All Smiles and Coos

My sweet Janessa Belle is blessing us with smiles and coos these days!  She melts my heart and brings a smile to my face.  Loving my sweet girl!
We also had a checkup and she's off the charts for length and weight!  She's 7 weeks old and weighed in at 14 lbs and she's 24.75 in long with a head circumference of 14 in.  She's definitely a Mudd!

Front Porch

I am SO excited to finally be able to post something, anything other than electrical work being done on the house.  I mean, I know you all loved the photos of outlet boxes, wires and more outlet boxes but you can only handle so much of that before... well okay all of that is pretty boring! 
I am glad to inform you that you don't need to wait any longer!  Drum-roll please...

We have plumbing being worked on!

We have insulation being put in on the main floor!

and...

We have a porch dormer up!

oh, and

electrical is still being worked on

We have a goal for this weekend, I really can't believe I'm putting this in writing for all to read, but we're hoping to start sheet rock this weekend.  There, I said it!  The next thing I'm going to say is, "PRAY!  PLEASE!"  We still have to finish the electrical work, plumbing work and have 3 inspectors come out and give the okay for electrical, plumbing and framing.  SO... we have high hopes.  We'll see what happens.  But we're asking the Lord for His favor upon us and for work to be able to be done quickly and efficiently, and for the inspectors to be available to come out before the weekend and that everything would be correct and to their satisfaction.  We appreciate your continued prayers as well.

^There it is, our front porch/dormer!^

^getting shingled^

^finishing up the soffit^

^my awesome kids always getting in on the action^

^I wish I would have taken more pictures of all our shopping trips, there have been dozens of them and we've looked like a circus at times too, all 5 of us barreling through the store, trying to fit through the door with all of us and our stuff (usually with a waddling pregnant lady not far behind or these days an overly tired baby screaming her head off!)

  ^buying plumbing stuff^

^installing all that plumbing stuff^

^yep, that's some pipe for plumbing, exciting, I know!^

^Backers for our kitchen cabinets^

^INSULATION!! Our house sure has been extra warm with that in!^

Bitter Sweet

There is change once again on the horizon...

This time the change is coming to our home church.  One of the families in our body is moving away.  Not across the country, but far enough to where we won't see them every Sunday for church. 

I am SO excited for them... but I am sad for me, for the loss we'll experience.

I love watching the Lord work and we have seen His hand clearly guiding this precious family.  He has opened the doors wide and directed them.  I know this move is a desire of their hearts that the Lord has given them and for that I am truly excited for them.

Our church family will not be the same without them, for that I am sad.  We will miss their family, their sweet faith and the dynamic of our intimate home fellowship that we've experienced. 

But this I know.  The LORD is in control!  He has great plans for all of us.  He knows what the future holds, we do not, and in that we put our trust in Him. 

Exterior Doors

Yay!  Our exterior doors arrived and Nathan and Bob installed a couple of them on Saturday.  Apparently the side windows of my front door were damaged when they arrived from the factory so those will be delivered and installed later.  Also, my front door will eventually be painted black, so it really doesn't look like the final product yet, but at least we have a real front door!

^the first door to go in: garage/mudroom door^

^up the ladder with this door... you realize how heavy doors are when you have to install them like this^

^it's in!^

^hopefully now we'll feel more safe when the kids are running around, it made my stomach turn when they would stand in that doorway and look into the garage, it's a ways to fall.^

^getting rid of our makeshift front door...^

^maybe we should have kept it... it was cheaper^

^you'll notice plywood where my sidelights should be... boo!^

^putting it in!^

^we're getting there, little by little it's all coming together.  Hopefully my entry porch/dormer will be put up soon^

Papa & Grandma Visit Part 4: Chicken Edition

WARNING: if you are an animal lover you may not want to continue looking at this post, it was chicken butchering day at the Paulson's the day after my parents arrived.  My mom was so excited to go check out the action so she went out with the kids and took some pictures.

^all the little one's.  Butchering day is a family affair at the Paulson's and a lot of times friends are there to help out as well.  Everyone get's in on the action, even the youngest^

^first you get the chickens from the pen^

^Zeke was in charge of opening the trap door, he'd count 1, 2, 3 and then open in and close it as soon as the chicken was in^

^yep, they're still there^

^then they get transferred to this bin, awaiting their doom^

^the throat cutting station, or something like that.  The let the blood drain out of them until they're dead^

^then the chicken is boiled^

^and then it takes a ride in the de-feathering machine^

 ^naked chicken^

^on over to the gutting station^

^and removing limbs station^

^and into this bucket of water for it's final bath, until they are taken into the house, rinsed, measured, bagged and frozen and ready for sale^

^yeah, she really looks like she's ready to dive into the action and get her hands dirty... (you can especially tell by the way she's holding the dirty knife  ;)

Papa & Grandma Visit Part 3: Flood Edition

While the grandparents were visiting we drove around Minot to show them all the flood damage.  We also stopped at our old house, it was the first time I was able to walk onto the property and look in the windows at the damage.  It was absolutely heartbreaking, I couldn't help but cry.  My mom reminded me that no matter how hard things might get while we're building they are no where near how bad they would have been if we were still at our old house.  Here are some pictures that my mom took while we were driving around.

^before and after of our old house: you can notice the water line on the window (right) of how high it got^

^before and after: interior^

^the stairs after the carpet was ripped out^

^back deck looking into the house from the slider.  Before you would have seen a wall of kitchen cabinets and the door to the bathroom/ laundry room ^

^notice all the garbage in the fence^

^everything is filthy, and piles off stuff still line the streets everywhere^

^a church in our old neighborhood, good view of the water line^

^ a dike ^

^a house that was flooded up to the roof^

^a FEMA trailer that you can put on your property to live in while you fix up your flooded house^

^the Salvation Army drives around and offers free water and hot meals to anyone working in the flood zones^

Papa & Grandma Visit Part 2: Work Edition

Here's some photos of some of the work that was able to get done while my parents were here. 

^Ezekiel so excited to show Papa and Grandma his new house^

^finally at the property^

^Opa and Papa working on electrical^

^Papa working on the backhoe^

^we're getting a front yard!^

^riding with Papa^

^Papa, Bob and Al checking out the electrical and plumbing, trying to figure everything out^

^getting the backyard staked and ready to move the dirt around^

^finally, that big pile of dirt is going away^

^filling in the yard with dirt behind that garage^

^working with the loader after the backhoe broke^

^the pile is getting smaller^

^filling in and leveling the edge of the property^

^pile GONE!^

^Layne fixing the backhoe: THANKS LAYNE!!  This made a huge difference with having it one more evening, my dad was able to get a lot more done!^

^out at the point of our property, it's hard to tell in picture just how big the yard is^

^finally all backfilled around the house!!^

^riding with Papa and loving it!^

^me and my daddy^

^Grandma helped clean up the house a little, Zeke riding around on his bike, my little helper McKenzie cleaning just like Grandma and Janessa just hanging out^

^the view from our backyard^

^a 360 from down the street, our house is between Kenzie & Grandma way in the back^

^Nate continued to work on the window wells in the evenings^