A little AIR please:)

Today we had everyone back in full swing when I arrived at the house around 9:45am. Tile guy, electricians, heating and air, and the floor guy stopped by also. Now, the floors were actually supposed to be stained today, BUT when he arrived, he checked the humidity level and it was WAY to high to start sanding. Why you might ask? NO AIR! I had no idea this was even an issue, but I suppose I have learned yet another thing about building a house.

So, guess what? WE GOT AIR TODAY! We got our incredibly huge unit installed, put some tape over the holes in the exterior doors (that don't have hardware yet) and we are hoping the humidity level will be down enough to start tomorrow. But, I won't hold my breath. Luckily, these guys work the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) so if it doesn't happen tomorrow, maybe they can get started Friday.

On another positive note, the tile guy is FINALLY finished installing every piece of tile. You would think our entire house was made of tile since he's been here for almost 5 weeks. Tomorrow should be grouting. Hopefully that part won't be too hard or take too long. We shall see:)

Here's a few pics from today:

Large A/C condenser! 

 Hood installed

 Outlet in the stone (for all those moments where you want to plug in lights on the mantle)

 Electricians getting ready to hang pendants

 Shower coming together! Just need grout.

Look at right side with garage:)

Getting closer...

Every day we get closer and closer to the finish line. I went to the house around 9am this morning to see who was there working and was disappointed to just see the tile guy's van. However, he certainly is reliable (considering this is like the start of the 5th week he's been here...seriously yall). However, after going to teach a class at the Athletic Club and coming back a few more people started rolling in. All in all, today was a good day having the tile guy, cabinet guy, electricians, and garage door installers there. We are getting there:) Here's a few of the latest pics:

 Shower is ALMOST done...a few more pieces around the bottom to cement down and he can start grouting

 LOVE my cabinet guy...this was originally a drawer which obviously wasn't very functional sliding on top of the vanity. SO, he made it a drop down which is so much more usable!! He's GREAT!

 Jason's Christmas present was installed today! He loves this fan!

 Advantium microwave/convection oven installed today!

This will be the light over the dining table. However, it has taken 2 misunderstandings to get it to the house. After two deliveries that were NOT this light, hopefully it will be here soon! TOTALLY in love with it!

Garage door was installed today. Just have to do some wrapping to cover the wood surround. This was actually a surprise. I had no idea they were coming and that just DOES NOT normally happen to me!

 Other appliances waiting to be installed:)

 One more shot of the garage from a distance

Garage from the inside...motor coming soon:)

Tomorrow we should see the guys who are sanding the floors and getting them ready for staining. Still hoping to be on target for JULY 1st!!!!!!!!

Hooray for DRIVEWAY!!

It's truly hard to believe this day actually came and is now in hindsight, but my driveway FINALLY got poured Friday. The rain had been keeping the always huge and extremely heavy concrete truck away from our oh so sloped yard. So, you can imagine my excitement when I pulled up to the house Friday morning to see this:

It took several loads of concrete from trucks coming and going, but in a day's work, it was done! And now I say, BRING ON THE RAIN! Except, there are a few other things that need to be done outside that might suffer:( Anyway, here's a few other pictures of the day:

I just had to leave my mark! I don't know if you can tell, but they did a cool finish called "picture framing" around all the edges and joints. It looks super cool!

 Guys sitting on 2x4's smoothing away!

Glorious panoramic shot heading around the front of the house!

Finally, an after shot! The guys did a really great job! Especially in certain areas to keep the rain flow going away from the house!

Now, we are about 3 weeks away from moving in. My cabinet guy has been in and out doing finishing touches on the beautiful cabinets he made us. He has a few more hinges and pulls and molding to finish up tomorrow, but overall everything is pretty much on target. For the upcoming week, we are looking at sanding and staining the hardwoods and bringing in appliances! WHOOHOO!

AUTHORITY

When I hear that word it immediately makes me somewhat uncomfortable. I think the human make-up is that such that we don't want anyone to boss us around or make us do something we don't decide on our own. But what about God's authority? I was challenged by the message a dear friend of ours preached Sunday at church on the Authority of God.


When I think about God's authority, I'm not uncomfortable and I'm not afraid. I WANT Him desperately to rule over my life, because I sure can't do it alone. I would mess up way to often. The scripture from Matthew about Jesus sending his disciples out to sea, a huge storm roles in, the disciples are scared, Jesus appears, and Peter (wondering if it's really Jesus or just a ghost) says (in my words) "Hey, if it's you, tell me to walk to you on the water." He does, but as soon as he is consumed with the storm around him, he sinks. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:31 NIV) This was impossible for Peter to do by himself, but he knew that was really Jesus, he could!


So, our friend who brought the message Sunday asked several questions that hit home for me:

What seems impossible in your life right now? me-being able to have a child

What's impossible for man, becomes possible for God.

Who are you listening to in this hardship? The world? Or God? me-sometimes I feel like I get caught up in the world's view and being able to do things on our time is how it should work. The world says you should have a baby at such and such age, and oh, don't get too old because then you won't have the energy to play with your child and be a good mommy/daddy. But then I think of the amazing stories in the bible where God gave women much older than me children and it was at the perfect time. In my heart I know God's timing is perfect, but sometimes in my head I wonder "why not now Lord?" He probably just laughs and says, "Just wait my child."

Do you respect the authority of God's word? me-oh yeah!

(John 15:4-11) Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Have I taken my eyes off Christ? Am I focused on the storm? Cry out to Jesus! He will save you!
me-I have learned many times in life that the blessings I have come from the Lord and that He will always love me and have my best interest in mind. I find when I take my eyes off Him and try to do things on my own, things always get more complicated. When I continue to worry about the storms of life, my life and my witness for the Lord falters. I cry out to Jesus on a daily basis. He wants me to do that. He loves to hear from His children. And He loves to carry our load.


He saves me from all the storms I face in this life. And he can save you from whatever storms you face in your life too!

Cabinet install:)

So, the cabinets are beautiful as you could probably see from the last post, but it was even cooler to see them in place and ready for granite. My cabinet guy, Mike, still has to come back a few more times to put the cabinet doors and drawers on, but other than that, the hard part of the install is over. Here's a few pics from today:

 part of the kitchen cabinetry

 master bathroom cabinetry minus my tall cabinet in the corner

 tile cemented down in a guest bathroom

 there's my tall cabinet and knee space

 everything together in the master bath..can you tell which side is mine?

 kitchen all together!

 gorgeous stainless steel farm sink!

granite guy making his templates!

Today was a long day at the house but overall a lot got done! I didn't get a picture of the island in place in the kitchen but it's there and makes a huge statement! I'll get one of those tomorrow:) Granite should be ready to install mid next week, so that will be exciting! Come on July 1st!!! One more month!

Can we say CABINETS...waaahooo!!

So, it's been a little while since I've updated you with pictures so let me do that!! Since we got color on the walls my tile guy and cabinet guy have been by and well, we've got some good things going!

Driveway starting to be formed...in the rain

Shower progress so far! Loving the tile!

Guest bath tile being laid out

 Gorgeous kitchen island

My lovely vanity for the master bath!

 View of the entertainment center and other cabinets brought in

 Tray pull-out

 Spice rack pull-out...btw all the cabinets and drawers are soft close...SOO nice that they don't SLAM!

One of the coolest things! Double trash cans with a place on the side for trash bag storage!!

 Left side of window cabinetry for the refrigerator and other drawers/cabinets

Butler's pantry area...not that we have a butler, lol!

Panoramic view of all the cabinets that have gone in today! This is at 9:15pm by the way!

This week has been really exciting as opposed to other weeks we've been through. We have about 4 more weeks and we should be moving stuff in. The time can't get here soon enough, but all the work being done recently has helped that inpatient person inside of me;)

We should be getting the driveway poured soon and a landscape ready to be worked on. We are so excited and I'll be posting more pictures as more gets done!! Until then...

Hello SUMMER!!

Man, what a great weekend to start off summer break! It's been beautiful and HOT outside and I have thoroughly enjoyed being at the pool yesterday and today. We are anticipating the arrival of our cabinets tomorrow and I am beyond stoked to see them. When you are told they will be here Friday or Saturday and get a voicemail that it's not going to be until Monday, it's so disappointing. BUT, patience is the name of the game, and we hope to see some beautiful cabinets tomorrow.

In the meantime, the driveway should be formed and poured this week as long as we have good weather. I also have a wonderful friend in the landscaping business who has set me up with a landscape architect who will be meeting us this week to draw out a plan for our yard. Supposedly he is very talented, so I can't wait to see what he comes up with. 

I'm also HOPING our guys will be back this week to build our deck and finish the screened porch. I have been waiting on this to happen since we started. It's going to change the whole look of the back yard, and I think it's going to be amazing! We were scheduled for them to come 2 weeks ago and that didn't happen, so again, it's the waiting game that is the hardest to deal with. But, hopefully once they get there, it should only take them about a day and a half or two to actually get the deck built. I can't wait to have a beautiful entertaining area for friends:)

I will post pics soon! I hope to have a lot to show you guys this week!! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with your family and friends. Make sure to tell those who served how much you appreciate them!