Update on our life :)

Well Hello blog world :) Its been a long time since I have updated. I am only updating now because my hubby is prompting me to. ;) So maybe I will update you all on what we have been up to lately.Back in October we bought an older fixer upper house. It was built in 1948 and is 1,137 sq ft. Small but cute. So far it hasn't been bad at all. When we lived in Yacolt we lived in a 2,500 sq ft home. We do have some storage stacked in the garage here but over all it really isn't that much. We have been going through stuff and selling it. It has been nice to go through STUFF and down size. The bedrooms are tiny. ( the kids are only 8.5 ft by 9.5 ft..and ours is slightly bigger with it being like 12.5 ft by 10ft ) .We have 2 of the girls sleeping in one room while 2 sleep in living room. They swap every Friday. Chancy is in his own room or course, but he does have a lot of stuff in there with him. All our books, and some of the school supplies. I am loving living here so far! When we settled in back up here in North County, it was like coming home again!! I sure missed being up here. When I head North from town, I never fail to thank God for brining us home:) I have also always dreamed of living in a small older house and sometimes I have to pinch myself that , that dream has come true! :) The door going into our laundry room is an old door with a glass window in it, when ever I look at it my belly does flips. ( That's how excited I am) Crazy to think that just 6 months ago I would never have imagined "settling" for 2 acres and having the house next to the road...But after living down town on a very BUSY, HIGH speed road I am thankful to be back out in the country. Even if its close to a small town. God really does knows best and He has us go through things sometimes to help us accept where He sends us. This may not be our forever home here on earth but we are enjoying it for now. It has been fun to work on the house and see the changes. So far we have been updating the kitchen. We bought new appliances, new lighting,tore down cabinets, replaced the ceiling with tongue and groove pine , fixed and replaced some flooring ,put in water line for fridge, painted, put up crown molding. Now we have an electrician here today wiring for a micro-hood, can lights and moving the outlet for the range. Once that is done, Leon will work on finishing bottom cabinets and then will start building our upper. We couldn't find upper to match the bottom so our plan is to build new upper with pellets. We plan to paint and then antique them. We shall see how it will turn out. :)
  We also have painted almost all the interior of the house.( Actually we did paint it all except the laundry.) We steamed cleaned all the carpet, cleaned the house of course and LaKaysha just painted our bricks. I think it turned out real well. Leon also redid shelving in hall closet. He cedar lined it too. I LOVE it!! :)
  We have plans to build cabinets in laundry, shelving in entry closet, redo bathroom light,build a room in garage for 3 older girls, pour concrete outside, put a fence up, put gravel down.... build a chicken coop and sauna .... make wood porches by both front doors... plant flower gardens, plant fruit trees....and who knows what else we will dream up. ;)
    So besides working on the house we have been doing school, Christmas shopping, hunting and just living. We are planning on using some of the pellet wood we have for building a couple Christmas projects. I am excited to see how they will turn out.
   Felicity is still working for Mollie and Himark(with other 2 girls helping at Himark) LaKaysha is busy doing projects, writing, baking etc. And I have been trying to get her driving more so she will be ready to get her license in Feb. Daminika is still doing her high school books and we plan to get her permit this month or next. She also has many projects she is working on. Both girls play piano often and I love it. Chancy is busy with school, hunting, working around house and he has been a HUGE help for Leon. Specially with us moving. He is turning into a nice young man. :) He enjoys drawing (  very nice cartoons)and spends time doing that each day. He also plays guitar now and still does plenty of reading. Liberty is doing school, busy playing , doing art( and is quite good at it) knitting, and taking care of her new kitten , Tink. Who is very spoiled by the way! I have to admit some of the spoiling comes from me ;) Leon is busy running Himark, and has board meetings off and on for both Orchards church and the Western mission. And of course working on our new house. (He sometimes get a little overwhelmed.) He still loves working with wood and I think he will have fun with building our kitchen cabinets. As for me...busy being a homeschool mom and wife (and loving it). Enjoying working on our new house....baking, and dreaming once again. Missing mom like crazy and my sisters...and the old life but really trying hard to embrace my life how it is now. Focusing on my blessings and no matter what trying to remember to thank God in ALL things...during trials or not.
    So guess that's it for now. :) I will try add pictures of our house later. I am on our laptop now and we don't have pictures on here.
  Hope this finds you all well. Lots of love and God's Peace!!
    Elisa :)