Raw Life.

My heart just wrenched as I watched back this video from 10 months ago. Holy. Check it out. I videoed our renovation upon moving in.

It took me a long time to watch it back, a longer time to realize that we actually bought this crazy house, and then to see my small children and dog running around :/

What is funny is that we ask the kids all the time, "So what do you think about the new room?!" (After it is finished) to which David will respond, "I like it both ways and I like to rip things out with daddy."
Well, there is a guy in the making for ya! I actually asked Davids best friend, Jarrett, and he said, "I liked it better the other way." Ha!! I love kids. Hilarious.
I realized that I may be the only one in my entire house hold that actually cares that this place is a disaster!
But, either way- we are 2 weeks out from being almost done. Oh my gosh.

I can't tell you or even verbalize what it is like to live inside a renovation you are doing. I may need post renovation therapy to know what how to live in a normal house where we don't work on projects after the kids bedtime until wee hours of the morning. I guess I can start by sleeping again!

All I know is that it has been very hard for a very long time. And you know what? We have been through lots of situations that have been very difficult for an extended period of time. And by God's grace, we have overcome.  I really don't know what else to say other than that you really do build up mental, emotional, and literally physical strength when you are pressed for so hard for so long. And thank goodness that is scripture my friends...2 Cor 4:8-9
⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 

We like the renovation challenge.... only because we know there is an end and a goal.

Today, was a bad day though. Not all days are hard work, good attitudes, and good deals.
 We had to put down the second coat of polyurethane. It stinks. So, we had a fan in the window and the room tarped off to suction out the smell (which actually works so we didnt have to move out for a few nights to my mom and dads).
Anyway, I finished cooking dinner- which that is an entirely different post on HOW i cook dinner every night since we have no kitchen- and we sit down.

I hear sirens. Tornado sirens. I go to open the window and the latches (that pop it out so you can clean it) come out, and when I pull up the window, hits me in the eye. I immediately start icing it because I am sure I have a black eye.
We eat and clean up and Tim starts the 2nd coat of poly. I entertain kiddos and dog and I hear hail. I run outside in the hail realizing that our cars are parked in the driveway, not in the carport. I park them inside b/c Tim can't stop the Polyurethane and I come in drenched, with a swollen eye.
All of the sudden our window fan to suction air gets sucked out by the storm and we watch it short circuit outside :(
As Tim is finishing the poly, I am frantically getting the kids ready for bed, looking for another fan, and trying to do dishes (another fun time with no kitchen). We had some sweet tea last night and I see a plastic cup which appeared to be full of sweet tea and dump it in the sink all over the dirty dishes..... when the smell hits me. That wasn't sweet tea. That was Tim's cup of Polyurethane for the cutting in areas....
I sit in the floor and sob.
I'm pretty sure all my dishes are ruined. Not to mention my make-shift sink is now coated in it. I start my "I Hate Everything..." rampage and swear to Tim that I will never do another house again (I have sworn that before and it doesnt seem to work...)
I realize I need to put myself to bed after I put my kids to bed and call it a day. But, instead, I update our blogs because you just can't make this stuff up people. Then, I decide to post the video so people will know my real life.

Better, right?!

So that was our evening. We are a little over it. Ready to be done. And I am ready for ALL tools and supplies to be out of the living areas so I DONT pour polyurethane all over our stuff.

Well, here is a picture of the kitchen almost done. We are getting cabinets and appliances put in this weekend and granite next week. It's going to be a crazy next 7 days, but there is a MAJOR light at the end of this tunnel!!

Thank you Lord for getting us through this, He is just with us. And seeing pretty hardwood floors under linoleum always makes me tear up a little. They are just pretty. And that makes me happy.