Laura’s House Journey has been a real journey

My brother-in-law, niece, and Dad work on plumbing.

Eighteen months ago, I began my blog and decided to name it Laura’s House Journey. I never dreamed what a crazy journey it would be. The definition of journey in the dictionary is: a traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather longtime. That definition is very accurate.

After finishing the windows, the next big milestone was getting heat installed. The week after Thanksgiving, I had a heat pump installed. I have been really happy with it thus far. I am going to have a second heat source installed, but have not decided what I want to go with yet.

We’ve continued to plug away at small things over the past few weeks. Most all of the walls are up at this point and even painted. Work continues on the downstairs bathroom.

Monday my amazing brother-in-law, Kevin, took the day off, and he and my Dad continued to work on the plumbing. It is not done yet, but day-by-day I’m getting closer to having water. Shortly after I have water and indoor plumbing, I should be able to move in! It’s becoming ever so exciting. Last weekend, I purchased an AO Smith heat pump hot water heater.

It has been a long two and a half years since I left my job at the University of Maine. There are days that I wonder if it was the right decision. 2017 has been incredibly challenging for my entire family, but God continues to hold us and get us through each and every day.

Two weeks ago, my 93-year-old grandmother fell and broke her hip. She survived the surgery and was beginning to make a little progress before she was rushed to the hospital two days ago with the flu. The future is unknown to us, but God has it all in his perfect plan.

I want to move in today, but that’s not an option. I am hoping within the next week or so. I fell in love with our Christmas tree farm as a child, and it was a big reason that I wanted to build a house on our property there. The dream of going and cutting my Christmas tree, putting it up and decorating it in my living room is so close.

 

 

Laura Reed

About Laura Reed

After 15 years in college athletics, the last seven as an assistant athletics director, I was burned out with 70-hour work weeks and extensive travel. I resigned my position and accepted a position in marketing at a small, vibrant college in my hometown of Unity, Maine. In the process I wanted to go back to my childhood where we raised polled Herefords, had a Christmas Tree Farm and spent many hours outside. I decided I wanted to build my own home on beautiful farmland that my family owns. With help from my Dad, the most talented person I’ve ever met, we are building my home together. I have decided to blog my experience – the ups and downs, the joys and frustrations. What was once an open field will one day be my home! The dream in my head is becoming reality. I can just see the lambs frolicking in the field, chickens in the barnyard and going running with my Alaskan Malamute!