This Old House.

Our main goal... after doing some soul searching with Dave Ramsey when he visited our church was to get out of debt. We decided to sell our home and move back to the small town where I grew up. I longed for simpler times and places and could think of no better place. Anyone that grew up in warwick would have to agree that you can't get closer to Mayberry than Warwick Oklahoma.--- well... minus all of the stores etc... My children will start school next year so that became our goal date. We origionally were planning on buying a cheap trailer (which proved to be a bigger task than we imagined) but ended up with an old house that was across the street from my mother!.. Perfect! Everything just sort of fell together. (Which I believe to be a God thing) Fixing up this house has taken us on quite a journey... and I have LOVED almost every moment of it.... We still have a ton of work to do... but are well on our way to moving and then the daunting task of selling our home in Edmond. I dread it.... I am so scared! (There isn't much that truely frightens me... but this may just be it!!) Selling houses, and people.... that pretty much sums up my fears.... ok.. and alzheimers.... and car accidents, and childhood diseases. That's it. Anyways.... I was wanting to share with you some of our progress. It has been a ton of work... but I am falling in Love!


A view from the outside. Our sweet country home!


 

The house belonged to one of our dear neighbors that I grew up around. I never imagined myself ever living there! I think I had only been inside once or twice when I as a girlscout was selling cookies. Lorene always bought cookies. I looked forward to going there. I can close my eyes and still see the family gatherings (mostly around fourth of July and Easter) in her yard. We were only spectators.... but I still felt close to her family. It comforts me to know that in this house before me, there was love. My dad tells me stories about growing up here sometimes as we sit outside under shade trees after working hard all day. I long for the day we will be here all of the time. I am really ready to do some front porch sittin!

As you can see, the house is in dire need of a little TLC. The roof leaks, trees are falling down everywhwere and it is quite run down... but here I feel more home than I do in my shiney new home in Edmond. My husband --- the city boy--- sees things in somewhat a different perspective... but who can blame him :)

Yes, that is roofing material on the side of the house.... Like I said.... we have got some work ahead of us!

This is what will be the kids bedroom. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the old windows. The light in this room is amazing. It is always bright! I really do wish I had taken more pictures. But it is what it is. The transformation of this house is hard to believe! And we are doing all of the work ourselves! With a lot of help from friends and family who know more about what they are doing!

This is probably the smallest bathrooms I have ever seen! My husband jokes that you could sit on the toilet and bathe the kids ... and he isn't kidding... you probably could!  The Tub has came out and will eventually follow us to a home we will build later on down the road. I Love clawfoot tubs. This tub has seen many coats of paint in it's day. Way too many for me to refinish myself on my budget today. And little ones really need a safer tub. One day. The bathroom walls are definetly an add on. Back from the days of outhouses. I bet it was a really big day when they got an indoor bathroom in this home back in the day! My grandparents had an outhouse when I was a child. It is so neat to be in a home with so much history! This bathroom is Jack and Jill before it ever existed!

Cabinets that were build into the frame of the house. Unfortunately we were not able to save them. :(  We tried. They were just in too bad of shape.. I loved the character!

We did not keep the carpet that was throughout the house. I can't believe I didn't take any before pictures as we took this out! But it was the first thing to go!

 

The old sink

Knick-knack cabinet.... I think all older people had them hand crafted in their home! This too had to go.... not because it was in bad shape (that sucker DID NOT want to come out) but because part of the fireplace that was origionally there was still in the attic! I am so glad we took everything out! If it had ever fallen over for any reason, several hundred bricks could have fallen through the ceiling (and hurt someone)

This was probably one of my favorite parts. Talk about security! This was the origional door going off of the back porch. I remember having a couple in the small house that we grew up in. My favorite one is the bent nail. It reminds me of my grandmother!

Anyways.... we are further along now... I just wanted to show you the beginning. I hope this will be a happy fresh start for our family. I know these pictures also bring back fond memories of happier times for this family. This house had been empty for a while. It is sad what time takes away from a home. To many more memories that this old house gets to be a part of.... to holiday dinners, birthdays, toothfairies, first days of school, cousins visiting, everyday breakfasts, game night, happiness, sadness and all that life brings.

Raising People

I am almost constantly thinking about the upbringing that my children will remember. There... I said it out loud. It is almost overwhelming at times. Every tradition, every family meal, even bad experiences, I worry about what they will "get" out of it. I LOVE my children with all of my heart. I love that people say out loud to "cherish these times" and that "they grow so fast" because it is so very true. I try constantly to be present in every moment. --- not that that always works-- but at least I try and remember. I am not sure when raising children changed so much, but maybe no one was saying it out loud. They are the best thing that has ever happened to me... period. They give my life meaning, and purpose. I want them to remember many of the things that I try so desperately to give them.This is probably the biggest reason that I want to move back. Some of the greatest memories I had as a child were simple walks with my grandpa or just being outside in nature. (things that you can't exactly have where we live right now, and I really don't want them to miss out on them)  One of my greatest fears is that my children will be those adults who blame everything on their childhood. I mean how many people do you know that had messed up childhoods? Please no... not my babies. It amazes me how unfair some children have it. Some parents could not care less what their children's experiences are... even though we have almost complete control over most of it.You can't help but just shake your head sometimes and think " poor thing doesn't have a chance."  Even at work (at the hospital) some children are so protected and love, and others have no one. I want my babies to feel loved, every day. To know how much they mean to me and how much joy they bring to my life. I want them to remember great things from their childhood and wonderful warm loving things about mom and dad and grandma and grandpa etc. I think that many of the things that are wrong with the world are from people not showing their love daily. I believe that God gave us children so that we can experience innocence and unconditional love.

Birds

I spent the better part of an hour this morning watching birds from my window. Watching the almost camoflaged wrens and chickadees filtter around eating birdseed from under my one and only tree where I live today. Occasionally there is a Robin, with its splash of color. Then a blue jay flew in and scattered all of the other birds away. I am immediately taken back to my childhood and can almost hear my grandma Virgie telling me about the birds. She loved them. She often painted pictures of them or drew sketches. When we were small she used to have us put peanut butter on pine cones and roll them in birdseed to hang in trees and sit by the window and just wait to see who came to eat. She told us stories about how the plain colored birds were sweet to each other and got along, but blue jays were mean birds, but no one notices because they are so attractive. I try to pretend that she wasn't teaching me a little bit about life that day.. that Grandma was just talking about a bunch of birds. Maybe I should have paid more attention.... but I was young.