Final Checklist Items
In late February, it was time to move in! Actually, a few weeks earlier, I was having a very hard day and I texted Chris “I’ve decided we’re going to move on your February break.” At first he thought it was a joke, but I have never been more serious in my life. That’s when I really got packing, pulled things down out of the attic, organized and purged. This would have been completely overwhelming, but we had a lot of help from our friends who graciously offered to assist with organizing, packing, moving and just generally kept our spirits up during this very exhausting time.
We were holding our breath to see if we’d fulfilled everything Code Enforcement was looking for to get a Certificate of Occupancy. There were a few bizarre little things. At one point we had a railing literally attached to another railing. They also required us to install a 2nd hose spigot on another side of the house (Code is now in the business of legislating convenience). But they didn’t care that we had a plywood floor in the kitchen.
Moving in!
The second we got our (temporary) Certificate of Occupancy on February 24th, we spent the night there. Breakfast the next morning was cooked on our hearth and we all sat down, kind of in shock at the fact that were were finally there! We were greeted a few days later with the largest blizzard of the season that dumped 2 feet of snow on us and knocked out our power for 16 hours. Even though we had no lights, we had a woodstove and wood, so we stayed warm and cooked our meals on the cooking hearth in the kitchen. It was a very cozy power outage and we felt like we were back in the 18th century for a bit, as we seared our dinner in a cast iron pan on a crackling fire. Finally, at the end of March, we had everything moved out of our old house by our just before our deadline in April. Phew!
Navigating the Final Red Tape
From that point, it was a scramble for Chris to get everything in place for a permanent Certificate of Occupancy by the deadline in May. He had to cover up all the sheathing on the basement walkout with siding, finish bricking/ mortaring the chimney, and grade dirt away from the house by hand. While he dutifully worked on these things, I unpacked boxes with one hand while holding my newborn with the other hand and holding my clingy toddler with the other hand. Or at least that’s what it felt like. Unpacking, painting trim, painting doors, sewing curtains out of canvas drop cloths, nursing babies, changing diapers- this was my life. Meanwhile, we also bought chicks from Tractor Supply- the coop would come later, (thanks to Chris’s dad getting us out of a tight spot where we might have been cohabiting with chickens for quite some time).
All this time, we just felt overwhelmingly grateful. I kept doing double takes out our windows and thinking- woah! Nature! Trees! It was almost a reverse culture shock. We felt like we were waking up in a resort every morning. Whereas we had once opened our living room blinds in the morning to see spray-painted profanity on a shack across the street, now we looked out our window to see trees on every side. I was struck with the thought: if this is what it feels like just to move from one earthly home into a better earthly home… how wonderful will the transition from earth into God’s eternal kingdom be?
Chris- good man that he is- got it all done and we received our official Certificate of Occupancy. There are so many other little details that will probably come to me later on, but God was very gracious to us along the way and we’re so thankful.
Final Thoughts on Our Trip Down Memory Lane
Sometimes people see our result- that we are “living the dream” and don’t always consider all the hard times, the hard work, the sacrifice, and the planning that went into it all. For anyone who thinks it is not possible for them, we would simply offer a word of encouragement. 5 years ago, we were there. We thought we would never see this home built and get to live out our dream on our land, doing what we love. We set our mind to it, and along with all the tremendously helpful people in our lives, here we are! Just looking back, it’s exhausting to think about. I wouldn’t change it, of course. But it was a wild ride and I’m so glad to be on the other side. Now if only I could get this trim painting finished…