To my dear GW's, a few of you have posted wanting to know how I was doing. I assure you my lack of posting is only from sheer exhaustion & not abandonment. I love this place and still thank God daily for the support & help you offered in my time of great distress.
My life in the past six weeks has been blessed and utterly trying at times.
We moved on March 26th. After packing for 2 days, we gathered the children & cats and said goodbye to what had been our home for the last 15 years.
We drove to new home and began our new life.
So, sounds easy right? Well this is what we moved into. A beautiful dream home w/ a few issues.
Because of our problems w/ builder and his subsequent firing we had to finish house ourselves. Some of our subs (builders subs) weren't very reliable , thats a nice way of saying they forgot a lot of important things.
Like hot water, it was not hooked up the thursday we moved in and would not be so until the following Monday. We had no potable water, the pump filter went out the day we moved in, part not due to arrive for 2 weeks. We had did not have range, refrigerator, dishwasher, drawer pulls or knobs.
Many of you are probably thinking...why the heck did we move in? We had renters moving into old house on the day we moved out. Truthfully once we were given the ok to move nothing was going to stop us, so we moved. We lived that way for about 10 days. With 7 children it was interesting. Obviously we can do whatever it is that is put in our path.
We brought in bottled water, set up our big coolers with ice, had our propane bar-b-que set up under cover close to kitchen. We shopped smart, used paper plates, & proceeded to unpack & move in. We don't have cable, or internet or land line. We are still trying to figure that all out. Our low voltage guys did everything wrong. Not only did we not have hot water, when we did get it none of my very spendy shower fixtures worked. We have thermostatic control valves & all we could get was scalding hot or very cold in all 5 showers.
The plumber would not return phone calls at all. The faucet co. came here and we all determined it was the plumber. He did everything backwards, thus the reason we had hot water in the toilets. I really didn't want bidet's, lol.
We had to cut into all the walls and redo all plumbing.
Thankfully I planned well (lol), and none of the tile or wainscot had to be cut into because we went in behind the valves, and the way the shower's were designed the wall with access to the plumbing was easy to get to. Thank you Lord.
So now we are 6 weeks into our journey. We now have range, refrigerator, hot water, potable water, showers, transition strips, most of our lighting, ( Electricians messed up many places as well) , washer & dryer, & almost everything unpacked.
It has been a long tiring process. Our children have been a huge help and have certainly been enjoying their new country life. We have many, many larger gatherings already, where food & friendship was much more important than all the little details.
I can tell you all how many steps it is to every room in this house, it is very large & dh & I have both lost considerable weight, who said walking & house work didn't count as exercise?
Now, I can tell you what it is like to see the sun rising from my bedroom & see the sun setting from my sleeping porch. I can tell you what it is like to wake early , take the dog & kitties for a walk around my property, bringing home armfulls of apple blossom branches. I can tell you what it is like to sit in the warmth of this home and watch buckets of rain and hail come down.
The trials we endure only bring us to a place of gratefulness & thankfulness.
I know I was never more thankful than when I had made a frozen lasagna on the bar-b-cue, ceaser salad, fresh corn & french bread and sat in this lovely home with my dh & children. No hot water, no range, nothing really, but yet knowing we had all we needed.
Life for me Is realizing while I don't deserve any of this I have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams. We continue to seek those who need a warm meal, a welcoming family, a warm place to eat. This home has given me a great opportunity to extend grace & hospitality. Because of the business we are in we know & get to meet many people. Many of those are needing just the things I spoke of. Not really down & out just needing to feel like someone is their friend. Someone that will take the time to invite them for a meal, etc. We have the chance to do so much & I feel so grateful that God has given me the desire & ability to serve others. Hopefully this passes to my children as well.
I am forever grateful to all of you. I will posting many pics soon. This week is more of a decorating week so hopefully soon I will get to share.
Take care & remember...
... "It is not about being great when life is grand, it is about what people see in you when troubles come your way."
Jeannine
Jbrig
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