Day 5&6: Kitchen Reno (The final push)

Here are a few before pictures we had. Gives you an idea of what it used to look like.

And...the afters. We will be getting a black stove and filling that open void with an over the range microwave. Lighting is my favourite part. It just creates the atmosphere...or finishes it off. So we had a lot of fun designing where the lighting would go last night.
The fixture needs to be raised up, but we need to find the worlds smallest Allen key to do it. So we'll be on the prowl for that tomorrow. My kitchen stuff is all back in, and it's fully functional. Now I just have to buy groceries!

There was another trip to Ikea, there was stress, the final days! ...I think it's neat that we put together this kitchen in 6 days, and God created the whole world in 6 days! It makes our effort pale in comparison. But I still think we did good. Hats off to Tim! ...again!

Day 4: Kitchen Reno

Tim wanted me to put in the new "throne", which he installed yesterday. There it is! And that's the new bathroom colour, I just did the back bit before the we put the toilet back in...that's all I had time for, we haven't prepped the walls in there yet.

Today Tim and a friend worked very hard and got all the cabinets in, counter top on and sink and tap plumbed, almost. The drain needs to be connected tomorrow. So it's starting to look like something! It's not finished of course, so stay tuned.

There was a trip to Ikea, there was dust, the fourth day!

PS. I have a 'new to me' black stove that will replace the white one and we still need to find a OTR microwave....on Kijiji of course.

Day 3: Kitchen Reno

We are so thankful that a friend graciously came to install our lino. Mark did most of it with Tim helping, and in the end Tim did the last bit of the landing by himself. Which is good because now he knows how to do lino.
The new lino. This photo shows the colour a little better than the next one.

By the end of the day we did a coat of primer on the kitchen walls, and 2 coats of colour. Lino in the kitchen, back entry plus stairs and bathroom.

There was sweat, there was exhaustion, the third day!

Day 2: Kitchen Reno (Sunday)

After church, we started up on the renos again. Tim removed the yellow toilet, cut and lay the subfloor for the bathroom and did the second coat of mud on the kitchen.

My quasi kitchen. I am so very glad that we have an extra large hallway, which has become my kitchen.

The other half of my "kitchen" where the magic happens. :)
There was sweat, there was tiredness, the second day!

Day 1: Kitchen Reno (Boxing Day)

Tim was eager to start ripping. It actually only took about 2 hours to rip it all out and then we started on the subfloor.
Yay! It already looks better without the cabinets and with new subfloor down.

And the other side. We (mostly Tim) got the drywall mudded first coat. There was blood, there was sweat, the first day!

Christmas day

Christmas Eve the kids and I made a manger craft. They had a ton of fun making it. The top one is Nadia's, and the bottom one is Colin's.

Christmas day was awesome. The kids slept until after 8am. We had a quick bit of Croissant and then Daddy read the Christmas story. Then the ripping began!

Colin was like a cartoon, paper was flying everywhere! He loved ALL his presents! Even the clothes.

Nadia as a princess.

Playing, playing. playing!

Daddy playing barbies with Nadia. They are so funny.

Christmas morning was so beautiful, with the frost and the clear blue sky.

2009 recap

Well, I have never sent Christmas cards or written update letters before. When we first got married, someone said to me don't start something you don't want to keep up for the rest of your life, so I decided to forgo the Christmas card tradition. I know....I'm SUCH a rebel!

But I received a Christmas letter this year that inspired me to think about what God has done in our lives over the past year. So here goes:

One year ago Tim was working as a cabinet delivery guy and we where fervently praying that God would prepare a place for us and lead us in that direction. On Nadia's 4th birthday we came for a visit to Castledowns, here in Edmonton. We were expecting a call to ask us to come back to candidate, an extended interview over an entire weekend. Instead the call was asking us if we would like the job as Lead Pastor. We felt so strongly that this was God's plan for us, and a year later I can definitely confirm that it certainly was!

We started packing and praying even harder that God would sell our house before we left. We tried to sell it privately, and had many potential buyers come to look, but no offers. 1 week before we left SK we decided it was time to get a real estate agent. That night we got a call on the house. We passed them to our agent and kept on packing.

That load up and cleaning was the smoothest yet and as we rolled out of Birch Hills, we were exhausted and wondered how long it would be before our house sold. The next day we drove to Edmonton, and received an offer as we were en-route. Praise God for selling our house!

We stayed for 2 months in a basement suite while we looked for a house to purchase. We only secured the renal by the grace of God, 1 week before we moved. He wanted us there for that time and we loved it.

We looked for a house for about a month. One day when Tim's parents were visiting, we asked if they wanted to go house shopping with us. I arranged a few with our real estate agent. And it just so happens that one of those houses we saw was the one we put an offer on. It has just dropped in price by 25 thousand and was now in our price range. God arrange it so that we were the first to make an offer and he accepted with in an hour.

We moved in and a few days later celebrated Colin's second birthday. We had tons of fun in our backyard this summer. The previous owner even let us plant our garden before we moved in, and he took us out for lunch..."on the house" he said. Since then we've been visiting people, getting to know people, and renovating our house. It's such a pleasure to renovate a house that is sturdy and well built.

Nadia started Preschool this fall and she LOVES it. And Colin has learned to play by himself while Nadia is away. Our kids are growing and changing so much and I praise God for them. Nadia is such an artist, with crafting, music and putting on shows. Colin is our joker. He's always making jokes and being funny. I'm so thankful I can stay at home and watch them interact and grow. What a privilege.

Tim and I celebrated our 10th anniversary this summer! We can't even believe it. We have been on quiet the journey since we got married and I wouldn't change one bit.