Life in a Construction Zone

I am writing this in our new home! Our friends who so graciously loaned us their home while we worked on ours returned yesterday, so we had to move our family. Since our house still needs a lot of work, we were given the option of moving to another temporary residence, but the entire family was tired of the moving and just wanted to be in our place, even if it meant living in a construction zone. So last night we spent our first night here. I thought I would post some "before" photos, and then later once we've made this place more homey, some "after" photos.

This is the back porch, off the kitchen and dining area.

Living room. As you can see, I have lots of curtains to sew. The awnings are nice because they help keep out some of the heat from the sun.

Dining area. We can't eat in it yet, but that's ok because I can't find my forks anyway.

This house has a lot of bathrooms. Nearly every fixture has to be repaired or replaced. This one is waiting for a new shower but the sink and toilet are finished.

Kitchen. I am very happy to be able to reach my cabinets! The guys hung them the way all cabinets should be hung, with the height of the person who will actually be using them in mind. It's so cool beans! No more dragging a stool all over the kitchen. Well, okay, I need a stool for the top shelves. To give you some perspective, David is taller than our refrigerator.
Our priorities are so obvious in this photo. I can't find pots and pans or silverware, but I know exactly where the Cokes and the coffee maker are. Now to get an outlet for that coffee maker.....

One of the kids' rooms. Both of their rooms are just waiting for paint and curtains.

Master bedroom. Also waiting for paint. All that wire is going to become our back up light source for when the power is out: solar panels will charge a battery pack and the batteries will provide power for the lights. The batteries are already running our internet antenna!

This will eventually be the office/sewing room/storage room. We no longer have a garage to store stuff or work in so for now it is where the guys are keeping their tools and supplies they need to fix the house.

This may not look like much, but it's beautiful to me! This is a new concrete foundation that will hold our water tower and reservoirs!

We have a lot that we are thankful for. We are in our own place, sleeping in our own beds. We had power and water last night. Good friends came yesterday and helped us clean our friend's home for her and another friend helped David get some work done on the new home.

There have been a lot of unforeseen obstacles causing our progress on the house to go slower than we anticipated. When I looked around yesterday at the broken, ruined things that need to be redone, I was reminded of Isaiah 58:11-12: "The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." A lot of things are being rebuilt and restored in our home to make it not only functional, but a sanctuary and a source of blessing for our family and friends. I think it's a perfect picture of what God does in our hearts.