Monday, April 9, 2012

I've neglected

Several family members asked over Easter, "How's the renovation going?" It made me think how neglectful I've been in sharing the final outcome with you. Fact is, I've wanted to share pics a few times now, but didn't want to dwell on the "things" of life. You know...didn't want to seem all caught up in what we've got.

Truth is though, God is good! And years (and years) of scraping, and sacrificing and saving, and working hard to provide the basics for our family, has led us to an opportunity to provide a little more. And now we can proceed to continue to scrape and save. (insert smiley face here, if I knew how.)

Anyhow. We are finished with the apartment renovation (have been for a couple weeks), and now can just enjoy hanging a picture here and there, or adding a "finishing detail" as it comes along.

When we purchased this home, it included an attached 2-bedroom apartment. The tenant knew better than we did how we'd want to use the space, and moved out even before we had a chance to meet/ask her.
That left us with a seperate (but accessible) living space, just waiting to blossom into our extended kitchen and new great family room space. In demo-ing the apartment space, we tore out EV.RY.THING including it's old bathroom and moved it to a better suited place in the room.

Here are some pics...before's and afters...

standing at our kitchen island, this is the wall that we had taken down...beyond is the apartment space that was. There's a hallway to the right in picture. The doorway lead to a pass-thru closet that was our only entrance to the apartment.

And here the girls pose once again, this time no wall. And the apartment space is now completely ours to enjoy...all one great open floor plan. You can tell by the transition in the hardwood floor where the old wall used to be. The hallway isn't there anymore, but the doorway to the coat-closet is the same, and still provides a back entrance to the mudroom/garage. Beyond the new orange wall is the new bathroom with the toilet/sink a seperate space from the shower area. Very practical!!

This was our "life in plastic" for about 3 weeks. Boy are we grateful that the dust has finally settled. That's not to say I've got it completely dusted away yet, but at least it's settled.

Once the demo was done, and the walls down. We had this amazing space off the kitchen. YES...Emma was rip-sticking in the apartment!!!
Inside the old apartement. I took this picture standing on the backside of our kitchen wall, looking towards the front door/window. Still lots of demo to do in this picture, but a few of the apartment walls were down, and half the carpet gone.
And here, in the new...I'm standing in nearly the same spot, looking at the new front window/entry way. And enjoying all the view has to offer. Yes, we (I) got a little bold with color...but it is a fun family space for a wild and crazy family!
And the opposite view from our front entry way, looking back. Lots of bare wall space...decorating will come. What I love even more is all the bare floor space. I can't tell you how awesome it's been having dance parties, even family camp-ins with room for sleeping bags everywhere! And how 'bout that table with 14 chairs!!! John giggles often that there's always room for one more.

Thank you for humoring me as I go on and on...and for sharing with me in these blessings our Lord has provided.

Somewhere through this process I came across a bible story that in some ways reminded me this year of blessings we're experiencing. It was Leviticus 25, I think and had to do with God's rewarding the Israelites for their years of faithfulness.

I'm not saying I've been completely good. Always full of questions, and wonder for what God's plan is in our lives. But I also think that the last 10 years have had their share of blurry challenges and struggles, and perhaps, just maybe, God's smiling for all the times we've said "yes" to his will, even when it was with hesitation, or fear.

May this time of goodness be the courage and motivation to continue to say yes to his will, especially as we enter into the new phases of life...teenagers, and all that has to bring. Oh my.

For now, I'll just enjoy the blessings....and praise GOd!