Growth

It seems like everything is growing in my world these days. These four boys in my bushel are growing like weeds ... and eating like they are growing like weeds! God has been growing me. Teaching me to enlarge my arms for the job He has for me right now. Digging into some of those tucked away areas to change my heart and heal up past hurts. It has been good!

And even our house is growing! We are currently working on an addition.

When we bought this house, it was truly an answer to a prayer long prayed. And we love the neighborhood, we love the house, the layout, all of it! But we knew from the beginning that "someday" we would like to add on a dining room. Not a formal dining room! Ha! Not in this house. Just a bigger space for our growing family to eat in,  AND Eli and I look forward to the day when we can host holiday and family events in our house for everyone! Sure, we can cram in now. But Eli is totally envisioning Thanksgiving happening in our house this year = ) Which means more space for long tables is what we're working towards.

This is a huge project, of course! We have a walkout basement, so that means we're building a second story dining room that adds on to the kitchen. And will connect to the living room, making a more open living space for us. So we had to dig footings, get concrete poured, etc etc etc. Lots of work. We are so thankful for my dad, who has construction knowledge and has given us so much time and muscle work as we (okay, really Eli, not me!) have worked on the house. He spends his days off here to help, makes lists with Eli, gives us suggestions, and list could go on and on. Eli loves it when Dad is here and he has someone to work with, talk to, and sweat with! The lower level space will be a new home for our giant tortoise. And usable to store ladders, tools, etc., in as well. That way whenever we do sell this home (which hopefully is a long time down the road), someone without a 70 point tortoise can have a great shed ready and waiting.

We started at the beginning of the summer and are still at it. Eli wasn't able to take much time off, so he's working weekend hours on the house. We're taking it a week at a time! I'm crossing my fingers a lot of the major work will be done by the end of September and we'll just have finishing work to do. So far the majority of the "room" is done, but there is a lot of finishing work (mudding/taping), and then new flooring and painting and all that.

It has been fun to see the progress. From just holes in the ground to an actual room! Hard to believe ... but also hard to believe that at some point it will be done! It really will! Our neighbors are glad that the days of the huge trash container out front, and concrete trucks are over. I have lists of people I'm compiling in my mind that I can't wait to have over once construction phase is done!