Getting Settled in Our NEW HOUSE!!

This may be old news for some of you, but I am adding some extra pictures to this blog post so that there will be SOMETHING new for everyone here.

I have been WANTING to share this post with you for quite some time now, but all the busyness that goes into moving and getting settled has really made it difficult to do much else. But, I got the last box unpacked yesterday and the very last shelf in our house organized, so FINALLY I can feel safe to say that we are OFFICIALLY settled in our new house!

It was just last December that we purchased the property and began the construction of our house. We expected it to take longer to build the house, but God has really been blessing the project and it only took 8 months before it was finished and ready for our family to move in!

The carpenter was still finishing up some final touches on the shelves and cabinets on the day we moved in.

I really love how the kitchen counters turned out!

Our neighbor was kind enough to let us set up our clothesline on his property. We do have a little yard space, but another neighbor had already planted corn all over in our property, so until the corn can be harvested we will be sharing a clothesline with our neighbor.

The picture above shows me and Keturah sitting among all the boxes in what would become our parlor/hospitality room.

The kids were really well behaved on moving day. Even amidst all the bustle and activity going on in the rest of the house, they were content to sit and play quietly in their new room.

Caleb is thrilled. There’s lots of room for riding the tricycle INSIDE!!

<<Push me daddy!!!>>

Keturah . . . chilling out in mommy and daddy’s room.

Watching a movie on the Kindle and just chilling while mommy and daddy are busy unpacking.

For the first time EVER our family actually has a real kitchen and a dinning table that we can all sit around and eat our meals together. SO nice!!

Also in the kitchen . . . a nice cupboard for holding dishes. The dishes on the floor represent our “kitchen sink” . . . we don’t have running water in the house, so dirty dishes go in the large basins and are later taken outside to wash on the front porch.

The big “black box” on top of the shelf is our oven. It’s a solar oven that we use to bake things in the sun. We’ve even been able to successfully can meat in it. Very handy!

Playing with friends outside . . . Keturah loves playing with her toy dishes in the dirt (she pretends to make us all some chocolate ice cream!!)

There’s a spot right outside our door that is nice and level where the kids can run and play.

Keturah enjoying a light snack in the kitchen. Sammy made a grocery run for us, so all the shelves are fully stocked now.

A view of our parlor (aka: “hospitality room”) just off of the kitchen. We get a lot of visitors coming to our house at all hours, so this room is designated as a greeting/meeting area. The curtains can be closed to isolate this room from the rest of the house. This way we can be entertaining guests or holding meetings and the kids can still be free to move around the house without causing a distraction or having their daily routine thrown off at all.

Setting up the printer! We provide printing services to the people in our community, so this is our in-home photo studio and printing shop!

Another view of the kitchen and our parlor/hospitality room.

Storage cabinets just off the kitchen . . . leading into our family room!

The cabinets are great! Lots of room inside!

Keturah and Caleb’s room . . . lots of floor space for playing!

Of course, typically their room looks like this! Lots of activity goes on in this room!

Also in our family room I set up a little corner as my “office space”. It works great! I can be working at my desk while the kids play nearby.

Keturah also enjoys sitting at “mommy’s table”!

Mommy and Daddy’s room!

This is my favorite piece of furniture in our house . . . a custom made medicine cabinet!

The doors even have little shelves that are perfect for holding all our essential oils!

And the medicine cabinet closes up nicely to conceal the contents . . . and it locks to keep the kids out! Love it!

The doorway next to the cabinet (with the red curtain) is the entrance to our prayer room.

Here’s a look at the inside of the prayer room, as it is so far. Still working at getting it set up and nicely arranged.

This would be our bathroom (obviously), though perhaps less obvious might be the fact that there is no shower/tub, we don’t have running water, so we use buckets for flushing and bathing.

Keturah loves drawing with sidewalk chalk. The fact that all the floors in our house are cement means she can pretty much draw wherever she likes . . . and what a great artist she’s turning out to be!

Caleb . . . sacked out after a very busy day of moving and getting settled!!

Here’s the floor plan of our house (in case you’re curious about the layout).