Mike Finally Living With Us (and other stuff)

I keep trying to find some succinct and tidy way to write the first sentence of this post--to say how the day following eight-plus years of labor to get us into this house, Mike promptly left us. (Not of his own accord, mind. And certainly not permanently. [Thank goodness.] It was for work. But it was for nearly three weeks!)

But I can find no concise way to express the eight years of labor part of the sentence!  (I mean, besides just saying "eight years of labor". But that hardly does all Mike has been through justice!)

For heaven's sake:

The arranging and figuring. The money. The maddening calls and emails (many unreturned). The visits to the county. The engineering reports. The struggles to figure federal laws about wetlands. Trying to find people to even do the jobs the county required. The banks. The financing. The moves. The fixing of a house and struggling to sell it. Finding a rental that would work. The county meetings. The failed septic tests. The mistakes during the build. … I could go on for another full page--only, I'm getting a headache just trying to recall it all. 

Mike bore the brunt, and did the work, and arranged and carried the burden of figuring out nearly all of it. (Well except I did my part in packing and moving us [twice!] like a champion. And of course there was all that business of helping with the barbed-wire fences coming down. ...)

Still! It felt in some ways ridiculous and in some ways exactly the way life would go that Mike should have to depart the moment he'd finished the Herculean task. And I admit I had a true fear that some foul thing would befall him and he would be gone from us forever. 

But he wasn't! And he did return!

It was such a strange thing feeling like ... he hadn't really lived in this house with us! Of course he actually had. We'd been in the house for two weeks before he left. But those two weeks were spent back and forth at the rental so much that it hardly felt we were really here. And by the time Mike returned, I was almost certain he'd never seen the place at all!

Had he even seen the hallway without all the boxes lining it? Had he been here when I acquired those two chairs from Megan? Had he seen the kids' individual laundry baskets lining the laundry-room shelves? Was he even around the first time we made cookies in the new kitchen? Did he recall the windows? I kept pointing out wonderful things about the house to him. I felt half inclined to ask him if he knew we owned chickens and to introduce him to Pig.

Anyway, it is so good to have him back. He is a man of complete integrity. And the most capable man on the planet. And so unfailingly good to me. Truly he is the best part of my existence, and I don't know that any husband can boast of being more loved by their wife than Mike is by me. 

(And that all sounds like a very fitting "and they moved into the house and lived happily ever after" ending. But in truth we have so many things pressing on us still that we've both had sleepless nights of late. But being here, together, in the house and on the farm while we tackle the things ahead is a wonderful thing.)

And now ... let's see what photos are sitting in my March folder!

Ah yes. St. Patrick's Day. (It was St. Patrick's Day one year ago that they first skimmed off the top layer of farmland to carve out where the foundation would be!)

Summer had early orchestra and the older kids are always off early, but here are three of the seven still living at home all decked out for the holiday:

And their little leprechaun traps and notes (followed by the reply notes the leprechaun left them). Strange how like Penny his handwriting is.

Summer's:

Mette's:

Hansie's:

Starling's:

They never catch him, but at least he leaves candy in place of the coins he steals.

And this was fun for Mette. Just she and I were at Wal-Mart one Saturday. A fellow shopper was walking about with this bird on his shoulder. Mette desperately wanted to hold it so we asked if she could:

For good or ill, my kids have been having friends over a lot more now that there is a smidgen of space for friends to be in our house. (The apartment is proving to be a wonderful place for friend movie nights and/or karaoke.):

Cute Hansers:

Daisy home for a weekend:

She had the kids make stamps. I loved her pea stamp. (Interesting how peas are now a symbol of our home.)

The front view. Weep. It's too wonderful:

(Less wonderful when looking at it from the perspective of needing to take the garbage can out):

Pig. She likes being scratched so much that sometimes, if she sees the kids walking over with a broom, she falls over before they even get to her.

The kids walls are getting much more personalized: 

I was sitting on the beanbag and decided to snap a picture of Mike's welcome home sign. After taking it I noticed something funny out the window to the left:

At first I thought it was just Anders on the trampoline. On close inspection though:

Starling's dear goal:

Hansie's morning view. Although it's west facing, it seems to always catch a reflection of pink from the sun rising in the east. 

Could mud season maybe truly be ending?

Starling treats our window ledges like window seats/things to stand on/things to jump from:

I told Mette I would pay her to gather trash from around the farm. 

Someday I'll get a little couch and sit in you all of the time dear little room!

For years now Mike has taken "dentist visit" duty on himself--taking all of the kids in one giant appointment and then getting them pizza after. This time I tagged along and went to visit my mom while he handled them all at the dentist's, then I joined them for pizza.