 1 Timothy say that God set him apart before he was born to be an instrument of God's grace, to show Jesus' perfect patience (the whole of His long-suffering). I'm so thankful for His perfect patience in my life.

We are learning so much through this season of our life. God has brought us down an interesting road. One that when we set out we didn't realize would be as winding and rocky and long. I have had to depend on the Lord for strength when I've just felt I couldn't do it anymore, faith when I've questioned why if it's the Lord's will does it have to be so hard, patience when it seemed there were so many obstacles in front of us, constancy when it seemed our feet were not planted in one place very long, contentment when the walls of our apartment seemed to be closing in on us, and grace when it all got the best of me. And His grace is sufficient, His mercies are new every morning. And even though we may be hard pressed, we are not crushed. He works all things for the good!!

These pictures are very special. One night a couple of weeks back Emma and Lili asked if we would like to go to a dance after dinner was over. After we said yes they went into our closet and picked out outfits for both Mike and I, we were all very dressed up for the special dance that was to take place. Lili had on her princess dress and spent most of the time in her daddy's arms just as in one of the pictures. They both love to dance with their daddy.

This was just the first of many precious memories to be made in our new home.

Stairs/Carpet

We have been working on painting, boarding up, and carpeting stairs this week.

I made Mike take a pic of me "working". I needed proof that he wasn't the only one working on our house ;) Although, he's done most of the work!

Emma loved the carpet! We stopped by after school to check on the progress and the guys were finished!

Our contractor is working on the balusters next, so no more butterflies in my stomach when me and the girls are walking upstairs ;)

"Open" House

If you were to visit us today, this is what you'd see.

Come inside but watch your step.

Our living room is currently the wood working/tile cutting shop. You can barely see the floors due to all the sawdust. Looks like progress to me though.

Our master bedroom is fully furnished with a kerosene heater, a few bricks, some trim scraps, random plastic containers and boxes.

Needless to say, this is our storage unit right now.

Course grit sandpaper Mike used on the belt sander to reveal our beautiful wood floors.

Below is the playroom floor. Of course they've only been sanded not cleaned or anything else just yet.

Lili's floor has alot of character. There's a spot in the middle that's going to take some extra attention. If all else fails and we aren't able to sand this out, we'll just conceal it with an area rug :)

Close-up of the spot on Lili's floor.

Emma's floor (below) was in really great shape.

Character

2 nights ago, Mike and I got one coat painted in the kitchen. He cut in and I rolled. Love the color, it's Clarksville Gray by Benjamin Moore. Although, it doesn't look gray at all. It's more of a green which is what I wanted.

I am excited about our deep window sills and the trim!

Mike sent me this via text today. That is why it's grainy. Our plumber installed the toilet and vanity in the upstairs bathroom yesterday.

Our shower/bath.

Our plumber also installed the shower hardware!

Just an FYI

You know that big ol' black spot on our hardwood floor in the playroom I mentioned in the previous post? Well, after a little more sanding, Mike was able to get it out! Looks like we'll be able to refinish them as well! Good job hubby!

What We've Been Up To

Mike began sanding our hardwood floors upstairs today! We were a little nervous about what we might find underneath the layers of paint and varnish. Besides a few dark spots, the floors looked great. They have alot of character which I am thrilled about. I love all the dents, strong graining, and nails! They all add to the character of the aged wood.

Below is a picture of what looks to be some water damage. I applied some clear polyeurethane so that I could see if their was going to be alot of contrast and there is. So, we thought about just staining the floors a darker color to allow the "black/darker" area to blend in better but I think we will probably just put carpet in this room. It's quite a large spot and in an area where we couldn't really cover it up with an area rug. This is going to be the girls' playroom, so the added insulation will be appreciated I'm sure.

Below is a picture of a sample of floor after I applied a little polyeurethane to it. I'm so pleased with the color of the natural wood. This is only clear coat, no stain. Love the look of it. I definitely do not want to go any darker. It has such a warm undertone.

Mike has also been working on tiling our masterbath shower/garden tub. We decided to keep it very straight-line and simple. We still have to finish off with crown molding and the wall is not finished out yet. But you get the idea. It is about 5 ft wide and will be eventually glassed in.

We went with a smaller mosaic tile on the floor. When this pic was taken Mike still needed to grout the tile on the step. That has since been done.

Still a work in progress.

June is still our goal. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we finish things up.

Asking

Would you pray with us? We are seeing the light at the end of tunnel, the one we've been in for about 2 years now. We are trying to move in to the house by June. We are asking that you specifically pray for us to meet this goal and that the rest of our renovation would go as smooth as God would have it. We are trusting that it is all in His hands, we know His timing is perfect. He has provided for us in countless ways on this journey. We are thankful for loving and gracious parents that have supported and helped us along the way.

We still have quite a few projects to complete before moving in:
1. finishing up the tile work in our bathrooms/laundry area
2. widening the laundry area doorway so that our washer/dryer can fit ;)
3. refinishing the hardwood floors upstairs
4.stairwell/banister
5. trim work
6. kitchen cabinets
7. install remainder of flooring downstairs
8. Painting

There are more I'm sure, but I think I hit the main ones. This is so we can at least move into the house. Once we get in, there will be lots of little projects inside and out that we will tackle.
If you feel led, would you take one of these projects and pray for it specifically? We appreciate you coming alongside us and carrying this burden. We know that through Him, all things are working toward the good.

Tile and Trim

Mike has been working on the tile in our laundry room and 1/2 bath the past two days. This is his first tiling project and he's really done a great job. This is a pic of the laundry room. The window in this room still has the old trim under it, that will be replaced with the new.

This is the upstairs hallway. Our contractor has put up more molding. It still has to be caulked and painted (it is only primed). We chose to keep the molding the same as the original with 4" trim around doors and windows and 6" baseboard. I'm loving the simplicity of it!

I wanted to give you another look at our doors with the finished trim around them.
These are Emma's closet doors.

There Was Light!

It has been a long road but we now have electricity! What a crazy, long and drawn out ordeal that was and boy did it feel great flipping that switch and seeing luminance.

The doors and trim are in!

Our contractor began hanging them on Wednesday.

The girls enjoyed playing in Emma's closet.

So excited to be seeing progress!

More Reno. Progress!

We've had a bit of a hold-up on the renovation the last few months. The cold weather has set us back as well as a few electrical issues. But nonetheless we are persevering with the help of our gracious God and are making progress yet again. We have been doing some more painting as well as laying flooring downstairs.

Please continue to keep us and our future home in your prayers. We are really hoping to move in within the next few months (emphasis on "hoping"). Our neighbors across the street having been keeping watch over the house for us, it has been awesome seeing how the Lord is already working a friendship there. We are ready to move into our neighborhood and build on the relationships we have there.

Look what I found!

I have been doing a little packing around here the last week or so. We are going to be moving in with Mimi and Popi (Mike's parents) for the next few months until the renovation is finished. We are so excited about this move and feel so blessed to have a family that's so gracious and giving.
We are looking forward to making alot of special memories these next few months, getting in alot of quality time with the grandparents (plus I'm gonna see if I can milk a few extra skills out of it like learning to knit and sew from Mimi, I'm pretty darn excited about that!) and Mike and I will be able to work on the reno. more together which is a huge blessing.
This has been such a testimony to God's provision for our family and we are so thankful for the countless ways He has shown His faithfulness.


This morning during packing, the girls decided to make forts out of our boxes. It kept 'em pretty occupied which was nice for mom b/c I got alot of packing done :)

Chillin' in their forts.

Decorating their forts. Emms' has become quite the little artist!

A Labor-ous Day

Saturday was full of painting! Glad to finally get a bit of color on our white walls. We started in the girls' rooms.

We chose to paint Lili's ceiling a light green, her walls will be painted white wainscoting for contrast.

Emma chose lavendar for her new room. Never thought I'd have a purple room, but I was really satisfied with how it turned out. It's not a very bright lavendar, its pretty subdued.

This is going to be my future guest room headboard! Can't wait to get started on this!

Drywall is UP!!!!

These were taken on the 2nd day of our drywall installation.

Walking through the front door into our living room area.

Future bookshelves and audio/visual.

Hallway to our master bath.

Tub in Master bathroom

Master shower :)

Lili's room

Lili's room again

Emma's room

I can not believe how quickly it went up!