An update on our move

Both construction and moving are happening here, so things are a bit unsettled.

Yesterday, Allen and Rachel spent much of the day converting bookcases into walls in our new abode. This is one of those exciting steps which makes a big difference in changing the look of the building from "warehouse" to "home." They didn't happen to take any pictures, however, so you'll just have to use your imagination for now. I am told that the kitchen has 3 walls, my bedroom has walls, and some of the other bedrooms have partial walls. We're getting there!

At the same time, work continues on getting the plumbing hooked up, the tile floor (in the girls' bedroom) completed, the water tank finished, etc. The men will be placing lots of black water pipes on the roof. The water in the pipes will be heated by the sun, and this will allow us to have hot showers and hot water in the kitchen, even before our solar panels arrive (they aren't coming until February).

Back in town, Boo, David, and I are the work crew charged with keeping house and packing. Although we are the weaker, smaller team, we're trying to hold up our end of things. As the rest of the family heads out to the construction site each morning, they load up the vehicles with furniture and our packed boxes, so the move is gradually pushing forward.

We now have several family members living out on the property full time, for security purposes. We had a couple of thefts in the past, much earlier in the construction process, and we knew as we started installing expensive items like floor tile, doors, windows, etc, that the likelihood of theft would be much higher. And, of course, once we started moving boxes of household stuff out there, the theft risk rose even more. For this reason, Christopher (aka Gus) has been living out there as a watchman, for just over the past month. Although he's only 15, he has been living alone many days, sleeping out there alone most nights, cooking for himself, etc. I think that's pretty amazing and brave, don't you? He has done a great job with this, but I know Gus is glad to have more family out with him now - I think he was getting a bit lonely!

Now there are several family members, 2 dogs, a bunch of cats, a bull, a horse, and three chickens living out there. We hope to all be out there soon!