a new home: before pictures

hi everyone!
i apologize for my inconsistent posting. life is crazy. this past month has been completely filled up by our NEW HOUSE! we have been here for 18 days, and we are still living out of boxes, but things are slowly coming along. i'll let you in on some 'before' pictures of the house, so you can see the true extent of our efforts in painting, renovating and decorating. enjoy!
































































i hope to keep you posted on all the changes we're making. it's coming...much slower than we thought it would; but it is so exciting to see this place being transformed into our new 'home'.

graduation #2.

my turn!
i took to the stage on saturday, may 24, to (finally) accept my diploma. it was a very exciting day, but also bittersweet. university was a place of growth and life-change for me, and i will treasure the memories i have of this place. i will miss my friends dearly, but i look forward to the new roads we will travel down. i will always remember the one-bedroom apartment that kevin and i shared here, but i am so excited to start life in our new house a few weeks from now. redeemer was an amazing school, and i am so thankful for all i have learned here.

graduation #1.

a few weeks ago, kevin got the black robe and the square hat, and made the walk across the stage to flip his tassle and recieve his diploma.











he has officially graduated from heritage baptist college with his 'bachelor of religious studies'. i am so proud of him, and i feel honored that i have been able to journey through this entire experience with him.

he has now moved on to his masters, at heritage seminary ...i don't get it, but somehow, he enjoys the idea of spending the summer in school.

a new home.

it's official!
we're home owners!











kevin and i bought our first house, and plan to move in on june 25th. we are so excited to move to downtown hamilton, to meet our neighbors, and to make our new place look and feel like home.

we actually went back to the second house we looked at...we couldn't stop thinking about it! the whole process of buying has has been an amazingly smooth experience for us. God is so good to us...he is always providing and surprising. also, susan, our real estate agent, has been absolutely amazing, and we feel really great about this decision.
















over the next few weeks i will be posting some pictures of the house, and trying to decide on some decorating and renovating ideas. suggestions and feedback would be great. kevin and i are so new to this, we don't even know what kind of paint to buy!

a new home?

today we'll be looking at two more houses, and then taking a trip back to one we looked at on saturday (we love this one, we can't stop thinking about it!).

it's really hard to know which houses we should be looking at. we've scouted out the mls.ca website,and found a few more that look nice (these are the one's we'll be looking at today). but as long as they don't look like that 3rd house we checked out last time, i'll be happy.

hope you have a happy day today! enjoy the sunshine.

(picture #1: 'welcome' by ashleyg...etsy)
(picture #2: 'its raining again' by swallowfield...etsy)

a new home?

so we went house-hunting.
it was fun and stressful and romantic and totally terrifying.
but mostly it's exciting.

we've looked at three so far (all in downtown hamilton).
1#: beautiful brick exterior, nice interior, bad neighborhood.
2#: gorgeous interior, homely exterior (no pun intended...), good neighborhood.
3#: quite terrible in general. in fact, we were keeling over with laughter as we toured it, because it was so terrible that being optimistic was hilarious. not to mention the surprise child in one of the beds...

so far we can't stop thinking about #2...
it's a great size for us. it is 2.5 stories, has beautiful floors, with a new kitchen, a lovely porch, and an awesome loft (kevin loves that part)....3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and big beautiful windows.

but we'll be looking at three more on wednesday.
who knows if this is even the right time for us...
so pray for us as we consider it.
we'll keep you posted.

(picture: 'little boxes on the hillside' by swallowfield...etsy)

today feels like spring.

i can feel spring. it’s here. there is a strong wind outside, but this time it’s a warm wind. the sidewalks are rushing with water from the melting snow, and the grass is peeking through. the air feels so clean, and i feel so refreshed. i am thankful for sunlight, and for spring weather.

here are some pictures of spring at redeemer...

above: the tiny buds on the tree outside our front door.

below: the lake of water on the sidewalk; the river of melting snow; and the beautiful patches of green grass!