Our new place in Vermont has been a HUGE blessing since we arrived. The fact that there was a parsonage already waiting for us gave us so much less stress. And the fact that many, many church members pitched in to make renovations and get it all cleaned up for us made it even more special. It was a labor of love and they showed us even before we arrived that they were willing to put forth an effort to make us feel at home in Vermont. The house seems a lot bigger than our old house and laid out in a much better way. There are two stories, so as we’re settling we’re running into the problem of, “Well, I could put this here, or I could put it here. Or I could really use this piece of furniture…” It’s a good problem to have.
I didn’t get a good picture of the front (except the snow one I took in March) but this is the back. We have loved our view from day 1. It’s nothing but farmland, no people or buildings to obstruct the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont. We sit on about 6 acres. At night you can hear nothing but the wind blowing and the coyotes howling. The grass (right now, in spring) is beautiful and the kids love to run barefoot!
When you come in our side door from the driveway, there is a dining nook. We haven’t done much with it yet but we have a little dining area, and I added a little cart with coloring books & crayons & paper for the kids to play while I’m cooking dinner. They haven’t used it much yet, but I’m sure it will be put to use. We haven’t even really figured out much use for the built-in bookshelf yet, either.
The kitchen nook looks into the kitchen and straight into the dining room. The kitchen has plenty of cabinet space and countertops. We even added a little island for more cooking space. We have a brand new refrigerator and gas stove. We may soon get new countertops, although the old ones are just fine for me. I love that it is open to the living room and the kids’ rooms so I can watch TV and see all that’s going on while I’m in the kitchen. Plus, there’s a countertop right next to the dining room table that we use as a sort of pass-through to put dishes both before & after meals to make clean-up easier.
The dining room also has another built-in bookshelf which we haven’t yet made use of. It’s a bit narrow for a lot of things but we’ve put photos and candles and other decorations. The dining room table we purchased from the previous pastor and it is huge!
We’ve since added some photos to these walls, but this is basically our living room. We were given this beautiful serving table by a church member and it works perfectly right here, although it often ends up being a catch-all for junk. We were also given a beautiful Roland upright piano by the church! It adds such a pretty touch. Of course, we’ve left our view of the mountains untouched and never get tired of looking out these windows!
Off the living room is our master bedroom, which heads straight into the sink area of our bathroom & the walk-in closet. The closet is really pretty big, as is the bathroom. With no drawers, we’ve had to do some rearranging, but we do have plenty of space in the bathroom. The shower & toilet have a separate area with a door.
Leah & Abigail’s room is also off the living room. We were worried at first that the TV would keep them up at night because it’s literally right there next to them, but it hasn’t been a problem at all with their noise machine and heavy sleeping abilities! Their room was the most difficult to fit things in because they have two big beds and a small dresser, but they have a large closet and the way we arranged it they still have plenty floor space to play. Leah’s comforter is a loaner right now until we get her a new one but she loves her big girl twin bed. Leah makes it clear that “No boys” are allowed in her room!
The kids’ bathroom is also the main bathroom in the hall. You can’t see it, but there is a large cabinet to the right of the sink.
Andrew has tons of space in his room! He loves his new fire truck toddler bed and having all that floor space for cars & trains! (We’ve also gotten darkening blinds on the windows since this picture. Much better for waking up in the morning!)
At the bottom of the stairs is ONE of our storage rooms. (Yes, we have two. This is the smaller one.) I keep board games & educational tools on the front shelves and store baby clothes on the back shelves. We also have an extra freezer in here. Tons of space!
The office is still a work in progress. We have a couple boxes left, and things to find places for, but Brett’s desk is mostly done. There’s a large closet in this room, too, so we have extra space for storage there, as well. My desk is on the opposite wall in this room and space for my scrapbooking things! The middle wall will be our music area—the keyboard & guitar, plus any other art stuff we want to keep out. This room is so versatile!
The living area downstairs has two sections—really one large room but with a little division between. The first area off the hall is our school area. This is also a work in progress, but I LOVE having a designated area for school. You cannot see the TV from this area so it is not a distraction. I can put posters up on the wall and keep all the art supplies where the kids can get to them easily. Eventually there will be a reading area and hopefully a bigger desk space as they grow. The door in the picture goes to the other storage room, where Brett gets to keep all his manly things, including a huge tool table and work area.
The other area of the living room is the playroom. The toys are along one wall.
And then the couch and TV are in the other part. We set our TV on the gas fireplace (which is very warm, as well as pretty). This is more of the kids’ living space, although right now they’re not used to being somewhere we’re not. They would rather play upstairs when I’m upstairs so I end up having to watch kids’ shows on “my” TV. They are able to go up and down as they want and sometimes they do (even Abigail figured out quickly how to maneuver the stairs), but really they don’t want to play downstairs unless I am with them.
Of course, the sunsets are the best part of our day. We have experienced every kind of weather since we’ve been here: up in the 80’s, down in the 40’s, high wind (even a tornado), hail, sun, rain… But even on the cloudy, gray days the view is amazing.
And a quick shot of our new church. We are already starting to find our place, although there is so much to do and so much to get involved in. We are eager to see all that the Lord has in store for us here!
