Exhausted!

I think it is safe to say our family is exhausted! The days start early and end late.

Today after we left the farm (most likely the drywall will be all up tomorrow), we headed to Des Moines to pick up our cabinets. Thankfully, my cousin Tim was able to drop by and help load them up, because the kids and I wouldn't have been much help. We then headed to Menards to pick up mud and other materials needed to continue working. We were home by 10:30.

Pretty much right now, Ethan's days consist of juggling his office and youth work and then building, along with making sure the animals on the farm are happy. He is home long enough to catch a short night of sleep.

My days consist of keeping the house in somewhat of an order (clean dishes to eat off of and clean clothes to wear), making and running food out to the workers at the farm, spending about an hour out there to answer questions, running errands to keep people working, and then trying to pack the house with any spare time I can find.

The kids' day consists of being lugged from place to place with Mom, possibly getting a nap, and most likely getting to bed well past their bed time. Although I feel like they are not getting the attention right now we would like to give them, we are able to have nice visits on our car rides.

Even though we are all exhausted, we are blessed with all of the wonderful help we have been getting. The countdown now is 2 weeks until we need to be out of our house and living at the farm. Thanks to all of the people who have helped us out, we will be able to rest a lot more comfortably once we get there!!

Big Changes in the House

The last 2 days the guys have continued to come out and help. We now have the bedrooms almost completely drywalled - minus a few pieces in the upper closet. The bathroom and laundry room are started, along with the main living area ceiling and walls. It's really looking different and a lot more like a house!

Tuesday's Progress:

Today's Progress:

The Crew is Here!

Okay, so I accidentally deleted my pictures that I was going to upload from the past few days. That's about how good my mind is working now with everything going on.

Here are some pictures from today though. As you can see, we are tremendously blessed with friends from our church who want to help us out. And like I mentioned before, we have still to ask one person if they could come and give us a hand. Everyone that has helped out has asked us if they could help.

Today there were around 7 men that came out to hang drywall. The bedroom ceilings are done, some bedroom walls, and a little bit of the living room ceiling. Ethan joined them, and has switched his office hours to the evenings so he can be out there while they are. I also came out with lunch for the guys and to answer some questions about placement of things and what stages various wiring was in.

It is really neat to see drywall up, and it really makes it start to look like a house!

Sorry!

Sorry I don't have the construction picture up yet. It looks like we forgot our camera at the farm. Hopefully we'll grab it tomorrow.

A Little Update and A Little TMI

I have debated about putting a little TMI (too much information) on here, and tonight I finally decided to break my conservative nature and just go for it. But first, a little update.

Today we had 3 men from the church come out in the morning and help my dad, Ethan, and myself with the building. We were able to get all of the insulation done shortly after lunch. Ethan and I cleaned up and organized the house in the afternoon, and the dry wall crew is planning on coming Monday. It is exciting to see the big changes again! (Pictures to come soon. Check back to this post tomorrow night.)

And now, for a little too much information. I will apologize in advance. :) Like I have mentioned earlier a few times, all I really wanted to move out to the farm was a bathroom. I am getting quite tired of finding a hiding spot in the tall grass. Not only does it cut at my ankles as I walk through, but the tall grasses on our farm also house MANY of these beautiful spiders, which get up to the size of a half dollar. Yes, they are pretty to look at, but it is not fun to bump into their webs. Or sit on them, like I almost did earlier this week. (Sorry about the TMI!)

So I was going to let that story pass by, until tonight. As I was getting ready for bed and crawling under the covers, Ethan stopped short and said, "Becca, don't move!" Of course I screamed and jumped out of bed! Ethan left the room and came back in with a wad of toilet paper. My suspicions were right. A spider. But it wasn't our normal black house spider. No. It was the farm's garden spider. Under the covers. Waiting for me.

Since the guys have it easier than I do and don't have to trek through tall grasses (like I have to MULTIPLE times a day with being pregnant, rain or shine - sorry for the TMI again!), I have only one guess of who it rode home on.

Like I said. All I want is a bathroom!

Barn Raising at Stoneyfield

From the beginning of this project I have told Ethan that all I really wanted before we moved into the house was a functioning bathroom. I was very willing to move into a construction zone if it meant that we would be getting our housing allowance (when the parsonage sold) and that we would finally be in the country.

Ethan had planned on taking 3 weeks of vacation that he has accumulated over the years (from not having a vacation for a LONG time) to finish the house up inside. We were set back quite a bit, however, with all of the rain this summer. Before we knew it, the summer was over, youth things were starting, and the chance for taking vacation time had passed.

When the parsonage sold we knew we had very limited time to get the house ready to move in to. Even so, there was enough time to get a functioning bathroom. I felt set and ready to go.

Well, this week someone from our church came into Ethan's office and started talking to him about the building project. He heard about our goal for moving in - a bathroom and some drywall thrown up (with electricity run too). It was a pretty realistic goal that we were both comfortable with. Our friend, however, was not so comfortable with it. He talked to Ethan awhile and then also called me up and talked to me for a good half an hour. I had to smile that one of his big concerns was not having doors up, especially in the bathroom for "noise reasons". :)

So we were extended an offer. This particular gentleman used to be a contractor and does some remodeling on the side. (From what I have heard he does an exceptional job, especially with mudding, taping, and texturing drywall.) He wanted to be given permission to line up other people from our church to help us get the house a little more livable before we move in 3 weeks from now. And what he meant by a little more livable is the drywall completed, walls painted, doors hung, and trim in place! We graciously accepted the offer, of course!

Before we knew it, we were showing a group of men around the house who have talents and skills ranging from drywalling, painting, electrical work, and just plain handy men.

My dad had already planned to come and help for a few days and arrived yesterday morning, so we have been busy getting ready for this work crew to start in full swing next week. A few of them have even been out the last two days. As you can see, we are putting insulation in the walls and ceiling now. Drywall will be soon to follow.

We have truly been blessed through this whole process. Not once have we had to beg for help, even before we decided to build. Ethan and I had been looking at properties and thinking that the only way we could get the land we wanted was to build, but we never said anything knowing we would need some help.

Not long after we figured that out, we got a call from my dad asking if we had considered just building. He mentioned he would help us get going if it was something we wanted to do. From that point on, we have been blessed with volunteers and tools and equipment being shared. And now it looks like we are going to have a good old community barn raising!

And just a note on the side. Tonight we were leaving the farm from a long day of work. Ethan wasn't sure if he locked the doors, so we turned around, stopped on the road, and Ethan ran down the lane to check the house. Caleb all of the sudden spoke up and said, "Mom, all I can hear are crickets." Quite different from where we are now. A loud street, neighbors who yell choice words across the alley at each other during the evening, a train track that runs by our house . . .

I said back to Caleb, "You're right. I think it's nice."

Construction Over the Last Week

Sorry for the lack of pictures and updates. This last week has been quite a full one for us - especially Ethan. This is the week that all of the fall activities start up at the church again. Not only is his youth group starting up this week, but he is also in the middle of moving the youth center from where we live now to the church. Along with that, this week our church started a first time weekly youth program for 3 yr olds - 5th graders that I am helping run.

Have I mentioned that we have lots of transitions this fall! Starting a new farm, building a new house, moving out of our house this month, expecting a baby in Nov, youth group starting up again, preparing a new youth center, and a new children's ministry at church. I'm probably missing something too!

Even so, we have still been moving ahead with the building. Our evenings have been a bit shorter at the farm, but we had a very productive work day on Saturday where my cousin Tim came out and helped and Ethan's mom came and entertained the kids. As of now, we are pretty much wrapping up our piddly work. I have been forgetting to take pictures when we are out there since I am so occupied with other things, but it's hard to see the changes anyway now since it's just little things here and there.

If you have been following Ethan's blog, you may have caught wind that something unexpected is going on with our building project. I plan on posting an update on that tomorrow if I can carve out some time, and hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures too when we are out there.

Other than that, packing the house is coming along well, and I have quite a few towers of things that are packed up and ready to move over in a few weeks. Make sure to check back for the building update though, and I'll try to make sure to not go so long between posts!