not to us

Well, the house is ours!  :)  Our closing process was incredibly smooth, and we couldn't be more pleased with how this entire process has unfolded.

Welcome to our new home:

First, let me show you around outside.  Come on over here.  We'll go to the "backyard."

Now, let me warn you.  This is not a traditional back yard.  In fact, my mother laughs at me everytime I call it a backyard.

First of all, there's very little level ground.  Our backyard is really more like our back ravine.

But our little ravine suits Mike and I just fine.  Very little yardwork needed with this puppy!  And we have grand dreams of building brand new decks that extend out past that old tree trunk.  And that tree trunk?  Well, we believe it will make one super-rockin' tree-house!  :)

I can't wait to eat lunches and dinners on our deck, overlooking this:

In the few times I've been to the house, I've already seen three deer, squirrels, chipmonks, and tons of birds...right outside my back door!

But enough about the outdoors.  (As many of you know, we're not outdoorsy people!)  Let's go inside.  Feel free to hang your coat in the closet.  :)

If you shut the door and turn to the right, we can head toward the living room and the kids' playroom:

The playroom is straight ahead, and the living room is off to the right.  Living room first?  Sure!  It's a really pretty room with three windows.  It's even lucky enough to have one of the very rare south-facing windows in our home!

Let's head back out to the playroom.

This room is right between the kitchen and living room.  During the day, when I'm working in the kitchen and laundry room, I'll be able to keep an eye on the kids.  During the evening, they'll be able to play right next to us, assuming they don't want to play *with* us!  :)

This room will obviously undergo quite a makeover.  I'm not sure Burke would appreciate the chandelier.  :)  And we'll be taking the mirror down, as well.

Come on into the kitchen!

Go ahead and turn to your right:

Do you know what those are, my friends?  Those are cabinets!!  :)  And if you turn to your left...

Yep!  More cabinets!  And more counterspace!  :)  We're removing those cabinets above the little island.  (The two cabinets with the display area between them.)  I think it'll open the rooms up more and allow more natural light into the kitchen.

If you walk into the next room, you'll see the laundry room on your left:

That middle cabinet?  It's the drop-out point for the laundry chute!  I'm dead serious!  :) :) :)

Enough about laundry...come on into the dining room:

That door straight ahead leads into the garage.  Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of that!  :)  However, if you go out the doorway on the left (that you can't really see), you'll head back toward the front door.  In that little hallway, you'll find the half-bath.

It needs some TLC.  However, all the tile work is in excellent condition!

How do you like that?  :)  I've got some refurbishing ideas for those fixtures.  I hope they turn out as cute as I think they will!

Anyway...that's the downstairs!  Would you like to go upstairs?  Come along, then!

The stairs are a good example of the general state of disrepair in the house:

Thankfully, we've got a great contractor working with us to whip this ol' house into shape!  Enough of the stairs, welcome to the second floor:

Here's the ugliest room in the house:

That should be fun to paint, eh?  :)  No biggie.  It's just the guest bedroom.  Mom, I might leave it this color to get you back for laughing at my backyard!  :)

Across the hall from this room is Burke's new bedroom:

I don't know what color his room will be, but I know it won't be this dark blue.  It doesn't look as good in person as it looks in the pictures!

If you walk a little down the hallway, you'll come to the extra bedroom.  It's a really small room, so I envision it being the nursery for the foster babies!  (Eeeek!)  :)

Across the hall from this room is Ruby's new bedroom:

How cool is her built-in desk?  I'm going to refinish it and make it a little reading/art center.  When she's older, I'll convert it into a little make-up/vanity area.  Eventually, I know she (and her future possible sister/s) will appreciate the extra space when they're getting ready in the mornings.  One in the bathroom, one in the bedroom.  :)

Across the hall from Ruby's room is the kids' bathroom/guest bathroom.  This bathroom is mid-renovation.  Our contractor is going to finish the tile work around the tub surround.  That won't be the only work done, but it's first priority.

Finally, at the end of the hall, you come to the Master suite.  Here's our bedroom:

If you turn around, you can see into the vanity/closet area:

Here's the vanity.  It's getting a complete make-over!  :)

Here are our closets.  There's no way we have enough clothes to fill them up.  We current share one closet this size!

And, finally, my favorite room in the house:

A deep, cast iron tub...perfect for relaxing and reading a book at the end of the day!  :)  I especially love the detail on the tile:

So, that's about it...you can head back into the hallway, now:

See the silver square with the circle in the middle?  That's the laundry chute!  :)

We are so glad you stopped by!  We can't wait until all the work is finished so we can have you over for a party!  We'll finally have room for more than six people at a time.

Thank you for all your prayers during this process.  I cannot believe God laid this home in our laps.  I never thought it would all line-up and work out.  It's truly amazing.  I can't wait to see how He uses these rooms.  I'm already praying over the hearts that will be nurtured in this place.  I'm already praying for the heads that will find rest on these pillows. 

Thank you, God, for providing us with this home!  We are so grateful.