Blessed!

 Here's a post without pictures, but full of praise. We've been living with my sister for a number of weeks. I rarely get on her computer and my computer is packed up in a town over an hour away. So I'm not taking many pictures and certainly not downloading any to the computer. Kim lives out in the country where a strong cell phone signal is hard to come by so I have few opportunities to talk to anyone on the phone. If it weren't for the ability to connect to facebook through my phone I'd feel totally disconnected from the outside world. So while I don't have pictures to share and it's been over a month since I've posted anything on this blog, a lot has been going on.
We closed on our house May 1, a full six months after putting an offer on it. We didn't realize we were buying a "fixer-upper." It didn't seem that way six moths ago. But when we walked through the house before closing it became quickly apparent that we had a lot of work to do. The previous owners did not completely empty the house. They still had a couch, bed, desks, entertainment center, shelving units, clothes, dishes, books, car seats,  food and lots of trash still in the house.The walls were full of nail holes, some way to big to just cover with spackling paste. I wish I would have counted the number of nails I pulled out of the walls because there were hundreds. A couple of the rooms have walls and windows covered with stickers, and not the kind that peel off easily. These stickers are the kind that destroy the walls when you finally get them off with a razor. The baseboards had been painted pink and yellow in high gloss. The carpet is filthy, stained all the way down to the pad. Every square inch of the house, including ceilings and trim, needs to be painted. Flooring needs to be replaced. Cupboards and appliances need a deep cleaning. Showers and toilets need orange and yellow stains removed. We have a lot of work to do - and that is just the inside. We have another list of outdoor projects that need to be done too.
We've waited six months for this house and we now wait (and work!) for the house to be ready to live in. So why is this a post full of praise? It sounds like a post full of complaints. Let me get to that.
Our church family has been so wonderful. We had one family come to our house and completely empty out the junk the previous owners left behind. I can't tell you how big of a job that was. The junk filled up a huge dumpster! Yesterday a few ladies joined me and my step mom and helped clean out the refrigerator, the oven, the microwave and the floors. We chose paint colors, We pulled nails.We filled nail holes. We sanded baseboards. Ben came after work and we got all the carpet removed. A water softener was installed. Ben and I have been working every night until about midnight. While working yesterday a couple from our church brought us a home cooked meal. I am so encouraged. I am so blessed.
Today Ben is at the house. I don't know what projects are being done today but I know that a couple ladies and another family from our church are there working with him. I didn't have child care today so I'm home with my kids. Evelyn is worn out. It's 1:00 p.m. and she is still sleeping - not from her morning nap but from going to bed last night!
I am so thankful for a church family who loves us and ministers to us!