Construction begins

Today, we started a major construction project on our house. We are removing the "hot tub" room because the hot tub has not worked in over 2 years. We decided that, while Mike cherishes the hot tub, he prefers an outside hot tub. So we are regaining the inside space to increase the size of the laundry room. It also allows us to get rid of a leaky sky light and we will add 6 locker/cubbies for the kids to store their coats, boots, shoes, mittens, hats, and backpacks.

Before Pictures

I did my best to prepare Geta and Tamene for the demolition, but they were unnerved, none-the-less. Tamene spent the better part of the day nervously mimicing the sound of drills while Geta was not happy at the mess that these strangers were making. She was also very concerned about the missing Laundry machines and is unclear as to where her backpack should now be stored. (Thank goodness, her school is done at the end of this week!)

On the first day of construction, they removed all the cabinets from the laundry room (and relocated them to the basement because Mike can't part with anything!). They also removed the hot tub and and the raised floor around the hot tub. They were able to salvage some of the floor so that we can try to keep the kitchen tile and only replace the tile in the new laundry room. So far, I am "at" budget (not below or above), but we will see how long that lasts!

After pictures

They expect construction to last about a month, perhaps a little longer. In the meantime, I have no laundry, so we will be visiting Grandma frequently!

Also, we have finally picked names for Geta and Tamene. Geta will become Geta Etore Alexa Morin. Alexa stands for "defender" and also happens to be the name of our specialist in the adoption process. Tamene will become Tamene Etore Daniel Morin. Daniel is a biblical name that means "God is my judge". We felt this was very similar to how their biological father felt when he named Tamene (which in Hadiyissa means "God is believed"). While we always plan to use their Ethiopian names, we felt that it was appropriate to add a name for their upcoming baptism (which I better start planning now that Emily's First Communion and Courtney's Confirmation are over). But we also thought that if they ever felt "alienated" because of their Ethiopian name, they could use a more "american" name given to them in the same spirit as their birth name.

Thank you for your continues love and support,

Kristen