Hello!

It has been a while...

Here is quick update on what you have missed...

Things in our house have been busy busy busy! Summer was wonderful.  I absolutely LOVED having Philip home with me this summer.  He was still gone a lot working on Grad School but he could come home for lunch and that was wonderful :)

Joseph is also busy busy busy.  He DEFINITELY keeps me on my toes.  We have a very curious little boy!  He is all boy and sometimes I am just not sure how to play with him with out exhausting myself!  He loves to be outside and play with stick and leaves.  He just learned to say hut and then throw the football.

We had a miscarriage about four weeks ago and lost our little Zelie.  We were about 10 weeks along.  From the beginning we felt it was a girl so we decided to name her Zelie after Blessed Zelie Martin.  (read about them here)  Philip and I were just talking about it in the car last night and we both feel like a part of us is missing.  I feel a little emptiness inside of me.  Maybe I will always feel that way until I am in heaven.  For now I know that I am blessed to have one child here on earth and one child in heaven.  Even though I know this... its still hard to not feel cheated.  I wish I was still pregnant and due in April... and I wish I could hold my sweet baby Zelie.  Why is it so hard to accept Gods plan for our lives?

I am thankful to know that my mother had a miscarriage right before me so without that miscarriage I would not be here.  It helps to remember that and reminds me that God's plan is so much greater than mine.  If he had not called my older sibling home... I would not be here.

In the meantime I have this sweet little bug to hug and cuddle all the time :)

Anyway...

I am actually starting to write a blog again because we are actually in the middle of renovating our house :)  I am so excited about it all!

Here are some before pics...

Before Mudroom/Laundry Room/ Toilet in closet

We are going to knock out that closet.  Behind that back wall is our storage room.  We are getting rid of the storage room and making it the laundry room.  Then we are going to have a half bath where the orange chest is.  I cannot wait to have a half bath close to our living area for people to use :)

Looking out from laundry area into kitchen/ family room beyond

kitchen before with unused formal dining room beyond the door

We are extending the kitchen into the dining room.  We are also going to make the family room larger by moving the wall closer to the front of the house.  Our formal living room will be smaller and our family room will be larger :)

I cannot wait to have a large kitchen with a pantry in the same room.  We are also going to have a desk in the kitchen to put all our bills etc. 

Family room looking back at the kitchen

The wall on the left is the one that is moving back about 4 feet. By doing that we are now going to have an island in the kitchen where the sink is. 

In the unused formal dining room looking into the kitchen...
living room to the right

looking into living room from dining room 

This room is going to be smaller but will still be a pretty good size.  Below you can see our currently empty dining room that will be our kitchen... you won't be able to see into the kitchen from this room though.  There will be a set of pocket door on the right wall going into the family room.  

looking back into the living room and unused dining room

Guest Bathroom

And here is the bathroom that is being gutted and re-done.  I cannot wait to get rid of the matchy matchy peach floor tile/wall paper/ toilet/and tub.

Guest bathroom... bath time

I guess that's it for now... I will post some pics of the progress soon... maybe even this afternoon if I can find some time :)

ps. Sorry my house is a disaster in all of the pics... thats my life :)