Joy Dare::February

7840. Cousin soccer afternoon

7841. Everything finished just in time

7842. A day of just being with Jeremy's parents

7843. Looking at scrapbooks

7844. Crazy boy wrestling

7845. Plenty of blankets and a propane fireplace

7846. Grandma to build snowmen with

7847. Josiah and Anna's baptism

7848. Hot water this morning

7849. Able to work slow and steady today

7850. Homemade cake

7851. 6 year old--"I don't make the rules. I change the rules." 

7852. Rainy/snowy morning snuggles

7853. The children all playing upstairs

7854. A little snow on the ground and blue sky

7855. The girls reading their Bibles together

7856. Fast school day for Aliza

7857. Supper salad

7858. Driving day with Janell

7859. Lunch with Dad and his cousin

7860. Just showing up

7861. A house with plenty of windows

7862. Snow falling in the hugest flakes

7863. Superbowl night food and hanging out

7864. So good to have Bible study in person

7865. 9:20am Cookies in the oven on a rainy morning

7866. Wonderful company this afternoon

7867. Walking felt so good this morning

7868. Anna has been more independent with schoolwork

7869. Puppies joining Isaiah for school

7870. Snowy morning

7871. Sunlight while I'm making supper

7872. It looks like the end of a long process is in sight

7873. Anna grew 5 inches in a year!

7874. Valentine in the mailbox.

7875. Jeremy's long lasting patience

7876. Lunch with Maria

7877. Valentine flowers

7878. Brownie sundaes

7879. 6 year old energy

7880. A closing date

7881. Daddy/Daughter talk

7882. Walking and watching a flock of blackbirds with Isaiah

7883. Evening dessert with Aliza

7884. Late night ideas

7885. A friend to call

7886. We signed and settled!

7887. So excited!

7888. Groceries picked up and put away by 8:20am

7889. Peace in my heart

7890. Mom telling Aliza her dating stories

7891. Just at home

7892. Cookies were necessary

7893. Starting to sort and pack

7894. Blue sky and ice on trees is pretty to see

7895. Girls practicing their worship dance

7896. Anna did so well speaking

7897. Jeremy made the prettiest salads for lunch

7898. Sunday afternoon nap

7899. Chicken in the crockpot

7900. Tillamook ice cream

7901. Afternoon at the park

7902. Watching Aliza enjoy her friendships

7903. Jeremy's investigative skills

7904. Friendships solidifying at just the right time

7905. Friends that had the same orthodontist appointment time

7906. Birthday party supplies

7907. Sun and blue sky

7908. Touching base with Brian

7909. Another afternoon of playing outside with friends

7910. Grandma and Grandpa here for supper

7911. Family birthday party

7912. Pulling out all of the siblings' wedding scrapbooks

7913. Bedtime conversations with Isaiah

7914. Celebrating Josiah

7915. Chocolate covered strawberries

7916. Jeremy.

 

Happy 15th Birthday Aliza!

It's just not possible that she is counting down to the day that she can get her driver's permit. I'm excited, though, to watch all of her adventures this year. 

 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.

Signed and Settled

 

 I still can hardly believe that our home renovation loan is signed and settled. What a long time dream and process this has been. I'll just start at the beginning so that if you follow along with our addition/renovation project you'll know the long story. 

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.

A Couple Snow Days

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.

Grandma Karen is the best at building snowmen. The girls built one.

And the boys built one.

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.

 

Joy Dare:: January

 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

7792. Sunlight

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!
 

Baptism

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!