In.

So. We moved in. We are slowly coming out of a fog. Life since July 3, 2015 has been a blur and these last three weeks are no exception. The last week of March was full of inspections; bank, mechanical and building. Most everything went fine. We went back and forth with the bank, because the on-the-ground inspector signed off on everything, but somehow the report the bank received only gave us 80% complete on HVAC and 95% complete on paint, trim and labor. Something got lost in translation, clearly. Ben called as soon as we received these documents and ended up being on the phone for about an hour with the bank and the inspector. His favorite thing is talking on the phone so this was not a big deal. So totally kidding. The story he got from the lady at the bank was that we could be in default of our loan because it was a six month loan and if the project wasn't complete, well, bad news bears. So we went into panic mode, naturally. We are hard working people with good credit and auto-payment on everything, so we basically never miss a bill. We pay off loans (cars, student loans) early. We live within our means and give to our church and local charities. So the word "default" hit like a dagger, to me anyways. Well, this went back and forth for about two days then I finally talked to a different person at the bank who assured me that we would be fine and it was probably just a miscommunication with the documents, and worst case scenario there was a 30 day grace period to get all of the renovations completed. Then suddenly, unexpectedly, we heard from the bank that they were ordering the final FINAL inspection (which is a good thing) and hopefully we would be all set. The inspection took place, he signed off, bank sent the last draw documents to us this past Wednesday, we all signed and I sent them back. Then I found out late Friday afternoon that they won't release the final funds because there's one permit missing from our file. Oh my word, seriously?! Hopefully this will be resolved quickly and it doesn't seem like a big deal, but we are just ready to be done with all of this back-and-forth nonsense. Trying to remain positive and grateful because without the bank, there wouldn't be a Farmhouse.

After we got everything ready for the end-of-March inspections, the next thing was to get moved in, get everything out of the rental, and get everything out of the PODS. Done, done and done. Our first night in the house was Monday, April 4. The PODS was emptied that week and picked up on Thursday, April 7. We chipped away at the rental that whole week but were officially out on Saturday, April 9. In between all of this we had to say "goodbye for now" to my Grandma Stob. She passed away into glory after 98 years here on, ironically, April 4. This was such a bittersweet day. It was also incredibly gross and rainy, until that evening when it suddenly got sunny. My dad called shortly after I noticed this to tell me Grandma had passed. I think the sun started shining when Grandma saw Jesus face to face and got to hug my Grandpa for the first time in 23 years. That whole week was peppered with happy moments and sad moments; memories made and memories recalled. The funeral brought in family from all over, and it was amazing to see all of my aunts and uncles, nearly all of my 15 Stob cousins, many of their spouses and lots of their kids that week. Grandma was so excited about the Farmhouse, and I'm sad that she didn't get to see it quite finished.

We obviously moved in gradually over the course of about a week and a half. Our moms both helped a lot, getting the house clean and livable. It's a good thing we have kids because that's where their real concern lies. Kidding, I know they love us too. We also got the pre-existing carpets cleaned in the living rooms downstairs and the three bedrooms upstairs. We took help when it was offered and asked for help in pretty specific windows...we do have day (night, weekend) jobs after all. At first it went well...getting furniture set up, packing up one room and bringing it over and unpacking it at the Farmhouse...and then everything went crazy and it was a free-for-all. And that's still pretty much where we are at. Most of what we need to be functional is in place, but we can't walk through the garage and we can barely pass through the family room upstairs. Boxes everywhere. As odd as it might sound, even to me, I am the most at peace about this whole thing than I have been in months. We may be living in chaos surrounded by boxes, but at least we are all together and everything is in one place! That alone adds some semblance of "normal" that we have all been missing.

Not everything in the house is fully complete, even from our standards. When we moved in the kitchen floor still needed one coat of poly. The mudroom and pantry needed to be stained and finished, which meant three more coats of poly. The chimney hole upstairs was still only covered with a piece of plywood and needed to have a better, safer patch. The only appliance that was fully functional was the fridge. But we didn't care. We had been there before; that's what normal renovations are like. We picked away at the floors the first weekend we were there, which has now allowed us to get some stuff into place. The island we took from our old house fits nicely in the kitchen and has been really nice to eat around again. Hank came over one day to put blocks under the stove and got it all leveled and working properly. I've mentioned before that the floor has a significant slope and the kitchen cabinets needed to be shimmed a lot. The stove sat too low, even with the little leveling mechanisms on the feet fully extended. So blocks and extra trim pieces it is. He also came to install the microwave which is so much nicer than the little college dorm room type micro we bought for the rental. Ben got the washer and dryer working, so we are up and running with all of the appliances. We have temporary rods in our closets until we decide how we want to organize them for real. I personally got so tired of making decisions that I think I might live with my temporary rod for a year. It works just fine. Well, it did fall down once, but Ben reinforced it so I'm back in business.

The entry doors we want are not in yet so we still have temporary ones. Sounds like the person who took the order initially has since quit and something got lost in the shuffle. There's no record of the order so they placed a new one last week. The high cost of turnover, I tell ya. The list of to-do's is slowly growing again now that we're coming out of the haze of actually moving. But nothing seems overwhelming, and nothing will require us to get a sitter in order to work together, or spend evenings and weekends in separate houses, or prevent us from dropping everything to go play outside with the boys, now that it's finally so nice out. So we are very thankful and relieved to be as far as we are.

My dad and brother Matt helping Ben move this beast upstairs to Colt's room.

Guys from our small group at church helped get some big stuff in one night. Bed, couches, etc. There was also a lot of downtime.

Deep in thought...

View of the Farmhouse from the rental on our last night there. Beauty.

My grandma packing up my kitchen stuff.

My grandpa helping Ben unload the PODS.

Playing with cars and trucks the first morning they woke up at the Farmhouse. No different from anywhere else they have ever lived!

This is so common it's barely notable. Yes, someone is on the toilet.

Why wouldn't you wear your Colombian cowboy hat to poly a floor at 11:00 pm on a Saturday?

Our dog is no longer allowed inside the house. In case it's not clear, she's a yellow lab.

Boys playing atop of the clay with their cousin Brett.

Ben and my dad hanging plywood in the garage. More durable than drywall in Ben's opinion. I don't know and I don't care.