Our First Summer in the New Home
We've lived in our new house now for... eight months. It's easy to look at where things are right now and think man, we hardly did anything. But when I actually take a moment to list everything out. Wow, we've managed to do a lot in that time! I especially notice it when I look back through photos and see how the house, yard, and woods looked before we moved in. So, as I do to make myself appreciate and not downplay my hard work in any area of life, I thought I'd write a quick list of what we've accomplished here so far.
Painted all four bedrooms (scrubbed walls and ceiling, primed ceiling and walls, painted two coats on ceiling and walls - HUGE thank you to the friends who helped with this, we couldn't have done it without you!)
Refloored bedrooms
Renovated upstairs bathroom (repainted, tore out and scraped off old floor, sanded floor level, installed new floor and grouted, installed new toilet, sanded and painted vanity then painted it again, installed new pulls, refinished vanity top - again huge thank you! to the friends who helped paint, lay and grout the floor)
Figured out why the well wasn't working ( I don't even remember at this point, the pressure tank needed pressure added and a filter change but I honestly don't remember why we didn't have fresh water for the first week we lived here)
Fixed a few electric box problems (again, thank you to our electrical savvy friends, you know who you are)
Had the chimney cleaned
Added gates to stairs
Fixed deck stairs (after they collapsed from being walked on, yikes, did I mention it's a little bit of a fixer upper)
Took down 13 dead pine trees
Thinned out tons of dead branches from the rows of pine trees
Weed whacked a path through at least half the 6 acres
Forged a path through the rest of the property
Trimmed back invasive bushes that were choking prettier landscaping
Mowed field area back in to yard
Took down a diseased tree
Gathered firewood for the winter (off our property, free online listings, and a friend's property)
Fixed the pool (dug out and leveled every post, releveled ground, labored to get the wall back in the track all around the pool, hired a freelancer to install the liner and help while pool filled)
Built a garden bed next to the house (Dug out, leveled, built border, and filled with quality soil - thank to my in-laws for this project!)
Picked pounds and pounds of blackberries and made our first jars of jam
Found where raspberries are to pick next year
JD got his first deer, butchered himself and stocked our freezer with almost 50lb of venison
Picked mint from the yard for homemade tea
Met the closest four neighbors
Not to mention the sweet moments we enjoyed as a family. For the first few weeks I sat out on the driveway after laying the kids down and watched the beautiful sunsets, every single night. We've had the most beautiful sunsets, the kind we haven't seen since moving to NY but are always excited to see as soon as we are back in the midwest. We saw rainbows. We saw abundance on the land. As I walked the property each evening preparing my littlest for sleep, I would notice something delightful. It's how I noticed we had wild strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries, a productive apple tree, grapevines, and blackberries. The land was fruitful. Our little slice of promised land. A place where our lives could feel abundant and we would flourish. And it was delightful discovering these little gifts hidden away for us. I found more delight in my kids and watching them explore and become best buds. Here's a little highlight list of family moments:
kids running around and me finally feeling they were safe to roam free from me
our early summer setup of kiddie pool, canopy, and lawn chairs by the swing set
LOTS of fishing trips (after dinner JD would take J up the road to a friends pond to fish)
watching the absolute joy on J's face as the pool filled with water
picking blackberries as a family
letting J stay up way past bedtime to see the amazing display of lightning bugs and catch a few
my mom floating around the pool having a grand time while JD helped J practice swimming
a whole lot of hammock swinging
JD working from home and being able to stick his head out the window to see J's first few successes of riding without training wheels
walking around the property with S in the carrier, signing as we walked a loop around the property and he touched every branch he could reach
It may sound odd to say it was new to feel my kids were totally safe in our living environment, but it's new to me since living here. I spent the first four years of motherhood living in a duplex, much of which had a neighbor that I would not consider a safe person. Not to mention the unpredictable people that would show up in our driveway at any time of the day or night. So feeling my four year old was safe to ride his bike while I chopped veggies and listened for him through an open window was not something I experienced until living here. And wow, has it felt healing and freeing! I never realized how heavy the weight of this anxiety was, the worry of trying to keep my kids always protected in an environment that felt often unsafe to me. After living at our new home for about six months and finally going through a sort of stress detox phase did I realize just how much excess stress I had been physically carrying because of this. I delight in the freedom this place has brought us.
JD and I always talked about wanting to live an active lifestyle in nature. But we struggled to make it work until we lived here. Him working and being in school, then him doing both of those with a little one, then us having two little ones. Loading everyone up to escape away to the woods always felt so arduous a task. Now, it's as simple as walking out the back door. Or me and JD taking a walk or gathering fire wood after the kids are asleep.
