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So We Didn’t Work On Our House for a Year…

You guys remember when we bought our house, right? If not, let me refresh your memory. I was six months pregnant, and as I entered my third trimester, we also started a ton of work on this house. We worked every day for two months straight, and then we moved in to a completely unfinished and unfurnished house. Three weeks later, we became parents.

That’s the part of the story you all know. The rest of this is what you don’t know. So. Here goes nothing.

We took a natural pause in the work on the house after our son was born. But then, seven weeks into my maternity leave, Ethan was unexpectedly laid off from the small company he was working for. They just couldn’t keep him on the payroll. It was days before Christmas, I was on maternity leave (not getting paid), and we had a brand new baby. To say we were scared was an understatement.

In January, I went back to work (as a teacher, so for not very much money). Ethan started some freelance work while we tried to figure out what to do. The newfound costs of daycare and caring for a baby combined with inconsistent freelance income made the end of the month terrifying. Needless to say, we weren’t setting aside any money for renovation projects.

Every time we thought we wouldn’t be able to make it through another month, the Lord came through. We kept setting arbitrary deadlines of our eventual financial demise, and every time, the Lord met our need. But it wasn’t easy. We had been working on the house at such a break neck speed, only to be halted with a baby and an unfinished house. It was frustrating to say the least. We were stretched, learning how to lean on God like never before.

And this went on for a long time. It seemed like God wasn’t opening the door we needed opened, and we were confused. We were frustrated, angry, scared, exhausted, you name it, we probably felt it.

That is, until the right door finally opened. Nine months after we were sure our savings would run out. Finally, the turning of a new leaf, the end of a hard season. We feel a fresh hope, a renewed sense of inspiration and motivation to get back to work on the house.

So, if things have seemed kind of quiet on the home improvement front, now you know why. You never know what may be going on behind the facade of a smiling face on Instagram.

I can’t tell you exactly what’s next for the house, we still have some pretty big financial goals to hit, but I have a renewed sense of hope, and fresh ideas for some rooms in the house. And it feels really great to feel secure enough to make plans. So please stick around, because the home improvement is coming back. It took a little detour, but we’re back.