Home Sweet Home

Ok, I know it has been a while, but I have a great excuse!

We love our new home. It has felt like home since the first night. It seems to be perfect in size (not too big, not too small) and love the floor plan! Maybe one day I will have the gutso so show the inside, but maybe some here and there. There really isn't too much we want to change, which is a good thing. The kids' bedrooms need repainted and we are thinking about adding a wall, but other than that can't complain! The kids love the yard and the swing set, getting them in is like pulling teeth! Baby Cale is the worst.

We are homeschooling full-time this year. We started on Monday! So far, so good!

Brian's job is going well, he is loving working from home! I love him working from home. It makes the long days when he is gone worth it.

We are starting to "scout" out churches and hopefully will visit one soon. So much to think about between having a great youth program for Parker, a great childrens' program for Liddie & Cale and for us to find the right spot to get fed. I realize that you cannot find a church to meet all of your needs, but you need it to fill some.

More to come!

Complete Craziness...but God is good!

So much to catch up on...Yes we sold our house, but our buyer backed out over us not being willing to put on a new roof when half of it was replaced in November of 08. We tried to agree with them to split the cost of half of a new roof, but that was not acceptable so they backed out. Fortunately for us (and you cannot deny it was God) we had an interested buyer come through the day we signed out contract with the first buyers. They left feedback saying that they were interested and that they were paying in cash and could close in two weeks! As soon as our deal was starting to fall apart our realtor contacted these other buyers and they were still looking, though half heartedly negotiating on another house, they really wanted a chance at ours. The offer was not as good, but we really felt like this was our chance to keep moving forward and how many times do you have a back up buyer the day your deal falls apart??? Oh and by the way, they wanted to close in 2 weeks (July 17)!

Over the 4th we went to Edmond to house hunt. We looked pretty much all day on the 3rd & 5th. We ultimately put an offer in on the first house we looked at, but at the end of the day on the 5th. On the 5th we knew about our house so we knew we were needing to close quick and we are able to close on July 24th, only a week later! God is good! Oh did I mention that we both had "criteria" of what we wanted for a house and we both got what we wanted! God is too good to us!

I called our packers to ask them about availability and he only had two dates open the week we needed him...the two days we NEEDED! God it good!

This week is CRAZY! Our packers/loaders will be here Wednesday & Thursday. We close at 10:00 a.m. on Friday! I absoltutely love all of my Houston/Pearland friends, just know I will not be able see everyone, but I don't like goodbyes anyway! I would have never enjoyed our time here without such good friends. I love and appreciate every one of you!

SOLD!

We have sold our house! We countered back at the first offer, they countered back and we accepted their counter. Granted it is great to have this piece behind us and we could have held out for a little more, but it wasn't worth the gamble. We felt we needed to take a reasonable offer and move on. When we moved here from Tulsa in 2002 our house in Jenks sat on the market for 8 months, and we did not want a repeat performance!

We are in our 10 day option period (Texas thing) and the buyers can back out for any reason and only loose $100! It will end on Saturday, July 4! Keep praying all is moving forward. We really believe God has orchestrated all of this and know we are in His hands throughout this and have to continue to trust Him!

Offer, Counter-offer & Waiting...

Day 8 on the market (Sunday) we were told we had a verbal offer! Our realtor prefers not to deal with verbals and requested to their agent to submit a written offer. They did just that on Monday! Of course it was lower than what we were wanting this early in the game and we countered back yesterday. We should be hearing back today! In all honesty if they don't come back with a better counter back we have one more round we are willing to go because our first counter was high.

We had a feeling this time it would sell semi-quick because we have had a lot of traffic, but I never would have guessed within 8 days! God is so good! Keep praying this negotiating process ends up in our home being sold! The Lord has been with us every step of this job process and I have to firmly believe He is with us now in this step as well.

Day 4 on the market...

Today was a busy day of showings...we had 4 total! One already responded and said the house was not for them. Out of 7 showings 3 are "considering" it, one of those three are not in a hurry and another one may want to bring her husband back next week. I am hopeful that we will continue showing and maybe have an offer soon. Keep praying for a quick sale that is reasonable!

House on the Market

Today was the 3rd full day our house has been on the market. I can't even begin to explain how much stress there is during this process. First to get it ready has been a chore. We have rented a storage building (5x10) and have nearly filled it. I am guessing we really don't need 3/4s of it, but hopefully we can sift through it better before the final move.

To get the house on the market we had two bathrooms painted, one room re-painted, drywall touch up work done (minor Ike damage), Brian, his mom and her husband painted our kitchen, we painted our formal living and dining rooms (office and playroom respectively), decluttered and finished it all off with a full landscaping clean up. That is why we feel like we birthed another child!

Here are a few things that have happened that have added stress:

Wednesday, June 10 we were suppose to meet with the realtor at 5:30...at 4:45 I was in the laundry room sorting laundry and Baby Cale decided to play in the shoe rack (we take our shoes off in the laundry room) and I decided to let him so I could finish, next thing I know Parker comes in and says to me "He is in the paint!!!". Cale dumped over a can of paint that had a little bit left in there, the lid wasn't secure so it came out and he played in it! I immediately called Brian and said he had to cancel our appointment! This resulted in a bath, a call to poison control (becase some was in his mouth) and a full laundry room floor clean up! Yes, shoes got some paint, but I think they were saved!

Thursday, June 11 again 5:30 appointment...at 3:30 or so a flouresent lamp bulb was shattered (yes the new ones that have mecury in them). We left the room and took all advised precautions and then properly cleaned up the mess.

Saturday, June 13 the house goes on the market!

Sunday, June 14 first showing...they spent 45 minutes at the house. We received good feedback and are one of the houses being considered!

Monday, June 15 Second showing...no feedback yet.

Tuesday, June 16 Third showing scheduled for 2:00. I have been stressed, I know...why??? One way I reduce stress is to bake. We have new neighbors on one side of us and I thought it would be a great reason to bake besides stress relief. At the time I started the dough I did not know we had a showing. I got the call during the process. Not a big deal I was cleaning up as I went and I would at least be able to bake them and then I could ice them after the showing. I preheated the oven and was right on target. A few minutes later when I was looking at the temperature I saw a small flame. I originally thought it was bits of pizza that dropped to the bottom, then I remembered I left a store bought cake in the oven (because I didn't want it sitting out on the counter). The plastic was flaming a little bit. I grapped my stone and was going to push it onto it as I was about to do that, I realized that it was getting a little bit bigger...I said to myself "forget this...I'm getting the extinguisher!". I pulled the pin and gave it two quick shots and it was gone...POOF!

After a few deep breaths and using the broom to get the smoke alarm to quit, I called Brian just about in a panic...I was still shaking! After I calmed down and realized all was well it was time to clean up the kitchen for the showing that is now 1-1/2 hours away! I lit a candle, turned on the vent hood, turned down the air and started cleaning. There were black little specs everywhere and a nice white film all over the oven, microwave and floor but who cares I took care of the immediate need. Now I can totally laugh, but I was so scared at first. I don't think the house even smelled like burnt plastic...YEA!

No feedback on this showing either, but hopefully it isn't a remark of some funky smell!

Tomorrow we have a scheduled showing between 10-11 and I have a mover coming to give a quote at 9:00! All is moving (no pun intended) pretty fast for us!

I know, I need to catch up some more...I will and will post pictures too!

Big News...

We are moving!

We are moving to Edmond, Oklahoma! It is a long story how all this has come about along with the longest job interview process in the history of Brian's job interviewing. After two month of interviewing and waiting and waiting and waiting we had the official offer. We have known for a while, but everything had been verbal.

Short story: We put our house on the market officially tomorrow morning. When it sells we will move. We may be spending some time in OKC but will be back and forth until the house sells. Brian's new job is different, but still technical, he will basically be supporting two sales guys with his technical skills (that is about as simple as I can put what he does into words). He will be working out of the house so that will keep us flexible. We need to spend time down here for him to train and get acquainted with his new job. We would like to see moving at the end of July or first part of August.

Long story (God is so much in the details of this):

All of Brian's job issues that have been going on for the past 6 months came to a head all of a sudden, otherwise he would have never thought about looking for another job!

Tuesday, March 24 my friend Desiree gave me a full gallon on paint, my exact color that I need to finish my two front rooms. Jokingly we giggled saying that I was going to tell Brian it was God telling us to paint (he loathes painting). That night at the dinner table, I did just that. Of course I got the typical yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever!

The next day, Brian told me he prayed a few weeks before that if God wanted us to move back home, that he would provide a way for it to happen. He told me this before bed after Devon (they guy who helped him get the job) told him about a job with his company that would be in Oklahoma. ASG is opening an office in Oklahoma to serve OKC, Tulsa, Arkansas and N. Texas. This job is not a traditional IT job that Brian has worked in the past or currently, this would be more of a supporting sales role. For the last couple of years, Brian has been saying that he wants a change. He has grown tired of what he is doing, but did not know what he would do or really what he wanted to do.

Then the following morning before I looked at email or anything I decided I was dedicating my morning to prayer. After my time of prayer, I read an email from Brian about the job! I began to get overwhelmed with emotion and thought "the paint", God is truly telling us to paint! Then I started thinking about school and how much we love our school and how much my heart has been softened to homeschooling and how I would have never considered it had it not been for Logos. The story of us hearing about Logos is a God story in itself!

My prayer all along has been that God would open my eyes, ears & heart to receive his will and communicate it enough for us to follow. I also have prayed that I need to be trusting of God to work out the details for such a big event, it was bigger than me!

Brian met with the guy from ASG Friday, April 3. He came away from the meeting more sure, excited and saw it has a real possbility. He was told that the job would be his if he wanted it and needed to spend the weekend talking to me and thinking about what he would need for a base salary.

Back to the paint...I tried to talk Brian into painting that weekend, and he said it was too difficult to do with the kids. Unexpectedly (becacuse they ran the special) Brian's mom is came that weekend...we had help, so we painted!

We are so very excited about this opportunity to get home, but it really bring to me the true menaing of "Bittersweet". We know in our hearts this is what God wants for us, but it is truly going to be a tough move. We have been in this house the longest we have ever been in a house our entire marriage. This is the only place Parker remembers living, we brought two babies home here and have had such a great support system of friends which are like a second family, great neighbors. We have enjoyed living here much more than we ever expected! Right now, I am very emotional and overwhelmed with the stress of getting the house ready to put on the market (I have decided we have too much "junk"). The only way I can describe how I am feeling right now is numb, can anyone relate???

This has been the real reason why I have not kept up the blog...I was waiting to share this news! I will work on getting caught up and keeping you up to date on our process!

Liddie's First Astro's Game

Liddie went to her first Astro's game! They only lasted about 5 innings or so. She said she liked basketball better...must be more action, plus more things to keep you occupied besides cotton candy! She had fun though and so happy she could go!

Cale enjoys the front yard

Cale was a late walker (15 months or so), and so after we got some new shoes and a beautiful day came our way, we headed to the front yard for some play! Cale absolutely loved walking around on the grass, sidewalk and riding the plasma car (that he does really well on). He must have felt a new found freedom! You can tell by the look on his face he is having a ball!

End of Year Party - The Downtown Aquarium

Have I said how much we love Parker's school, probably not (ha ha), but WE LOVE PARKER'S SCHOOL! For the end of year party we did a Field Trip Combo and took the kids to the Downtown Aquarium. The kids saw all the aquadic animals and some bengle tigers, then had a blast on all the rides. Here are a few pictures with Parker and his two buddies Conner & Weston. Parker has enjoyed these two kiddos (and others too) so much and they love hangin' out together.

Muffins with Mom (Liddie's Pre-school)

The Children's Program Liddie attends had Muffins for Mom. It was a special time for just me and her. We enjoyed a muffin and some juice together and they gave us a sweet bath treat! I love her school and teachers! She had the best and most creative teachers this year, they will be missed!

Happy 11th Birthday Parker! (4/22/09)

Parker turned 11 today!  Boy time flies!  Today we tried to make it as special as we could because his birthday celebration will be this weekend and I will have lots of pictures to post then!

Started the morning off with chocolate chip waffles (nothing different really); then we met Brian for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  After all of that we went to Target to let him pick out a game (no not a video game...that was a rule) and topped that trip off with a Cherry ICEE!  For dinner he picked what he wanted me to make...Meatloaf (my yummy meatloaf with sweetened condensed milk), sweet potato fries & corn and of course topped that off with ice cream...WHEW, what a day!

This weekend hold some fun stuff for Parker...grandparents coming, going to the movies and lunch with friends and yet another special dinner.  

We love you Park!

XOXOXO

Cale can Walk!

...but I question his "want" to walk. He is such a fast crawler, who would want to try something else??? He also can get around on the plasma car, alone...yes, alone! Plus he can get around on another riding toy so why walk?

The night before last I got him to take lots of steps and proved to me right then and there he CAN walk! He also stood up on his own from the floor the same day. He has been walking around stuff like a mad man, but just hasn't taken a true leap to walking.

Okay, okay, okay...I know I need to get caught up! Bear with me another day or two and hopefull I will get there.

Baking Cookies

I love to bake cookies! Liddie loves to bake cookies with me! Well, a couple of different friends have been baking cookies and selling them, and they are beautiful! They inspired me to at least try to make pretty cookies, not to sell them but just for my family or friends or classmates of the kids. Liddie did a really great job! I was experimenting for Easter. I think I need to do a little bit more work and a little bit more experiementing. My waistline is not liking all of this, but my tummy sure is!

Cale the Climber

Cale is most definitely the climber of the bunch. I think this video proves it. He has been found everywhere from the tops of the chairs (living room) to the couch before we can turn around. This particular day I looked over at him and he was on the table! I had no idea how he got there. I put him back on the floor and watched him do it again and again, so I had to break out the camera for this one.

2009_3_14

Silly Faces

Since I am playing catch up, here is a slide show of some happy and silly faces in January and February.

When Parker was little

I found some pictures of Parker (that were digital...few and far between then!) of when he was 2-1/2. He is such a cutie, then and now!

More Liddieisms...

Lellow = Yellow
Loodles = Noodles
Lusic = Music

While we are making waffle mix:

I crack an egg into the bowl...
Liddie says "Hi Little Eggie", then she says "Little Eggie is thirsty, let's give him so milk!"
We give little Eggie some milk and she says "ahhh much better!"
From time to time when Brian is home and making breakfast with us she will tell Brian "Daddy, tell little Eggie hi!" Just too stinkin' cute!

I so don't want to forget some of these because I miss remembering all these things with Parker! Thank goodness for blogging in 2009!

"The Shack"

I have been reading the book "The Shack".   A friend of a friend started a book discussion on this book.  It just started so it is not too late to join in.  I am not a reader, but the book came highly recommended by someone who also recommended "The Wednesday Letters" and I loved that book, so I thought I would follow her recommendation again, I am so glad I did.

If you are interested in this discussion, whether it is just reading the discussion or participating, just scroll down a little and click on the book I have on the left side of my blog.

25 Random Things

Okay, the 25 Random Things about Yourself has been going around Facebook like wildfire. I love reading them...you really can find out a few things about people you would have never known, and it has been pretty fun! A few of you have decided to "re-do" on your blog, and I am joining you (not sure if I will do 100 Beth)! Some will be repeats, some won't.

1. I am technically an only child, though I have 2 half brothers (one of which has passed away way too young) and 2 half sisters.

2. I secretly wish I could/would have one more baby! (Cannot believe I have written that).

3. After many years of not being able to get pregnant after Parker, we did one unsuccessful round of fertility and gave up on more than one child (and accepted it by the way). Our last two pregnancies have truly been the hand of God! (Really 3...I miscarried once after Liddie)

4. None of our children were "planned". (You know what I mean)

5. I never make my bed (only when I change the sheets)

6. I cannot stand to unload the dishwasher, that is why it is a chore of Parker's.

7. I want to win the lottery not to buy more things or a bigger house, but to have Brian home all the time and be a better giver.

8. Every child has increased my prayer life!

9. My mother-in-law & best childhood friend beat breast cancer!

10. I miss my Na-Naw (like a mother to me...my mother's mother). She would get a kick out of these kids. She passed 11 days after I had Liddie and I was unable to attend her funeral, which has made it hard for me to realize that she is really gone.

11. My mom still lives in the house I grew up in.

12. Parker is so much like me, it is scarey!

13. I want to move one more time in my life...move to the house our kids will come home to and visit after they leave and stay in their "old rooms" and have fond memories.

14. The house that we are in now is the longest we have lived in one place our entire married life (and I think Brian's entire life).

15. You would have to pay me a ton of money to return to high school (enough for #7).

16. I was PTA Treasurer for one year (you could do it for two years...one was enough).

17. My kids watch entirely too much television.

18. I always have the best of intentions, but don't always follow through.

19. If there were one reality show I would want to do, it would be Amazing Race. I would only want Brian to be my partner.

20. I have never had a speeding ticket.

21. I don't have an i-Pod (Brian & Parker do).

22. I can't wait to live debt free (including our home). We are on our way: Zero credit card debt!

23. I did not finish college, and I don't think it has hurt me.

24. I make my kids chocolate chip waffles for breakfast most mornings.

25. I want to start a new tradition of writing my kids letters on their birthdays.

There are 25! I may add some as time goes on.