today...

(Heads up ... I'm going to ramble. But I'll throw in some pictures for entertainment... I apologize... its been that kinda day!)

• We have officially taken over the house! It is full of our stuff (yes I actually doubted that we could fill this place with the things we have... but it is FULL!)
• I am currently eating broccoli and cheese soup at home for lunch. I have a cold and it makes me feel better. It also makes me miss my best friend, who quit our relationship about this time last year. I'm working on a post about that, but until then, I'll eat my soup and enjoy the sweet memories we had together. 
• We have spiders... nasty mean ugly spiders. The kinds known as 'brown recluse'! They are EVIL!! I hate their stinking guts and I want them all to DIE! Apparently ALL houses in the Ville have them... they just usually arn't as well seen as ours have been. We are getting this under control. 
• Our sewer backed up 6 days after signing our contract! Our hot water heater is also going out. And did I mention we have spiders? But I love this house!! It is amazing... really... I'm not being sarcastic! 
• I'm drinking water like I'm addicted to it. Seriously... I could float the Titanic with the water I have drank in the past two days. More water means more trips to the bathroom. Therefor on my 3rd trip last night, I became very grateful that we have a bathroom in our bedroom! 
• My father in law comes this weekend to help with some more 'home repairs'... I love that term... 'home repairs' - it means we can actually... REPAIR something!! 

This is the hubs and I with our Realtor and the previous homeowner. He is a precious precious man. But he likes to say 'damn' and 'hell' a lot. And even though I can be overheard muttering such profanities at times... it shocks me when I hear it from him...

Andrew and some friends painted the ceilings for us... yes... that is WHITE up there... I lost that fight, but it looks lovely and I'm content with it. 

Andrew's family came to help us. His sister made a trip all the way from St. Andrews to help us move in, wasnt that sweet of her. Alright... she didnt come just to help... but she did make us one of her many stops! 

Our first lunch at the new house was my 'specialty' sandwiches and fruit!! It was quite enjoyable!

The weekend we were moving into the house... we dog sat our favorite boxers. They were so well behaved and got lots of extra special treatment that our stinky hound dogs didnt get. I love these dogs!!

I broke the first dish in our new house... it was a big bummer.These are my favorite glasses... oh well. It had to happen sometime.

July 4th I made sour dough pancakes and they were YUMMMY! (that reminds me... I gotta feed my dough!!) Andrew has this unique ability to get the most awkward pictures of me!

This is Aiden, you can read all about him here.

Around 10 am on the 4th we decided to have some of our favorite friends over for dinner... note that these are just SOME of our favorites, if we would have invited everyone... there would have been NO room.

These guys crack me up. We have lots of fun when we are with them. Their little girl turns 1 this weekend and is my BFF!

Ryan and Andrew work together and his wife is going to be teaching school this fall. Their little guy Aiden is 6 months old and so much fun!!

I was taking the pictures so Andrew decided he needed one with my food and his...

Josh and Ann from our small group!! These guys are so much fun! Last winter they came and rescued us from our house in the midst of being snowed in.

Me and my love! This guy makes my day!!

Us with our realtor in front of the house with the SOLD sign.

My dessert for the past 2 nights chocolate banana shake!! DELISH!

Andrew's dessert - a little frozen yogurt COVERED in fruit. I was MUCH happier than he was after dessert time!

OH Watermelon!! This is what Summer is all about...

“A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”

We have a home.
There was a bank transaction, a few signatures and the hand off of keys ... and the house is ours! As soon as we left the bank (after getting the water switched) we went to our new home.We marveled in it. We dreamed! We cherished the moment. Then we left... the 'old man smell' was getting to us!

We got the ceiling painted on Saturday and Sunday. That was fun... I helped 'cut in'. That takes more time and skill than rolling the ceiling. Andrew got to roll, he is such a slacker. HA! Just kidding!! He is going to kill me for that. He the hard part of rolling ! He did great... and didnt complain at all. I know his neck and back must have been killing him. He is such a hard worker. I'm very proud of our ceilings. OH what color are they?? They are Ceiling White. We had quite the debate over this. I wanted them to be 1/2 the color of the walls... but he put his foot down (when someone offered to give us Ceiling White) and said that we will be JUST fine with white ceilings. So like a good wife I backed down... I've been told before to 'pick my battles' and so I did just that. I'm sure there will be another one in the next few days worth fighting.

On Monday my favorite person (even though I didn't meet her face to face) came to the house. The cleaning lady. She did a fabulous job. Our house no longer had an 'old man smell' to it. It was wonderful. Then my next favorite person came along... the carpet cleaning man! The carpets were so soft and fresh when we came by last night. I fell in love. Nothing feels better than walking on soft clean carpet.
We both soaked the moment in... knowing this is the VERY LAST TIME our carpets will ever feel that way again.

“Home is the place where it feels right to walk around without shoes”

After we took in the cleanliness of the house we decided to pray over the house. We wanted to set a special time to do this, but decided that this might be the last time we have 'time' to do it. We walked from room to room praying over the things that will happen there.
In the living room we prayed for :

• The small groups that will be held there
• The interactions of friends
• The memories made with family 

In the kitchen and dinning room we prayed for:

• The meals that will be prepared
• The goodies made for others
• The conversations that happen over the dinner table
• The meals shared with friends

In the Bedrooms we prayed for:

• Safety and comfort for whomever they hold
• Joyful times, and laughter
• We prayed for our children, who will someday live in those bedrooms. (yes you better believe that made me cry!) 

On the back porch we prayed for:

• The gatherings that would happen
• The game nights 
• The dinners 

It was beautiful. The house now feels like ours.
We walked around and got an idea of what furniture we want where and how it is going to look. We are loosing quite a bit of bedroom space but we are getting an extra room and 2 living areas!! I'm thrilled! God has truly blessed us beyond what we deserve. My biggest prayer is that we use His blessings to bless others, and that no one will ever feel uncomfortable or be turned away from our house. I want to have memories of laughter and love coming from bedrooms. I know there will be sad times, there will be overwhelming times,  but I hope that our memories are over flowing with the happy times!