God is gracious and merciful; We are so close!!!

To the faithful readers of the most neglected blog in the universe……

We are so close to the finish line on this home. Jason started installing tile a little over a week ago and he brought home over 3,000 square feet of hardwood flooring as well. Being the one man show that he is, and also an extreme perfectionist, things at this stage are going a bit slow. After floors, we will move on to stair rails, vanities, cabinets, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, hardware, exterior painting and landscaping. So yes, still quite the punch list.

I wanted to take a moment though and share some of the sweet gifts God has given us during this time of living in my parent’s house. I’ve shared some of the challenges, sleeping arrangements being the greatest. But God has enriched many areas of our life during this time; primarily DUE TO the tight quarters.

We are always together. Our family for years has been pretty tight knit. Being a homeschool family naturally strengthened our bonds, but prior to moving we still had a big enough house to retreat when necessary. We haven’t had that luxury here. There is virtually nowhere for any one of us to go to be alone. Caleb has shared a “bedroom” with Jason in the living room while the girls are on bunkbeds in a room together. And I pretty much always have a small child attached to me. But the positive has FAR outweighed the negative.

We talk all the time. Well, Jason and I don’t get much time to talk HOWEVER we have had some of the richest conversations with our children. It’s really quite interesting to me to consider what simply ALWAYS being together has elicited conversationally. I’m so thankful because I have seen so much growth in our kids the last year and I do believe in large part it is because of the amount of time we have had together and the gospel-oriented conversations the Lord has given us. Wednesdays have become a favorite evening of mine when our oldest 3 come home from church and all gather on my bed or in the living room and just share everything.

We have to share A LOT of things; Bathrooms, bedrooms, tv’s, music stations, and so much more. When you are sharing a single space, everyone is being challenged to give up SOMETHING for someone else. We have to negotiate, compromise, and die to self ALL THE TIME because there is literally no room for mine. It’s made me realize on a new level how our way of life, affluency, and excess has contributed to our individualism and self-centeredness. Having multiple tv’s, bedrooms and devices in our old house allowed us all to watch what WE want, encouraging self-centered preferences AND separation. And I never even realized the mindset it was feeding nor what we were missing out on. We haven’t fully arrived and still struggle at times with family squabbles but I’m grateful for what the Lord has revealed to us about togetherness.

We have to apologize A LOT. Being in close relationship with people inevitably exposes ALL our sin. When we are offensive or get offended, when we think we are right or demand our way, once again, there is no where for us to go and hide and stuff our feelings. We’ve had conflict, made fools of ourselves in front of the whole family and are thankfully forced to resolve it swiftly. Because we are together so much there is built in accountability with one another. And there is no rug big enough in this house to just sweep our sin under. What a mercy!! We are all learning how to confront others graciously and how to apologize sincerely. And it’s beautiful.

As we get closer to finishing our home there is much we all look forward to. But I am eternally thankful that the Lord allowed us this season, especially at such a critical time in our older children’s lives. And had it been on my time table it would not have happened. Another reminder that God’ ways are higher, he knows better, and we can absolutely trust Him.