Backyard fire training

Saturday, May 6, marked the grand culmination in our-several-month-long relationship with the Durham Fire Department, as they burned down the old house in our backyard for practice. Practice for them. Old, moldy house permanently gone for us. For months prior to the big day, we'd catch glimpses of fire trucks heading down our driveway to prepare the scene. Talk about a four year old's dream. Sunday morning Will woke up and said, "I want to do that again!" Unfortunately, buddy, that's not a normal Saturday activity. It was truly an unforgettable day.

The whole thing took about 5 hours to burn. We had lots of friends and bystanders.

Over the months of preparation, we befriended two firefighters in particular,
Will and Tyler (or they befriended us). One afternoon, we heard the doorbell
 and found this surprise at the door for Will. So sweet.

Will and Will

The blogless months

Working, moving, and chasing a lively two-year old--while pregnant--has taken its obvious toll on this dear blog. (I wish I could say the blog was the only thing bearing the neglect of this well-intentioned but often-tired mama. Sigh, can't we all relate?)

When I look back over the past several (blog-less) months, I am overwhelmed with gratitude over the good things that have busied us. (Yes, we finally moved to the farm, and we love it here. In January, we welcomed Grandma Jan to North Carolina, and in March, I stopped working my part-time IBM job in anticipation of Baby #2, due in just two weeks.) If there's ever been a time of lavish, undeserved grace (let's be honest, there have been many), this is it. At the same time, we've wrestled alongside dear friends whose lavish grace has required a more eternal perspective to see. Our sweet, two-year-old friend Graham has been fighting a long, hard battle in the ICU for months now. New houses and more free time are good, but Jesus is better. We thank Graham and his parents for showing us that. They are teaching us more than they'll ever know.

Since pictures are better than words, I'll welcome myself back to the blog by leaving you with these:

The snow-covered new house.
We moved in the first week of January and got
 two weeks straight of snow and ice in February.

Will thought the snow/ice was more fun than he did last year,
but he still didn't love it. That comes genetically from me, I guess.

Sledding with his next-door-neighbor friend Makayla.

I of course lured him inside in whichever creative way I could.

Playing with Daddy's hats

As a side note, at the playground today, a little boy came up to Will and asked,
"Why are you so happy?"
I love my kid.

Dinner for Drew's bday. (This was the best of about 20 pics. Really.)

Ryan took Will to G-borough to watch his cousins play baseball one
Saturday recently. This is the most grown-up pic of him I've ever seen.
Seriously, where's my baby?

I'll help you with that, Daddy.

When the weather finally cooperated, we had some landscaping done.
The guys left this mound of dirt one day, and Will sat like that for over two hours.
Longest he has sat in one place in his entire life.

Logan even let him ride on the tractor

We've spent every warm minute since January outside.
(I don't have many pregnant pictures of me this time around -
it's not nearly as cute as it was last time, trust me.
A fat-cheeks selfie will have to suffice.)

Aiming to capitalize on Will's love for dirt
(aka, he'll sit still for longer than a nanosecond in its presence),
we set out to create a "dirt box" in the back yard.

He loves it.

My dear, dear friends organized a surprised shower for me.
(Unfortunately the organizer herself--Becca--is the one taking the pic!)
And still yet, some other sweet friends did the same thing, but I have no pic!
What awesome friends I have!

And finally, this is Will and his buddy Graham last summer.
We're praying fervently for our dear friends.

Christmas 2014 post coming soon! Better late than never!

The road to the farm

When I started this blog, I thought I'd write about our journey with the new property and record Will's milestones.

It's safe to say I've accomplished half of my goal.

In fairness, the lack of updates on the property is due to ... well, lack of updates on the property.

The bank offered us better financing on a construction loan if we owned the property a year before we applied. May 8 was our one-year anniversary with the "farm," as we've started calling it (sounds better than the property).

As of a few weeks ago, we now have a construction loan, and we have one more box to check before the builder can break ground.

We've had some initial meetings with the builder, and after each one, our excitement grows. We're thrilled to be stewards of this land and incredulous that we'll actually live there one day.

But, that's not to say we haven't been challenged over this last year with thoughts like:
Did we do the right thing?
In ten years, will this turn out to be the good investment we thought it was?
Did the Lord really lead us here?

And those questions call for us to start leaving a trail, which is the purpose of this post.

In Joshua 4, the Lord tells the Israelites to set up stones as remembrances after experiencing the Lord's faithfulness in crossing the Jordan. The people of Israel and their children could come back to that place, remember what the Lord had done, assure themselves that He had done it, and worship Him for acting on their behalf.

Much in the same way, we want to erect some stones of remembrance about how we became the stewards of this land.

I said in an earlier post that Ryan first became aware of the land when he was looking on a map to see the location of a friend's new house. (In other words, we weren't looking!) Add Ryan's innate curiosity to a large plot of land for sale inside Wake County, and you've got the ingredients for a major investigation (and little did we know at the time, eventually a purchase!).

A week before Ryan launched his investigation on the land, he met Janet at one of his Edward Jones seminars. Janet was a realtor with an office two doors down from Ryan's. Janet agreed to join Ryan on his rabbit trail. If ever there was someone with negotiation skills and determination parallel to Ryan's it was Janet.

Around the same time Ryan met Janet, he also met Alois, the son of one of his clients, who just happened to be a surveyor. Alois coached Ryan on which questions to ask and ensured he did his due diligence before buying. The land purchase would not have happened were it not for Alois.

We got another big confirmation when Ryan's uncle Bart came in town from California to watch his son play a baseball game at UNC. Ryan has always admired Bart, for his faith and for his savvy in the real estate world. Bart owns several mobile home parks in California and is extremely knowledgeable about real estate investments. Not to mention, the only other time Bart was in Raleigh was for our wedding six years ago. The fact that Ryan was able to show the land to Bart, talk through the details, and get Bart's opinion (and nod of approval) was invaluable to us, and we counted it as a huge confirmation.

The lot we bought is actually two lots, one is 9.1 acres and the other is 1.1 acre. We later learned what a sovereign divide that was -- the bank was willing to offer us financing on a personal residence, but only up to 10 acres (not 10.2). That would be sovereign enough, but then we were able to negotiate a lower price on the smaller lot, which, after the appraisal, meant we had enough equity to use as a down payment on building the house.

(And a note on the appraisal: Tough lending requirements from 2008 allowed us to get a generous appraisal because the existing house on the property checked so many boxes (even though in reality it was a dump). The appraiser had to go by the grid and not his subjective opinion, which greatly worked out in our favor!)

So far, the story has been all about Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. I'll be honest and say that's an accurate portrayal. The whole time this was going on, I was at home, telling Ryan he was crazy, there was no way we could afford this, he was wasting his time, and on and on. It ain't pretty, but it's true.

I was worried about the money, yes. I was also worried about a life outside of a neighborhood. Growing up, I rode bikes and played kickball with the neighborhood kids. When mom got sick, our neighbors (along with the church) brought meal after meal to us for years. When mom got to the point of being bedridden, our closest neighbors came by for a "tea party" with her every Tuesday afternoon. This, to me, is life. Or, healthy life I should say. As much of an introvert as I am, I know it's not wise to live apart from others. Would buying this property do that to us?

Ryan came home from one of his "explorations" one afternoon and told me he had driven through the neighborhood that backs up to the property. He had even knocked on doors, and he told me he had some great news. The house closest to the property (as in you can see it clearly from the driveway) is owned by a young couple with a three-year old little girl and a little boy on the way.

Neighbors. Our same age and stage.

I no longer had the neighborhood rebuttal at my defense.

When setting up stones of remembrance, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention prayer. What better trail to leave in the woods than prayer? I could never say we prayed as much as we should have ("pray without ceasing" the Bible says), but we did pray: about whether we should be doing this, about the Lord sovereignly knocking down obstacles in our path, about Him helping us keep a loose grasp on things when we started to get excited, about Him ultimately doing His will, not ours.

In the end, I have to credit prayer and Ryan's leadership as the reasons I finally came around.

Wouldn't you know, a month after we closed, I was informed that I was going to be laid off. Several friends were worried: But you just bought this land! Praise the Lord, we had no reason to panic. Ryan knew of my dream to stay at home with Will, and all along, we had run the numbers based on his paycheck, minus mine.

Sovereign God.

The last stone I'll lay down is this:

Everyone who knows Will knows that he's an explorer. He's never still and hates to be confined. He loves being outside, in a large area where he is free to wander. Every day his personality is an assurance to me that the kind and loving Lord has given us this land, if for no other reason than that it is perfect for Will.

If we build a house, like we are planning to do, and we live on and enjoy the land for years, we'll praise the Lord.
If He takes it from us tomorrow, and we never get to live there, we trust in His Spirit that we'll still praise Him and be thankful for the journey this last year has been.

For now, we're laying down these stones of remembrance on the road to the farm and praying that in the future, they'll invoke in our hearts the assurance and gratitude for which we laid them down.

The road to the farm

(*Thanks to Brain Frost's sermon years ago about setting up stones of remembrance. I've obviously never forgotten it.)

Us lately

Spending cold days at Playnation. Squint and you'll see Will
at the top of the slide. The nice staff worker took him up there
and slid down with him. He loved it. He ain't scared.

Last weekend, Ryan went upstairs to get Will after his nap.
It took longer than I expected, so I looked at the monitor,
and lo and behold, the two of them.

At one point, Will decided to take a seat.

But not for long. "I want to go out, Daddy, take me out."
I can't get enough of these pictures.

Soooo, this picture might be the first of its kind. Don't judge.
Will does not sit still. Ever. Not even when he's tired. Books?
They are objects for chewing or throwing. Up until this point, we've
either had to read books to him with him in his crib and us
in the chair next to it, or with him strapped in his high chair.
Yes, we have to strap him down to read to him! But, recently, he has
started sitting in our laps before bed and letting us read to him.
We feel like we've won the lottery!

True to the stereotype, Will is fascinated by motor vehicles:
cars, trucks, tractors, airplanes. When we walk, we have to
stop and watch the tractor do its thing near our house. That's only
after he points out every "ca" we pass along the way. (Another stereotypical
thing he enjoys: Throwing his toys down the stairs and watching them
 crash at the bottom. Thrills his soul. All boy, I tell ya. All boy.)

Sweeeeeet cheeks!

 

Did I say all boy?

How about now?

 

We spend every possible minute outside. What I love
about this picture is that, again, if you squint, you can
see him running down the driveway. He is truly happiest
in places where he is smallest. Praise God for the wide
open space of the new property! 



 

I mentioned before that sticks are now his favorite toy (spatulas have moved to
second place). Rarely is there a moment when he's outside without a stick
in his hand.

 

 

Other things that have happened lately, but that I don't have pictures of include Will getting his hand bitten into like it was a chicken leg by some kid at the mall playground. Mama Bear of course rushed to the rescue. Praise God for keeping me Christian (outwardly, anyway). (P.S. His hand is fine.)

Nursery drop-offs have become quite the spectacle lately. I thought he was so mature earlier on when he'd jump out of my arms into the nursery while the other kids screamed for their moms. Turns out, immaturity was probably more to blame. He was late, but he's finally wised up to the fact that the nursery means mama leaves him for a little while. He's never been so cuddly as when I'm about to drop him off. Way to make my job even harder, kid! Sometimes I just want to tell the nursery worker to hold on a minute or two. We don't get cuddles like this at home, and I want to enjoy it.

I have winter to thank for finally pushing me to do what Will has probably been ready to do for six months now. I signed him up for preschool. It seems weird to say that after talking about his separation anxiety in the church nursery, but that's precisely why he needs it. That, and the fact that he's bouncing off the walls at home. He needs more new things to explore than I alone can provide, especially when winter weather keeps us inside. So I did it. He starts in June. (And I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about that as June approaches. Eeeek! Am I really ready for this?)

Jan is visiting us this week, and we are anxiously awaiting our trip to Mexico in April, when we'll put Will's passport to use for the first time.

I'm thankful to say that's pretty much us lately. (Praise God for wonderful uneventfulness!)