well, it turns out...

* that just because a house claims to be "move in" ready, does not necessarily means it is.

* that we are already pouring a lot of money into a house we thought did not need much.

* that hard wood floors can not always be redone, but gosh darn it, our brand new hard wood floors will look amazing.

* that we have the most generous family ever. thanks to a substantial amount of monetary gifts we are able to do what is necessary to make our home "move in" ready.

* i still struggle with that little personality quirk called perfectionism. i have to continually keep in check my wants and my needs. just because i want the entire house to be perfectly color coordinated, perfectly organized, key word, perfect, does not mean that is a need. i have to remind myself this should all be a glorious process. if i find myself stressing over which curtains to purchase, i might need to step away and get some perspective.

* i have to keep falling back on my past experience to remind myself that the act of moving always gets done. the boxes get packed, the pictures get hung, the furniture in place. this will be my fifth move in three years, i should have this down by now.

* that even if everything is not perfect, even if we are pouring more money into this house than we previously had thought, the memories we build in this house will far outweigh any of those glitches. there has already been sweet laughter exchanged in those walls. we are finding satisfaction that comes from putting hard work into something that we are building together.

I believe that our main goal in this home ownership journey is to use this house for good. We have always desired to have a home that is open to others. We want to have families, friends, neighbors, whoever, over to our house and feel welcomed. We have always been confined by space and this has limited our ability to these things. This house is a far cry from big, but it is bigger and will be wonderful for welcoming others into our home. We have already begun to form connections with our neighbors. The neighbor two houses down is "due any day now" and will be staying home with her baby girl. Our next door neighbor is a  war veteran and is loving the company he has found in Will. Another neighbor has already invited us over to show us their garden. I just keep praying that we will be continually reminded that a home is so much more than walls and a roof. 

I am sure we will be hit with many more home ownership lessons, but I pray we eager to learn. That we will know in the end this home is very temporary, the way in which we use this home is what will be everlasting.

Hopefully by next week we will be somewhat moved in. We have to wait on the floors to be installed, but we should be in the clear after that. I can not wait to reveal some of the projects we have been working on.