Hello!

Wow! It’s been a while since I posted. The arms on the clock just keeping moving…

It’s Blake’s birthday week! He turns “14” this Saturday!!! It doesn’t seem real. I was reading a friend’s blog, her son is potty training and she has another baby on the way. It seems like only yesterday I was doing the same thing. Blake was testing the bounds of potty training and I was waddling around with Tyler in my belly!

I spent some time this weekend just watching the boys. I’m so proud of the young men they’re becoming. I watched Blake interacting with the younger kids and loved watching how patient and gentle he was. We don’t see that side of him as often these days. It was a wonderful reminder of the heart God’s put in this young man.

Speaking of God, we tried a new Church this past Sunday. We may go back. The Pastor was on sabbatical and they had a guest speaker. While we enjoyed the guest speaker, we’d like to attend when the main Pastor is speaking.

I’ve had some sincere concerns about not having a church home for the boys and the effect it could have on their spiritual growth. I know it’s affecting mine. We still do things together as a family and watch messages online, but we’re all missing out on the fellowship and learning that goes along with seeing others in action and participating in Youth, Volunteer and Life Group programs.

It was encouraging to realize how much they got from the message. I wasn’t even sure they were paying attention. But they had plenty to share and say afterwards. The message was about the Armor of God. The speaker had props, graphics, a great sense of humor, but ran out of time and didn’t get to the sword. Both boys were disappointed. They wanted to see the sword. They just knew it was real and had to be amazing. It wasn’t all about the props though. They also picked up on the “how”… the speaker told us his wife, as he put it, has this annoying habit of asking “how?” Any time he preaches she wants to know how to implement, how to apply, how to you put it into practice, etc. Well, with each piece of armor he talked about how to put the armor on and how to keep it on. It was really good.

Maybe I’ll share some of his ideas in another post. I hope all is well with everyone! Our hearts and prayers are with all of our family and friends near and far.

Update

My family arrived road weary but happy last Thursday! It was so good to see them!!! That evening I took them to see two homes we'd been going back and forth on for several weeks. I also invited my sister-in-law and a neighborhood friend. Everyone seemed to really like the home and my sister-in-law wanted to know why we hadn't put an offer in on the house already?!

So with bated breath we put in an offer Friday morning. We started our 4th of July celebration with a house offer. The Sellers responded early afternoon. They were not willing to come down any more than $4000 off the asking price. It simply wasn't enough and if that was his one and only final offer... it wouldn't work. So, we smiled at one another and told our Realtor to tell them "No thank you." I was fine the rest of the day, for the most part, and had a wonderful time with my birthday boy, family and friends.

I woke up early Saturday morning heart-broken. I cried off and on most of the morning. Once everyone in the house started to get up and around, I tried to hold it in but it seemed to come out in grumpy spurts...

On a happier note, Saturday afternoon we saw the new movie, Wall-E and took the girls for a tour of the Village Pointe, an open-air shopping mall. We had a fun afternoon. Mom, the girls and I wound down in the basement watching a "chick flick"... :)

Sunday morning we fixed a big breakfast and the OKC crew prepared for the trip home. After they left, Steve and I ran a few errands and made our way by some homes for sale. We came across one that really grabbed our interest and the price had come down putting it in our price range.

I contacted our Realtor to make arrangements to see the home. She called back to tell us it was sold and scheduled to close this Friday. We decided to make arrangements to go ahead and look at the home along with another home this builder had for sale.

It was a beautiful home, a big covered front porch with stone and cedar columns, a nice open layout with great colors and features, it had my drop zone area for the boys and a HUGE garage! We weren't overly impressed with some of the detail work, it was a bit sloppy. But seeing the house definitely got our wheels turning. If we could have all that for less than the house we'd bid on, should we consider building? We’d talked about it before, but never actually sat down with a builder to see what we could do…

In the midst of all this, my Realtor contacted the Seller's Realtor from the home we'd put the offer on... to see if she had any insight. The home had been on the market for a year, it was a divorce situation, the man had basically told our Realtor he expected a low offer and the home - although in great condition - needs updating. Turns out, they were offended by our low offer and felt there was no way we would be able to come to a compromise. The Realtor felt she could get them pretty close to the limit we'd set for ourselves.

So... I've spent a majority of this week weaving and bobbing between having a nice home in the neighborhood I want vs building a home I want in a neighborhood I have no ties to...

I'm mentally exhausted. I'm tired of feeling like all I think about, all I talk about is HOUSES! I don't understand why we're making this so difficult...

When I stop and read this… it seems silly and trivial… especially when I read the blogs of friends that are participating in truly amazing trips and missions, touching lives of people that don't have homes, parents, food, fair wages, etc. and I read updates on people still working their way out from the storms and flooding over the last several weeks and I think how frivolous my despair seems.

I am blessed! And we will find the right home at the right time. Thanks to everyone for there words of encouragement, insight and prayers!

Happy Fourth of July!

Hello! Hello!

Man, time flies in the summer...

I'm getting ready to leave work, run some last minute errands and make sure the house is ready before the long weekend starts. My parents, youngest sister - Katie, and my nieces - Kaylyn and Kirsten, are headed North right now as I type! I'm so excited to see them! Yea!

When they get here, I'll be dragging them out to look at a couple of homes with me. We've about narrowed it down to one, but I'm really looking forward to my parent's input! And if turns out we buy a certain home, I'll be looking to Katie for some "structural" direction! :)

Tomorrow we have a full day of food, swimming, food, water balloons, food, games, presents, birthday cookies and fireworks planned! Presents and Birthday Cookies??? That's right - our 4th of July baby, Tyler, is turning 12!!! That just seems crazy!!!

Saturday I plan to play and relax and will probably take the "girls" for a quick tour of a few of the nearby shopping arenas!

I hope everyone has a Safe and Happy Fourth of July!