Just Because

I ran into a friend the other day who reminded me I've not been updating my blog. She was right, of course. I told her it was because I have had nothing worthwhile to say! I've gotten out of the mood to share every passing thought or activity, and I've had nothing very important to share. Thus, no blogging. I think being off Facebook has dulled the need to share so much.

But today is Saturday, my little man is fishing with his granddad, and my girls are here babysitting their cousins (with my hands-off supervision), and I have some time on my hands. So, just because, I thought I'd do a quick update post.

The only real news is that we FINALLY closed on our property. We're the proud new owners of 67.5 acres of land and a 90 year old house we can't live in. Yet.

Mark is in the process of tearing off the lean-to addition and the back porch of the house. After that, we'll have the foundation leveled and repaired, then we will begin our additions. We don't know how long it will take, but considering we're paying for it as we go and doing most of the work ourselves, my guess is a day or two short of forever!

I'm excited about the plans, and can't wait to be in my new-old farmhouse on our beautiful property. It's so hard to NOT live there now that it's ours. We'll be adding a master bath/closet, a small laundry room, a small room for Sam, some closet space for the girls (not a single closet in the house), a hall bath, and a den. Once done, it will be somewhere around 1700 sq. feet. Small compared the homes of most everyone we know, but it will seem like a palace to me! And we've learned that we can truly, easily, live with less.

We are all still piled up in the little single-wide trailer my mom is letting us use. It's free, and for that we're thankful. We can put all our extra cash into the house remodel, rather than flushing rent money down the drain.

Living in such small quarters has taught me some great things! For example, I loved my old system of doing laundry, with each kid having their own little laundry basket. I would fold the laundry in my spacious laundry room and put everyone's in their own basket to be put away in a timely manner. But here, we have to quickly do the laundry and put it away immediately, or else it sits on the dryer for the world to see. So we have a new system, in which the laundry is done before it can pile up (no hidden hamper), and is put away right then and there. I love it! So much simpler and quicker and better than the old way. There have been several things like this that have helped me to know we will be more than fine in our little house.

The best part about all of this is that the Lord is doing it all! Not only has He been preparing me to live with less space, He was the one who opened the doors for us to buy the property. It was practically impossible, yet here we are! And He is the one who led us away from building a new house, in order to be better stewards of our resources. And He is the one who is leading us, at every turn it seems, to the right people, at the right time, to do the things that need to be done. I'm just in awe of the obvious, gracious hand of God in all of this. This whole thing has been almost surreal.

So, that's it. That's all that's going on here. Mark goes to work, then goes to the greenhouses, then goes to the house to work. He leaves at 6 a.m. and comes home about 9 p.m. The kids and I do school, hang out at home or have some pool time at Mom's, run errands, and make food. Then we join him in the evenings at the house. That's our life right now, and for the foreseeable future. Throw in tee-ball and softball games, church on Sundays and Bible study on Wednesday nights, and that's pretty much it.

Blessings,
Em