Flooring Has Arrived!!!

The luxury vinyl flooring was delivered at the house this morning... here it all is-- all 109 boxes plus the stair nosing, white stair facings and the moisture barrier. We are scheduled to have it installed starting May 15th. That's in 2 weeks!

Luke & Tucker

Megan told Luke to get Tucker's temperature! Hahaha!! This is the cutest!!!

 

Making Headway @ the House...

Lighting fixtures (even though we don't have all of it) and ceiling fans are going in, plumbing fixtures @ sinks and showers are going in, tilers grouted the laundry room backsplash, hardware was installed on the master closet built-in chest of drawers and Justin finished the cabinetry work today (for now--he has to come back to install a cabinet door in the kitchen that had a chip. Unfortunately it didn't come with this last order even though the factory noted the chip on the door and had supposedly ordered another one...ugh!) I feel like these contractors are lacking in brain cells! They're the ones that noted it with an orange sticker at the factory before Justin even saw the chip! (Insert eye roll!) HVAC and air conditioning units are all installed and finished-- I believe... We had to exchange an undermount sink for an overmount :( in the basement kitchen because you can't do undermount with butcher block. It is what it is and IDK WHO missed that one! I've been telling them allllll along that this was butcher block here!! Oh and they installed the wrong faucet at the main kitchen sink.  That one is supposed to go downstairs in the basement kitchen.  Look at the spec sheet guys!!!!!!!  It feels like lots of progress is being made, but that there are a lot of mistakes to fix the more progress that we make... so that ends up feeling like not a whole lot of progress is being made!! Make sense??? Still hoping the rest of our lighting comes in SOON! I'm trying not to hold my breath, but I am!!  Overall, everything that is going in looks so good and I'm happy with the look of what I picked out!  I'm so glad for that!!  

 

Some Updates...

Cabinetry was in full-swing today. It was supposed to be finished today, but he still has more to do... tile backsplash in the kitchen was grouted and the tile backsplash in the laundry room was finished but not the grout. (The tiler just needs to finish a small area in the kitchen, grout the laundry room and do the entire backsplash in the pantry.) Cabinetry is complete in the kitchen, I think... Bill took these pictures and it's hard to see so I'm not sure. Lighting is being hung all over the house, but Bill didn't get any pictures of that. Our coach lights are on in the front outside. Hopefully the goosenecks will be up soon. We are still battling to get the rest of it in. We have a little less than half of our lighting, and we need all the bulbs too. It's been hard waiting, but I'm REALLY hoping it gets here SOON!!

 

Plumbing Fixtures, A/C and Cabinetry...

The house was jumping with subs today... the plumber was there installing fixtures, A/C people had already installed units outside and trimmed out the vents inside, and cabinetry install is FINALLY resuming because our cabinet finally came in for the kitchen that was re-ordered because they got the wrong size. So Justin was hard at work today (the new kitchen cabinet was delivered yesterday) installing the master closet drawers, the office shelving and starting all the rest of the kitchen that still needed to go in! This makes it so the the tilers can come and finish all the backsplashes, because Justin will also install the butcher block in the pantry and downstairs in the kitchenette. When one contractor is behind, it creates a domino effect with others who have to wait for the first guy to finish his work! This is getting down to the wire!! Work really slows down and then all of the sudden things just happen. There is still sooooo much to do, but I am still hopeful that we'll be able to move in the end of May!

Mailbox #'s and Painting!

We are official!! We have a functioning mailbox as of today, even though it's not finished yet. I went over this evening and saw the numbers put on it which I dropped off this morning for them to install. The interior painter was also at the house today doing a lot of touch ups and work-- including painting the brick-- FINALLY!!!! Finally they are the color they're supposed to be!!

 

Don't Tug on Your Faith! (Katelyn's Letter)

Hey y'all!

Wow y'all this week was full of plot twists but we are here and thriving in good old Sumter, SC!!! Needless to say I spent about 1.75 of 7 days actually serving in my own area with my bestie Daines... But everything buffed...still on an exchange but Daines and Freebs will be back together again soon ready to party and work hard this week. Miss her tons! :)

Seeds of Faith
Elder Uchtdorf gave a talk on parenting at General Conference that I LOVED and can apply to not only a child's faith but all of ours:

"Building faith is somewhat like helping a flower grow. You cannot tug on the stem to make it taller. You cannot pry open the bud to get it to blossom sooner. And you cannot neglect the flower and expect it to grow or flourish spontaneously. What you can and must do is provide rich, nourishing soil with access to flowing heavenly water. Remove weeds and anything that would block heavenly sunlight. Create the best possible conditions for growth. Patiently allow the rising generation to make inspired choices, and let God work His miracle. The result will be more beautiful and more stunning and more joyful than anything you could accomplish just by yourself."

Alma 32 :28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart... behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

*INVITATION*
Too often I try to tug on my faith instead of letting and trusting the miracle of God's light and heavenly water! But the more I lean on God's will, the more I notice my enlarged soul and enlightened understanding! SO TRUST HIM. "The result will be more beautiful and more stunning and more joyful than anything you could accomplish just by yourself." :))

Pockets of Fun
-Got driven around in a golf cart by a 7 year old.
-The Elder Meads made his amazing pizzas for DCM and I got to try-ahem- Chick Fil A pizza and the legendary GIRL BOSS PIZZA. (Shout out to Sister Risky. She slays;)
-So we found out that one of the missionaries in the zone went to someone's house who was smoking dope and they *accidentally hot boxed her lol. So she *accidentally got high... both her and her comp took a trip that day from what we heard--so funny. The one that wasn't high was trying her best to help the other act normal and not die or embarrass any relationships they had with people lol. The high one now can't remember any of that day. Bahaha! They both felt soooo bad that it happened but it definitely wasn't their fault aha...
-Got Taro Bobba with Sister Garcia!
-Sister Garcia also educated me on how epic kpop/BTS is.
-Ate dinner with a very very drunk man. It was pretty entertaining but had one of the most spiritual lessons ever with his exish wife after!
-Played soccer with the Judson kiddos (me and Penny now have a secret handshake that may involve rock paper scissors).
-Went to an escape room last pday with the district and had the hottest wings on the menu at dinner after...
-Will neither confirm nor deny that I drove a tractor with the bucket thingy and helped a member move his wood...WHAAAAT  #FarmerFreebs
-Got to talk to my AMAZING SIS BOOGUMS on her bday and took a very blurry and rough picture haha!
-Had a fun convo with the ZL's on how number hungry they are and we agreed on 6.5/10 lol. They are sooo fun! With everything that has been happening this transfer we have called each other almost everyday.

-We went and served dinner on the military base for the families of deployed soldiers and saw a couple members there! Very fun time and the kids were so cute with all the activities they did :) Pray for all our soldiers that are serving our country and their families.  We need them and they are all heroes :)

Gratitude
-Chick Fil A and Cracker Barrel continue to top the fav list.
-BEAUTIFUL morning walks.
-Kids' contagious joy and adventure!
-"So Will I" is a song by Hillsong. Go listen to it with the windows down when you get the chance (and it's not freezing outside @Utah).

-The protection we get from our military and how they sacrifice themselves every single day to defend this amazing country!  

Freeman Vocab lol
-tuder tude: sass that's more sass than my sass haha! Came up with that one last transfer.

Pictures
(PS: Most pics are explained in the pockets of Fun part haha)

LOVE YALLLLLLLL!!