Sorry I’ve been MIA for, like, over a month.  Hokey doodle.  No one reeeally wants to read a post of excuses for an absentee blogger, right?  So, long story short: February and March were crazy months that have many things I’d like to forget.  Plus I’m all pregnant and stuff (20 weeks already!) and have been super sick.  Plus the whole busy thing… blah blah blah. And the whole “introspectively thinking about why I blog/should I blog/what I blog”…

But I promise to update soon.  I have so many things to tell you about the progress on our farm house.  (Yippee!!!) And now that I’m typing I realize how much I miss this.

So I’ve popped in to post a few pretty pictures lately, but I’ve been largely MIA from blogging.  Lots of stuff going down that I hope to write about sometime soon.  But for now (while both kids are napping) I’ll try to give you an idea of what’s happening (while sprinkling in some Instagram pictures.  Cuz that’s what bloggers DO now.)…

…We are TRYING to sell our condo.  Suffice it to say that people are dumb with money.  Three offers so far, and no one’s been able to follow through. :P  More on that saga later.

…If not being held back by selling our condo we’re TRYING to look ahead to building our house.  That involves:

• Some cool changes to our floor plan that I’m stoked about.  I’ve been spending a lot of time with my pad of graph paper lately.

• Trying to really define what I want the house to look like.  Lots of it will be figured out when we actually move in, but there will be a lot of decisions that need to be made this fall when we order it.

(You can read about my house rules here, and maybe you remember my [slightly outdated, and still very “just dreaming” 20 Things series?)

• Learning about trees.  That’s right.  My little brother’s girlfriend Becky is super awesome (and has a degree in landscape design) and helped me get going on our shelterbelt plan for our farmyard.  She basically helped me pick the least terrible trees that the PFRA offers (Hey!  They’re free!) and think of a few ornamental ones we’ll add in the future.  She’s the best.  And now I’m really excited about our trees.

(I’m hoping the PFRA peeps will appreciate the drawings of tiny cows and colour coding.)

• Getting excited for travelling to Alberta this fall to order our house. (!!!  If only our condo will SELL!)

…Also I’ve gone back to work part time.  Mostly painting for VBS decorations these days, but I look forward to fall when the work of curriculum planning begins.

I’m a messy painter.  And sometimes it gives me cool neon modern art manicures.

…And I’m working on my first REAL (i.e. I have a budget and I get paid) design job.  Which is cool.  I can’ wait to share about it.  For now, though, know that I got this AH-mazing rug for a great deal, and even better customer service:

…And I’m working on a graphic design job for a cidery out in B.C., Canada.  Would I like to draw pretty pictures of barns and apples?  Why, yes, I would.

…AND it’s summer.  So.  Trying to enjoy as much of that as possible with my awesome, hilarious, getting-more-fun-by-the-day kiddos and my dear husband.  

We went camping.  And it was so fun.  And this moment of me cooking breakfast on a Coleman stove at a picnic table was pure bliss.

After a long evening of bedtime antics.  These two are so funny.

Paintings.  Baby L’s first.  I don’t want to speak too soon, but she’s obsessed with pencil crayons, markers, etc. these days.  Fingers crossed she’ll be an artist.  Fingers also crossed that she doesn’t draw on every wall in the condo before we sell it.

…Harvest is just around the corner, so I won’t see too much of Sean soon.  Actually, I won’t see a lot of Little M either, as he thinks he is integral to the combining operation. 

The hubster checking his crops.

Did I miss anything?  Hmm… a dear friend is planning a wedding, and we will soon be moving, and I threw my daughter’s first birthday party (one!! already!!!) and I’m reading through Romans, which is blowing my mind these days.  So that’s all cool too.

Catch up with y’all later.  

(And in the mean time I’ll try to share some pretty pictures.)

Feels like the ole’ blog’s taken a couple knocks down on the priority list again.  We’ve finally emerged from the craziness that is tax season and seeding (my husband is an accountant and a farmer).  I’m so glad to have Sean back by my side.  And I’ve been really pondering my direction as a blogger over the last little while - as readership has grown, how much do I share personally?  What kind of format/content/topics should I have?  Do I stay with Tumblr or try something else?  Just a few of the things I’m still not sure about yet.  But for now, I’ll share a bit of a life update:

For starters, we’re selling our condo.  Very soon, hopefully.  We hope to put it on the market by early July.  But we’re not building our house yet.  Wait, what?  Yes, the plan is to order our house after harvest this year (praying for a good crop!).  And in September we’ll be moving into a house owned by our church, and we’ll live there while our house is built.  It’s a house that the church uses to host Sunday school classes, or house missionaries, interns, etc.  Or staff members like me!  We’re super grateful for the opportunity to do this, and especially so that we can sell our condo now (which we really feel is the right timing.)

That means we’re working away at getting our place ready to sell - purging, organizing, cleaning, touching up, and finishing those details that still aren’t done nearly 3 years later.   The good news is I have some new corners of my home to finally show you.  Bad news is, posting may be more sparse.

Back to the church house thing… (which is affectionately known as “The Pink House”, because it is a terrible salmon colour on the exterior)  …One of the many reasons we’re so glad we’re living there is because the church is right across the street, and I’ll be going back to work starting in July.  I’ll be working from home (but if “home” is right across the street from work, that’ll be sweet!)  I’m partially super excited to work again - my job description will shift and I’ll be mostly working on curriculum development (writing, editing, recreating), and artistic things.  It’s work I’ll really enjoy, and it will be an excellent creative outlet, and it’s work that my boss and I have longed to work on for years, but have never been able to with the week-to-week demands of ministry.  I’m 100% sure it’s what I should be doing.  But I’m partially nervous, too.  It’s one more thing to throw into our week, and I’ll need to work very hard to keep our home reasonably organized.  But when I went back to work after I had Little M we worked it out (though I should note my husband is especially gracious and laid back) and it was a really good thing for my family and for me.  So I’m hoping for more of the same.  And this time I’ll be working even less hours (a little bit more than 1/3 time.)  I’m beyond blessed that my mother-in-law will be watching the kids twice a week while I work (so my kids get to go to the farm and have grandma time.)  They’ll be loving it.

And those kiddos?  Growing like weeds.  Baby L’s almost a year, which blows my mind.  And Little M is becoming a young man before my eyes.  Ha ha!  They’re hilarious, and adorable, and amazing, and frustrating, and exhausting, and delightful, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  Baby L’s a speedy little crawler, stands on her own, and is SO close to walking.  She has a fistful of words: Dada, Bi-Bubba (Big Brother), Babu (Baby), Puh-puh (Puppy), Uh-oh, and of course “Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma” when she’s whining or crying. ;)  She loves music and instruments, and grooves to anything… including the music in her head sometimes.  She’s nearly fearless.  And is in love with puppies, dolls, and stuffed animals (and may have a crush on Buzz Lightyear).  She’s starting to play by herself for longer stretches now - “reading” books, driving cars, or playing with a musical toy like the Leapfrog piano or guitars.  She’s more and more outgoing and curious with people, and LOVES to make people laugh.  She has a twinkle in her eye, and a coy little smile when she’s being funny..  She adores her Big Brother (he has always been the one who can get her to laugh the easiest).  And she’s shown a fierce independence and fiery spirit in the last few months.  Uh oh.  I have no idea where she got that. ;)

Little M is in the thick of “terrible two’s”, but I’d call it the “turbulent two’s” - in an insanely short amount of time he’ll have us laughing, then gritting our teeth, then smiling in adoration.  He is so active - loving all sports and games (even inventing his own).  His temper is quick and hot (hmmm… think I know where he got that, unfortunately), but he has a wonderfully tender side as well - gently hugging his sister and telling her she’s beautiful, or carefully cradling a doll being a “daddy”.  He’s very good at encouraging - cheering for Lucy when she does something new, or telling us “Good job!” or saying my dress is pretty.  He can at times be very stoic and serious.  Or try to act very grown up, telling people he goes to school, and rides dirt bikes, or laughing at whatever the adults are laughing at.  Other times he is delightfully silly - making faces and dancing around or making up crazy words or speaking in funny voices.  He’s sharp.  He is keen on learning and proudly names letters he sees and sings the alphabet, retells the stories in books he gladly gathers at the library, and we’ve begun learning some Bible memory verses because his memory is pretty darn good.  (I know that because he’s got lines from his favourite shows memorized…)  And his Daddy is his hero.  If Daddy does it, he should too.  He’s told me Daddy’s his “best friend”, his “favourite soccer player”, and that when he’s gone he “misses him SO much.” 

So.  That’s mostly where I’m at.  And as I finish writing this I realize again just how incredibly blessed I am.  Thanks for reading and following this blog.  Hopefully there will be plenty of good things for you this summer.

I’m totally an introspective person. But this year with all the talk of resolutions around New Years I felt a bit overwhelmed. In these years raising young children I’m learning I really have to go easier on myself. So I decided to nix the resolutions this year. I have a few goals I want to work towards, but nothing written in stone. And I’ve also been thinking of my Thirty before Thirty list.

It’s been over a year since I compiled this list. It’s neat to see what’s been accomplished. And interesting to see some of the ways my interests have shifted. As you’ll see below I may be changing the list up a bit…

1. Have at least 3 kids. 4 if I can convince Sean.

Baby L was born in the last year - so I’d call that progress! Though I’ll admit I’ve been seriously contemplating some changes in our plans for how many kids/when. Lord willing we’ll definitely have another… it’s just a matter of when.

2. Build our farmhouse.

Still slow and steady on this race, but last year actually brought some huge progress! For starters we were overjoyed to finally recieved permission from the rural municipality to subdivide the land! Hooray! And in the fall we visited our home builder and toured a show home version of the house we hope to build. Still a long way to go, but that’s a whole lot more progress than we’ve had in years!

(Yes, this is a never-before-shared sneak peak.)

3. Send an art portfolio to a variety of publishers to be considered as an illustrator.

This is the other goal that has taken a major shift in my thinking - I think I’ll take it off the list. While illustrating would be incredible, and I love to draw, I’m just not sure now is the time to pursue this dream. My passion for this right now is not where it needs to be to chase this. So I’m just gonna’ put this one in God’s hands, and trust Him to lead the way if this is what he might have for me some day. (There’s plenty more life after 30!)

4. Bake a pie. Saskatoon berry… yum!

Haven’t baked a pie since, however. I should get on that, eh?

5. Train myself to hang up my towel after my shower. (I’ve been trying to do this since year 1 of marriage.)

OK, this is a weird goal to measure. But I’d say there’s been improvement here. Mostly because any time I’m gonna’ leave my towel somewhere I think of this list. Yeesh.

6. Go combining on my own.

Another one I may take off the list. It’s not necessary, and again, it’s just not the time in life. Hmmm… what should I replace this goal with?

7. Pay off my student loan.

Getting… so… close…

8. Go to an NFL game.

We almost did this past year, but decided to save our money (see goals #2 and #7). But we’re working on it. Perhaps next year when Baby L is older. We just can’t decide if we want to see the Eagles play in Philly or in another city.

9. Print off Blurb albums for all my babies.

Well, Little M is 2 now, and doesn’t have his book finished. So. Not doing so hot on this goal. But I have all the pictures, right?

10. Have 2 Corinthians 4 totally down by memory.

I have actually already done this, but I want to maintain it in my memory, so this one won’t get crossed off until I turn 30 and can still say it.

11. Get my driver’s license. oy. Passed on January 12, 2012

Oh yes I did. I am a real grown-up now.

12. Run 10K in under an hour. 10.03 K in 54 min. on October 16, 2010

So glad I did this when I did. Two kids in the jogging stroller seriously slows me down! (Though the toddler yelling “Faster, Mommy! Faster!!” does inspire me.) ;)

13. Hug my brothers.

How lame is it that I haven’t done this yet? We’re just not huggy types. It’ll happen.

14. Read through the Bible start to finish.

Once again petered out at around March/Deuteronomy last year. I still read it, of course, I just wasn’t working through it systematically. I have another idea for this, though. I’ll tell you about it some time…

15. Learn to use my camera on manual mode. February, 2011 (Still needs a bit of improvement, though)

Thank you Lindsey for teaching this at the women’s retreat last year! I am enjoying life without a flash.

16. Learn how to box. If I’m 29 and a half and still haven’t done this, taking a kick-boxing class will suffice.

No progress. Not too worried about that.

17. Create pottery again.

Oh, I hope I have opportunity to do this one…

18. Improve my posture.

Well, I just sat up straighter after reading that one. So. (Having babies does not help this goal! Pregnancy wrecks all those muscles!) Though props to Jillian Michaels, because I’ve rebuilt a lot of those muscles. Thank you, 30 Day Shred.

19. Plant my own vegetable garden.

This ones kinda’ sorta’ dependent on having a yard of some sort. So, see goal #2…

20. Find a really great haircut for me.

Not so worried about this goal either. My hair’s in a pony tail 90% of the time anyways. I mostly just want to grow it out as long as I can go…

21. Be able to draw people in motion proficiently.

Little M’s just started to want to draw on a somewhat regular basis, so maybe I should work on this…

22. Have a recycling station set up at home for plastics, metal, paper, and compost.

Now that Im driving I may do more paper recycling since I can drop it off regularly. But this goal’s also a bit dependent on #2.

23. Make holobtsi (Ukrainian cabbage rolls) like my great grandma’s. Done and yum.

SO need to do this again. Bacon fat and Ukrainian friends = good times.

24. Own a cool pair of rubber boots (found my perfect turquoise Hunter wellies!) and my own Carhartts

Was so glad I had my boots last spring with all of the flooding! But for my farmer husband’s sake I hope I don’t need to use them nearly as much this year.

25. Sew Christmas stockings for my whole family.

I thought about doing this before this Christmas, but I’m wondering if I shouldn’t wait until all my children are born and named? Yes, probably. This goal has just become sidelined by intentional procrastination.

26. Organize all my iphoto pictures properly.

Well, a new computer and a new iPhoto should make this easier, so here’s hoping this year’s the year!

27. Write and direct an Easter play for the kids at church.

Not yet. Though I was brainstorming the other day…

28. Find, and buy, and wear the perfect white dress shirt. (This has been a long quest.)

This is another goal getting axed. I realized I don’t really need/want a white dress shirt anymore, despite the fact that any fashion magazine might put it on your list of “must haves”. Don’t need it. Stopped looking. And happy about it.

29. Figure out a 29th goal. Host a ridiculously fabulous outdoor dinner party

One day. Not today. It’s -40C, after all.

30. Be more in love with my husband than ever before.

Another goal that’s hard to measure, but I’d definitely say it’s true. Man, I love that guy.

Hey there.

My name is Justine.  In case you forgot about me.  I blog here.  In theory, anyways.

I thought I should check in with you all and let you know that I’m still alive.  And still have every intention of continuing to blog here - I just need to take care of life as it demands first. Consider this a bit of a blog sabbatical.  A “blogbattical”, I like to say.  (Because I’m a nerd who often makes up words inserting “blog”)

So I’ll be back.  Maybe this week.  Maybe in a month or two.  I do miss this terribly, but other things are a little higher on the to-do list these days, like:

• enjoying every minute I can with my two beautiful children.
• spending every moment I can with my kind and gorgeous husband.
• enduring every stressful second of raising a baby (I don’t do the baby stage well, unfortunately, and right now she’s teething like a… um… like a baby getting 4 teeth all at once.)
• surviving serious sleep deprivation. (Example above.  Not so good with the creativity these days.  Actually not so good with the thinking in general.  It’s been a bad stretch the last few weeks between Baby L being up, Little M waking through the night, and my own bit of insomnia thrown in.)
• cleaning my house.  This is an impossible, never-ending task with a  two-year-old tearing around.  I want to go back in time and say to the pre-kids me, “Just clean your house.  It’ll take no time at all.  It’s so eeeeeasy.  And it won’t be when you have a two-year-old.”
• blogging.  Wait.  What?  Oh, not here.  Over at UsedEverywhere.  Straight up, folks, I get paid for that.  And not for this.  So.  (Tell me how to feature ads, and then pay me to advertise cool stuff.  Not dumb stuff.  And then my blog will start making money.  And then blogging will move up my to-do list.  Cool.  Good idea.) ;)
• home projects.  Whoa baby, when I DO start blogging again I have some cool stuff to show you.  I’ve been chipping away at many projects (with the help of our team of free babysitters.  Family and in-laws rock, peeps).  Hopefully in the new year I’ll have a bit of a living room tour with some major changes we’ve made(and are making), followed by dining room and bedroom.  hopefully.
• church stuff.  Sean and I are teaching grades 4-5 Sunday school together this year and I’m loving it.  I’ve worked with these kids since they were tiny, and it’s so good to stay involved with them, even on my maternity leave.  Plus mom’s group, and my sweet care group.
• Aaand that’s kind of life right now.  Oh!  And another reason my blogging’s been slow this fall?  My computer was broken.  But I got my Christmas gift from Sean early, and this it’s inaugural blog post.  It’s big, and silver, and has a cute little apple on it.  (Traded in the macbook pro for an iMac.  A desktop makes more sense to me with growing kiddos around.)

SO!  check back in a while, OK?  I promise I will too.  And if you’ve only recently started following my blog, a big fat apology.  I’m not usually this lame.

Hokey Dinah.  Who even says that anymore?  Well, me, apparently.  And my two-year-old son.  Because whenever I open up a particularly gruesome diaper of his he exclaims, “Hokey Dinah!”, because I guess I’ve said that on those occasions.  Wow, starting out with digression.  Bad sign.  Run away, peeps, this could get all rabbit-traily.

So I’ll try to hit the main point now: Hokey dinah - life is suddenly feeling crazy busy.  And I have had no time to update my own blog, or read blogs, or do any of that fun stuff.  In fact, I haven’t even been scrolling through the pretty stuff on my Tumblr dashboard.  Boo.

I’m not sure what happened exactly.  Summer was so pretty low key (well, “I just had a baby” low key).  And fall snuck up on us with gorgeous weather and a whole bunch of commitments on the schedule.  Plus my beautiful baby girl is growing up and needing a bit more from me.  And my son’s been on this new sibling/terrible twos/battle for independence thing that is requiring a lot of me.  And… I don’t know what else.  All that to say: “Sorry, Dudes, the blog’s been neglected, and probably will be many more times to come.”  I do feel bad.  But not that bad, cuz let’s face it, I do this for free.

And in the midst of it all I’m really needing to assess what my priorities are.  My main purpose is clear right now - to serve and bless my family; to build my marriage and raise my children for God’s glory.  But what should I do beyond that?  Because there are a lot of things I want to do.  Some things I’m obligated to do.  Some things I wish I’d never volunteered to do.  And a bunch of other things, too.  But what has God planned for me to do?  I don’t have any answers right now - it’s hard to think through such deep life questions on such little sleep and personal time.  But I do know the blogging’s taking a slide, and that’s OK for now. 

I have managed to chip away at a few things around the home on the good days:

Remember my DIY lamp?  It looked cool in pink, but wasn’t working in my space.  So I repainted it in Krylon’s brushed nickel finish (which is actually a much warmer metal tone than nickel, I think), and used a lampshade I’d recovered in blue linen a while ago.  I’m quite smitten with how it looks.

I finally got around to painting our dining room sideboard.  I tried to sell this thing online a long time ago, but the “buyer” never showed up (seriously, people.)  So I opted to keep it, paint it, and now I just need to add new hardware.  I don’t love the piece, but it’s solid, and a good size for the space.  And now it’s not a garish honey colour, so that’s nice.

I picked up this pretty white platter at Value Village.  And I love it.  It reminds me of ironstone, though I don’t know if it actually is.  I try very hard to not purchase things that are for our future farmhouse, but this is one of those things.

And I picked up another Louis chair!  Back when I recovered the first one I purchased enough fabric for two in hopes that I’d find a second one.  So I’m looking forward to redoing this one to match, and creating the double welt cord for both.

I have some other projects in process, and some others on the to-do lis, but I’ll share them when I’m done.

And the most important projects?  A whole lotta’ this pretty thing:

And a whole buncha’ this handsome one:

And those are the projects that make my home the most beautiful.

Isn’t it strange how your aesthetic can shift as the seasons change?  The fresh, bright whites, and light linens that are so refreshing in summer are downright bland in the dead of winter.  The rich jewel tones, shimmering gold, and heavy textures of winter are opulent at Christmas time, but oppressive in the spring.

photograph by Justine Taylor

And with the mere suggestion of Autumn in the air I’m finding the woolen yarns, rustic wood tones, caramel-y leathers, coppers and brasses, and autumnal colours extremely alluring.  But I find myself saying “not yet”.  Last winter’s ruthless iron-fisted grip still lingers in my memory, and not even the easy-going summer days can erase it.  It reminds me to relish every last drop of summer.

As I thought about this tension between savouring summer and anticipating autumn I realized that, here in the prairies anyways, August is a season unto itself.  A beautiful marriage of summer and autumn.  The days are still wonderfully hot, but the mornings and evenings are blissfully cool.  The light is bright, but more golden and dappled.  There is an exquisite smell in the air - of dried crops, ready for harvest.  The trees still rustle with green, but are dotted with a few gilded leaves that hint of the gorgeous array to come.  And somehow listening to the football game on the radio is very appealing to me - no doubt arousing the nostalgia of late summer road trips, and hours in the combine just to be alongside my Love.

photograph by Justine Taylor

So, there’s no need to anxiously await Autumn.  Nor do I need to mourn the brevity of Summer.  No, I’m going to drink in every sweet day of August and its fusion of two beautiful seasons.

My husband’s work is very seasonal.  He is both an agricultural accountant and a farmer.  This means there are 3 critical seasons in our family life: Tax season, quickly followed (hopefully) by Seeding, and in the fall is Harvest.

My least favourite of the 3 is tax season.  Maybe because Sean is just so darn happy when he’s out farming (he likes doing taxes, but looooves driving a combine.)  Maybe it’s because seeding and harvest can have the occasional rain day for a break.  Maybe it’s  because he just looks so hot in jeans and a ball cap fresh off the tractor.  Whatever the reason, tax season is my least favourite.  But this year I’ve felt it hasn’t been so bad.  Maybe because we’re used to it now, or maybe because we’re doing better at carving out family time. Or maybe because I’ve decided that Sean’s tax season = my DIY season.  If he comes home later (in the evening) then I have more time to make a mess with my projects and clean it up by the time he’s home.  If he’s working Saturdays then I can use those days for projects.  So here are a few of the things I’ve done in the last week…

…the pieces of paper mapping out the location for an art arrangement were finally replaced with actual frames…  (You can see some good picture wall techniques here and here.)

…the sad little phone table finally got a new outfit with a glossy black paint job…

…and I finally sewed a bench cushion to bring some “doneness” to our entryway!  (though we still need to find the black hooks I hid from Little M… or he hid from me… and hang those on the wall!)

I also decided to take on our poor “flood pant” drapes.  They were the first I sewed, and were unfortunately crooked and too short.  I added a band to the bottom to bring them to floor length and even them out:

Unfortunately I was insistent on using fabric already in my stash for this project.  So I used a white bed sheet, which, even beforehand, I knew wasn’t the best idea.  Here’s why: as the edge of the drapes it’ll get dirty.  Also the sheet material is more “true” white while the drapery stripes are more off-white.  Not to mention if you’d asked me advice on what colour to use I’d have recommended a darker colour to “ground” the drapes.  And the final reason the white sheet was a bad idea?  As you can see, the bottom of the striped fabric is visible through the white fabric.  But I’m stubborn and forged ahead because I already had my sewing machine out.  I don’t hate it, but I’ll probably change it when the right fabric comes along.  Until then, however, the drapes look far less nerdy than before.

And here’s the project I’m working on tonight:

My wonderful dad built the frame for Little M’s new bed this weekend, and I’m working on upholstering it and creating a headboard!  (Based on this tutorial from Gabrielle Blair of Design Mom)  I’ll show you more when I’m all done.  

But the best part?  The cutest “helper” in the world.

You know those weeks that are full of ups but more downs, with lots of blah and yuck thrown in?  And you feel guilty for not blogging, but you know if you do it will be a rant mired in self pity and other unattractive traits, so you don’t write anything?  And then you regret previously being a pretty consistent blogger because this only accentuates your shortfall?

So here’s my reason for not blogging this week - to spare you complaints and whining.  

I’ll try to get some nice posts together for you next week. :)

Some days are full of yuckiness, and cold weather, and no parking, and dumb parking attendants, and grumpy people, and grumpy feelings, and disagreements, and feeling like crying, and whiny babies, and failed plans, and misunderstandings, and messy houses, and time-outs, and stress, and difficult decisions, and feeling dumb, and trying to be patient, and just needing to go to bed.

And then some days are full of sweet moments, and family outings, and blue skies and sunshine, and holding hands, and kisses and hugs, and yummy food, and happy well-behaved babies, and kind husbands, and good parking spots, and relaxing afternoons, and naps, and making homemade chili, and excitement over little things, and supper with friends, and decorating Christmas trees, and smiling when you go to bed.

But you know what?  In both days God is there.  And in both days God is good.  So whatever day you’re having remember that.  And if you had my yesterday, know that they won’t all be like that.

One summer I discovered that I wanted to marry a farmer.  

As a BC-born girl (but Saskatchewan-raised) I didn’t know much about farming until I went to camp where I made lots of friends whose families farmed.  I took interest.  I thought, “I live in Saskatchewan; how is it that I know so little about farming?”.  My curiosity became a bit of a joke, as they would teach me and quiz me, and bring me copies of The Western Producer.  Sometimes on weekends we’d leave camp and all go to another staff member’s house - which was always on a farm.  I loooved it.  I loved the closeness to nature.  The retreat from the rest of the world.  I loved the rustic beauty of old fence posts and barbed wire, of dugouts and barn wood.  I was sold.  And I thought “Boy, I’d love to marry a farmer and live in the country one day.”  I figured I was a good candidate.  I’m no extrovert, so I could handle being a bit removed from social contact.  And I didn’t grow up with piles of money, so I could handle the need to be frugal.  And I don’t mind getting dirty.  And I don’t mind the smell of farms (that is, cow poop thawing in the spring time).  I could totally do it.

In my university years I met a nice young man through church.  That’s a whole wonderful story unto itself.  But let me just say, I was quite delighted to learn he was a farm boy.  His family farmed just outside the city.  As we got to know each other in a dating-sort-of-way, though, I was disappointed to hear he did not plan to farm.  Boo.  Ah well… he was still amazing, and gorgeous, and kind, and perfect.  So I married him anyways. ;)

But as life ran its course, and he switched his university major/career plans a kajillion times, he started to come around.  He realized he was happiest when sitting in the combine.  Farming was a joy.  He knew he had lots to learn (since he’d bucked the idea of farming in his earlier days), but that ultimately he wanted to farm if we could make it work.  He asked me how I felt about that.  Fo shizzle.

The plan was for Sean begin farming with his dad and enter into a business partnership, while still working during the winter and mid-summer months at another job until he could viably farm full-time.  This worked swimmingly as he got a job doing agricultural accounting at a firm in the city.   And because they valued his farm knowledge (and because he has an awesome boss) they allowed him to take off work during seeding and harvest.

As a wonderful bi-product of the decision to enter farming we needed to figure out just how we could live out at the farm.

And so, our journey of “house dreaming” began.

His parents had built an RTM - a “Ready to Move” home.  This kind of house is built in a central factory and shipped to its location where it’s put in place.  These are common in the prairies, as rural site builds can be expensive.  Also, it means (usually) that your house is built more economically (they have all the supplies on site), faster (they have regular employees to build it, as opposed to waiting for this contractor and that), and often in a more controlled environment (i.e. if it’s built in a factory your unfinished house doesn’t endure the wind, rain, and snow of a site build).  We figured this was likely the best way to go.

Over the years we’ve seriously considered a few house plans, but have been stuck on one for almost two years now.  It’s a Cape Cod with dormers in the attic, a wraparound veranda, plenty of windows… and it’s lovely.  It’s actually called a “modular home” - it is built in several pieces which are assembled on site using a crane.  Here are some pictures of a modular home being assembled. (Not our model or home builder.  These are from Country Living.)

(Ours would come in a back and front piece, with an attic on top and a veranda built on site)

Great plan!  So… what’s the hold-up, right?

We want to build our house on Sean’s family farm.  We decided we could go one of two routes:

1. Subdivide a small parcel (5 acres) of his parent’s quarter section (160 acres) that their house is on.  This would mean that the land we build on would be in our name. Or…

2. Apply for a Secondary Agricultural Residence.  This means the land the house is on still belongs to Sean’s dad. The intention is that a Secondary Agricultural Residence (SAR) is for a farm employee or partner.

To do this we need to go through the local government.  (While towns and cities have councils and mayors, rural areas have a council and a reeve who oversee a large rural area with its farms and small townships.  This is called a Rural Municipality [RM].  So just like a person building a house in the city would need a building permit, we need permission to subdivide the land or build on the land even though the land is owned by Sean’s dad.)

So, a few years ago, with the intention that Sean begin working for/with his dad on the farm (especially as his grandpa gets older), we sought to get permission to build.  And thus the RM became my arch nemesis.

They told us at the meeting that we should not apply for the SAR, because they didn’t like doing that, and it got tricky when difficult family situations arose (because the land is not in our name) such as feuds or divorces.  Well, we’re pretty certain that’s not going to happen, but we liked that they recommended subdividing because that’s ultimately what we wanted.

So we applied to subdivide.  

And we were rejected.  

Whaaaat?!

You see, the quarter section we planned to subdivide is actually not a full quarter.  There are a variety of things that cut into the land: some roads, a railroad, a nearby town, and an old schoolhouse.  But, to prevent farm land from being overdeveloped (i.e. you can’t build a condo complex on it…) the RM has a bylaw stating that any subdivision of land must leave a certain number of acres in the remaining quarter.  We were less than 9 acres short.  And so, even though the “development” on the quarter was not done by Sean’s dad, they stuck to the letter of the law and said a subdivision could not happen.  The end.  

So, prepare yourself for round two.

(Now I should note that all dealings with the RM have had to take place in the non-busy seasons: after seeding and after harvest, which drags out the process immensely.  Especially since in the last few years seeding and harvest have gone very long with poor weather.)

In “round two” we decided to go back to our original approach - building a Secondary Agricultural Residence.  By this time a few things had changed with the RM, and they now had a “planner” - an unelected official whose job is to oversee all development in the RM.  Over the winter months we applied for a SAR and soon discovered that the planner had no interest in giving us the time of day.  He was way too busy (actually working for two different RMs), didn’t understand farming, and was really there to develop the local towns.  After months of the run-around (including a few lies) he finally gave us a decision.  No.  Because Sean worked in the city that must mean he’s not really a farmer, or farm employee.

Are. you. freaking. kidding me.

He did not ask to see any farm books or business plans.  He did not even know what Sean’s other job was, or how it worked.  He did not pay any attention to the fact that many farmers (especially the young ones) need to have two jobs to farm.  And while the first decision (regarding subdivision) was exactly according to the bylaws, this one left an awful lot of room for interpretation.  I scoured every bylaw document I could find, and there were no legal grounds for this decision.  And with one flippant decision our life plans were sent askew again.

By this point I was quite pregnant and we were renting a one-bedroom apartment in the city.  We knew we had to shift our focus for a little while.  We bought an affordable two-bedroom condo close to friends and our church, and renovated it the month before Little M was due.  That was over a year ago now.

The dream is not dead, however.  Sean and his dad have worked out a business partnership and have begun to work together on the farm.  And there are options of how we can proceed in pursuing the dream of a house. And hopefully this winter we’ll try another approach and receive permission to build.  The thing is, there’s not a lot I can personally do about it.  I can wait, and pray, and seek out what the Lord is teaching me on this journey.

There’s a lot of frustrating and sad things.  Like, how much housing prices have changed since the time we first sought to build.  What a house cost then, and what it costs now are vastly different.  There’s the anger of dealing with people (the RM) who are making major decisions affecting your life, and do so without much care or logic.  There’s the difficulty of talking about this with people for years, and still not doing what we said we were going to do.  While other people our age are buying and building they’re wondering what we’re waiting for, and honestly, it’s hard to continually squash that twinge of jealousy.  

Even more, though, there’s the longing for a home.  A place to raise our family.  The desire to have room for more children.  The hope of having a place to invite people in. 

But as hard as it’s been (and as hard as it is to say this) the journey has been good, too.  It has taught us patience.  It has grown and matured us.  It has caused us to evaluate what really matters: our faith, and our marriage and our family - which can thrive no matter where we live.  And it’s teaching us to take delight in what we do have, and enjoy the time of life we’re in.  We know that the fact we own our condo is a huge blessing - more than many people could dream of.  We’ve seen how God has placed us in the right place for the right time.  I think in the end we will be far more grateful when we do have that house.  And I think we will benefit from a few years of planning and thinking about how we really want it to be.

So there.  That’s the story.  If you made it through this whole post I am incredibly impressed.  Hopefully, if you follow this blog long enough, one day you’ll see a post or two about the day we get our house!

Well… I’ve made a decent dent in the to-do list.  But it still feels like there’s a lot to do and a lot on my heart and mind.  Ah well, such is life, right?

So I’ve queued up some posts for the week so that the blog can be updated but I don’t have to think about it too much.  See ya’ around!