Happy 13th Birthday Josiah!
You want to slide into your teenage years with as little reminder that you are now a teenager as possible. I have no doubt that these are going to be amazing years for you. You are smart, kind, thoughtful, generous and fiercely protective (especially of Isaiah). I'm so happy that I have a front row seat in watching you grow into the man that God created you to be.
Jeremy and I bought our house 19.5 years ago--2 weeks before our wedding. At the time it seemed so big--3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 1.75 acres. We thought that *someday* we would renovate with at least adding central air and so we only did low cost updates over the years.
In 2009 we had grand plans drawn for a huge addition, but during the loan process the economy crashed and we couldn't get the loan. In retrospect, we are glad that our 30 year old selves were spared from what would have been a disastrous financial decision.
The talk of building was tabled at that point. It was tabled so long that I wasn't sure it would ever be brought up again. At the end of 2018, I started talking about it. I felt like the right time was approaching. Our children are growing up. Thinking of our children being in and out of the house as older teenagers and young adults made our bedroom and bathroom situation look quite cramped.
Then, in the winter of 2019, I reached out to Rob to draw us some new plans. Rob and Annie lived in our house before us. We bought it from them. They loved this house and Rob was thrilled to help us extend the life of this old farmhouse. This time I told him that we needed it as simple as possible with a specific price tag. He delivered and we had the blue prints drawn. And then Jeremy and I set up a system to test ourselves on whether we could live in a strict budget. We found out that we can and so...
...in April of 2020 Jeremy began the loan process. Oh my, what a process it has been! COVID created a lot more paperwork for Jeremy to submit monthly. I had no idea how much our contractor would have to be involved. We waited 6 weeks for the Health Dept to come out to do what they needed to for our building permit. And multiple weeks for other steps along the way. There were plenty of times that I didn't know if it would every happen. There were other times when I was praying for "the permit man at the Health Dept" or the "consultant guy in New Jersey". Other times I was strategizing the best way to get Brian (our contractor and my brother) to do the 3 things or more on the list we needed done.
9 months later somehow it all came together for us to close on the loan this week! Our loan officer said we were in the top two of her longest loan processes.
I'm glad we are doing this in our early 40s instead of our early 30s. I'd like to think that I've learned a lot about waiting and contentment in the last ten years. I'd also like to think that I will truly appreciate central air and a dishwasher (and a lot more things) in the future.
You are being warned now that this blog will likely be my place to chronicle this adventure! If you are up for it, I can't wait to share the journey with you.
While the rest of the country is getting a lot of snow, we are getting a lot of rain. We did get two small amounts of snow in two weeks which led to some fun.
The first fun was that when I went downstairs on Sunday morning the house was cold. The oil pipes had frozen. Jeremy and his Dad tried everything to get that pipe thawed and even when the temperature got above freezing the heat didn't come on.
Thankfully, we have a propane insert in the fireplace for a backup heat source. It keeps the upstairs warm and keeps the worst of the chill off of the downstairs. We were still chilly though. I had three hoodies on and chai in hand while the children played outside.
At 10:30 that night Jeremy got the heat working and we all slept good and very much enjoyed hot showers the next morning!
The second round of snow and Isaiah went out in shorts, no coat, he did pull the hood of his hoodie up, mittens and boots. I seriously questioned his logic (and sanity). He lasted a lot longer out there than I thought he would. I had the hot chocolate ready when he came in.
7762. Filling in the new calendar
7763. Visiting with Jay
7764. Feeling more like myself
7765. Grace and forgiveness
7766. New frying pans
7767. Soaking in one more day of vacation
7768. Everyone had good attitudes about learning
7769. Clearing the calendar
7770. Anna planning a spa night for her and Aliza
7771. Jeremy home for supper this week
7772. Burdened to pray for so many needs
7773. Able to just focus on school
7774. Feeling so seen and loved
7775. Science experiment
7776. Coffee delivery
7777. Putting away Christmas
7778. Midday walk
7779. Anna working really hard on cleaning her room
7780. Trying to stay motivated
7781. Blue sky this morning
7782. Watched a show with the boys snuggled up
7783. This quote:
7784. Scrapbooking
7785. Aliza so happy to talk to a friend
7786. Cake pops for the kiddos
7787. Puzzle started
7788. Rethinking food
7789. Seeing Mom for a minute
7790. Game night with their friends
7791. This news source- SmartHerNews
7793. Aliza has a lot of patience with me
7794. Listening to the antics
7795. The routine normalcy of a couple errands
7796. Aliza could participate in youth group
7797. A new cookbook
7798. Outside time
7799. Reading to Isaiah
7800. Just enough patience
7801. A friend brought pizzas for us
7802. Anna in a helpful cleaning mood
7803. Memory keeping
7804. Isaiah planning family time
7805. The third puzzle for the week
7806. Hot chocolate and cookies
7807. "When facing a storm, you don't need a reason, you need a revelation."
7808. Reading days
7809. Happy to be going to church
7810. New games
7811. Bright stars
7812. Aliza's help
7814. The Wednesday routine
7815. Work getting done
7816. Highly motivated school day
7817. Watching parts of inauguration
7818. Ridiculous sale price on Anna's dress
7819. Mom came for lunch
7820. Playing Candyland with Isaiah
7821. The Friday evening feeling
7822. Made me think of Gramma
7823. Some in person time with Janell
7824. Children that are friends
7825. A restful day
7826. Business meeting with Jeremy
7827. Feeling productive
7828. Aliza helping with supper
7829. Anna had a fun outing with a friend
7830. Children old enough to keep on doing school while I have an appointment
7831. Anna's photo book
7832. Linda's safety
7833. Josiah stayed home alone
7834. A little bit of snow makes for so much excitement
7835. Winter=hot tea every day
7836. The biggest full moon rising in my rear view mirror
7837. Anna and Josiah really excited
7838. Fresh produce
7839. TGIF!
3 John verse 4 says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."
Watching Josiah and Anna choose to follow Jesus over the past years and now make that a public decision by being baptized was just the best feeling as a parent. Their Grandpa Van preached the sermon, their Grandad baptized them and their Dad poured the water. It was a snowy day so instead of joining us in the building as planned just about all of their aunts and uncles were watching on zoom.
And this is the $2.11 dress that Anna could hardly wait to wear! Yes, she wore sandals...in January. It is far more important to wear amazing rose gold sandals with a heel than it is to dress appropriately for the weather!
