Lately

It has been just a minute since I last posted - but life continues on just as surely and so many things have been happening in the last week or so! I haven't posted in about a week, but these pictures are actually from the last week and a half to two weeks... like the title says, this is a smorgasbord of things that have happened lately. 

After our mountain weekend, we headed up to West Virginia and we were thrilled to see we had access to the second floor and windows and doors on our house! It truly seems like it is going up so quickly and we now have a little tradition of going every Friday to see what kind of progress has been made! 

We are so unbelievably blessed to be able to be building this house and every week, the excitement that comes with being closer to living in our new home builds! Last weekend we were able to attend a church service that took place in the middle of the beauty of the mountains; Ryan's barber is also a pastor, and we enjoy attending his services from time to time. 

They have recently purchased an old church to renovate for the future of their church and so they are holding meetings outdoors, to the right of the church building that's being renovated. We joined on Saturday evening, seated in our lawn chairs, with a pup racing around in the midst of a wonderful sermon and praise music... and best of all... a gorgeous sunset over the mountain peaks in the distance. 

Another visit to our house (this post is a little all over the place) and we were delighted to discover that we have a real roof and the HVAC system has been put into the house! Bit by bit and piece by piece, our lovely little home is coming together and we are loving watching each process - and imaging what we will do when we are able to move in and call it home! 

We grabbed a pizza on our way to see our house - and ate our first meal sitting in the middle of our house! We were technically sitting at the foot of our steps, in our living room and not in our dining room... but that's okay! We love taking the time to look at every new addition and imagining what they might do in the week ahead to further make our house complete! 

I am doing my best to cultivate my green thumb and so far, it seems to be going well. My orchids are doing okay... but everything else seems to be thriving! I have zinnias that should bloom soon, queen Anne's lace that should bloom soon and a succulent and fern that are growing like weeds, ha-ha! I think they get plenty of water and sunlight sitting in my office window and I love opening the window to let the warm summer breezes waft over them! 

My parents came by my office to have lunch with me earlier this week - we aren't allowed to just let people come into our offices, so we ended up sitting outside at this gorgeous little garden and mural right outside the DSS offices. After a rather rude interaction with some townspeople who were intent on making sure we knew that we couldn't have our picnic near the trains, we were happy to sit with this lovely mural for our picnic background. My parents snapped a picture of me waving out of my office window before they left, ha-ha! 

Thursday morning, Ryan and I noticed some commotion outside the basement window and discovered a baby bird had gotten stuck under the grate that covers an escape route from the basement, located outside the window. Ryan went out and removed the grate before he left for work - but the little guy was still not great at flying, and so he couldn't quite get out on his own. I checked in later in the day and my parents ended up using a rake covered with a towel that they put down into the hole... the little bird hopped on and they lifted him out to freedom! 

 

We have a good weekend ahead - we are planning to go to Great Falls tomorrow, and of course, we will celebrate our fathers on Sunday. All week I've been getting up with the sunrise to take a morning walk, and I've really loved watching the rays of the sun peek over the roofs, lighting the day to come. It's a peaceful way to begin the morning and I'm looking forward to continuing this practice. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and it's filled with unexpected joy and love!