She's Crafty

I have been feeling less than crafty lately so this here has been my motto to fill the void...



I do have so many craft and sewing projects on my 'to do' list but those things have been put way down to the bottom of my list. I would love to be able to do them before Maggie arrives or before we move but it's just impossible. My days have been filled with packing and doing whatever I can possibly do to help make the new house livable. And it's getting there. The tile in the master bathroom shower has been started and we absolutely LOVE it! It is turning out so beautiful I can hardly stand it. Josh is at the house right now working away at staining the floors so for the next four days I have been banned from the house due to the fumes. I am so anxious to see it however. I may just have to sneak over there during the day sometime and peak in the windows. Choosing our stain color was so incredibly hard. I had no idea it would turn out to be such a big ordeal. We decided to go with a floor finishing product called waterlox which we add wood stain to the first coat of waterlox that's applied. Getting the right ratio was more than difficult. We really had our hearts set on a medium walnut color and when we added the walnut stain to the waterlox product it diluted it so much and made it a very, very light brown color. We could only go up to a 4:1 ratio with it so even at the maximum amount of stain added it was way too light. So Benjamin Moore who we purchased all the other paint for the house from came to the rescue. They mixed us up a special concoction to hopefully give us the desired look we are hoping for. Josh said after they started staining the floors they thought it may be a bit too dark so they changed the ratio a bit. It's killing me not to know what it looks like. I've just decided that it will be beautiful no matter how light or dark the shade is and I am just more than ready for them to be done so we can move on. Literally.
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We have slowly begun to move boxes over to the new house. We decided to leave Gracie's room unfinished for now since we are on a major time crunch and we really need that room for storage until we get everything unpacked and settled. Then we will do her wood floors and complete her bathroom. So her room has become our storage unit. For now she can sleep on Colton's bottom bunk or even sleep in Maggie's room since she won't be using it for quite some time.
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On another note, the big birth kit arrived today. Just another sign that Maggie's birth is impending. The kids and I had a little birth education as they were asking what each and every item is used for. We have asked Gracie if she'd like the honors of cutting her little sisters cord and she lit right up but first wanted to make sure it wouldn't hurt her even just a bit. Colton cut his brothers cord and I feel that this made him at his young age feel really special and connected to his brothers birth. The kids have all decided that they want to be present for the birth as they were for Fletcher's so hopefully I'll be able to maintain my peace and calmness like I have in the past to keep it an environment that won't be too overwhelming for them. I think the distractions of everything else going on has kept me from getting nervous about the pain that is ready to hit me at any time now. But I'm also just so excited to meet this little girl that I keep saying to myself "Bring it on! Just please let us move first if that's not too much to ask."
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My midwife Lori came over last night to the new house to make sure she knew how to get there and we talked a little bit about our desired birth plan. I just love the fact that we make the calls and it is completely up to us how we desire our birth to be. Next week she will be sending me home with a birth pool just in case the bathroom I plan on being done for the birth (with the big tub) is not completed. I'm hoping that doesn't happen but it feels so good knowing we have a back up plan and that most likely my desired water birth will happen regardless. To me, lying down in bed while giving birth is the most excruciating feeling ever and although I know there are other positions to give birth in, I just love that the calmness that the water brings not to mention the ease of cleanup. It makes birth nearly mess free. Okay, enough of that! I know the thought of all that is not for the weak of heart.
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I can't wait to sneak over to the house and take a few updated pictures of the progress to post. It still is going to be way more uncompleted than we would like but hey, we aren't complaining that we sold our house. We are so super grateful! Our church gets together for a prayer meeting Sunday nights and the Sunday before we received our offer they specifically prayed that we would sell our house to ease some financial strains and not to mention the major strain of the house showings that I was feeling. Another testimony to us that God is SO good!

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Baby Steps

Okay, you all must really think we're overwhelmed. The fact that I haven't blogged in over a month does mean I've been just a little bit busy, but more so we've had a nasty virus on our computer. It's still there and I'm working on trying to get it removed but I wanted to finish this post I started at least three weeks ago before the virus struck but just never got around to finishing it. I've had so many great pictures of the house project and the newly turned three year old that I've wanted to post but this stubborn computer just won't let me. I was able to add a few recent ones this morning but it's just taking way too long so I'll have to do more another time.
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So what have we been up to in the past month...
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Well, our house is sl...ow...ly... getting completed. Inch by inch, we're making progress. It has completely consumed our lives lately but we are having fun seeing the improvements that we are making. This has been a monstrous project but we are so very thankful to some great family and friends who have been graciously pitching in and helping us to get things done.

Praise God, we sold our house and are set to close on October 16th. Selling our house so quickly and not to mention closing just 2 weeks before my due date has made things a little more hectic to say the very least but we are so very grateful just to have sold it. Financially things will be so much easier on us even if we are living in a work in progress house. We keep reminding ourselves that it'll just be a step up from camping. And we've done that plenty of times before. Just not with a newborn!


But I have managed to make peace that it's not going to be even closely finished but in the end I just feel very fortunate to be at this point in our lives. I know that one day we will have a beautiful house in which to raise our family and we'll have a sweet new daughter added to our family. What a blessing this all is! Even though it'll be quite crazy for the time being I know that this has all been God's timing for us and we are really glad things have worked out the way they have. We are learning so much from this experience for sure.
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So far the four bathrooms are completely gutted still and the kitchen has no counter tops, sink or oven but somehow we will figure out a way to make due with it because there is little chance of it all happening before we move. And the entire outside has yet to be touched. We did cover the house with black tar paper in preparation to put up the new siding but then we realized we were closer to selling our house then we thought so we needed to put that off and focus on the inside. So it'll look hideous for a while but once we're living there Josh can start working on the outside. At this point the look of it doesn't bother me a bit. I'm just hoping to not have to live in and birth this baby in our RV!
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We are hoping to have two bathrooms completed by the time we move in and all the wood floors finished except for Gracie's room which has been a storage room for all the wood floors. Josh is so close to finishing the floors and has been working on them every night until he can hardly keep his eyes straight anymore. The kids have been out there too each night, sometimes not getting home until 11pm and they have been such troopers. I'm so proud of them! We are all so exhausted but there's been little time to think about that. We just keep moving forward.
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We are excited to have the crew from our small group bible study coming out tonight to lend a helping hand so we are hoping to get the floors finished along with some painting too! It'll be a fun night for sure! When I say finished I mean laid. We still have to have them sanded which is happening Monday and Tuesday then we have to do the stain and sealing which is a three day process (one coat a day) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and maybe we can start moving things in on Sunday. That's the plan for today but as we're learning, that can quickly change!

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One of the bathrooms that we are attempting to get finished is the babies (fletch & maggie's) jack and jill bathroom since we're putting the large jacuzzi tub in their bathroom. We figured that the kids are the ones who use the big tub in our bathroom now and they never use their little bathtub in their bathroom so it just made sense. We really didn't have the room for one in our bathroom anyway.
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Both Gracie and Fletcher were born at home in our current jacuzzi tub and in my mind, there is nothing like giving birth in the water. Honestly I am a little bit scared at the thought of not being able to do so this time around but I am keeping peace knowing that it's all in God's hands and He will take care of all the details like when I give birth, where I give birth, and how much of the house is completed at that time. I figure Maggie is coming when she's ready whether things are finished or not and in the end it really doesn't make much of a difference. One way or another it will all get done and I will even be able to help a little bit more once I've recovered from birth compared to what I can help out with now. But we still going to try to get that tub in before she comes and maybe, just maybe I can have my third and very much wanted water birth.
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When I'm not at the new house working, I have been keeping up with homeschooling as well as packing up our house here. My dining room is filled with packed boxes and last weekend we nearly got the attic emptied out. All of this has made this pregnancy fly by. I just can't believe it's nearly over and I do get sad thinking that it is. But I can't even say how excited I am to see my girl and to have her here present in our lives. We all are beyond excited.
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(the majority of these pictures are from almost a month ago but again, the computer is being stubborn so for now, this is all I've got...)





getting ready for our girl
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colton's bamboo room in the making



the kids are all learning great work ethics from this project

they are hard workers but sometimes they get a little too loud and we have to do this...


isn't our black house lovely? I think the tar paper is growing on me slightly ; ) I can't wait to see it finished with the new siding
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we inherited this cool pink crusier when Josh's aunt recently passed away

the kids ride up and down the street, ring, ring..

and uncle austin came out to give the birthday boy a ride
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the kids think we have the world's cutest neighbors

One of our neighbors has sheep and every now and then they sneak out and take a walk up and down our street. Lucy is training to become a good sheep dog as she always knows how to get them back into their fence safely.

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On another both sad and happy note, we had to say goodbye to my brother Brian, his awesome wife Kelly and two sweet girls Ava and Kaya who moved to Costa Rica in the middle of September. We are so super excited for them knowing what an awesome experience this will be for them, but we sure will miss them to say the very least. The girls have started a school that is taught in Spanish only and so far are adjusting pretty well. We are so looking forward to them coming home in December for a visit, to meet their newest little niece and cousin and to maybe even learn a little spanish from them.
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While they are away they've given us their beloved candle to remind ourselves that even though we are apart, we are all connected as family and will always be. The kids love lighting it and saying the names of the each person while picking out who's who.

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Here are a few pictures from our sleepover just before they took off...

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oh how we miss them already!!!
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the cats have loved having plenty of boxes to perch upon
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This is a picture from mine and Fletcher's birthday morning, September 20th, before we left for church. Hopefully I can load more pictures of our special day soon.

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This whole journey sure has been one wild ride but sometimes you just have to close your eyes and go for it!

And know that in the end you will safely land... somehow!