Home, sweet home!

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It's been a while since I've done a post, but with everything going on, I just haven't had the time (or energy) to get on the computer at home.

Our biggest news, of course, is that finally, after waiting a week and a half longer than we anticipated, we finally got the keys to our new house! Unfortunately we didn't get the time we had hoped for to clean and paint, but thanks to our realtor telling us that the back door was unlocked, we "broke in" a few days early and were able to move in the appliances and transfer everything from the storage unit to the garage.

Our official move-in date was last Wednesday. Thanks to the help of our neighbor, my mom (who was in town for spring break) and several friends from church, we were able to pack up and move in a matter of a few evening hours.

The house is wonderful! Despite being outdated in a few areas, we're really enjoying the space, the location and the comfort of knowing that we'll be staying here for a while. The painting is coming along. Graham (bless his heart) worked tirelessly on the kitchen cabinets which ended up being more of a chore than anticipated. We learned very quickly that robin's-egg-blue is difficult to cover. We also learned that the previous owners had an appreciation for ugly linoleum which not only covers the kitchen floor, but was used for lining cabinets in 8 different patterns.

The kids are loving their big room. We bought them bean bags and set the room up so they have a little sitting area to read books or watch videos. Hannah now has her crib back, although we're thinking she's going to be ready for a toddler bed soon. Gideon now has room to spread out both play rugs and can set up a train track without having to step over (or on) it all the time.

We haven't done anything on the outside of the house yet. We thought spring was coming, but this week brought three days of snow, so once the weather warms up, we'll start weeding the "garden", trimming the bushes and possibly sodding the front yard. Thanks to a sweet tax refund and the stimulus package, we'll be putting up fencing soon, too.

There's still a lot of do, but we're taking it one project at a time. I'm just looking forward to having people over and using this house to give back with the blessing that the Lord has given us.