We are in!

oh my word. I cannot believe how long I've neglected to write here. I have a lot of good excuses if you want to hear them but you'd probably rather not :).

Well we are in the house! As of a week and a half we have been living here as a family again! There is still ALOT of tender loving care and projects that need done, but we are in and that in itself is huge. We are so so so grateful for the help from family and friends to get us to this point- thank you does not express our gratitude. 

I call this house our labor of love. When we bought it we had sketched out and dreamed up and pinned a thousand ideas that would be PERFECT. We thought we would be there in a month or two. And then things started taking longer and we kept running into more complications or "road blocks". And more. And more. And we realized it was going to be harder and take longer than we really every imagined. 

It took a toll on us, really heavily actually. We had some painful, isolating times of hurt and stress and trying to transition back to Illinois and parenthood and marriage and fears. Thanks to God's grace and family and friends and good sound counselors, we are coming out the other side...the one that feels more like spring. New life, fresh perspective, new hopes. Realistic expectations (at least semi realistic). 

It is has sort of paralleled our house, really. First we had to do demolition- tear out the old or the things that needed redone. Then we had to fix the stuff that no one can see- the plumbing, electrical, heating/air, etc. Then we started to slowly piece, room by room, back together the parts you can see. The parts that make a house look pretty and enjoyable to be in. It was like that with us too. God used a house renovation to dig up stuff in our lives and marriage that needed major redoing. Changing of bad habits and selfish ways. Then we work on the hard but foundational things- the electrical/plumbing things. Eventually if you keep putting bandaids/quick fixes on problems, they will break down. Then you start to see the results of the hard work- the noticeable things, little by little. One victory at a time. 

I realize I have posted ZERO pictures and I fully intend to post millions in the not distant future. I would like to fix it up just a liiiiiittle bit more...but I might cave and snap the photos anyways just how it is. 

Anyways. My main point in writing this blog was to share with you a quote that someone recently shared with us. 
"Hope does not diminish because Christ cannot diminish"

Love & Blessings,
Ang

Oh, here a few sneak peaks at the house:

This photo shows a bit of our countertops, floors and cool new barstools!

I love tulips! And beyond them you can see through the dining room into the living room.

Our new rug that we got from our house shopping weekend in chicago! I LOVE it.