The FINAL Post...Better late than never

I know, we should have made this post months ago, but what can I say? Things got away from us and this blog got put on the back burner. It's been so long that I'm sure most all of our followers are no longer tracking this blog, but I feel that I need to do this to officially close out this chapter of our life. What a chapter it was.

We arrived back after a wonderful vacation in Hawaii and stayed with Deana's folks while we waited on our shipments to arrive. Seeing our house was a great excitement, until we saw our front yard...

Apparently, our tenant decided to move out at the end of a week that saw about 10 inches of rain. They backed the U-haul truck INTO OUR FRONT YARD! Needless to say, they got stuck. Not to worry though, they went ahead and loaded the truck ANYWAY. After it was loaded, they called a tow truck to pull them out. It left the front yard in a mess (see below). I have such a good account of what happened because nearly everyone on our street told us about it. They said it was lots of fun to watch (I can imagine). Anyway, they came back 3 different times filling the ruts and seeding the mess and I think we'll be able to get it back to normal come spring time. The picture really does not do it justice as this was taken after they had already attempted to fill the 8 inch deep ruts in the yard...

Next on the agenda - going inside. The house was in wonderful shape - no holes in the walls or tears in the carpet, so we were pleased with that. Unfortunately, the tenant had smoked in the house while we were gone (though it plainly stated no smoking in the lease). ARRRGGGHHHH!! Anyway, Deana and I had agreed to use the money we collected in rent while we were gone and put it back into the house in the form of new floors when we returned anyway, so I flopped on the floor and foamed at the mouth a little, but in the end, it wasn't a huge deal since we were planning on pulling up the floors anyway.

I spent every waking minute on the weekends and after work at the house for about 3.5 weeks working on the floors. We removed all of our carpet and linoleum in the house and replaced it with hardwood and tile. I did all the work myself, but with the exception of 2 or 3 days, I had someone helping me almost all the time. Neighbors (uninvited) would just pop over and grab a tool and get to work. I love our neighborhood. My dad took a couple of days and came down to help too. I could not have completed the project in this amount of time without the great help from family and friends. When it was all done, we put in 1300 square feet of hardwood, 250 square feet of tile, installed new kitchen counter tops, sink, and faucet, and repainted 4 rooms. It was a lot of work, but well worth it. Before and after photos are below.

This photo was taken before we left for Japan.

Another view of the living room from a different angle. Carpet and padding is gone.

Angle from the living room into the kitchen.

We put tile in the laundry room and both bathrooms.

Deana's favorite part... New deep sink.

So, after all the dust settled, we had our Japan shipments and permanent storage items delivered and we moved back into the house. Overall, everything went very well. We did have some minor items damaged from storage, but they have been taken care of now and all is well. It took a good month to get everything back into it's proper place and feel "at home" again.

We have only been back in the states for 4 months as I write this, but it feels like forever ago. I find myself looking at photos from Japan and and it feels so distant, even though it really isn't. We had a wonderful time and made so many fabulous memories - if I could do it over again, I would without hesitation. Deana and Avery feel the same. I am so glad that all of you followed us on this blog - our ability to share the adventures and your comments did more for us than anyone realizes.

We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this great year as it has done so much for all of us. The first part of the trip taught all of us to rely more on each other. As a result, our little three person group is a much tighter unit now. Deana and I have without question a stronger marriage. Avery is much more confident and independent than she used to be and Deana is without question more outgoing than she was one year ago.

Unfortunately, as they say, "All good things must come to an end", so this chapter of our life closes. However, (today must be cliche day), "When one door closes, another opens". As this adventure ends, we are now faced with a whole new life changing adventure... About 6 weeks after our return, we learned that Deana and I are expecting our second child! Something that would have scared us to death in Japan, but timing could not be better now that we are back home. Avery has been praying for a new little brother or sister, and God has been listening. So, I have challenged Deana to close out this blog and create another so we can document our memories and fun in this new and upcoming chapter in our life.

Thanks again for walking with us through this wonderful year of our life!

The Brewers