Home Sweet Home - Progress!

So we are 2 months into when we signed on the house, and we're still getting it ready.  We've decided to take on a few more projects that we figured would be easier to do before we actually got in.  So, with a tiny budget, we remodeled the 2 bathrooms.  The little bathroom downstairs pretty much was just new walls and a new toilet.  We were able to use the sink that Jason's parents no longer needed after their bathroom remodel. 

 

The upstairs bathroom has been a little more work, but will be well worth it!  The room was not set up well for my 6'2'' husband to even look in the mirror, let alone get into the shower.  He would have had to duck his head and step into the tub to get in.

 

This is half of the bathroom before...shower/giant pink tub on the right.  (Left) Sink & short mirror and cabinets on either side.  The toilet was even farther to the left in a corner of the room behind a little wall.

 

Now there is a beautiful whirpool (with a heater!) tub in its place with a stand-in shower on the right.

 

 

 

Here's a bad picture of where the toilet is on the left side of the sink.

 

Here's the space now almost ready for a vanity and toilet.  (That's the old paint color.)

 

Jason sanded and refinished all of the hardwood floors upstairs and painting has slowly begun in the bedrooms and this bathroom.  We hope to get most of the upstairs (this bathroom & the bedrooms) all done by the end of this week so we can have one level done and move on to the next.

 

We've got a couple more weeks of work before we can move in, but we are hoping for the 2nd week of April. 

 

We'll see how that goes! 

God is working in me through...Noah

One word comes to mind when I think of how God is working in me through Noah, and that is PATIENCE.  Up until this point, I have prayed for patience.  Do I have it?  Absolutely not!  But what I have been given are many opportunities to work on my patience, and I would have to say that a in a majority of those opportunities I have failed...miserably.  What I do see is God working off the rough edges that keep me from being the best version of myself.

Once again during our diaconate formation program, we felt called to have another baby & being the rational planner that I am, I agreed that it would be something that would "work" with where we were in our lives.  Once again, God did not give me more than a few weeks to reconsider His plan and I knew I was pregnant right away. 

This pregnancy had me sicker than I had ever been.  I was pretty much in a horizontal position on the couch for a good 4 months.  I became so desperate for relief that I turned to acupuncture.  I got to a point where I felt I was failing as a wife and mother simply for the fact that I couldn't care for my family.  Jason did everything those first months and I am grateful for a loving spouse that was able to care for me "in sickness and in health."

As I neared the end of the pregnancy, I continued to anticipate an early (and fast) delivery.  Here comes another opportunity for patience!  Not only did this one surpass all of the other kids' pregnancy length, when I finally thought that I was in labor and went to the hospital, I almost was sent home when my contractions suddenly ceased!  Now, mind you, I was 3 days away from my due date, I was physically uncomfortable and my mom had been visiting our house for the past 2 weeks in anticipation that I might have this baby while she was here!  Was I going to consider going home at this point??  Absolutely not!  The IV was already in my arm...I was going to wait here until the doctor came in the morning!  Patience opportunity...failed!

So the doctor came in the next morning & we said "move things along", and for the first time, I was induced.  As we waited and waited for the contractions to strengthen, we realized after hours that this baby was not pushing down enough to even break my water.  So the doctor moved that along.  After that, it seemed as though the baby was, with each contraction, moving the other direction!  It was like he was crawling up into my ribs and refusing to come out.  (This persistence to do it his way is a quality I still see in him.)

Thankfully, everything turned out perfectly and we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy.  Mr. Noah is still one that pushes me to be patient.  (Let's just say that weaning has been a difficult cross to bear, and he is way more persistent than I am patient, so guess who is winning that one!)  I have had to let go of many "things" simply for the fact of being overwhelmed with child #5, but that might not be a bad thing since my vocation is first to be a loving wife and mother. 

I am continually reminded that patience does not come easily, rather it is something that I continually ask God to work at in me.  I sometimes think that I should no longer pray for patience, but for strength, but I wonder what that might get me.  I read a meditation today that talked about prayer, and that we should actually pray to God to tell us what we should be praying for, rather than deciding what we want or need for ourselves.  He knows us best and what is best for us, so what I have learned is that I need to quit thinking about what I want to be, but who He wants me to be through His grace.  That, by far, is way better than any other prayer that I can come up with for myself and I hope that with that prayer, God can work in me without having to do it through others. I am thankful for each and every one of them and that God was able to accomplish something (even if it's not perfected yet) in me through each one.