At the end of the day yesterday, the house was an absolute MESS. I think we all expect that after a move of that magnitude, but I’m sure people can also relate to the overwhelm that comes along with it. So while I was completely unbelievably grateful, I was exhausted just thinking about all that was still to do.

I won’t sugarcoat it. It felt very daunting. Not only do we need to put our things away where they go, but there is still work that needs doing before there is a place for all of our things. A big change is that our new place doesn’t have a pantry, and we really rely on ours. We buy everything in bulk, and have many large appliances that we use regularly. And now we have all these big things and nowhere to put them. We have some wardrobes that are doubling as a pantry for now, but they need more shelves before they’ll be truly effective, so there are many boxes and bins of food and products that are waiting for a home. Meanwhile, fridges are floating rogue throughout the area, as cabinets need to be changed before new appliances can be installed. Its a whole thing in that kitchen area. Whew! Just thinking about it ages me, lol!

If I can direct my eyes away from the nightmare that is the kitchen floor right now, I can vouch that things are starting to come together! 💜 Kids are settling into their rooms really nicely. Brady and I switched just about everything around in our room this evening to see if it flows better this way. I think it will. Bathrooms all found their toothbrushes and soap. I did laundry. Brady did dishes. We began combing through boxes and tubs in search of our daily things, and found much of what we were looking for. It was productive, for sure!

My current favorite area of the house is in our living room 💜

The living room is not without boxes on the floor and barstools floating as makeshift end tables, but it is also cozy with every chair and couch in its place, as well as a piano tucked perfectly, and a beautifully filled bookshelf. We are home, and this space highlights that to me.

Tomorrow, reality strikes, and the kids go back to school. A few of them anyway. Hopefully its another productive day, and that I can find my way even more so in our new home. I’d love to keep getting things making sense in the kitchen. There are linen closets to fill, also. A craft cabinet to stock. And let’s be real. There are also granola bars to make, and other food to prep. But I’m going to wait on that stuff. Time to work on what does exist here without making anything new, hahaha!

Ok. I’m WAY too tired for blogging. Tomorrow is another day. I’ll keep trying 😅

Guys. We did it. We moved. We’re here!

I’m going to have to tell you all about it another day, as today has been positively GIGANTIC and I am completely wiped out. As Brady described it, he and I both are running on fumes, and even those are starting to dissipate. But NOT in a bad way AT ALL. I will tell you all about it another time, so so soon 💜 For now, here is a before and after of the old house!!

Our previous house, while much emptier, is a total mess, hahaha! But it won’t be forever. There is still time to clean it, thank goodness. Though I may hire it out. I’m not entirely sure yet, and I’m not making any big decisions when I’m this tired 😅

There is still much to do, but that is future Hailey’s problem. Current Hailey needs to find her contact stuff and go to bed. Tomorrow will worry about itself 💜 Praise the Lord for AMAZING progress, and AMAZING people, and an AMAZING house that holds new beginnings for our family!!

Goodnight, all.

Stuff is getting very real over here.

It has been an absolutely crazy week! I’m not sure I’ve ever worked this physically hard in such a short span of time, but God remains good and He keeps me moving! I think I have a better balance than I did a few years ago of how hard to push, and how and when to take care of myself. When to shut it down for the night. When to ask for help. And I am SO fortunate to have such willing, loving people around me, eager to help us 💜 It also doesn’t hurt to see Brady a bit more these days, when he ducks out of work for a few hours here and there.

I am incredibly grateful to Zaks for being so understanding of life being about more than work. We all know how hard of a worker Brady is, so no one is being shortchanged when he loses an hour here or there. He ALWAYS makes up for it.

We are stretched thin over here but we are absolutely making it 💪 Glory strength!! We would not be coping with the strength of the Lord! My body would have long since worn out if not for God. ALL glory to Him!

Stay warm out there, guys!! 🥶

Its coming up, folks! Its definitely not over, but its coming.

Yesterday I was able to make a bunch of phone calls, lock down some dates and appointments, change some others, and confirm some plans for the next house. So far today has already been some of the same, locking down a schedule for the day. Laundry is going. Dekker is doing dishes. Food is in the slow cooker. A loving friend even offered to take the kids to school. So all the logistics are covered!! Thank you Lord!! There is obviously still much to do, but basic life things come first, of course!

Brady has things to pick up from work today. Thats his job. In every sense of the word, lol!

I have things to pack. That is my endless job, it seems. Is that legitimately ALL done before boxes start exiting the house? Because man. I’m running out of room to put boxes!!

As I type this, Dekker states “We’re short on everything right now. Dishes. Food. Time. The only thing we’re not short on right now is jobs.” And he’s right!! Though, to be clear, we’re short on food for a reason, haha! We’re trying to eat to the bottom of what we own so we have to move less, haha! And then shop a huge haul when we get to the next place. So NO ONE is starving by any means! Just some creative combos 😅

We are still hoping there is someone out there who would like a twin bed frame or three. They’re all different, and two have drawers underneath. Also our coffee bar that is a FABULOUS solid wood cabinet that has water damage on the top. Take them, guys!

Meanwhile we’re still on the hunt for some more of those clear plastic drawer units. They don’t have to be any specific way. Rowan just has LOTS of things, and as my boy who struggles most with change, he is struggling to part with any of his knickknacky things. And the kid needs a system, so I want him to have little drawers. I think it will truly help his sanity. I am happy to buy them also! Just wanted to feel it out first 🙂

Ok whew! Kids need to get out the door and I need to get into things! Gotta pack! And get a baby ready for a visit! Aaaaand I have to do a quick online sweep for a couple of items. A label maker. Some light fixtures maybe. And something else that just flew my mind because a kid spoke to me. Whew! We WILL get this all done! I am SURE of it!

We are right in the midst of the first truly winter weather around here! Some of ours are more willing to be out in it than others, hahaha! Laela ran an errand for me just yesterday, fully smiling on either end of the task.

When I say some are more willing, I do not mean myself. Cold is very very hard for me. But I still get through it without too terribly much complaining, haha! I just like to warm up good and proper afterward in my coziest spot.

I’m pretty late to bed these days, however, but I have other options that are not half bad! 💜

The countdown is on, and our nights here are numbered. Lucky for us, we still have one another, and all of the same people to love 💜 We are incredibly fortunate to move our beautiful life into some new walls in the not too distant future! Thank you, Lord!

I start this blog at 2:45pm. I just finished eating lunch, and I can see the school bus making its way down the gravel road surrounding town, heading to pick kids up from school. The end of the day is upon us already! The end of the school day, anyway. There is still much to do around here, but the day has been productive in its own way.

I spent time with some loved ones this morning.
I ate breakfast and drank coffee.
I texted three different social workers.
I drove to Saskatoon and picked up some meds.
I purchased and picked up a crib.
I filled up the van.
I stopped in on Brady.
I dropped off a few things upon getting back into town.
I fed babies and tucked them in for naps.
And just now, I ate lunch. Before the kids came home from school, even!

Meanwhile, Brady is being helpful even while at work, contacting people about our upcoming new mortgage, our insurance, some deliveries we need, and confirming with a contractor.

As I said, there is still much to do. But I can feel my body needing to sit for a minute. So I’m going to. Back into the work shortly. I’ll leave you with this beautiful pictures of a couple of my kids.

Aren’t they gorgeous?? Dekker is SO grown up these days. SO handsome!

I can’t wait to get these happy kidlets over into the next place 💜

It is oddly quiet this morning. After two bustly weeks at home as a group, the kids made their way to school this morning. Except Wavy and the babies. So the house went from a family of nine to just the four of us. And two of us are sleeping. So as I take this moment to write the blog, it is very quiet. The curtains are open, revealing the blanket of white snow that we finally got, after Christmas. I can hear our water cooler humming away, and the furnace is going. Otherwise, it is still and quiet. Wavy is across the living room from me, thumbing through a comic book, wearing shorts and a sun dress. Its peaceful.

It won’t be long, though. There is still so much to do, and while the weekend was incredibly productive, there simply are not enough hours in a day.

So far this morning I have made a handful of phone calls, booking a doctors appointment, as well as eye appointments for six of my kids. I emailed two places to reschedule appointments that I can’t get to, and while I waited on hold, I put the last few pieces of our most recent puzzle into place.

I’ve also gone around the main floor and the basement and gathered up all products/meds/supplies etc to pack up. Instead of having little boxes of things all over the house in all different places, I’m going to have my own version of a supply closet at my next house, and it will hold EVERYTHING from backup Tylenol to extra shampoo to the toilet paper we buy in bulk. Its all way too spread out here. If a kid needs tums, I have to look in three different places to see where it is! It all needs its own home. And this way, I can even lock that closet, to keep the ministry happy. Everybody wins!

I’m still waiting for the babes to wake up so I can gather up the items that live up in our room before I can really get into the organizing and packing. But its going to happen, and I’m excited to get such a big thing off my list!

Babies are up! Thats my cue!

We have packed much of the kitchen into tubs and shuffled it all into the garage! Even the linen closet is empty now. Also in the garage. Brady says we’re going to get teased about how many tubs of bedding we have, lol!

I can’t believe that Brady goes to work tomorrow, and most of the kids go to school! Its crazy! Where has the time gone?? There is definitely still work to do, plus additional important life things that need attention, but God makes everything possible, so I know it will work out! We are blessed beyond measure and it absolutely shows. We trust you, Lord!

That move is really coming in hot!! Today Brady and I got into some of the nitty gritty! Brady disassembled the girls’ bunkbed and loaded it into the trailer. He also managed a lot with the babies while I did some more of the running around work. I emptied our basement fridge and got it defrosting, and I began the hefty task of packing up the dishes! It is far from done, but most of the mugs are gone (it looks SO much emptier without them on the wall) and plates, bowls, and cups are all wrapped and ready. Those boxes are still open and waiting because there were still dishes to be washed and added to the boxes, but they’re on their way to being done!

Today was also the day things started walking out the door. Our basement fridge has moved along to a new house, and in return, we were given a clear plastic drawer unit. We’d still like a couple of those, but my request for a beanbag chair has been fulfilled! It is even being held for us until after we’ve moved, which is a real help! Its nice to have that off the list! Another thing off the list is that someone spoke for our big freezer! YES! They are also willing to come for it whenever suits us, so we have time to transfer food around a bit. As much as we’ve tried to eat everything we can possibly eat before leaving, some will still make its way over, obviously. So the freezer is not empty enough to just give away yet. But there’s a name on it!

We still have some single bed frames and a black solid wood buffet/coffee bar unit that can go! And we are in the market for a big wardrobe-ish unit to double as a pantry for a little while until we can build one. We have one already, but would love the buffer of a second one.

We REALLY wanted to hit church this weekend but there is simply too much to do :/ So we will skip it one more time in an effort to really get work done. As the timeline gets shorter and shorter, we are eager to do as much as humanly possible each and every day! It is SUCH an exciting, albeit chaotic, time. But that is entirely our life these days/years, and that is just so fine. This chaos is welcomed 💜

Big things to come, friends! We are SO grateful for all we have, and who we have 💜 Sleep well, all.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was away for a couple of days. A kid and I rocked some hospital time and finally were discharged in the late afternoon on Wednesday. Because life doesn’t stop when a kid goes to the hospital, we took a detour on the way home to pick up formula. It was BUSY in there! WOW! But it was nice to be back in civilization in a way, so we didn’t rush. Upon walked back to the van, I started the engine, unlocked everything, and opened both the side door and the hatch with the key fob. Then I set the keys down and got to work getting the baby tucked and warm inside, the heat turned on, and then our formula and other items into the back of the van. I closed the hatch and ran the cart back to where it came from.

I bet you already know where this is going.

I came back to the can, and lo and behold, the van was locked. Every single door. I did two laps.

Baby was warm inside, but growing concerned quite quickly.

I was outside, without a jacket, unable to run back inside for obvious reasons.

It felt like a movie. I didn’t care for it.

Thank the Lord I had my phone! Not really knowing where to start, I called Brady. It was a three second conversation where we decided to get CAA, and he went to call them on my behalf. I did laps around the van, trying to peek in all the windows and keep the baby happy and entertained, but morale was dipping for sure :/ I texted Brady five minutes later and he said he couldn’t get through. I started googling “vehicle locksmith” because 🤷🏼‍♀️ I didn’t have any clue what to do. But Brady texted me maybe two minutes later to tell me Brads Towing was on its way. I replied by asking if someone was actually on their way on their way, or just that they’d send someone. Because those were different. But he said they had a driver in the area who was heading right over. Thank GOODNESS!!!!

Naturally, at this point, the van automatically switched off. Baby didn’t care for the vibe and flipflopped between crying and sleeping. It sucked. But I waited so few minutes before I got a phone call from a random number that I immediately assumed was Brads Towing. I answered, and the chipper guy on the other end just said “Hey hows it going?” I paused and somewhat sarcastically said I was doing great! He laughed and told me who he was and where he was. I waved like a fool from my aisle of vehicles and told him I had pink hair. He spotted me pretty easily and was pulled up beside me so fast. He was SO efficient and also SO friendly. Like, being a tow truck driver isn’t a glamorous job but he was SO pleasant and friendly. I really felt at ease. He got me into my van in less than a minute and told me to get right in and warm up. And that I did. Baby was asleep, thankfully, and extra thankfully, the van was nice and warm from the initial drive to Walmart, so baby was TOTALLY fine and warm.

The tow truck guy kept having these little chuckles at my expense but it was so comfortable and I was already warming up a bit. My mouth was, however, absolutely frozen so I had a lisp in the moment, lol! Man. It was COLD. So he came to me with the bill and it was $63. Which is WAY less than I expected. He told me there was a tip option but that I should feel free to skip it. His exact words were “There is no pressure, it is perfectly fine to skip it.” And let me tell you, that is a quick way to get a tip. I vastly prefer to tip for exceptional service rather than just expectation, so this was a great opportunity 🙂 Frankly, he could’ve put just about any number out there and I’d have paid it, I was SO grateful!

I made it home later than expected, yet the whole ordeal was a lot shorter than I expected it to be, and baby was no worse for wear from the delay in getting back home. It was not my favorite trip home from the hospital, but I was still VERY glad we got there without hypothermia or any deep trauma. Just a bit of a hassle and cold hands.

Beware a fritzy key fob that sometimes has a mind of its own. Super sucks to be on the receiving end of its shenanigans. It has earned itself some time in solitary confinement until it can get new innards. Hopefully it learns from this. Bit of a dick, aren’t you, prehistoric key fob? 😒