House Happenings - September 30th

Wow! I was hoping to update our blog more frequently with the progress on our house, but everything is happening so quickly I cannot keep up! Most everything in the interior is now installed. We have cabinets, counter tops, sinks, toilets, thermostat, vent covers, doors, door handles, paint, wood flooring, laminate flooring, CARPET (just today), shelves, appliances, a fireplace...there are probably more and I can't remember right now. It sounds like they should be finished in two weeks! We are so excited, yet the daunting task of packing lies before me. HELP! :)

Kitchen with finished cabinets, counter tops, appliances and tiled back splash (new today)

New Carpet (YES!! Now to keep the dog hair off!)

Carpeted stairs going up from the living room.

House Happenings - September 28th

Kitchen cabinets installed (there are more behind the island)

fireplace completed

Countertops installed (laminate countertops installed in bathrooms)

Lighting through out house is installed

Island with sink and dishwasher looking into the living room

I'm excited about my new, DEEP sink! :)

House Happenings - September 4th

We have insulation, drywall, partial siding and a back deck.

Everything is going so fast with this house.

Siding is complete on the sides and back of the house

Half wall separating the dining room (aka playroom)

from the family room

My mom and Molly standing at the island in the kitchen

The door on the right goes out to the back deck

The hall to the left leads to a coat closet, pantry and the garage

(Picture taken from the family room, by fireplace)

Back deck

Ryan and my bedroom

Sophie in my hobby room

Open rec room at top of stairs

House Happenings - September 1st

Today we visited the house to find that all of the electrical

and plumbing is installed. The driveway and front stoop are poured

and the siding is beginning to go on.

They are also working on our back deck.
We found piles of drywall waiting to be installed in each room

which Sophie loved to climb on.

Side of the house where siding is going up.

Sophie taking the "short cut" between our bathroom

and Molly's bedroom.

Sophie on the drywall in her bedroom.

On the front porch of our house!

House Happenings - August 25th

Our house is now fully framed with the roof and shingles on, windows in,

and garage doors installed.

Our garage

The girls bathroom

House Happenings

They started framing our house today!

We drove by this evening to check out the progress.

Right side of the house - the window on the very bottom is the basment

Front view

Left side

Backyard


We had a meeting with our builder on Tuesday and they are expected to be done by mid to late October!

Molly's 9 Month Pictures

On Monday my sister Sarah was down from Grand Rapids and took Molly's 9 month pictures for me. She did a FANTASTIC job! I'm currently potty training Sophie and while we were trying to take the pictures she decided it would be fun to run around naked. Plus we had our 80lb black lab, Ginger and Sarah's mini-dachshund Rilo chasing each other around our house. Sarah did a great job and got some wonderful shots amid the chaos.

Thank you Aunt Sarah for your beautiful work!!

A Nice Surprise

Last Wednesday Ryan just happened to drive by our lot and found this

We couldn't believe it! They had broken ground already!! He called me immediately and I ran over with my camera to get a few photos. When I drove by Thursday night they had the molds up and they were pouring concrete for our walls. By Friday we had a basement!

We stopped by after church this morning and took a few pictures of our basement!

This is looking at the front of our house. The garage is on the left.

This is looking from the back corner of the house. We have a daylight basement.

Here's Ryan standing in the garage. Where he is standing will eventually be filled in with dirt.

Our New House

So I have been so excited to share with everyone that we are building a new house!!!! We just made all of our final selections (interior and exterior) on Friday and had the lot transfer done, so now we own our little slice of heaven in Texas Township. This has been an ongoing process since May. Everything and I mean everything of this has just been incredibly blessed and Ryan and I feel that God is in every part of this exciting phase.

The builder that we are working with has an incentive program (they actually stopped doing this a bit ago, we just got in) where they will buy your current house from you if you choose to build with them. Yeah, it seems to good to be true, right? Well, we decided to start the process and the builder explained that if any point we felt uncomfortable with things we could end it and that would be that. Remember how I said God was in this? The builder gave us an offer on our house and we felt we just couldn't do it. So we decided to just step back and wait. We prayed and prayed and I even prayed that the builder would come back and offer us a specific number. (Remember God is in this...) A week later they called us and offered us the EXACT amount I had been praying for. Praise the Lord, He is so good!!

I just can't even begin to express how overwhelmed I feel from the outpouring of God's love and grace to us over this house. We have been through so much over the past two years with Ryan's job and the ups and downs of him being gone so much. I'd be lying to say that we didn't struggle in our marriage, in our family and personally in my faith. But my God is FAITHFUL!! "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 I have held that verse so close to my heart and I believe it has become our family's verse that we cling to. No matter what we have to deal with God will continue to be faithful and He will continue to provide and give us hope and a future. This has been such a fun process for Ryan and I to share together. We have enjoyed every moment of it. It has been so smooth and I know it's because God has already paved the way for us. Every item that we had to check off our list to build this house He has taken care of. Praise You Lord!!!

My friends, I cannot wait to be able to invite you all over to our new house. To take what God has blessed us with and use it to share His love with our family and friends. We are just a couple weeks out from breaking ground and then it will be an 8 week build. We will be in this house late October/early November. We took the girls to our lot today and took some pictures. I hope to get over there once a week when the building process starts to take pictures and keep everyone updated. Thank you for all the prayers you have lifted up on our behalf. You are all so dear and wonderful to us!

Sophie and Ryan checking things out

Warning: Picture Overload

Hello! Wow it's been awhile but we have had many adventures over the past month. We had a two week stretch that included four vacations. Somehow they all got lumped together this summer. Our first trip took Sophie, Molly and me down to Indiana to visit my cousin Megan and her family. Megan and her husband Jake have Cole (3), twins Maurah and Hayden (1) and Megan is pregnant with another girl due early November. Cole and Sophie played so well together and Molly was enthralled with Maurah and Hayden.

Cole and Sophie - partners in crime

Molly tested out the babyswing - loved it!

Sophie and Hayden - Hayden was my little buddy while we

were there and she is always up for smiling at the camera

We arrived home from Indiana, packed up our tent and sleeping bags and headed up to Cran-Hill Ranch for the big Brouwer Family camping event. Ryan's mom's side of the family (there are over 60 of us, Molly is the 16th great-grandchild, it's really awesome) has camped over the fourth of July at Cran-Hill for a long time and it is always a blast to get everyone together. Especially with all the little ones running around. Sophie and Molly didn't do so hot in the tent at night, and despite it being very cold for July, we had so much fun anyway.

Sophie and Grandpa Bill



I have a video from last year of Sophie crying while Ryan attempted to
get her to ride a horse. Well, this year our little cowgirl LOVED
the horses (she did not get that from her mommy).
She looked so sweet up there on that big horse and
did not want to get off when her turn ended.




Sophie and my niece Madelyn. Those two are inseperable!




Yummy pancake breakfast (she'll eat anything with jelly on it,
especially the good stuff, strawberry freezer jam)





My sweet Molly Jean

Friday night we packed up the tent and drove to my grandparents cottage to spend time with my dad's side of the family on the 4th of July. I only took a few pictures (I'm sure my mom has plenty on her camera). It was a bit chilly but warmed up nicely in the afternoon.

Sophie and Papa fishing or playing the "Sophie drops things
in the water and Papa gets them" game

After we got back from the cottage, I unpacked, washed and then packed up again to head out to the Wisconsin Dells with my parents and sister Katelyn. Again, we left Ryan home, but I guess someone has to work. :) We had a wonderful time and I hate to say it but I did not take a single picture while we were there. I left that up to my mom and Katelyn. The Dells are total tourist trap but they have some great water and amusement parks. We really enjoyed it!

Last but not least we arrived home from the Dells, packed up the camper, picked up Ryan and drove up to Holland State Park to spend some time with the Miersma family. We only see them twice a year and it is always fun to catch up with everyone. Again, tons of little ones running around so we're always busy but it's a blast!

Molly and Mommy on the beach

Sophie and Molly in the pop-up camper

Whew! So after camping in Holland we drove home and this picture of Molly about sums it up!