Grateful

We've had a busy week. The dreaded H1N1 hit the babysitter's family, so the first half of this week we were juggling back up childcare for our youngest and dealing with hour early dismissal for her older brother because of parent teacher conferences. The only house-related task I accomplished in three days was the hour and a half I spent in Sherwin Williams getting paint samples for the kitchen walls.

But work at the house has continued - thanks to my mom. Check out her progress below.

By herself my mom replaced the boards under this window and replaced all of the missing and damaged battens from this section. She also framed out the window, and has done prep work for several other jobs that are coming up on the "to do" list. But as thrilled as I was tonight to see the progress on the house, I've been even more tickled to see mom really enjoying her time at the house.

Charles and I knew going into this that we would have support from our families, but as the days pass we continue to be amazed at the level of that support. The hands-on work with saws, drills, paintbrushes and the like certainly makes for the best before and after pictures, but it is far from the only support we have received. So many have found ways to help us along this journey, each according to their own ability, and to all of them we are grateful. So to everyone who has helped us keep an eye on the kids at the house, to everyone who still acts interested when we start talking about the house for the 78th time, to everyone who has shared so willingly of time, of talent, of treasure; we say thank you. We're grateful. Truly grateful.