plans, good things, and longing fulfilled

Once upon a time, we drew up house plans for fun.

Then we drew up house plans for real.

And eventually,it wasn't fun anymore.

In fact,

it got to where I downright hated it.

Every time we'd work on house plans, I'd get on realtor.com and check craiglist for real estate.

We just couldn't get everything we wanted

- where we wanted it -

in few enough square feet

that we could afford to build.

Three weeks ago, Tyler sent me a text

I wasn't really convinced that that'd be the day we came up with the plan,

but,

not wanting to be a hindrance to God's plan or anything,

I got real serious about coming up with a plan.

I got my jar of water and went outside.

I sat in the shade of the tree we need to cut down because its ugly

and looked at where the house will be and proceeded - to come up empty.

I moved to the shade of a different tree so that I'd be looking at the 'house' from the west,

which is the direction I normally face when I sit at the computer and work on house plans.

(these things matter)

Still nothing.

And kids needed me, so I gave up on having a house by the time Tyler got home....

That night, after we put the kids to bed, Tyler and I sat down at the table.

He 'drove'

(that's what we call it when someone has control of the mouse. 

He has to use a mouse.

  I have advanced enough that I can build a house with the scroll thingies on my Lappy. 

not that I have pride issues or anything ;-)

Anyways.

He put the front of the house 

- which will face north -

at the bottom of the page.

This caused me to be very disoriented;

I always draw the plan as it sits on the property.

North, on my plans, is north as I sit at my desk. North is west on paper (or the computer).

I'm sure you all understand.

Every few minutes I was asking Tyler which direction was what.

He got a little frustrated with me, which helped me to figure out that north,

was south.

Long story short(er)....

as soon as he expanded the dining room (north on paper - south for real, on the property)

I felt like we might really had something to work with.

I was having a problem with the stairs, though.

The flow was all wrong.

To go upstairs when coming in from outside, 

the kids would practically have to go through the whole house.

Tyler had the staircase in the living room, because I always wanted the stairs to be a feature.

I miss our beautiful stairs.

Children Lexi needed tending to, so Tyler went off with a spankin spoon,

and I took over on the computer.

I moved the stairs to where they made more sense

(and where they would no longer be a feature)

He came out and saw what I'd done and said, "I couldn't do that." 

See ~ I had to be the one to give up the pretty staircase; he would never take that from me.

I started to get a little bit excited when we extended the master bath,

thinking  we really might have the plan...

Tyler went to bed and I stayed up a few more hours working on the upstairs.

~

The next day, Tyler called and shared something he'd read that morning from Proverbs 13

and said he really felt like he had permission from God to move forward.

Up 'til that point, there hadn't been peace.

~

I love turning onto our street.

I loved it the first time we drove down it.

I still love it.

That archway!

Here, have another look:

A day or so after we came up with the house plan, as I turned onto our road, and saw my arch,

I thought, 'I am so glad we've come up with a plan. 

I would miss this.'

Then I got to calculating; it had been right about 7 years ago when we found this property.

Seven years.

Ya'll see where I'm going with this?

Freedom. Rest. Ownership....

I'd been wondering what the date was in 2005 when we first laid eyes on this land.

It was a Sunday.

Josiah was a tiny baby; I was still recovering from a c-section.

We spent about a week deciding to make an offer.

Another 3 1/2 weeks to close, once we made the offer.

We closed on July 1st.

This morning, I pulled up an old calendar.

Go look, I'll wait for you.....

May 29th.

Did you notice the date on the text up there?

The day Tyler said, God willing ~ this would be the day we came up with the plan?

May 29th.

Seven years to the date.

Right now, 

it looks as though we have God's blessing to move forward with plans to build.

remember, south on the screen is north on the property.
 That little rectangle off to the left (east) is the LEM -  it'll be my craft room ~ I'm so excited!
The room at the upper right is the mudroom ~ so excited about that, too!
The storage room just below the mudroom is the pantry.
Ignore the freakishly large chairs in our bedroom and the sitting area in the dining room.
 Oh. that hall leading to my craft room? Library! With a sunny window seat!!

The north and south windows are actually dormers (no way to do that in the program that we have)
 so there will be little nooks at all those windows.
The little space labeled 'nook' is a secret room, accessed through the boys' closets.
of course, an architect (anybody know of a reasonably priced good one?) may need to change things up a bit...