Starting to Feel Like Home

I have to admit that since moving in our home it has felt quite surreal.  I'm not sure if it's because of our 14 weeks in the camper or what, but I have walked in the house several times and just looked around and thought, Is this really ours??!  It truly is a dream come true in so many ways....a dream that we planned and prayed.  And here we are, a lot of patience, planning and prayers later.  It's kind of felt like a hotel or vacation home!  But is starting to feel more like home.  Today our island countertop came.  This was something we've been a bit nervous about because we went with a quartz that closely matched the laminate countertops on the rest of the counters.  Now, I have to say that I love the WilsonArt laminate countertops we chose.  And from the sample quartz, we found something that while slightly different, it would match and compliment these countertops nicely.  But with quartz and granite, the sample and what you get can vary a bit.  So I was a little scared but confident in our choice.  Well, it's here and while it is a little darker than what the sample we chose it from, I love it.  It's not exactly what we were expecting but after 14 weeks in a camper, it really changes how you see things....we have a beautiful, quartz countertop for Roger to bake and make candies on, it's great! We now have to get the kitchen backsplash tile done.  That brings us to the debate of the night....rectangular subway tile, or 4x4 square tile behind the stove....it could be a long night!

While debating this topic tonight we worked in the kitchen to make a mini Thanksgiving dinner.  I decided on this dinner tonight because we are just feeling so thankful for our home, this experience, the friends who have been so great to help, and the people who have worked to make our home so great.  A big shout out to B and B Homes, Commodore Homes, Dean Thole Construction, Ford's Plumbing, and all our awesome friends who have helped from cleaning, to painting, to running the electrical lines.  Our blessings are so abundant and we are SO VERY aware of EVERY one...even the smallest like shelves in our closets, and shower curtains!...which by the way, I STILL have NOT found!  I may have to just go buy another one so the boys don't have to use our bathroom.  But more importantly than finding the shower curtain, I feel like our family is finding our purpose and finding that God has big things in store for us...and our home. 

Now, for what so many have asked for....some pictures.  These are some of the areas that are "pulled together" a bit.  I still have a lot of decorating to do but these show the beginning stage. :)

Totally beats a camper bunk!

You'll notice we still have some plastic coverings to remove from the lights and stove hood. haha!

The boys' favorite room while they are watching one of their favorite shows....The Andy Griffith Show.

The boys' bathroom...minus rugs and a shower curtain!  Hoping that box surfaces soon!

Notice the duck.  The boys seem to always find a place for the duck. Glad to have found one of my seasonal décor boxes so I could put out a few Fall decorations. Brings back memories of my grandma Dot and all the decorating she did for each holiday.

 

The dining room is coming along...love having dinner every night at this table as a family. Priceless.

 

There you have it.  The beginning stage of our house becoming our home.  I have to say, my husband is awesome.  He paints, puts together stoves, fireplaces, does dirt work with the backhoe, runs electrical connections, and more.  He is so talented and such a blessing to our family.  I see him teaching our boys so much throughout this process....here are a few pictures I've gotten of him at work.

 

He enjoys painting...and that's a good thing! Even better, he's good at it. 

 

 

After about six hours it took to put the stove together...he started the fireplace which took about another four hours.  Patience is a virtue he has.

While Roger was in the backhoe, Carter and Joel used the tractor to drag and smooth out areas of the yard.  They are a great team.  It's crazy to think that my boys are growing up and are able to help so much.

 

A guy once questioned, what kind of a guy bakes and decorates cakes....the kind that can build or fix almost anything and then turn around and make someone's day with an amazing cake or dessert.  That's my guy!

 

14 Weeks & 1 Day Later....We're IN!

A lot has happened since my last post. Wednesday, October 30th was our first night in the house. That was a crazy night.  The plumbers worked until about 9:30 that night to get us hot water.  Roger got called in about 8 so all the carrying in of clothes and such from the camper fell to me...15 trips.  Due to the mud moat around the house I didn't want the boys out so they collected items as I brought them to the door. Of course, they were like two chicken who has been caged for months...they were running wildly around the house.  Thankfully, the new for them has worn off a little otherwise we would have major issues.  I finally got them calm and into bed about 11...and I hit the whirlpool tub!  It was a good first night, although having Roger home to share in it would have made it better.  I didn't let his absence hinder my celebration. I still opened the bottle of champagne someone gave us for our first night.  I kept it classy and drank it out of a red Solo cup since I had no idea where out box of glasses were. And that was our first night.....oh wait, I did get a black eye from my box spring.  Turns our our doorways aren't 9 feet tall like the ceilings so things like a box spring will hit the door and bounce back and hot the person carrying it. Glad my mom got a good laugh that night....I did too.

Just a little side note about a lesson learned:  the first night we were in was the night it began to rain, and rain, and rain....the next morning we discovered the power to the camper wouldn't stay on.  Roger thinks the breaker got a little wet or something.  Whatever the cause, we would have woken up to no power, no heat and no water....total camping nightmare. In all the time we waited in the camper, especially those final days when we were just waiting on the plumbers, I was on my time schedule and lost track of the fact that when God wanted us to be in our house, when He knew we needed to be in our house...we would be in it. Discovering that that first night in the house was really the first night in 14 weeks that we would have NEEDED to sleep somewhere else, really hit me. Our needs are always met but not always in our time but in His time....a lesson to never forget.

So moving forward...all of the gas and plumbing was finished up this week. We had a mudslide from the 3 inches of rain the 48 hours after we moved which resulted in muddy water in the basement, so we have major work in the walkout area of the basement to do, we are still waiting on our island countertop (hopefully Wednesday), not even half of our boxes have been brought in but we have our necessities and that's all we need (except for the boys bathroom shower curtain, I'd love to find that today!), the stairs to the basement still have to be done, we have no sidewalks or porches on yet and may not until spring, we had like four water leaks but they're all fixed now, and we still don't have the camper cleaned out but it is winterized so no busted pipes on our watch.

In all that we have to do and in all the ways that our house isn't finished...it's still home and it's perfect. We are SO thankful for space to move around, doors, couches, a dinner table that's inside, a shower that doesn't require turning the water off while lathering (although I did catch myself doing this the other day which proves habits can be created in 14 weeks or less), countertop space, a bath tub that fits something bigger than our dog, a place that ladybugs can't get into as easily (they invaded the camper our last day in it...that alone was enough for us to need out), beds that are real beds and not camper bunks or futons, and a water heater larger than 6 gallons...which means no more 2-in-1 shampoo!!! Seriously, my hair was not happy in the camper.  Oh, I am also thankful to be able to shop normally again! Camper grocery shopping means your in the store more often and you're spending more to buy the little containers of stuff...look out Sam's Club,here we come!

This Thanksgiving, being thankful has a whole new meaning for the Hayse Family....and for that we are grateful.

**For all of you wanting to see pictures, those will come this week hopefully. Just got our wifi going yesterday so that's why it's been awhile since my last post.  Very thankful for wifi!!

Last Night In the Camper...Take 2

So here I lay, in our camper bunk, listening to the rain pounding down on the camper top and wondering if tonight will be our last night in this oversized, Porto potty. While it is a nice camper, it needs to become a memory rather than a reality.  We thought we would be sleeping in our house tonight but the plumber discovered a "glitch" that because it was the fault of the home company, we have to wait and hope the home company gets it fixed tomorrow.  So now we wait, and hope and pray that tomorrow is THE day. Today was the longest day ever just anticipating being in our home, I'm guessing tomorrow will seem even longer. The disappointment of something you are looking so forward to isn't easy to take but as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait....I believe our house will be great.

Last Night of Being the Camper Queen

Written Monday, October 28th:  Today is my birthday and all I really wanted was to be living in our house....but that hasn't happened.  However, the plumber did say today that he should have everything up and running, or flowing, by the end of the day tomorrow.  Sooo, that means we can sleep in our new home and start living in it tomorrow!  Yippeee!!! While it's not by my birthday, it's still before the 100th day in the camper.  Now you may be saying, I thought you already hit that mark??....well, remember I teach art and technology, not math. Apparently when I calculated it previously I was right, but then figured it again, and was way wrong.  SO, if all goes as planned tomorrow, we will have spent 97 nights in the camper....97 straight nights!  The end to the lamping adventure really can't come soon enough as out of the last four mornings we've had frozen hose or hot water issues three mornings.  Just so you know, a hard freeze warning will result in a frozen hose and no water.  I have informed my family that I will be taking a shower and running our huge water heater out of water, I may even drink extra water just so I can use the "real" toilets a lot.  Can't say I'll miss the camper bathroom....nope, not even a little.  I also won't miss buying the overpriced, one ply, RV toilet paper.
While lamping hasn't been all sunshine and unicorns, it has been good at showing us how little we really NEED to live.  It's also shown us that patience is a virtue....a virtue which I am lacking but learning and growing in.  When we started this adventure, we saw so many ways God was pushing ahead and clearing the way.  Now that we are coming to the point of reaching the goal of being in our home, it's going to be fun to see the plans God has for us and our home.  Pretty sure this is just the beginning of an even bigger adventure. Stay tuned!

Counting Down!

Today marks 13 weeks in the camper.  Tonight will be night 104....my math was off last week so I didn't realize until today that I surpassed the 100 day mark.  It's crazy to think that we, I, have survived over 100 days with a quarter or less of our belongings!  But the time is nearing that we'll have access to all the things we don't need again.  We are hoping to not see another full week in our little dwelling that looks more like a closet than a place people live.  Yesterday the exterior crew worked on finishing up the exterior work, still not finished but should be today.  The drywall finisher showed up yesterday, a day early, and worked til after 11PM last night....this made me so happy!  We got temporary electrical service hooked up last night thanks to one of our awesome friends, Brad Hails.  We still have to have the heat pump all hooked up and the plumbing completed before we can really move in.  Praying that all happens by Friday so we can move in this weekend.  I did take a few more pictures of the interior.....can't wait to add paint to the walls!

Master Bedroom...with a view.

Carter inspecting the dining room area...he then began to use it as a basketball court.

The dining room/living room area.  Can't wait to hear the piano resonate through this area.

Family room with stairs to the basement

This was the view when I got home today....pretty sure the guys on the catwalk aren't getting paid enough. Pretty sure we'll spend a lot of great, relaxing moments out on the patio terrace.

First Time In

Yesterday, we got to go in the house and walk around for the first time!  It was so cool to see the boys excited to see everything but it was also a bit overwhelming to see all the work ahead of us.  This week the inside finisher should be starting work at putting in flooring, trimwork, drywall work, etc.  We'll see a lot of people in and out of the house this week....plumbing, hvac, and electrical all have to be worked on this week.  If the timing all works, we could potentially be moving in the house next weekend...but that's a big IF.  But just knowing that we can get in and measure for tile, fill nail holes, pick out paint colors and hopefully start painting this Friday, makes us very excited and makes the wait worth it.  I have to say that walking around the house today had a sort of surreal feeling to it....I kind of kept thinking, is this really our house??!!  I then thought about the patience and prayers that we as a family and couple have had over the last several years when it's comes to our home. 

Some pictures from our first time in our house!

Joel did the honors of letting us in for the first time. :)

Roger checking out his new cooking/baking space!

And I in my tub...

The boys picked out the finishes for their bathroom...I think they did a great job!  Notice the toilet lid already up and we don't even have the plumbing all finished and working....boys.

A slight view of the front of the house....front porch still has to be done.

 

 

Raise the Roof!

Today the workers are back and the roof is going up!  Can't wait to have a shingled roof over my head instead of a roof with vents that when left open during rain, lots of stuff gets wet.  Yesterday we went up to Effingham and got our house keys...feels good to have keys to some doors again.  We also got paperwork for how to do our cosmetic inspection after all the finish work is complete.  After the finish work is complete we have one week to let the home company know of any cosmetic issues like stains, or tears, or dents, etc.  But first we have to get to that point! We haven't been able to go in the house and really see what it looks like....can't wait to get to that point!