I grew up in big houses, and I also grew up with having people to clean up after my mess.  It was only when I left home for college that I started learning to look after myself.  And it was only after I got married when I learned how to manage my own home.  My 3 years of training have taught me a lot of things (though nothing really ever prepares you for the surprises life slaps you with): that I’m not happy with big spaces and so many things since they easily clutter and are difficult to maintain, especially with the dusty tropical topography we have in this country; that I’d rather have a small home because even though my husband and I expect friends and family over from time to time, it’s better to keep people around the same space than having them ALL over the place; and, when the time comes to do some renovation or simply just a change in furniture positioning, it’s never difficult when you have a few pieces to work with.

So a month has passed since I started working on this blog, and I did intend to devote the month of January on life after the flood.  I  have mostly talked about the physical repairs that needed to be done in our new home, specifically, what color to paint the walls with.  However, I wasn’t able to answer this important question yet:  have we settled in?

By God’s grace, we have.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not at all the dream home we have expected to move into, but it’s comfortable enough to allow us the rest we need, big enough for two (and our little addition come April), small enough to be cleaned regularly, and well, suffice to say, conditions are liveable.

So yes, we have settled in, and yes, we are happy with what we have, considering what we’ve been through.  If there’s one thing that the flood has somehow helped us with, it was getting rid of the things we’ve been holding on to, which were actually just additional clutter.

Here’s a link to the before pictures of our humble abode.  As to how it will look like after, we’ll just have to wait and see.