Maybe not legally, but it certainly fits. Here it’s been almost a year since my first and last entry – I’ve been second guessing this entire project for at least six months because too much time had passed and it seemed pointless. But if anyone’s reading this, and if you find any kind of enjoyment/amusement, it’s worth it. 

So I began this blog a little while after the fire, of course things got crazy with the rebuilding process, pregnancy, a new puppy.. the list goes on. 

Side note: these flowers came up through the ashes and rubble where the edge of our house was. My mom and I spent half a day digging them up so we could plant them somewhere safe from the construction. Long story short, they weren’t safe after all and are no more. At least I have pictures! 

A relative of mine (who is an awesome contractor) got the ball rolling on the new construction on our property. He put off several jobs he had lined up so that he could complete ours early in hopes that we could be in by the time the baby arrived. He and his crew worked super fast. 

Sorry for the blast of photos. Right here is where Keira arrived, a week late but no dollars short. August 28, 2016 at 2 in the afternoon. Holy moly, what a giant blessing. I mean heart-exploding-out-of-my-chest, no-idea-how-I-lived-without-her kind of blessing. Even though we couldn’t bring her to our own home, into her own room with her own stuff. It ended up being a little over a month before we could. It was October 10th when we moved in. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

^^ That’s my studio, which I am in love with. Just wanted to throw that out there.

This was the only picture I took on move-in day. We had just enough helpers to get all the important stuff moved in by the end of the day. We really scrounged the first 24 hours for the things we needed on a day-to-day basis and there were a lot of things we forgot we’d need when we first moved in. For example, we showered without a shower curtain for a few days. I never fully appreciated shower curtains until I tried to function without one. Turns out, they play a huge part in keeping my showers toasty warm and steamy. Br.

This was the most amazing view to wake up to. It was like God just brushed the hair out of my face and wiped the tears from my eyes, giving us a new beginning, reminding us of all that we had to be thankful for. 

Max has loved and stuck close by to Keira since day 1.

Keira’s room has since accumulated much more stuff. She didn’t sleep in her crib until a couple weeks after moving in.

As you can see, our room remained a huge mess for quite a while!

This is the start of our Diesel wall. There’s a lot to add, but I love to come down the stairs each morning and see his sweet face.

This was the day the glass door and window were installed in our bathroom, which followed the tile finally getting sealed, so we were finally able to use it!

That’s the shower curtain that was a sight for sore eyes. Our main upstairs bathroom - it’s not as big as this picture makes it look.

Little by little, we’ve turned this house into a home. One by one, boxes have been unpacked. Slowly but surely, we’ve pieced our lives back together. In my own time, my heart will be healed. Jesus is doing a lot of work there yet. There’s still caution tape, neon construction cones and plastic mesh fencing. 

Keep your hard hat on!