Some house pictures

I got a camera, and I took some pictures, that I will now share with you! :)

Our fireplace in the kitchen

Cool power tower for the island!

View of kitchen...

Also kitchen....

Looking upstairs from our dining area

From hallway, looking in to the livingroom,

the windows on the wall up on the right are located in our MrBedroom

Standing by the glassrailing upstairs, looking down...

There, there's a bit.  We have some trimwork and other finishing touches to stay busy with,

but we already like our new home a lot!

As things get more done, I'll post more pictures!

Thankful

I'm sitting up late as usual, letting my thoughts trail in whatever directions they decide to take off.  During the day my mind is so occupied with the busyness of running this show as smoothly as possible... so it's nice to have some alonetime to think and reflect.

I don't feel that I have had enough time to reflect for a while now... like for the last 15 years??  Being a mom of 1, 2 or more kids changes your life, and my mind is most of the time cought up in the care of our 7.  We plan, we prepare, we act.  In small ways and big ways.
This last year has been so increadilby full of happenings, that I truly feel I could write a book about it!  And as I take a second to look back, I realize how good it's been, and how much I have to be thankful for.  It's so easy to take for granted all the good in life, but every now and then something reminds you of how much you have to be thankful for.
The fact that me and my whole famliy is reasonable healthy, that we are safe and happy.  How easy to take it all for granted.

This past week many, many young people lost their lives at the hands of a sick man, in Oslo, Norway.  My niece was a very short distance away from where the bomb went off in down-town Oslo.  She is unharmed and made it back to her hometown safe and sound, but severly shocked.
I'm thankful that she's OK, and also that I live in a safe country where on a regular basis I should have nothing to fear.  It's scary though how these attacks are becoming more common, also in areas of the world where you normally don't have to worry.  I pray that I will always will be prepared, and never unprepared to face whatever might come, that way I don't have to be scared or live in fear.

We are all enjoying our new house so much, and tomorrow my brother with wife and little son are coming for a visit all the way from the US westcoast!  Also our 2nd oldest daughter's BFF and her great aunt will be arriving from Michigan!!  How wonderful to have family and friends come to visit us from way over there!  I'm excited to show our house to them all, but mostly I'm excited to let them see how well we are doing and how happy we are here!  Moving across the ocean and starting all over is a huge step, and to hop on the next flight back is not an option, so being happy and content here is something we are very thankful for.

I'm looking forward to spend another year here, and to see what excitement it will bring!  My personal goal is to strengthen my Finnish!  I feel like my brain has finally landed and that I have a bit more energy to focus on the language, compared to last year when everything was new and so much needed to be done in such a short amount of time!!  Wish me luck!  and yeah... I still need to get a camera so that I can take some pictures of our house, that I can post for you all to see!  Tudelu for now!

It's like being pregnant!!

Building a house that is.  I've been pregnant 7 times, and there are some parts of each pregnancy that seem to repeat itself each time.  At least for me.  Remember that I'm really patient... or maybe that was my sister??  Anyway.
When I 1st find out that I'm pregnant, I feel excited, a bit overwhelmed, and I ask myself if I have what it takes to deal with another pregnancy.... When we decided to start building our house here in Finland, we were still finishing up our house that we built in Canada!!, so I had to ask myself if I was ready to do this allover again! There were trim pieces missing and of course, when you own a house, there are things you want to change and improve along the way. 

When I'm pregnant I always try to think of new ways to make the pregnancy go faster, make it more fun, trying to look and feel my best...  And each time I like to follow the baby's growth inside me.  It's always fascinating!  It's a miracle actually.

With our house, I keep making lists, writing things down, I kept changing things on the plans till I couldn't change it anymore...  I talk to people about the progress, and then I get a bit stressed about feeling that people are on my back (even thou they are only curious)   House or Pregnancy = same thing. 
(when are you due?  when are you moving in?  Are you done yet? - Am I done yet???? Oh YES!!! I'm usually "done" waaaay before I'm supposed to be done... doesn't really matter what it is)
I guess one difference is that the baby I want OUT and with our house I want IN!!  he, he...

Well.  I have gone overdue 4 out of 7 times, and I can safely say that I feel "overdue" with our house!  I get to a point when I really start to think that "It will NEVER happen!!!" "This baby will neeever come out!" Then I have a reasonable Hubby at my side, that reminds me that "I never heard of a baby that didn't come out!"  And I sense that he really feels that "I never knew a family that moved over the ocean and built a house and never moved in to it!"  (although that is far more likely to occur than the baby not coming out...)

All in all, I'm excited, stresses, tired... ready!!!  I keep tossing and turning at night (as if I'm waiting for labour to start), and I feel like I can't settle down before we move!!  Nesting instinct alright!!  I'm so excited to start making our house our HOME! 
Our kitchen is ..... NICE!!!  Gotta get some pix and show it off. :)

well.... sooon I will announce "WE MOVED" and rest assured that there will be a happy dance following that announcement!

It's getting there!

Our house, our house, our dear house!! 

So, how is that project coming along anyway??  Well.  It IS getting there!
A few updates:  Upstairs is all painted.  Ceilings are almost done.  Floor is started on. 
Downstairs is halfway done with the paint, the ceramic tile is getting installed, fireplace is BEAUTIFULLY done (my 2sided "dream" came true!!)  The chimney just has to get bricklaid through the roof, and then we can fire it up! 

Our kitchen is arriving on Friday, along with bathroom sinks etc and also 7 double cosets!
We are almost ready to have the floor poured in the garage and breezeway area (this has been a bit delayed for various reasons, but this week it should be done!) 

I'm packing bags and boxes as fast as I can (between going outside enjoying the beautiful weather we've been blessed with, it's supposed to rain next week, so I better soak up the rays while they are here!)

Today Big Guy is helping his brother move into his new house....   Things are happening!!!

I'll post some progress pictures asap.

House progress!! (YESSS!!!)

Well.  Rome wasn't built in one day, and neither was our house.  Things are however happening, to our great excitement.  I have to be patient.  Yupp.  One of my many strengths!! Not.
I don't want to focus too much on a specific date to be in there, it just makes it more crazy.
The sooner the better?  Duh.  Obviously.
But I also have to stay true to my motto  "Being as content as possible, each day, with what I have at each moment."  It helps me stay somewhat patient and focused.  I also like to compare myself with situations that would be HARDER to be in....  We COULD be living in a SMALLER apartment, with no new house on the horizion!
We could be sick, unemployed etc.  There are so many things that I can be thankful for each day, so why waste time stressing about "When THIS or THAT happnes, THEN everything will be so much better!"  Well, there's no guarentee for that!!!  I DO know that I will love my new house.  And whenever we move in there, will be the perfect time!

Here are some pictures for you folks to enjoy!!

So, here we have the chimney to the future fireplace, the windows/door that you see are in the kitchen.

The floor is poured, electrical and plumbing is done as far as it can be at this stage.

Chimney coming up to the 2nd floor, the horizontal window to the left will be in the bathroom, and the bigger window will be in a walk in closet.

Standing in one of the kids "bedrooms", looking towards our bedroom.  The windows that are at the top of the wall to the left, will be in our bedroom.  The area between our bedroom wall and where Mr. X is standing, will be cut open, so that you can look down into the diningroom.

Inside view of our bedroom.  Through the vertical window you'll be able to look downstairs.

Hmmmm.... Hopefully this made some sense!  I'm enjoying this housebuilding project immensely!  Today I figured out how much flooring we'll need... Tile, laminate etc.  I like being able to do something on the sidelines, since me being there with a gaggle of kids along would be "not so productive"!  The upstairs is being framed and drywalled (on one side), and as soon as that is done, the electrician will come and finnish off what goes inside the walls, before we add the insulation (you need to have that between the bedrooms here!!) and drywall for the other side..... Then... well, then I guess we'll keep plugging along till we can move in and call this place our HOME SWEET HOME!!!