Farmhouse life...

We wake up to a chill in the air.

Oh, for the boy that is not yet a man, keeping his family warm.  He slides from his bed, hazy, I am sure.  Throws on his boots and coat and heads out to the white of the frigid morning.  The outdoor wood stove needs filling and The Man is gone to work for hours already.

That kind of farmhouse living.

I had visions of fences, a welcoming drive, a few cows, a herd of chickens and a real homesteaders spirit.  Children building and milking and making.

But this is the life we are living...
We opt for days we can do. Days that include: homeschooling and Internet, whole foods cooking and store bought food, trips to town and a debit card, evenings with our family and movies on Netflix.  Children play in a child's paradise and with a Wii.  Chores, yet don't be surprised if you stop by to a home in chaos.  Time in the hard copy Word and stops by an inspirational blog or two. 
Though, family... working together for the good of each other.

 It may not be the thrashing and grinding of our own home-grown wheat, but the principles remains the same:

wonder, sacrifice, effort, grace, love, service.

family.

Reassessing to live today.  It's not a three week project -- a fleeting finishing... it's the project of a lifetime that will take our lifetime. 

Moving beyond the renovation.

Of Days Gone By

Yep.  The big ol ugly ??? (whatever it was) is going, going...

gone.

Grandma Snyder canned our pears for us this year...  xoxo

A slight problem with venting your dyer INTO your house.

Doesn't look like much to be proud of, but that is how we heat our house.  A little vent cover would do nicely here... yes?

Tea time with my girls...

 Paper scrap creations

Reading and more reading.

 

I love Christmas and that guy. 

And am so thankful for these people that God has given to me!

 Time for sledding...

Time for Jesus with our Daily Advent devotion -- The Jesse Tree

In three months there has been a little more progress... but a lot more life.

Days go by...

(And as soon as we can find our SD card (grrr)... there will be pictures of curtains and a Christmas tree and other curtains that don't cover windows...)

Along the Way

Time is just time right?  What is three weeks or three months?  We missed our mark by a long shot - but are not giving up.  We are still not there, but getting closer everyday.

Here's a picture journal of what's happened in the last two-and-a-half months:

Here are what a few holed under the kitchen cabinets were patches with --

 Love it!  March 31, 1915 -

 My sister and her husband have come twice to help for days at a time... leaps and bounds always happen with their help!  Thanks Charlie and Bek!

 Our cabinet transformation kit- 

 "Poor boys" for dinner -

 Our little out-doorsy girl...

 The beginning of the bathroom transformation -

 Halfway there -

 Where there once was a door -

 Drilling for gold... er... water... might as well be gold, as far as I am concerned!

 Jamie saved the day with his master-sheetrocker abilites -

No more chimney access -



 Texturing the portion of wall that needed replaced -

 Sonny boy helping to paint his room -

 Ceiling before... you'll like the after, but I'm not posting that quite yet -

 The ninja is the best part of this picture, obviously, but you may also want to take a gander at the raw floor here -

 This is where our Little spends much of her time -

 The pond around the corner.  Fishing for Jordan's birthday -

 and Jordan didn't even catch one!

 Our kids absolutely LOVE it here.  Exploration - investigation - something is always captivating them -

 This is just cute -

 Notice the floor - Yes.  It is done.

 We even have some basic furniture in to make our time here more pleasant -

 She's a bendy girl, but the real object of this photo is the old barnwood used to patch the floor where the wall once was -

We have water to the house... if you turn on the pump, run down watch the pressure gauge, run back up and turn it off, then run in the house and use whatever water is needed for the moment (aka flush the toilet, etc...) since we currently have leaks in the system.  Hoping for that to be done this week...

I smile at that thought.  How many hopes for weeks have come and gone?

Days, weeks, months, years... lifetimes. 

This is what we are doing with ours.

Serving Jesus

 Raisin' a bunch of kids

 Taking on projects that teach us, grow us, and benefit us

Loving what we've got

Enjoying all of this life together.

In a modern way, taking us back to 100 years ago.