The finishing touches

We are wrapping things up in the living room, folks! All that's left to do is the fun part... putting things on shelves and finding a homes for all our stuff in the new storage space we've created. Jacob and his brother spent a few hours on Saturday hooking up ALL the wires for the TV and speakers and other equipment. It's amazing how much work Jacob has done to run wires so we don't have to see them.. under the house, over the house, in the bedroom closet, behind the newly-installed drywall above the mantel... It's a good thing he knows what he's doing!

Here's a couple before & after pictures of what we've been working on for the past two months. It sure feels good to get it put back together! Yesterday (Sunday), we were able to use the new living room to host an event at our house! My sister and her husband help lead the college group at our church, and they brought the group over for a day of bread-making (for the ladies) and Wii-playing (for the guys). Jacob and I both so enjoyed hearing all the talking and laughter around the house. It was good to host something again, and have our house be available to do that.

We also started making some progress on the nursery this weekend. While the college group was over, Jacob and I spent some leisurely time together in the back rooms, just beginning to sort through some of the things that will need to move out of the nursery before the baby comes. We have had a houseguest with us for the past couple of months, and she moved out yesterday, which meant that we could start the transfer of stuff from the nursery to the guest bedroom. We hope, however, to not just do a straight transfer, but actually take the time to go through all the stuff we've been storing back there, and get rid of the things we no longer need.

We're so excited to have a big piece of our house back! Thanks again to everyone who has come over (many of your more than once!) to help us out. The new living room is a good reminder of the love shown to us by our friends and family!