An Emotional December

What an incredibly emotional month December has been. From COVID quarantine away from home to Grandad being in the hospital to him coming home with hospice care, I have cried quite a few tears. 

I will go on record as saying that I think hospital quarantine is an utterly awful practice and that it has become accepted it even more awful. We didn't know how much he could understand and he, for sure, was not able to communicate adequately. My parents knew only the barest of details of how he was doing. It was a heartbreaking time. Grandad was on a 21 day quarantine, thankfully he was able to come home on day 12 and when he came home he was considered no longer COVID positive.  (insert every confused face emoji here!)

Janell and I watched him leave for the hospital the day he was admitted and we sobbed together when the door closed. We really didn't know if he would come home again. For days the report was that his oxygen had to be increased and changed to higher pressure. And then one day they were able to lessen the oxygen and the next day he was off pressurized oxygen and discharge planning started. He was home before Christmas which I just consider to be astonishing.

I got to be there to welcome him home off the ambulance. He was so tired and felt so fragile, but he was so content and happy to be home.

It's only now, more than a week later, that I can go see him without crying. He's holding steady. Some days he sleeps most of the day and other days he is very alert. Today he got enough words out that I knew he was asking about the progress on our house. If he seems up for it, I ask if he'd like me to read from the Bible. He always says yes. It's possible he would let me read for an hour before  he would tell me to stop. I haven't tested that. I'm pretty sure I quit reading before he is tired of listening. And he's always so very grateful. These are the moments I treasure. 

And since I'm tearing up, I will leave it at that.
 

This Week's Building Progress (Dec 13-23)

 So much has been happening on so many different levels this month. For now, I'll just focus on the house progress which has been A LOT. Electric and plumbing passed final inspection. Seeing the light fixtures up was so much fun.

This bookshelf (or shelves for something) is finished.

We started using the sink and the microwave, stove and dishwasher are installed.

The pantry has shelves.

And all of a sudden on the afternoon of Dec 21, we were informed that we could do a "soft" move in so that we could empty the old living room in order to make room for them to put a new closet there. (The old living room is becoming our bedroom.) That night we also needed to empty a closet upstairs that needs repair.

Aliza was amazing and did the second coat of paint on that long wall.

Jeremy and Josiah spent hours finishing the wiring for the network cables. Jeremy was up until 2am moving the computers.

It didn't exactly feel like home. It felt more overwhelming that comforting knowing how much work we still have to do.

But the living room is now ready for a closet.

It's just a normal closet, but, compared to what we have, it looks big to us!

The empty closets upstairs are plaster that was never covered.

This one has a lot of cracks that I am very glad are going to be covered with plywood.

Our foundation is now sealed with proper doors.

Gutters were installed this week along with the front porch fans and light.

 The to do list is all crossed off for the new construction. I suspect that we will have final inspection this week. Then there is one more closet to add to the addition and the closets in the old part of the house to finished and THEN Straight Edge will be finished. It's a little hard to believe that the time has actually come!

We've been working on painting. There's a lot of painting and we have to pace ourselves to remain sane. The kitchen is finished and the laundry room is finished. One room at a time and we will eventually get it done!

This Week's Building Progress (Dec 6-10)

 It was VERY exciting to come home Friday night to see a whole week's worth of work all at once. The kitchen was in place.

Even countertops and the sink! Having only seen a tiny sample of the countertop, I was SO happy that I love it and that it looks nice with the cabinets.

And a lot of flooring was down.

It was also a relief to see that the flooring looks nice the the counters and cabinets.

The exterior is completely finished. And I LOVE it.

There's a still a couple weeks left. Jeremy and I are feeling the pressure of all that we have to do now to get resettled and situated.
 

Monday, December 6

 What a day! Some days it is better not to know how the day will end when it starts. This was definitely one of those days! I decided to skip school because I thought we just needed a breather. Aliza wanted to do some last minute studying before her Driver's Learner Permit test. Her appointment was scheduled for 1:15 and we left the MVA with her permit in hand at 2:30. She was one happy gal and I was very happy for her. I could hardly wait to catch her eye when she finished the test and her smile and thumbs up...I hope I never forget! That would have been enough  emotion for one day, but it only got more intense from there.

From the MVA, Aliza and I met my Mom at the doctor's office. Something was going on with my Grandad LeRoy. I needed to be there to help Mom transfer Grandad back in to the van after his appointment. No sooner did I park and Mom texted me "They are doing a COVID test". My response was "Please be negative. Please be negative. Or we will alllll have to quarantine." Only a few minutes later Mom was out of the building. I hopped out of my car to meet her. She told me the test was positive...put a mask on.

It was truly awful getting Grandad from the wheelchair into the van. He was so weak and had lost a lot of balance and coordination in the past few days. Driving back to my parents house to pick up the other children, the weight of having been exposed to COVID began to sink in. (We are still basically living at my parents house during the day.) My concern quickly moved to whether work could continue on our house with us having been exposed and needing to self quarantine. After talking to Brian and Jeremy and some tears, we decided it would just be best to move to my parents house for the week. The house is moving along and I just couldn't imagine stopping progress.

We ate supper together and then packed up for the week. The children and I got back to my parents and the first thing we did was drag two mattresses upstairs and set up beds. Jeremy arrived soon after with his entire desk including his chair. He worked from his in-laws guest room for the week. The girls were so relieved that their Daddy was with us. (One of the options was that Jeremy would sleep at home and leave before the workers arrived.)

Thankfully Mom and Dad's house is such that we could basically live separately from them to minimize our contact. The week continued to be very emotional. The very short version is that Grandad was admitted to the hospital on Thursday with COVID pneumonia. It has been hard to think of him in the hospital alone.

Josiah also tested positive. He has been really tired and lost smell and taste. After a week now, it seems like he is a bit better each day. Tonight he was still sound asleep at 8:00.

There is still so much to be thankful for in the midst of sickness and strong emotions. It's much easier said than done to live one day at a time without worrying about tomorrow.
 

Sunday, December 5

 
  Since our house is in no condition to bake cookies are decorate a Christmas tree, my Mom graciously offered for us to use our decorations to decorate her tree. On Friday we made our traditional tree decorating snacks and then on Sunday, after church, we decorated the tree.

Isaiah was asked to read the Advent verse in church. It was completely spontaneous and he did it willingly. He read this without hesitating and got every word right. I was ecstatic! There is something about being a homeschool mom and hearing your child read out loud, in public, for the first time.

Decorating the tree was fun.

Anna was particularly happy that Daddy was with us to the weekend's Advent readings.

We went home happy, hearts full, and ready for the week ahead.
 

This Week's Building Progress (Nov 29-Dec 4)

There was a lot of excitement going in to this week because we are now on the big push to the finish line--the end of December.

We've been looking at the boxes of kitchen cabinets and we very excited to see the boxes open the kitchen laid out. This was the first time I had seen more than a small door of the color.

Exterior work continued to move along. This side of the house is almost finished.

The little boiler room got siding and a new door.

Saturday evening, after the drywall was sanded all day, we finally started painting. It was a family project.

Aliza, Josiah and Anna stuck with it for the long haul. Isaiah had fun for a little while. Janell came over on Sunday afternoon to paint and by 4pm on Sunday we had primer on everything and the first coat of paint on everything except the kitchen/living room.

The plan at that time was to put the first coat of paint on the kitchen/living room on Monday evening. Life took a bit of turn that none of us saw coming and I'll catch you up on some of that in the next couple of posts.

 

Joy Dare::November

 8571. Afternoon with Meghan, Janell and all the children
8572. My Bible study ladies
8573. Crockpot supper
8574 A day with nothing extra
8575. Framing inspection passed
8576. A fried stopping by to see the house
8577. Dance mom time
8578. Conversation sparked
8579. Just enough heat
8580. Making morning hot chocolate for the children
8581. Car time with Josiah
8582 Back porch finished
8583. Isaiah enjoyed reading
8584,. Finding banana bread on my table
8585. Listening to podcasts while I do a job I don't really enjoy
8586. Josiah had a fun afternoon with friends
8587. Scrapbooking is still therapy for me
8588. Turning the clocks back
8589. Plenty of blankets
8590. Watching The Chosen
8591. Finished a book
8592. Insulation
8593. Boys on bikes
8594. Car playlists
8595. Isaiah showing his ant farm to Grandad
8596. Home for the whole evening
8597. Josiah and Anna genuinely having fun together
8598. Car time with Aliza
8599. Some reading time for me
8600. Teaching Isaiah to write cursive
8601. "This is the life--eating a cookie in the bathtub." -Isaiah
8602. Everyone could find a dressy outfit
8603. Project meeting
8604. Shoo fly pie
8605. School finished in spite of bad attitudes
8606. Listening to them play Family Feud in the car
8607. Playing with babies
8608. Talking to Aunt Eunice

8609. Visiting with aunts, uncles and cousins
8610. Children who handled themselves all weekend
8611. Brunch
8612. A good night's sleep
8613. Jeremy's heart to help and give
8614. Celebrating Grandad

8615. Visiting with my siblings around the table
8616. Isaiah needed a lap for school

8617. A little date time with Jeremy
8618. Soaking up a little sun
8619. Developing patience
8620. S'mores mix
8621. Watching Anna and Isaiah catch leaves
8622. Beautiful full moon
8623. Anna had a completely good attitude about school
8624. Psalm 33:20-22
8625. So excited to see the rooms with drywall
8626. Friday
8627. Christmas shopping
8628. Toothless smiles

8629. Celebrating Sean
8630. Spontaneous trip to Hobby Lobby
8631. Really fun surprise watching Masked Siger
8632. Pokemon family adventure
8633. Isaiah on his scooter
8634. Chai and pumpkin muffin (thanks Mom!)
8635. Showing Rob our house (he designed the addition)
8636. Celebrating Anna
8637, Great Grandad laughing
8638. Lasagna brought to us
8639. Anna doing division so much faster
8640. Bike riding
8641. Finishing school for Thanksgiving break
8642. Fishing adventure with Dad and the children
8643. Aliza caught her first fish
8644. Podcasts and scrapbooking
8645. Josiah caught lots of fish today
8646. Thanksgiving dinner with my family
8647. Feeling quiet and rested
8648. Smooth drive to WV
8649. Talking with Anna
8650. Aliza over-the-top excited about Star Wars
8651. Tea with my friend
8652. Thanksgiving with Heslop family
8653. Fancy hot chocolate

8654. Making Christmas cards
8655. Enjoying the company of family
8656. Our own beds
8657. Some days they work together

8658. HVAC crew cleaned up quite well
8659. English Breakfast tea
8660. Anna had a good attitude
8661. Unexpected free evening means the first batch of puppy chow
8662 HVAC upstairs