what. a. year.

last year on october 17, we packed up our things and moved from vt to ny. ry had gotten a new job, less than one year after we had moved to vt. crazy. 

and the crazy didn't stop once we got here. we did things like:

- move all our stuff into an apartment. buy a house mid-tax season that we couldn't move into right away. move out of said apartment and into my dad and step-mom's house temporarily while we made the house liveable (DURING TAX SEASON...are we CRAZY?). moved into a new house that needed hours upon hours of work. continued to put hours of work into the house. it is starting to feel like a home, and that makes my heart happy.

the house looked like this when we bought it. well, almost. imagine puke green carpets, too!:

dining room

j's room

living room

and now it looks more like this:

dining room 

j's room

living room

the work we've done (and by we, i mean mostly ryan) includes: ripping out carpets, replacing every window in the house, cleaning ((this was no small task)), priming and painting every inch of the walls and ceiling, redoing the porch ceiling and floor, tiling the hallway and kitchen....etc. it's been a crazy latter half of the year, but we're slowing down...just in time for tax season.

- we finally found a church. i wrote about that not long ago, but it still is making my heart so happy to have found somewhere that feels right...somewhere we can learn, grow and be challenged. we've even started making friends! crazy, i know.

- i've adjusted to living back where i grew up. it's weird. being a grown up in the place you grew up in is definitely weird. it's all sorts of familiar and all sorts of unfamiliar all at the same time.

- j was 3.5 months old when we moved. now he's 15.5 months. the difference is crazy. he's a ball of endless energy, which leaves us with not a lot of energy, but he is just so awesome. so awesome.

then:

now:

- little man has found himself a bff. it's precious. it's so fun watching our boy growing up alongside another sweet little boy. we had him and his wonderful parents over last night and the boys were running around laughing and having fun while we sat and laughed and watched our boys. it was relaxing and so nice to have our home filled with friends and laughter.

and this we can say for certain: God is good. He is faithful. it is not easy moving away from everything you know, like we did when we left MA two years ago, but we have learned through it all and continue to see the Lord at work in our lives. He is good. So good.