"Are we there yet?" is a question that we are often asked while traveling with Sawyer. Patience is a virtue that is often hard to come by, especially for little minds and bodies. It takes a lot of practice and life experiences, even for grownups like me:-) The word patient in Hebrew is "qavah" which means to wait for, to look for, to hope, or to expect. My children have given me a lot of experiences that test my patience, some good and some not so good. I am thankful to say that through it all, God has taught me to be more patient in my 38 years on this earth; It's certainly strengthened my prayer life and many times, my faith. Hope (patience) and faith work hand in hand. One important thing I've discovered, often times while kicking and screaming, is that the delay can be God giving us better. Remember that song by Garth Brooks, "Unanswered Prayers"? Yep, raise your hand if you now look back on events in your life and you are beyond grateful that things didn't work the way you prayed! God always answers but not always in our timing or the way we ask, THANKFULLY!
In 2014, we spent nearly five months trying to create the "perfect" cottage house design for our family only to realize that the design wasn't cost efficient to build. I was frustrated and disappointed. My hope and expectations were dashed. During that time, we were also dealing with other delays and "aggravations" which allowed plenty of time for patience to be tested. During those weeks, Webb and I resumed the online search to find something that would suit our needs but would also be affordable to build. It seemed like we could find many great floorpans but so many felt like a compromise, mainly of my expectation of the style of the exterior. Eventually, we settled on one plan and made some revisions which included a screen porch, something that we wanted but couldn't include on our custom plan. Well, guess what? I am counting my blessings that there were weeks of delays last year. I KNOW that the delays had purpose. The cottage we've built is better than I ever imagined and I like it even more than the plan we had custom designed.
We're almost there! The cottage is almost complete and we hope to get the final inspection at the end of this week or next. Until then, I will try and practice patience:-)
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| Addi, Sawyer, Cole and Dixie the dog |
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| Frog |
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| They found two frogs! |
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| Watching the frogs swim |
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| Release of the frogs |
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| Thank you, Gran, for helping us clean the place! And Aunt Linda stopped by to visit. Granddaddy is still working on the pond construction but has also helped us with a lot of the final projects lately. Yesterday, Webb spent the day returning some of the unopened boxes of flooring and cleaning the last of the construction trash and taking it to the dump. Jackson didn't join us this time but spent some time with us the week prior helping with some projects there. It's been a team effort, no doubt. |
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| I think he was bored from all of the cleaning so he took a nap in his new room |
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| Our master bedroom |
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| He loves to come to this spot to see Dark Mountain |
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| LJ modeling for the photo |
