What Happened To Us?!

I must apologize for leaving you all hanging on such a sad and sour note and not filling you in since then.  I just spewed and then left.  That was not nice at all.  So I must say I am truly sorry for my little rant and for my leave of absence once again.  This blogging thing can be a hard job sometimes, or at least a time consuming one at that. 

It's just about midnight and I'm finally sitting down to write and catch you all up on what's been going on around here.  Which has been a lot, actually.  And at the same time, not very much.  I'll explain in a bit.

My poor mom and dad, I keep getting messages from them asking when I'm going to put up another post, they miss my kids and want to see their sweet faces and hear all about what they're up to, every single day if they had it their way.  And yet I haven't taken the time lately to sit down and write, or even transfer my pictures from my camera to the computer and edit them, ugh, remind me not to let that job go untouched for more then a day! 

To be honest I've been a bit down lately.  Why you ask?  Well it's because work has once again started in not quite full swing around here these past few weeks.  And it's a bitter sweet thing.  Sweet because our house is moving along and we all just want it to be finished like yesterday!  And progress gets us closer to that goal.  Bitter because Nate becomes busy again, pulling late nighters and family time is less and it makes me realize just how much work still needs to be done on the house.

Our motivation for the work is our one year anniversary.  Can you believe it?!!  Yeah, we've been walking down memory lane a lot recently saying things like,"One year ago today we were packing up the house."  "One year ago today we were buying our property." And so on.  It's wild to think about all that has taken place this past year.  (I could go off on a million rabbit trails)  But what our one year anniversary also brings is the mandatory time for our construction loan will be finished and we can turn it over to permanent financing which is a wonderful thing.  Just paying interest is no good!  So that date is quickly approaching and we need our house finished, for the most part, to proceed with that.  At this point our construction loan will definitely be longer than a year, but hopefully not too much longer, hence the push on getting work done around the house to get it finished and ready for an appraisal. 

Building has been hard for me in many ways, definitely a growing experience as I am sure it is for most who take this road.  In so many ways it's 'not my thing'.  I like my ducks to be in a row, my life to be organized and the living space (home) around me to be magazine picture perfect.  Yes, go ahead and laugh at me, I am too! And yet for more than a year now I have been living in what feels like total chaos!  I cannot get any ducks in any kind of row, organization has been botched time and again and let me tell you, my house is no picture of a magazine, well not a Better Homes and Gardens one anyway.  I can't even keep it clean for one second which drives me crazy because I love a clean home.  Like I said, I have been stretched and have been growing, I hope... 

And what has hit me in these past two weeks since we started picking up the pace on working around the house again is that we're still walking this road, with the end not so much in sight as I hoped it would be.  To say it more clearly, I'm overwhelmed at all there is to be done and the amount of time it's going to take.  If there's one thing I've learned about construction it's this: it always takes longer than you think it will!  And usually it's a lot longer.

Well here I go ranting again.  Sorry.  I just wanted you to know why I've been silent for a few weeks.  We've been busy in the evenings working on our house and I'm readjusting back into a new routine and a new 'normal' for another season of working on our house.  It's just taken me a bit of time to accept it and to move forward and do the best we can with what we've got. 

I definitely need to continue to keep my eyes on the Lord and my husband lovingly reminded me to read Matthew 6.  Because I worry.  I worry a lot, about everything.  I worry that I'm failing as a wife and a mother through all of this, that somehow I'm not keeping it all together as best as I could.  Oh, how easy it is to get our eyes on ourselves and off of Jesus Christ. 

Pray for me, for our family. Please. As we begin to pursue the work on the house again and try to get the house finished. After a break it's a hard thing to get back into. And that we would keep our focus on the Lord. That we would continue to seek Him first in all that we do!

Master Bathroom is a go!

Prepping the floor for tile

Zeke getting in on the action.  Such a big boy.  He wants to be there right by dad helping him do the work!

Even McKenzie got in on the action.



What else have we been up to in the last two weeks other than working on our house?!  Yes, we're busy with the house but it has not consumed every minute of our time together, thankfully!

Two weekends ago we headed to Jamestown, ND  for a long weekend to attend the North Dakota Homeschool Conference.  We decided to go to 'get our feet wet' and see what it was all about so in the future when we might need to go and actually be looking for specific school items or information we hopefully wouldn't be overwhelmed.  We weren't sure if we were going to go up until the last minute but let me just say we are so glad we went!  We had a wonderful weekend away together as a family and one of the most wonderful things about being there was seeing so many of our friends and fellowshipping with families who we don't get to see on a regular basis.  The kids had a great time playing with friends and swimming in the pool and they did such a wonderful job even though we had them with us while we sat through some speaking sessions. 

Nathan and I felt more confident and comfortable moving forward in schooling our children at home, being encouraged on all the many ways that can look like and that we're not alone in this journey.  Curriculum, on the other hand may be a bit more overwhelming to figure out but thankfully we have a few more years before we have to really dive into that pool.  Overall, it was a great weekend that we enjoyed together as a family and spent with many friends.  I snapped only a couple pictures amidst the business of the weekend.

Yes, we're those parents who let their kids jump on the beds, at hotels at least!

A sleepy girl, it was an early morning for all of us.  We're not even up at 7:30 in the mornings let alone having to be somewhere at that time...

Our kids were such troopers while we sat through listening to a few speakers, they did such a great job.

And the fun! 

Poor Nate was the only adult in a packed out pool full of crazy kids!! 

Thanks Luanne for holding my sad baby for me while I took a few pics!

Ada girl!

What an awesome dad!  (No he's not choking Zeke, just an awkward picture)

Hanging out in the hotel room with friends!

Thanks Morrows for sharing a couple meals with us and so many others!  We love you guys!

Also, our weather has been fabulous, I keep saying this because it's truly amazing to us.  We would normally still have snow on the ground this time of year, but instead we're outside in short sleeves or a light sweater enjoying family walks most evenings and the kids love running around the backyard playing in the dirt pile and on the swings in the afternoons. 

This weekend we went out and got a new grill so we could start enjoying some summer grilling and hopefully eventually we'll enjoy some dinners outside in the evenings.  We are all loving spring!

Nate building our new grill while the kids run around and get into trouble...

She's getting the hang of moving... it won't be long now.  She is not too happy about being left behind and having to watch her brother and sister play.

And please, let me introduce the lip!  We have been seeing more and more of her bottom lip now that she's been told 'no' a few times.  She's good at milkin it!