Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you! The past year has been the hardest yet, but our faith has grown and we are full of gratitude. Our God is good and we will praise Him during the hardest of trials. Why? Because this life is not about us, it's about giving God the glory and having our lives molded to be more like Jesus.


We learned we were expecting a baby at the very beginning of 2010. We were overjoyed and began to plan and dream of what was to come. Sadly, we learned our baby was very sick during an ultrasound in April. The doctors did not give us any hope that the baby would live; she had multiple issues that were deemed "incompatible with life". We cried, we prayed and asked others to pray for us, we mourned, we were angry and we prayed some more. At another ultrasound in May, we discovered that her heart had stopped beating. I was induced into labor at only five months pregnant and gave birth to little Hannah Abigail on May 14th. She was tiny - only 6.8 ounces and 7-3/4 inches long, but I knew that her body was made perfect in heaven, resting in Jesus' arms.


This was by far the hardest thing I've ever had to do - say goodbye to my daughter, who I never got the chance to know. The only way I held on at all during that time was clinging to God for peace and comfort. He has carried me through and taught me more about His heart. Some things you can only truly learn through great heartache and loss. While I am still saddened, I am also strengthened and encouraged to look to the future and see how God can use me in His plans.


We are so very thankful to be in our new house this Christmas. It has kept us warm on nights of record cold temperatures and cozy with ample space. Living in a house that literally contains much of your blood, sweat and tears is a rewarding experience. It has been wonderful to live here after almost 3 years of planning and building.

Adam and I are thankful for steady jobs, supportive families, loving friends, our God-centered church, and future opportunities. This past year was beyond difficult, but we have grown so much. We look forward to the future and wish you a very happy New Year.

Love and Merry Christmas,
Adam & Stacy

The Latest on House Progress

Well, I thought I'd update this more, sorry folks. Here's some of our latest efforts:

The mail box was installed shortly after we moved in, but I forgot to get a picture. So, here it is in all it's Postal glory.

Adam connect the remaining sprinkler pipes to valves on the side of the house. This shows everything put together before he filled in the dirt and grass.

And here's the after shot - you can't even tell he ripped up all that grass. The sprinklers still have quite a bit of work left on them - but it's really cold out and I don't think we need to water the lawn anyway right now.

We finished the shelving in the Master Closet! Now we have ample room for our clothes. We are still going to get two dressers for more storage, but it's plenty great as is.

I gave the Master Bedroom and Bath a final coat of paint. It made a huge difference and looks great. The best part was that Adam let us hang pictures on the walls!! I didn't get any pictures yet . . . but it's looking much more put together.

Adam hung blinds across the front of the house. Merry Christmas - I love having our tree in the front window so everyone can see the lights. :)

Adam and I cleared out half of the garage last week enough to fit my car in there. I am so extra thankful to have a car in the garage, especially with mornings like today that started in the mid 20s!

We officially closed on our house loan on Friday!! We are very excited to get out of the construction loan and into a conventional mortgage! Everything went smooth with the closing, it was just a few months later than anticipated.

Sprinklers, Glass Shower & Progress

You didn't think I was done posting about progress we've made on the house, did you? Cause we still have quite a punch list . . . and I'd like a complete record of building this house. So, let me show you what we've been up to, apart from moving and getting settled in.

We installed the Washer & Dryer the weekend after we moved in. I'm loving the large room and how much faster the dryer is.

Adam dug a trench and connected the main pipe to our irrigation system. He also put in the backflow preventer, which you see sticking above the ground.

Here's what it looks like after the dirt and grass was put back. We still need to insulate the pipes, but it's looking great.

For the rest of the Sprinkler System, we need to finish installing the zone valves, control panel and sprinkler heads. I think we're going to work on that this weekend. I was very thankful for the rain we had the last couple days, after it staying dry for over a month.

The mirror for the Master Bathroom was installed yesterday! I can't tell you what a huge difference it makes to the room. It feels so much larger, I love it!

The glass for the Master Shower was also installed yesterday. We finished up the paint & caulk in preparation and now the shower is functional! I am excited to use it for the first time tonight, instead of using one on the other side of the house.

The Mirror for the Jack & Jill Bathroom. Now, our bathrooms are pretty much done.

That's all for now. I'll try to stay more current with posting, especially since we have internet at home now. We are taking the punch list work slowly, because we're trying to enjoy life and not be enslaved to the house. So, it'll be a process to get everything done, and we're okay with that.

We should offically close on our home in the next week or so and are blessed that everything has gone smooth with the inspections, appraisal and paperwork. We got a really low rate and look forward to having a set payment. As for the condo, we have emptied it out and cleaned it thoroughly. We have shown it to three people so far and hope that we get a committed renter soon. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

A House with Furniture

Here are some pictures of what the house looks like with furniture. It took several days for this to feel normal - it felt like there was furniture on our job site, instead of a new home. We are feeling settled now and are enjoying the fruit of our labor. Here's a tour of what it currently looks like:

The Master Bedroom. There is still some organizing, paint touch up and wall hanging needed to be done, but it's a very comfortable room. It's also huge - which is fun. Thank you to Auntie & Uncle Stan for the leather recliner (right side of pic), it fits great in that corner.

The Dining Room. Just ignore the messy table. We are going to hang a large mirror on the wall, but haven't gotten it up yet.

The office. We have WIRELESS INTERNET in the ENTIRE HOUSE!! I can't tell you how excited we are about this. We did not have internet at the condo and are greatly enjoying being connected to the world at home. In fact, I'm sitting on the couch blogging as I type. :)

The other side of the office. In the condo we had an office/guest room/storage room. It's really nice to split that one over-crowded into three functional rooms.

The Hall Bath - which shall be henseforth known as the Texas Bathroom. This is one of the most complete rooms in the house. We still have a couple more things to hang on the wall, but it's coming together nicely.

The guest room.

The middle Bedroom - which we are using as a storage room for now. We will eventually find homes for all of this stuff.

The Living Room. Adam is enjoying a break from working on the house on our comfy couch. This was taken the week before Halloween - hense the pumpkin pre-carving.

And for fun, here's the finished pumpkin. I roasted the seeds, yummy!

We’re In!

We moved into the house on October 16th! Thanks to everyone who helped out with the move – we couldn’t have done it without you! We had a huge turnout and moved all our stuff in, in no time. I didn’t get many pictures, but here’s a few from the day . . .

Amanda & Philip unloading the truck.

The Dads and Craig putting the bed together.

Philip using my brand new vacuum – THANKS MOM & DAD!!

Taking a food break.

Mom cleaning windows.

I think we have some organizing to do . . .

Adam & I in front of our newly finished house!!

We're very happy to be in . . . sorry it took so long to update. More pictures of the inside coming very soon.

Baseboards & Moving Date

We have been getting things finished up at the house. The main thing we've been working on has been the baseboards. We have them installed throughout most of the house. The only places we're missing now is closets and the hall. It's amazing how complete a room looks with the addition of this final trim.

The office.

From the Foyer, looking in the Dining Room on the left and Living Room on the right.

Master Bedroom.

We also have all the drawer pulls installed on the cabinets. Here's the Master Bath.

Besides baseboards & cabinet pulls . . . we set the washer and dryer, got the dumpster hauled away for the last time, began installing shelving in the Master Closet, began packing up the condo and moving some of our stuff into the house. We set our big move in date for this Saturday, Oct. 16th! We plan on finishing the rest of the punch list while living there. It'll be nice to take things slow.

WE PASSED!!

We just passed our Final Inspection with the county!! We are so thankful to be done with the county and have the Certificate of Occupancy in hand! Thank you to those that prayed for us, we are very excited!

We just submitted the paperwork to the bank, so we're waiting on them to get things wrapped up. Yay!

Sooooo Close

We are getting so very close to being done with the house!! The bank inspection went well on Friday, but the county inspection did not. We were left with a list of things to fix and a fee to pay. We managed to get everything complete this weekend and payed the fee first thing this morning. To make a long story short, the inspector will out there first thing tomorrow. This should mean a passed Final Inspection and a Certificate of Occupancy! We will then turn the form into the bank and get things wrapped up.

We finished the flooring! The last bit of flooring to be complete was the Master Bedroom. We installed the wood laminate and it looks great.

Master Bedroom - I'm looking forward to all the extra space.

The main reason we failed last week's inspection was because of the paper backing on the insulation upstairs. You are not allowed to have exposed kraft paper on the insulation in an open attic space. Apparently the insulators and inspector forgot this 4 months ago and it didn't get noticed until Friday. We were unsuccessful at contacting the insulators (didn't get failed until 4:30 pm on Friday). So, we spent a good chunk of the weekend taking the insulation down, pealing off the paper backing, and reinstalling it ourselves. This was an itchy and tedious job - NOT happy with the insulators about this. I'm thankful Brian & a friend helped us out with this.

Here's the insulation now, paper free.

And the other side of the attic.

After finishing up the flooring & insulation yesterday, we spent a few hours cleaning. We haven't been the best at picking up after each task recently and things really piled up. So, we cleaned the entire house and wow, what a difference. Here's some pictures:

We cleaned off the counter in the Jack and Jill Bathroom. The only thing it's missing now is the mirror.

The Guest Bath is also cleaned up and I added the glass around the light fixture. We have the mirrow for this bath, it's just not hung yet.

The hallway, without the cardboard walkway.

The Master Bath, clean counter. We're in the process if getting the drawer pulls in and drawer faces adjusted.

I finally caulked around the tub, but still have to caulk the top of the tile to wall and along the floor.

The Kitchen & Breakfast Nook from the Living Room. This was the first time we saw the floors together without them being covered up. We still need transition strips, but it's looking really nice.

Looking into the Foyer from the Living Room.

The Kitchen without that box on the counter. I like things being clean.

From the Foyer, into the Dining/Kitchen and Living Room.

The appraiser is coming out soon and we should get everything wrapped up with the construction loan this week. We can't wait for this to be done!

Covering Up Concrete

We have spent the last week covering up the concrete on the inside. It has been so nice to get finished flooring down! Carpet was installed Sept. 22nd. We put in the best pad, which makes it a very comfortable. The carpet is a "frieze" which is a short shag - I really like it. Check it out:

The back bedroom.

The other bedroom.

The master closet.

The stairs.

We have also been working on completing the wood flooring. We're making good progress, but it is a time-consuming process.

We finished the wood flooring in the Dining Room.

The Living Room in progress.

The finished Living Room. We ended up doing wood up to the fireplace, I think this is a nice look. The only room left for flooring is the Master Bedroom. As of last night, it is cleaned and ready for the wood to go down, which we'll start tonight.

Handrail for stairs. This was one of the requirements to get the Final Inspection.

We have the final inspection scheduled for today and hope we have everything ready for the inspector. The bank inspector is also due out today. These are both huge and have the potential to greatly help or hurt us. Please pray everything works in our favor.