I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane... I'll be back in Eleven Days! :)

Hooray!!! Well I am officially packed and ready to leave for the trip of a lifetime with one of my best friends Kelsie Roper!! We are going to be traveling to Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and London and will be returning the 5th of July! I am extremely excited, but nervous at the same time. First of all, I have never flown commercially. My uncle had a small plane and I have flown that way, but never on a big airliner. Second, Jordan and I are at a critical stage in our housing project. We have the electric, plumbing, and heating and air going on right now. It is insane, and I can't imagine leaving him here to address any issues that may occur while I'm away. However, he is being a trooper and taking over all of the responsibility of our renovation project!

FYI-- I can fit into a suitcase. One of my best friends- Desi who has flown a billion times lent me her suitcase to use, it is ginormous! Here is to a little humor before I leave :)

It would zip up and everything, and I even had a little bit of room left over!

Obviously Jordan is amazing, but I couldn't leave him without anything to check off his list, so I made him a folder with a notebook and contact information of all of our contractors/ people we have contacted about renovation procedures with him. He will be fine! (Just pray)!

Since the last post, we have had several things happen such as all of the ceilings coming down, and we ripped up flooring for hours, upon hours, upon hours, upon hours.... yes folks... it really took that many hours. Jordan and I were exhausted, and then on Sunday he went down and worked some more!- Such an amazing future husband (oh yea- we are officially under a year now- can't wait until June 20, 2015)!!!

This is what the floors look like now. It is extremely hard sub-flooring! Our contractor has to pre-drill most of the time before putting in new nails into these old boards. 

It looks A LOT better than before with all of that old linoleum with the black tar that was underneath it laid on top of beautiful hardwood flooring. We just couldn't save it in the kitchen though. :( 

More floor views! Jordan literally pulled up about 500 flathead nails out of this sub-floor. Hundreds were still left in the wood boards that we took up as well. 

Remember, this is what the old kitchen floor looked like. The old stove is still sitting on top of the flooring we took up from the kitchen and the dining room. 

I love how once the ceilings were torn down- and due to the age of the house how many dirt-dobbers lived up in the ceiling near the chimney. Needless to say they will be gone soon! 

Eeek. Sheetrock in the bedroom is gone!!!

Living room ceilings are gone. Look how pretty that wood is above though!

The left wall is the one to our bedroom and the one where that chimney we had torn down several weeks ago was located at one time. 

Here is our wonderful kitchen- exposed beam- I promise it will be wonderful very soon!!

Jordan is wonderful. He has worked so hard every week on the house and I am very thankful for that. I know when I return from my trip that the house will look so different. Hopefully he will remember to take pictures daily, so I can update the blog when I get back!

Yesterday, we had some electrical things taking place. This is what some of the electrical work looks like as of now.

They basically have all of the boxes or "holders" put up for the ceiling lights, ceiling fans, outlets, and light switches on the wall. 

More views of our kitchen, boy oh boy will it be bright!

This is our feature wall, it is crazy how much wood one little section can have when drilling through to make an outlet location!

More views of our kitchen, closet, and master bedroom/ bathroom.

More of the kitchen! Plumbing and electric underway!

This is a project that I would love to see differently when I return from the trip! This use to be the back porch wayyyyyy back when. Then my grandparents or their family at least made it into a bathroom. They kept the slanted floor! So, obviously this all has to be ripped out and redone. This will be a new bathroom/ mud room; you have to use your imagination! :)

Yep, it has a lot of work yet to be completed in this room!

Wheeeew. That is a lot. We are very thankful, excited, and nervous about the house. We stay stressed, but we try to remember that it will all get completed. We need to take one step at a time, and one day at a time and enjoy the changes taking place around us. I am going to miss seeing all of the changes while gone on my trip, but I am oh so very excited to see many of the places I talk about in my history classes! This is how the progress of the renovation to OUR future southern home looks like. 

I'll try to post pictures and blogs from each country that I go to as well, so everyone can keep up to date with the happenings of at least one of the "Jessup's" (to be)!

A Change is a Coming....

This past week has been such a whirlwind. Jordan and I both finished our first years of teaching!!! Our students did fabulous on their tests, and I left with many great memories at my first school, South Stokes. I have accepted a position in the history department at West Stokes where Jordan, and my Mama both work. I am extremely excited to join the Wildcat team and teach American History, but it was bittersweet leaving some dear colleagues and my students behind. I am a firm believer though that God will guide us into what we need to be doing, and where we need to be in life, and West was definitely the right move.

For the house, there has been so much change! We have a roof, walls, and lots of demolition going on throughout this past week. In the weeks to come, I can only imagine what the house will look like. 

The new addition was completely framed out here without a roof. The two shorter windows will have the sink under them, and the four windows in the corner will be a sun/sitting room. 

Wahoo we have a new exterior wall!

How different does the outside of the house look now? We have added a new third of the house on for kitchen and master bedroom space! 

The inside is framed! The picture is looking into our master bathroom and closet. 

This is our master bathroom again. 

This is the closet!!! I am super excited that I will have a walk-in closet. Even if I have to share it will Jordan when we get married, it will be amazing!

Our ceiling began to be framed out, and I am standing in our kitchen looking into what will be our sun room area!

As you can see, I am standing in the master bathroom in the new addition. This is how it looked before the old exterior wall was torn down. You can still see the old kitchen windows and the wood of the old house. 

We have a roof! It is coming along, so quickly.

''

Wahoo, I am standing in what will be another window in our bathroom. It is not going to be a door haha!

Bam! The walls have came down! Those old exterior wood walls from the previous picture, yes, you see, they are not longer in the picture! Jordan is standing in our closet taking a picture into our bedroom! It is gong to be HUGE.

This is me in our kitchen. It is going to be MASSIVE, but I am so excited about it. The kitchen as my Granny always said was the center of the household. It is where family's truly unite (and who wouldn't when you had my Granny cooking). Hopefully I will be able to cook as good as my Granny, Mama, and Jordan's Mama, Kem does, but for now I guess practicing is okay!

Jordan and I are so excited and blessed to be able to remodel a house, into our "current" dream home at the age of 25. Most people do not get to experience this until they are very much older. Love you!

Waaalahhh. Look at the open kitchen. The beam on the ceiling is wood, and will remain as a focal point in our kitchen. (There is also one in the Master bedroom as well). 

This will be our sun room, or dining room. Jordan and I have not decided on exactly what we would like this room to be, but we are excited to have it!

More kitchen views. 

This is our walk-in closet. 

This is our master bathroom. 

This is the old bathroom that will be renovated soon! :)

This is one of our favorite features, so far. We are leaving part of the old exterior wall as a wall in the sun/sitting room. We are going to re-finish it, and it adds perfectly to our rustic-farmhouse theme! 

As you can see, Jordan and I are very lucky, and thankful to be able to have a house and turn it into OUR home. I know that my grandparents would be proud, and all of the family members that have lived or visited the house that we are remodeling would be proud also. My grandparents would have LOVED Jordan for being such a hard worker, and I wish dearly that they could have met him and what all he has changed about their former property. It looks 100 times better, and more like us, but still with their heritage in mind. Today, I would also like to thank both of our families, our Mama's and siblings, but especially both of our Dad's because you two have helped us SO much already on this house, and we are grateful to have you as our parents. We could not have handpicked better parents or siblings even if we tried. Thanks to everyone for their help so far, in making this old family farmhouse OUR future home!

Changing the Old and making it New!!! Addition Phase 1

 

 

 

Well first of all, let me say how blessed and lucky Jordan and I are to have each other, and two amazing families that will help out in any way they can to make our dreams a reality. In the past few weeks we have set a wedding date (June 20, 2015), booked a venue, and began the renovations/addition to the old farm house we will make our home. It has been a whirlwind, but it has been the most amazing experience, so far.

 

See if you know us at all, this fits Jordan and I. With the love of my family heritage and genealogy, and his love of anything rustic, antique, and out-doors we are making our dream home (for now) come to life. It has been a long process leading up to this point, but we have finally began construction on the house and things are moving a long pretty quickly! First came the digging of the foundation. 

 

You see it doesn't look that big, but just wait, it will.

It is a 12x36 addition that will hold a sunroom, the extension of the kitchen, and more space in the master bedroom with a bathroom and a walk-in closet.

The cement came next.

 

 

This part made me really excited because I knew they would start laying the brick after it was dry.

 Here is the brick being started. This will be our crawl space under this side of the house.

More views of the addition (I cannot wait until that wall comes down).

 

And the foundation is finished.

The new brick matched almost perfectly to the old part of the house.

Next, the contractor was able to lay the flooring on the new part. We can walk on it!!

Another view.

And once again. This will look amazing when the old exterior wall is taken down.

Oh wait! We have framing ladies and gentlemen. The front you see there is going to be another window, and there will also be one additional one on the side. We are loving how it looks right now, and it is adding, so much to the house already!

This back section with the four corner windows will be our sunroom. French doors will lead into it, and there will be SO much light.

The two smaller windows demonstrate where the kitchen sick will be located.

While taking this picture I was standing in our future master bathroom and closet!

 

As you can see, everything is coming along smoothly. This week the roof is supposed to go on, and possibly some deconstruction of the old exterior wall. We are so very excited about what is happening right now in our lives.

 

Jordan and I will both finish up our first years of teaching this week on Thursday!! We have made big decisions regarding the house and our wedding. Our summer is looking extremely hectic (my Europe trip and family vacations), but we are ready for the challenge and hopefully getting one step closer to finishing our house and becoming Mr. and Mrs. Jessup.