all in all – we are a labor of love.

Grateful: the feeling I have towards the manymany friends who dropped by our new home this past weekend to spend their free time cleaning our house and painting our walls.

Thrilled: the feeling I have about the final appearance of the “running trout stream” color shade I chose for the school room.

Bummed: the feeling I have about the fact that I did not take any after pictures of the painted school room yet.

Excited: the feeling I have about the potential of the quirky unusual spaces in the house – such as the interior of this kitchen pantry and the recessed glass-covered shelf in the living room.

Overwhelmed: the feeling I have when I look around our current home and consider all that must be shoveled into boxes and trekked across town.

Humbled: the feeling I have that people out there love us enough to share in our dirty work.

I love that I can always look at our rooms and think – this school room was brought to us by the hard work of Landon.  Our bedroom walls were lovingly painted by Beth and Andy.  Mandy and Maddie and Lori meticulously worked on the purple sheen coating the girls’ bedroom walls.  Stacy and Austin contributed to my love of all things chalkboard in multiple spots all over the house.  Bryan and Nate toiled tirelessly in the kitchen on a yellow brighter than the sun.  (Bold yellow on wood paneling – might have been a bad choice by me.  We’ll see how that one pans out.)  Jody’s steady hand managed all of the trim throughout the front hallway sans taping – and it looks tidier than the room I painted with taping.  Matt and Walter placed the locks on the tiny attic doors to keep our boys from future misadventures.  Dan’s ideas and skills will make our kitchen and laundry duties so much more convenient.

Ah – the love we have been blessed to know in this lifetime through our many moves and transitions never ceases to amaze me. (I hope it never does.)