Our New Home: A journey of transformation

Hello bloggy friends!

I've been wanting to post some more pics of the new home that God provided for us, but we dove head first into several "transformations" that will ultimately make this little home "ours".

 I also thought it would be fun to use the house's transformation to highlight the concept of personal transformation in our lives.

As believers, we are constantly being challenged and refined. When we seek the Lord's plan for our lives, He takes our tacky, dirty, slimy, broken selves and transforms us into a clearer picture of God's love. 

Even the most "despicable me" 

is not outside the scope of God's redemption.

So it was that we attacked our new home. 

A home that had sat empty for the past three years. 

 A home where we knew we would encounter some "surprises".

Our goal was to start with the most significant issues and work off the list of "desired modifications" as we could.

We decided to start in the garage. Thanks to the incredible generosity of a friend with "mad skills", we transformed our garage from a large, open space with a TON of wasted space above....

to this incredible storage loft where cars can be parked underneath. That's right! 

Cars. IN. the garage. 

Novel concept, eh?

Just LOOK at all the STUFF we can store on this upper loft?  We are so thankful!

Our next priority was the kitchen. 

Stay tuned. This is almost finished and we hope to post the full transformation soon!

Just the first of several transformations that our family is experiencing in this season.

We're ALIVE!

I cannot even believe that the summer is over and the kids are all in school!

  

 

Yes, we are still among the living!

I never imagined that it would be so difficult for me to find time to blog, but boy oh boy, it's been tough!

That's 5 "Oh boys!" for anyone who's counting!

Among other things, the summer has brought a lot of "boy time", lots of work at Lifeline, and a family move to a new home around the corner.

A couple of weeks ago, we were blessed to move into our very first home as a larger family.  We had been praying for months that the Lord would provide that one perfect, affordable home for us with more than 3 bedrooms and He did!

Better yet?  It was 4 doors away from our previous home, so the move wasn't even that bad.

Of course, finding a home in our hood that we could afford to buy took some patience.  The house we purchased had been empty for around 3 years, so needless to say, there was some work to be done, inside and out.

I look forward to sharing more specifically some of our "before" and "after" pics, but for now, here it is!

If you look closely, you will see the 12 foot bushes in front of the house...

We now have 5 bedrooms allowing no more than 2 kids per room!

(Great except I think Tommy is missing his big brother Cameron being in his room with him!)

Our new 16 year old, Colin, 

(CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT HE IS ALREADY 16?)

now has his own room, Connor and Cameron are together and Tommy & Cooper are sharing.

That leaves another room for the boys to claim as their "play space" for games, TV etc.

We even lucked out that it isn't 6 feet away from the living room anymore!  

We can actually all be doing something different and not constantly asking the other room to "quiet down!"

(Our old home often had dueling TVs!)

In addition to our move, we had a wonderful Father's Day on the beach with Tom,

the boys enjoyed becoming more involved with the Karate dojo,

 

 Colin and I went to Long Beach, NY to help rebuild some houses damaged in Hurricane Sandy with the youth at Lighthouse Church, 

and of course fit in a little time at the beach!

 

Back in May, Cooper had surgery. A tough three weeks for our littlest Rylands, but he made it through and is doing great now!






We celebrated many birthdays these past few months too!

Cooper turned 10 

 

 

 

 

 

Connor turned 14
(at home with his family! PTL!)

 

 

and Colin turned 16!

Of course, one of my all time favorite (NOT!)
activities of each summer is the dreaded
"School supply shopping!"






I mean, who doesn't look forward to elbowing 25 other mothers as you grab for that one "perfect" purple folder with two pockets and the three hole punch. Or was that orange? blue? yellow?

UGH!





Cameron, frankly, was enjoying this "adventure" a little too much.
He is my born shopper and always loves an excuse to go shopping, no matter how painful the experience might be!




As always, the summer was filled with silliness from our crew...









and lots of sugar!

 

Even the big kids get in on the act every once in awhile!

 

 

 

 

I do hope that you enjoyed a blessed summer as well.  I look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for us this Fall!

So far, it's been anything but boring!
 

My 5 Little Ninjas!

As the Summer approached and I was working, leaving Tom at home with 5 active boys, it was important for us to figure out what activities we could get the boys involved with that wouldn't create a burden on the budget, and wouldn't create a carpool nightmare going in twelve different directions each day.

 

The solution?

 

KARATE!

For the last two weeks, all 5 boys have been enrolled in Agape Do Karate!

 

 

 

 

Even our most reluctant child (guesses anyone?) is loving it!

 

 

At the end of most classes, the students work on their academic portions of their learning:

Scripture memory, Catechism, and Lessons from our country's founding fathers.

 

 

Can't get enough of these handsome boys!

 

 

Sempai Cheyenne and Dakota leading the class

(Sensei's children- both black belts)

 

Here is a little clip from a recent class...

 

The boys are getting some great exercise, we all go to the same place at the same time, and they are having fun!

 

 

We are still here!

So rather than bore you all with all the varied reasons that I haven't blogged in FOREVER, let's just say it's been a very busy season for this Mom and leave it at that.

 

Yes, we're still alive.

Yes, the boys are doing well.

Connor & Cooper's transition into our family is going as well as can be expected.

Good days, bad days (well, more like bad moments now rather than whole bad days, for which we are thankful).

 

There have been so many things to blog about over the past 3 months that the new boys have been home with us, but I just don't have the time to sit and write it all down. I am going to try to do better, for their sakes, as I hope to print this blog off one day for them to have as keepsakes.

 

Tonight's deep and meaningful topic?

Haircut night!

Not only does it take hours to get 5 boys and Tom through the hair salon on haircut day, but it is an easy $75 per visit.

 

I've only done this once before and to be perfectly honest, I cut Colin's ear.  But, I am trying to improve, so stay with me...

Observe the before shot of Colin with the long neckline and hair over the ears.

Work in progress... working hard not to repeat the "ear cutting" incident!

 

 

 

Connor- less than thrilled about the "before" shot!

Gotcha!

The last of 5 "victims" !
 (He may or may not have told his brother if I cut HIS ear, I will owe him $15!)

Whatcha think?  Not too bad eh?

Look!  Ears! (Fully in tact, at that!)

 

Didn't get a before shot of Cameron, but here is his "after"!

I was quite pleased with my latest attempt to trim up the boys' hair. Definitely better than the last  try.

I figure if I cut their hair every other time it's needed, then we can save a little and they get a really good haircut in between.