Life is Messy...

...And, I mean that both figuratively and literally...broadly and specifically.

Specifically and literally speaking, our transition into a new house is every bit as challenging as the 7 months in trailers because our belongings are still "here, there and everywhere" at this point.  While we've gathered many boxes of dishes, clothing, towels and kitchenware into the house, we still have no dressers, shelves, racks or bars up to keep all the little stuff organized.  Our clothing is stacked in bedroom corners right now. 

Don hung a few coat racks for us yesterday so at least those aren't taking up space on chairs.

This house is configured quite differently with a little less square-footage than our last home, too, so this very visual, concrete brain of mine is struggling GREATLY to see how we might configure our furniture to keep us organized and flowing...ya know, find our "feng shui". 




Like I mentioned before, I want to downsize the amount of furniture taking up floor space, and utilize our closets better, maybe add some wall shelves, too. 

Right now, the intense level of visual clutter is getting to me, though!  And, sadly, with this cold/sinus thing that seems to be making another round in our family, plus opposite work schedules, plus this nasty cold weather, Don and I haven't been able to productively join forces and "Git 'r done", like we have with most of our other moves.













Tension is running a bit high at the moment due to all this.  Hence, the figurative "messiness"!  Priorities differ.  Ideas clash.  Hurtful words unintentionally escape mouths...I'm sure ya'll have been there, though the circumstances looked different.

We are still not quite through this adventure, either - we have to complete the second floor, which is two more bedrooms and a small bathroom for Grace and Rose!  Hoping to start that in another week, as the meteorologists are calling for a nice little warm-up (upper 30's, at least) for the week of January 7th!  Nate is close by to help with this and Will plans to visit for a long weekend in mid-January, so here's hoping that project goes smoothly and swiftly!

Christmas was very nice for us, spent with all four of our kids and our extended family.  It was great to celebrate with everyone, and take a breather from...well...everyday life!

We experienced another little break from life this week with a visit to Longwood Gardens and dinner with Don's parents!  It was lovely, though bitter cold. 

And, I had to the opportunity to catch up with one of my best childhood friends, Jen.  We spent tons of time together from 6th grade through high school! 

Thanks to Facebook, we reconnected about 8 years ago, and it was so great to have dinner with her!











Here are a few of my favorite images captured at Longwood on Wednesday evening:

2017 has been fraught with significant challenges for many of us, family and friends! 

It started off rough and raw for our family with the loss of our beloved labs, then the difficulties surrounding our move. 

As 2017 comes to a close in just a few days, we plan to sit down together and reflect upon the lessons we've learned and how we've grown...changed.

My hope is that 2018 will be a year of hope and joy.  Maybe, more smooth-sailing.  A time of peacefully "settling in"...less turmoil...less angst.

We have so much to look forward to, after all!  Grace and I have our mission trip to Guatemala in just 6 weeks.  Yikes!  I'm both nervous and excited for that. 

Don is growing in his career.  And, he'll begin to explore our "beastie's" racing potential (with Rosie, of course) later this year.  Maybe he'll be more than just a pretty lawnmower!

My career and skills of my trade are going to grow exponentially in 2018, I just know it. 

Grace graduated from high school this month and will be pursuing her career interests in the coming year.

Both Grace and Rosie will be getting their driver's licenses in 2018.  And, much more...

Just as we did in New York, we bought a property with tons of "potential" requiring lots of creativity and elbow grease on our parts.  I think I'll continue my regular blog posts for another year, since much will happen 'round here over the next 368 days!

Watch for my first post of 2018 early next week!

Buckle Your Seat Belts! You're In For A Bumpy Ride!

The last 8 days or so have been...chaotic...to say the least.  But, after some tears, grumbling, and a tad bit of cursing (Fart-knockers!,  Bulshivick!, Craptastic!)...we did what we always do - adapt and overcome.

Spotless windows, thanks to my father-in-law!

Once securely set on its new foundation, the Patriot Homes "set-up" team went to work finishing the siding and drywall, installing doors, and completing the trim work both outside and inside. 



Meanwhile, Don, along with our chosen professionals (one, a close friend of ours, literally, sent by God during our hour of need!), set about hooking up the electric, plumbing and such.



On day 2 of this process, we had a mini-catastrophe which many of you heard about...our girls' camper had an electrical short that fried all the power in it, nearly catching it on fire!  Thankfully, Don was close by when it happened and was able to contain the disaster.  The girls didn't lose any of their belongings, but, now, where do we all sleep?  Oye!!









Ultimately, Rosie stayed with our good friends for three days, Don stayed in our camper, and I took Grace, who had just come down with a terrible cold virus, to a hotel nearby.  Keep in mind, the three of us still had to go to work each day, and of course, I had taken evening hours thinking we'd be moving our things into the house during the day.  Who knew?

The set up took about 5 days altogether.  Only a day longer than our GC at Patriot Homes estimated.

Determined to be together, again, on Day 5 we managed to get a few important things, like our kitchen table and beds, some clothing and toiletries, into the house so we could all stay there.

Next day, some friend came up from Lancaster County to help me get somewhat organized since our new living room furniture was to be delivered...

...And delivered it was, but not without more shenanigans!

My helpers this week.  Love you guys!

First, the furniture store sends Don a text that our purchase will be delivered at approximately 9am.


9am came and went.  Forty-five minutes later he gets a call from their dispatcher, "Well, our drivers say that they can't deliver because a power line is down across your driveway."










What??  (We've had all kinds of large trucks and equipment come down the lane the last few days with nary a problem.)

"Nothing was down when I went out the lane at 8:30 this morning", I told Don.

What we finally learned, thanks to our neighbor who witnessed the whole thing, is that they tore her cable line down when they came barreling down our narrow lane at 9am.  Then, they backed out quickly, waited until they arrived at their next delivery, then lied to their dispatcher that the line was down when they got there!

Don, now very angry, told the store manager and dispatcher, "If my furniture isn't delivered by noon, I am canceling the whole order and will buy my furniture elsewhere!"

Forty minutes later, Rosie and I directed the furniture truck down a "back" entrance to our property.  But, instead of parking their truck up on the firm ground and carrying the furniture an extra five yards, they decided to pull right up to our back door...where the ground was beginning to get soft and shmeary from the warm sunshine.  DUH.

After slipping and sliding, throwing mud everywhere while their tires spun furiously unable to get a grip, almost sliding sideways into the corner of our new house - Rosie, with the help of our siding guy, Titus, awoke our tractor with a jumpstart and pulled the furniture truck back onto the solid ground, so they could get out.  What a day!

Rosie's friend, Sarah, summed it up perfectly.  "This is a day I'll never forget!"

To top it off, after her heroic feat outside, Rosie was sorting through some boxes of kitchenware inside when she dropped a cookie sheet on her foot!  We are pretty sure her big toe is broken.  She's staying off of it as much as she can, and we're watching it carefully.  To go to Convenient Care or not, that is the question???

The mud was already slippery, hampering our moving process, but then....RAIN.  Lots of rain. 



Now, the mud is ATROCIOUS.  So, moving the rest of our furniture into the house right now is out of the question.  We have the essentials.  Don and William are hooking up the washer and dryer as I write. 

We can live quite comfortably without the rest of our material possessions for another week if necessary...

...Actually, I'm thinking we have more furniture than we really need, so some might be on Craig's List very soon.  We opted to build a more modest-sized house, instead of over-indulging, spreading ourselves too thin, financially.  Besides, in a few short years, our girls will probably move out as well, bittersweet as that is!

I'm excited to see our artwork and family portrait on these naked walls, though!  Don's parents have them all safely stored at their mountain home.  Hoping they can bring everything down here very soon!

Nate is in the process of moving in, too.  He and Don are modifying the camper to make it "winter-proof", so that Nate can have his own space, while saving money and searching for a new apartment for himself.  God-willing, he will have his own place in just a few months.


We have each other and all four kids are here this weekend.

My heart is happy.







I have Christmas gifts wrapped and ready for tomorrow morning, and I am trying to get my heart and mind focused on the true reason for our celebration tomorrow:  the birth of my Savior, my Redeemer.  Everything else pales in comparison to that.  Without Christ I am nothing.  In Him and through Him, I am whole...I am daughter of the Most High, and I can rest, finding peace in that understanding.

So, Merry Christmas to all of you!  Thanks for following our adventure!  Check in next weekend to see our progress in making this house our home...

Unconventional.

Someone I spoke with recently described our...situation...choices...that way.  We've done quite a few things "unconventionally" during these twenty-some years. 

Don has a knack for thinking outside the box, and, in fact, several folks who've come in and out of our lives over the years have encouraged us both to do just that. (Whether they meant to or not!)

So, unconventional or just plain nuts, I'm never quite sure!  

But, here we are.

When discovering the "crumbly" condition of the existing house's foundation, we had to think outside the box if we were to be living in our own house before Christmas.  We opted to buy a modular home, as you all know!

Nothing has been simple or easy about our journey back to Pennsylvania-living this year, and the last week, the 11th hour of our adventure, has presented its challenges:

Snow...

Frozen water lines...

Several days of bitter cold temps...
Propane tanks running out of gas in the middle of the night...

Toilets not working properly...

Did I mention "Snow" ? 

As pretty as it can be, it is NOT ideal or even remotely easy to be living in a camper when it snows. (Plus, all of our snow gear is buried in the storage unit 15 miles away!) But, at least we can now say we've "camped" in EVERY type of weather!  As my sister-in-law put it, "Ya'll have certainly earned your wilderness badge!"

After much ado, and 7 looong months of living in campers, our new house finally arrived this week!  

When they first pulled in, I thought that the company had mixed up our house with someone else's because it looked like a very long ranch-style house.  However, it turns out that they had simply attached the two halves of our house to comply with transportation rules!  The following morning, as we cleared the snow out of our 4 ft. crawl space and away from the foundation, one of the construction guys literally sawed our house in half!  Yikes!

Then, just like a beached whale, this large crane lifted each half of the house off of the trailer and set it on the foundation.  It was so cool to watch!  Much as I hate to admit it, the below freezing temperatures last week were a blessing in disguise - the ground was rock hard, making it much easier for the large equipment to maneuver around our home site. 

But, c'mon!  I asked ya'll to pray for DRY ground, not FROZEN ground - ha, ha! 🤣

Once the house was securely attached to its foundation, the set-up team went to work raising the roof. The exterior crew worked hard all day long on Friday to finish the siding, roof and such.

The propane company came out, promptly so the workers would have some heat inside!  Don is closely monitoring the work being done, ensuring that Patriot Homes is living up to their promises.  So far, so good!

Yesterday, Don and our friend, Tim, worked on hooking up the plumbing and all. Today, an electrician is coming (He's here now, in fact!).  Tomorrow, Don hopes to wrap up the septic system.  And, the most exciting part for me right now...the interior crew should come back tomorrow to finish up with some drywall and flooring and clean up!  By Tuesday afternoon, we should be able to begin moving our furniture inside!  Yipee!!

Here's a sneak peak of the inside:

We had hoped that both the exterior and interior crews could work their magic on Friday and Saturday, so that we could begin moving our belongings out of storage and into our new abode today, but it simply did not work out that way.  Apparently, this is a super busy time of the year for modulars - lots of people want their new house for Christmas, I guess!


So, today I will begin packing up the things in the campers that will be moving to the house in another 48 hours.  Fortunately, its not all that much since we bought the camper fully stocked.  The majority of my actual kitchenware is in several boxes in the barn, as we speak.

Still struggling with no running water in the campers at the moment...its been 3 days already.  Hoping that today's warmer temps thaw us out a bit, then Don can put those incredible problem-solving skills of his to work, so it doesn't happen again!

I think we'll do some shopping today, too - I'm ready to choose an area rug and lighting fixture for my new living room...and, possibly, a new comforter for our bedroom?

Yes...by this Wednesday, after 7 long months...we will sleep, eat, do our laundry, shower!...in our new, adorable cape cod home....Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord!

I LOVE this bank of windows that overlooks our hay field and upper pasture.  This house is so bright and airy - makes it feel larger than it actually is!

master bathroom

Watch for more interior photos...and more of my thoughts on this "unconventional" life...next weekend, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  

Change is stressful...

Even when it's a good, positive change.  A welcome change that has been anticipated for weeks or months or even longer.  Generally speaking, most of us prefer a steady, somewhat consistent rhythm of life for ourselves...at least on some level.

My husband and I definitely differ in our need...or maybe "desire"...for that steady rhythm, but I think we both agree that 2017 has been so chockfull of changes, twists and turns, both bad and good....many ups and downs...that we're definitely feeling stressed out right now.

And, we each deal with the stress quite differently...in fact, even our daughters are unique in that department creating some...dissonance...tension...within our family many days recently.  Add onto that this season of cold viruses and yucky germs....well, you most certainly know how it goes.  Least we all know in our hearts, that this "season" is nothing insurmountable with God's strength, power and love.  And, a hearty dose of grace extended to one another.  And, we haven't lost our ability to laugh together!



As I write, 3 out of the four of us are battling this swift-moving cold virus that's going around.  Oye!



Rosie and I have spent much of today resting and drinking tons of fluids.

Hoping it moves out as quickly as it moved in!

So, while I am glad that the house is coming early, it is just one more piece of this puzzle that has NOT gone as planned...therefore, we are scurrying a bit this week to get things prepared, get some helpers lined up, confirm new furniture delivery dates, figure out when we should take off of work...etcetera, etcetera....





Essentially, we are moving for the SECOND time in just 7 months....this is a wonderful, greatly-anticipated move, but a move (and all that that entails!) nonetheless.

And, having never experienced the delivery and set-up of a modular before, we really have little idea of what to expect.  How quickly will it go?  What problems may arise?  When can we begin moving our belongings inside?  When will we be able to shower, cook...sleep!... in the house?

Another little wrinkle to our December became apparent about 2 weeks ago.  Nathaniel was informed roughly a month ago that he would have to move out of his current apartment before the end of December because the landlord's daughter needs to move back into it.  Although Nate's been diligently looking, he hasn't found another one in his price range and work area as of yet.  Therefore, he has asked to "rent space" from us for a couple of months while he continues his search. 

Of course! 

But, that means moving him just days after we move.






To all my prayer warriors out there, thanks so much for praying us through this adventure.  We're almost there!  If you could just say a few for us to get though the rest of 2017 in one piece, I would so appreciate it!

A week from....TODAY!...our house will arrive in two pieces with the roof folded down on itself, riding a HUMUNGOUS flatbed,  pulled by a big rig.  The next day, a crane will come out to set it on its new foundation...

...That means that in just another 8 or 9 days we will cross the threshold into our brand new house for the first time...

Wow!...


This has been a long time coming!  (We actually considered doing this nearly 20 years ago!)



OMGosh!  I have forgotten half of what I chose for the interior over 2 months ago!  Yikes!





Hope you enjoyed my photos today.  Feels like we run a "cat tavern" 'round here lately!  We now have 4 that call our Dealan De Farm "home"!

Watch for an exciting post late next week, Folks!

Sassy Anna loves a good roll!