It is finished. . .

Well, almost. We finished up painting on Wednesday night and neither of us care to see a paint brush or roller for a long time. There are still a couple of bathrooms to paint and a linen closet, but we determined those could wait just a bit and shouldn't take us very long once we get moved in. We had the carpets cleaned yesterday and things look great. The orange shag carpet is still orange (even the best carpet cleaner couldn't take the color out!), but it's very clean and doesn't look so bad (as "not so bad" as orange shag carpet can be). We'll be moving in earnest tomorrow though we've already taken over a ton of boxes and plan on taking more stuff today. We could not have done nearly so much without our church family. They've helped paint, cleaned our house, put contact paper down for us, cooked us meals, and plan on helping us move tomorrow. Various ones have kept the girls for us as it seems I have relinquished my parenting duties this week. As I told Lon yesterday, we could not have asked for a better church family. They take GREAT care of their pastor and his family and we love them greatly.

The girls are excited about moving and are excited about all of the space this new place offers. Lainey came to me the other day and said, with all seriousness, "Mom, I know what song we can sing when we go upstairs." I asked what song she had in mind. She said, "Wee Willie Winkie. Because he runs upstairs and downstairs." Very well then, we shall sing it!

Our internet will be down for the next week beginning this morning so we'll be out of touch for a bit, but we'll try to get pictures posted soon. Now, off to pack . . .Here's hoping I can find everything once we get under one roof.

A House Progressing

Wow, have we been busy! We have been working on the house quite a lot since last Friday and are making great progress. On Monday, it didn't really seem like we were making progress at all, but as we look at it now, I think we're beginning to see a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel. There is still much to be done, but we can at least see that we are putting a dent in the things we wanted to do. We are EXTREMELY grateful to our church family and one lady in particular. She offered to help us paint and has actually done more than I have. For the last three days, she's gotten at the house before I have and has done marvelous work. As it turns out, she loves to paint and makes quick work of a big project. I am eternally indebted to her for all her hard work. She recruited another lady from church to come and help tomorrow so we shall be able to accomplish even more! Folks are going to begin providing meals for us tomorrow which will also be a tremendous blessing! What a blessing it is to see the body of Christ work together and what a humbling experience to be on the receiving end of such work. I just can't put into words how blessed we feel by these people. The Lord has us in a place where we are physically far from our own family, but He has blessed us beyond measure with an amazing church family. They are very good to us and we are very grateful.

We shall take some pictures of the process of getting the house in order and will get those posted soon. (We got a new camera and I have NO clue how to use it so I am dependent upon Lon at this point!) I think it's going to be a tremendous blessing to us once we've got it completed and are able to get moved in. I'm looking forward to it being done and slowing down just a bit. As I told Lon last night, burning the candles at both ends is beginning to catch me in the middle. I remind myself that it is but for a season!

The girls are having great fun spending time with Nonie and we are extremely grateful for all that she's done while she's been here. I know how very hard it is to look after these girls day after day and her help has freed me up to get so much more done than I could have gotten done without her here. We're trying to figure out how we're going to make it all work next week when she goes home!! I think we'll be doing shift work!

Well, off to pack . . .myself to bed!