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!!