For the faithful few...

... who read my blog, I apologize for not being more consistent lately.

We have been REALLY busy over here.

The construction that we started back in November is nearing completion now, which means all the work that we personally get to do is now in full swing.

Like this:


Or this:






and even this:





(and if someone had been pointing the camera my way, you'd see me painting trim!)

So I hope you'll be patient with me (and not give up on me!!) as we finish up here.

I do have to add this as a side note, though -- and I have to type fast because Grace seems to insist on waking up repeatedly this evening...

My kids did an AMAZING job painting. Really.

I thought I was doing them a favor by allowing them to get up (past their bedtime!) to just try a little bit of painting. They had been begging to help all day, and now that I was ready to roll paint on the walls, I thought I'd give them a quick try.

They blew me away.

They attacked the job with such enthusiasm (and great care, I might add!) that I let them stay up and keep going... and they painted the whole room! (well, the parts that they could reach, but still!) It was rather humbling. I went in feeling like I was doing something nice for them, when in actuality they wound up blessing me greatly and saving me HOURS of work.

Ah, the joys of a big family!


[hmmm. She seems to have put herself back to sleep, so perhaps I can write a bit more!]


I am so incredibly thankful that God has allowed us to do this addition. We've been needing extra space for a mighty long time, and this is such a huge blessing. We are actually getting (gasp!) a coat closet! And a room that will eventually allow us to have our bedroom back again!

AND A SECOND BATHROOM!!!

Oh, be still my heart!

It is very exciting for us.

However, it does require a heck of a lot of work (and thought) to do something like this. I see now why my parents were stressed whenever they were building a new house (we moved around a lot when I was growing up, so I think they built 5 or 6 houses in 18 years). It requires so many decisions about the smallest details, and truthfully, I felt rather silly about it all.

I mean seriously, in the grand scheme of things, does it matter what sort of lights we hang in the bathroom? Or what sort of toilet paper holder/shower rod/faucet/whatever we use?

No, not really. But I have to make these decisions just the same.

So, the Lord and I have made many a trip to various home improvement stores, as I tell Him I feel really stupid spending so much mental energy on something that means nothing in the eternal realm, but I really need His help and could He please help me pick out a light fixture... or color of paint... that would look good?

I think He's led me to some pretty good choices! *grin*

In the end, my hope is that this addition will provide the "cascade effect" that I think it will to free up a lot of bottlenecks we have here in this house. I could be fooling myself completely, but I feel like I've done all that I can to whittle down toys and clothes and everything that it takes to keep a family going to a minimum. I've tried to be creative, and find interesting solutions to various storage problems, but for years I've been at my wit's end. Perhaps it was just a failure on my part, but I really couldn't make a family of 9 fit in a home our size with grace and simplicity. Some things (like coats, for example) simply didn't have a home, so we had to go for awful solutions like leaving a huge rubbermaid tote in the middle of the floor to store all them during winter months.

It would bring me to tears. Often.

So here's hoping and praying that this room is truly God's answer to my prayers!