Thursday, January 15, 2009
Details: exterior
Just to give a better idea of the property we're working with, here are a few more images... These first two are of some of the "scrap metal" that will go by way of the auction at the end of the month.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Count Your Blessings
Within this home that is inviting our labor and our investment, there is a sign on a pantry door - a small piece of country knick-knack. It says simply, "Count Your Blessings" and is decorated at the upper edges with two small country homes, one on each side.
Count your blessings. That is a good commandment and a wonderful spiritual discipline. Gratitude - I am discovering - is a thing cultivated.
So, I sat down the other day with a pen and journal, and I followed the instruction.
Count your blessings:
one, I have life and
the richness of those
who love me.
two, there is work for my hands
to do,
a community to empty myself into.
three, a son with cheeks like peach-skin
slapped by a northern wind.
four: food in abundance.
five: deliverance from my bondage
And the doe and her fawns walk through
Hutcheson's valley: six.
And my daughter, pulling back from my wife's breast,
looking fresh into my eyes,
hers a deep cobalt blue: seven.
Too many.
I have more than enough.
Wes
Count your blessings. That is a good commandment and a wonderful spiritual discipline. Gratitude - I am discovering - is a thing cultivated.
So, I sat down the other day with a pen and journal, and I followed the instruction.
Count your blessings:
one, I have life and
the richness of those
who love me.
two, there is work for my hands
to do,
a community to empty myself into.
three, a son with cheeks like peach-skin
slapped by a northern wind.
four: food in abundance.
five: deliverance from my bondage
And the doe and her fawns walk through
Hutcheson's valley: six.
And my daughter, pulling back from my wife's breast,
looking fresh into my eyes,
hers a deep cobalt blue: seven.
Too many.
I have more than enough.
Wes
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
New Beginnings
Here it is...the latest chapter in our story. This is the "temporary" house in which we will live. I use quotation marks because if we think about it realistically, our initial two to three year estimate begins to look more like 5 or 7...I dare not let my mind go beyond that.
It was originally built in 1885, and was perhaps a school house. The wooden handles on the doors indicate whoever built it was of a higher social class, and the music-themed woodwork in what will be our main bedroom leads us to believe that was some sort of parlor, entertaining space, or music room.
This house requires massive amounts of work. We are working to get it finished by the third of February...the day our furniture arrives from Owensboro. Who knows if we will succeed. I won't go into the details here, but plan to give before and after pictures of the rooms as they come to fruition.
Most recently, it was inhabited by a gentleman I knew and loved as I grew up in the farmhouse next door. He supplied our family with milk and honey and I carried over fresh baked pies...He was a cultivator, something to which I very much aspire.
The barn sits on perhaps my favorite part of the property -- just down a lane filled with mature fruit trees and berry bushes.
The inside is the best part and has me dreaming of the day we can afford to have it reworked into a modern home. It has a full basement, amazing loft, and although looks a bit shoddy from the outside, is quite structurally sound (from what we can tell). And who wouldn't want to reclaim that wood on the outside for a future ceiling?
All of this is a fantastic opportunity that would not be possible were it not for my parents' purchase of the property...and willingness to hold onto and rent it to us until we can afford to buy it from them. We are in a good situation here. In more ways than described here. We are so grateful.
It was originally built in 1885, and was perhaps a school house. The wooden handles on the doors indicate whoever built it was of a higher social class, and the music-themed woodwork in what will be our main bedroom leads us to believe that was some sort of parlor, entertaining space, or music room.
This house requires massive amounts of work. We are working to get it finished by the third of February...the day our furniture arrives from Owensboro. Who knows if we will succeed. I won't go into the details here, but plan to give before and after pictures of the rooms as they come to fruition.
Most recently, it was inhabited by a gentleman I knew and loved as I grew up in the farmhouse next door. He supplied our family with milk and honey and I carried over fresh baked pies...He was a cultivator, something to which I very much aspire.
The barn sits on perhaps my favorite part of the property -- just down a lane filled with mature fruit trees and berry bushes.
The inside is the best part and has me dreaming of the day we can afford to have it reworked into a modern home. It has a full basement, amazing loft, and although looks a bit shoddy from the outside, is quite structurally sound (from what we can tell). And who wouldn't want to reclaim that wood on the outside for a future ceiling?
All of this is a fantastic opportunity that would not be possible were it not for my parents' purchase of the property...and willingness to hold onto and rent it to us until we can afford to buy it from them. We are in a good situation here. In more ways than described here. We are so grateful.
~Anna
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