New House

Sooo, we have bought a house.
A real honest to goodness brick and cream colored house, with awful green trim, and a fantastic yard.
We have never owned or lived in a real house as a family, except our cool wooden house in stilts in Panama, which is more like a cabin really.
We have also bought a fixer upper, a home that needs lots and lots and lots of work as we are discovering, although mostly we knew this already (did we? sigh..)
Hubby and I go from madly excited to the point of insomnia, planning our new life therein, to shocked and depressed with each new development of work or repair needed.
"Emotional process" doesn't even begin to describe our ups and downs.
What I am discovering:

-Where there is a Will there is a Way. These words have never rung truer.

-How physically sedentary I had become, as I lie in bed feeling every muscle and tendon sore from the unexpected use of everything, digging, gardening, turning over a garden, endless lifting,
lugging
bending,
it hurts oh so good, I am getting stronger and more fatigued by the day.

-How utterly impossible it is to get anything done with 3 little kids including a baby, the more I try and do, the needier they become, oh the frustration of it, as I fantasize about giving them away for
JUST ONE MONTH so hubby and I can
GET SOMETHING DONE!!!!

-Just how much money is needed for every little detail, every little nail,
and every little handy man.

-How amazing it is to go and work on the house kids in tow, because there is no tv, no electronics, no toys, nothing much of anything out there at all, and yet they all beg to skip school to go out and help, they putz around behind me, mostly getting in my way, or creating small disasters like digging holes in the yard and stomping on my baby basil plants (Malawi)
they feel very accomplished and helpful at the end of day. (And I sheepish about the amount of yelling and scolding that has taken place, though they don't seem to mind.)

-That I have strangely zero desire to blog or photograph, wondering why that is?

-That hubby and I can ONLY DO SO MUCH. Which we are not really internalizing at all, as we push ourselves to inhumane limits trying to keep up with everything everyday.

-That we are so lucky to get this opportunity, and that we will probably spend the rest of our days getting the house just right. Does that thought give us patience? not at all, you should see my to-do list for next week.

-That I hate cooking more then ever, yet crave warm nourishing homemade meals at the end of a long hard busy day. I think I would happily sacrifice one of the children for someone to cook for me.

Lastly, my blogging is seriously lagging, but please keep checking, as I plan to start documenting our process soon, (hey, THE ENTIRE HOUSE is one giant diy project, yippee!) I plan on doing this as soon as I have an extra hand that is not holding a baby on one hip, a garden hoe and texturizing brush and pliers in the other.

Now if I could just figure out how to install the toilet......

This little felt house?

Didn't do it, haven't done a craft in weeks!

Happy thursday

we have owned our house for exactly one week today .