Completed!

Three weeks ago we set out to demolish our bathroom. It was in major need of some improvement. The existing tile had been covered in many areas with concrete and stick-on-tiles and needed to be removed. The tub leaked into the dining room whenever we showered and we had found mushrooms growing in a corner. The toilet had to be plunged almost daily. Here was an exhaust pipe from one wall. No wonder we had issues in that room... The dated vanity and light fixtures needed an update, and we wanted some storage space.
Here are some after photos, and just to add a bit of real life, Hudson stepped in for the photo below and pulled the toilet paper off the roll. We're thankful for a cabinet to hold important things so we don't have to have Jeff's travel bag out all the time! Here is the old shower, with peely wallpaper border and grime I could never get to come clean.
New shower with built-ins to hold shower products. A side note about the tub...when we got the new tub home we left it in it's protective seal while we finished the tile around it. When we took off the plastic covering we were shocked to find a hole in the brand new tub! We were stuck not knowing what to do, because it would be a huge ordeal to remove the tile surrounding the tub to be able to return it to the store, and then re-install everything. We ended up calling the Tub Doctor, who fixed the hole quite well. Now we're hopeful that the store will compensate a bit.

Jeff said it was a good reminder that this bathroom is wood, hay, and stubble!
We are SO thankful to have a place to shower and for this room to feel clean! Clayton said to me this morning, "Mom, this bathroom doesn't even feel like our house!" :) We're all pretty thrilled with it!

Helping Daddy

All three of the kids were quite interested in this bathroom renovation project. Some were a bit more helpful than others... Hudson was fascinated by the loud power tools, and especially liked to try to hold sharp tools when we weren't looking. Emma helped mix the mortar to make it look like a milkshake. Clayton ran the "wet saw" to cut a few tiles. Jeff assured me that it's not possible for the blade to cut a finger. :)

School Days

We are so thankful for the schools the kids are in this year. Emma is at The Oaks Academy, a classical Christian school. One of her little friends from church is in her class, so she was especially excited for that.
Here are Emma and Ellie (to her left) in the middle of the "whole school" photo.
Clay is at the Project School, a charter school close to us. It seems to be a great place, full of creativity and amazing learning, and he loves his teacher, Ms. Ginger. His favorite time of the day is "Mad Science," and he thinks it's cool that his math teacher calls the students "Mathmaticians."
We are so excited for this year, and are anxious to get involved in these school communities. We are thankful to God for the paths He has opened up for our kids' education.

Pool Party

We were in Franklin, TN with Jeff's whole family last weekend. We had a wonderful time, full of lots of crazy water fun, laughter, great conversations, and yummy food. Here all the guys show their big muscles on the slide... I love it that Jeff's 83 year old Grandpa went down it several times too.
Every evening we sat out in the hot tub as the full moon came out.

We celebrated Ashlyn's 13th birthday with hats and a special tea for the ladies.
Aunt Melissa pours tea for Emma. Happy 13th Birthday, Ashlyn Taylor. You are a treasure!

The waiting is over

This has been one of those “hold onto the edge of your seat” weeks for us. There have been several things in our lives that we have had to pray and WAIT months for. This week, nearly all of those things are coming at us and the fogginess and confusion is being answered with clarity. The College Ave. house (the one Jeff has been working on since last year) sold, after four different closing dates and several delays. Truthfully, I got to the point of not really believing the sale would ever go through. But it did, and we are thrilled to finally be finished with that project, and for the house to go to a wonderful family.

Next, we got accepted to two different schools for our kids to go to! We had been on the waiting list for one for a very long time, so we were very excited to get in there. The kids started school last week. Literally, Tuesday we got accepted, and Wednesday they began. We had no time to plan ahead on that one! The kids have really been enjoying school and have made some new friends. It’s going to be so different for me at home with just one little buddy now!

To throw things into a bit more chaos, this week we have also been remodeling the one bathroom in our house. We lived with it for 1 ½ years and tried to be careful, but it was in desperate need of some fixing. We had found mushrooms growing in one nasty leaky corner, the tub had been draining into our dining room below, and toilet was clogging almost daily. The last straw was when poopy water drained into our dining room. We decided the plumbing of our 100 year old house needed an update…

So, last weekend our amazing friends Austin and Ashley helped us with the gutting process.

For now we’ve been using our toilet in the basement and washing our hair in the kitchen sink or taking showers at the neighbors'. Anytime we swim, the kids think that counts as a shower too! I’m trying to keep in mind something my Mom always said, “Short term sacrifice for long term gain.” However, last week when Hudson decided to take off his stinky diaper during naptime and wipe it all over his crib bedding, while we had no shower and no hope of a washer being hooked up 'til the weekend, I kind of forgot that quote...

Anyway, I hope I will not soon take for granted a usable bathroom and washing machine. :)

Ultimately, I am thankful to God for the movement of things that have felt stagnant, hopeless at times, discouraging, and bleak. He has been there with us all along, giving us just enough light and hope for the step we’re on. I’m thankful for that.