A Tour of Our New Home In Alabama

Y’all have been so patient. I checked out of the blog nearly three weeks ago promising I’d be back when we were settled in.

I’ve decided “settled” is a relative term (similar to “cool” or “warm” in relation to weather. More on that later.) I’ve slept in 7 different locations in four different states in the last three weeks. Half my life is still in boxes. I finally unpacked my suitcases last week just in time to fill them again to join Jeremy on a business trip to Orlando. Settled has not happened yet, and I’ve got a lot of down time in the car, so I’m gonna go ahead and give you a glimpse at our new life.

We arrived in Alabama a week before thanksgiving. We spent three nights on the bus before the heater died.

Seth and Lydia on my bed in the bus.

Our house didn’t have heat yet, and the weather had gotten “cool” (doing into the 20’s at night…gasp!). Thankfully, my in-laws were headed out of town thanksgiving week, leaving plenty of room for us to camp at their house till the weather warmed up enough for us to move into our home.

As disappointed as I was that we weren’t in our home for the holiday, I was grateful that I could walk over and work on unpacking each day that week, while not having to actually live and take care of my babies in a house that didn’t have running water, septic, or a stove to cook on.

Claire even got to make her first pie in grandma’s kitchen. If we had been in a half unpacked house, that never would have happened.

Neither would I have let Seth play with the leftover pastry.

BTW–Southern hospitality is not a myth–this is the second year in a row we’ve been “homeless” in Alabama for thanksgiving, and been invited to celebrate with great new friends and really tasty food. This year it was also Claire’s birthday…Here we are singing happy birthday after blessing the meal.

Finally, by the first of December, the stove was hooked up, and we had water thanks to running a hose across the lawn, and it wasn’t gonna freeze because the weather had warmed up, and we weren’t gonna freeze, and I really wanted to start advent in our home! So we made a couple of trips with the four wheeler and hauled us and the kids and our suitcases all into our house in time for bed and our advent reading.

Since then it’s been a gradual process of getting stuff hooked up and set up and plumbed and in working order. We put our home on a yet undeveloped lot in my in-laws mobile home park, meaning we were starting from scratch with utilities and septic. As of this post, we have all the modern amenities except for, um, bathrooms. So we’re using chamber pots. But I’ve done that before, so it’s not a huge deal. It’s worth it to me to be in our beautiful home!

So, are you ready for a tour? Yes, before it’s all picture perfect, I’m inviting y’all into my home. Nester says it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful, and I’m gonna add, it doesn’t have to be finished to be home. Am I right?

Welcome to my new living room! I’m so stinkin’ excited about this room. First because it’s the most unpacked room in the house. Second because it’s twice the size of my old living room, and I feel like there’s gonna be some real great living gonna happen here. I could go on and on with what I love here, but I would probably bore you. Just come over and experience it for yourself. 🙂

And yes, I started decorating for Christmas before I was all (or even half way) unpacked. Because I’ve learned I need to make beauty a priority in order to thrive. While all the other rooms in the house have looked a lot like ransacked storage units during the last two weeks, the living room has been an oasis.

The amount of fun I’m having with the abundant indigenous greenery here in the south cannot fit in this post. I’ve made yards of garlands so far and I’m just getting started!

Next is Claire’s room. Oh my heart. I love that my girl gets such a pretty, sun lit room! We put a queen size bed in so this room could also welcome guests.

The contrast between her room and the boys’ is hilarious….

Every day is fort building day. I have this deal worked out with Jesse that he gets another empty box every time he does a job for me. He loves earning building materials and is constantly cutting another box into something awesome.

Here’s the kids bathroom. I told you we didn’t have working bathrooms yet! This is definitely a before picture! We’ll both have to wait a bit longer for the after.

I assure you we don’t plan on leaving a toilet in the dining room. Notice the space heaters…We used those for two weeks in each room until we got our heater hooked up.

Here comes the kitchen…

Stove not in.

Stove in! Curtains up! Faucet in! So much to celebrate in this picture. That quiche was the first meal I made in my kitchen (other than soaked oatmeal which is so easy, it doesn’t count).

Here’s a shot of the dining room. And sister love.

Finally, here’s the master bedroom. Nothing much to look at. Yet. We’ve got great plans!

This is the master bedroom closet, which is so roomy, Lydia gets a corner all to herself. 🙂

I’m not actually gonna show you my bathroom yet, not because it’s a terrific mess (though it is) but because I really want to reveal that room all at once.

Which means our indoor tour is complete. But, because this is Alabama, I have to mention…the woods.

But that won’t fit in this post either. And I created this whole post on my phone because we don’t have computer or internet at our house yet and I’m wore out! I did it ‘ cause I love you. 🙂