We have been in our new home for a whole month now. It truly feels like home. My sweet Charlotte said that she is glad we are here and happy. She just wants us to live here happy and not build a new house. Sweet, but I don't know if I really want to sleep, eat, and live in the same room forever!
550 square feet will teach you a lot and quickly.
I have figured out that some of the things I thought would be the hardest aren't really that bad and that some things are harder than I thought they might be.
I miss some things about having more space like a nice, big countertop available for kneading dough or just spreading out. But, I have made it work and we certainly aren't going hungry.
I miss having room for friends...this one I can get through if my friends are willing to play outside or in a barn! But I do miss it. A lot!
Um, hide & seek isn't nearly as challenging here...
Laundry (my very least favorite chore) has changed dramatically since our laundry room is in the barn. Carrying the clothes and things back and forth aren't that big a deal...it's that I usually have 1 or 2 small children I am taking with me and the oldest of the youngest 2 cannot be left alone with the younger, so that presents logistical challenges. I cannot change out a load of laundry in the middle of other tasks...it has to be an event. But, one great thing is that mine and my hubby's dressers are in the laundry room so it's pretty easy to put it away (the putting away is my very least favorite part of my least favorite chore).
The biggest changes for us have been less about our square feet and more about our new location...
I am now 30 minutes from good stores and church as opposed to walking distance and 1 or 2 miles.
There is a barn 30 feet from our place. This, I love. There is something peaceful and calming about being in the barn.
We haven't had internet at home for a month. This was frustrating because I do our bills and some business-y things online. I look for recipes online. I look up random things online. I communicate online. And when your online time is squished into a certain amount of time and you have to remember your laptop checkbooks, bills, passwords, to-do lists, and children and lug all that around to accomplish what is necessary, using the internet becomes a chore rather than a convenience. I like it much better as a convenience!!
One of the most important things I have learned here is that I can do many things that I never thought I would be doing.
I can calmly stand by keeping tabs on the snake in our chicken's nesting box so my hubby can go get something to, um, dispose of said snake.
I can live, eat, school, and sleep all in the same room (and the almost murphy bed isn't as bad as I imagined)
I can drive a truck and trailer around a field so my hubby can pick up hay bails all while a toddler is in the truck with me and the 2 oldest girls are on top of the hay bails!
I can potty train a toddler and nurse an infant at the same time. Literally. This I already knew but had tried to forget...
I can (well, almost) milk a goat. And I can help dig post holes for fencing for said goats. See, I'm not that confident around animals and my sweet friend Katie is patiently and kindly teaching me!
I can (well, almost) ride a horse. We have neighbors with horses and they let the girls ride and then I actually tried it myself for the first time in 19 years.
I can see stars here. I mean, really see stars.
I have found quiet time with the Creator of the beautiful stars more challenging than usual so I'm praying about that.
I have much, much deeper things to share eventually but, for now, they're all jumbled up in an emotionally exhausted heart. One thing I know about moving into 550 square feet. It doesn't make anything wonderful or horrible. Our relationship with Christ and with each other determines our level of joy. And joy can come in the morning for those in 5,000 square feet, 500 square feet, or no square feet at all. The Son of Man had no place to lay His head, yet He is the source and giver of joy.
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| We found this cute lil' thing while we were moving and decided to keep her!! |
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| The living room, dining room, school room, and master bedroom!! Our mattress lives behind the bookcases during the day. |
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| Marcus's room |
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| The Girls' room |
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| The Last Supper |
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| Happy Feet |
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| Time for hay |
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| Happy girls!! |
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| OH, yeah! |
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| My man...slinging hay bails and taking names. |
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| He loves the |
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