The Ice Storm...

We are currently in our first real ice storm here. The temperature hasn't risen above 25 degrees since yesterday, and it started drizzling and then raining today. More expected tonight, and we got the call today at 4:30pm that school is cancelled tomorrow. Woo-hoo!! :) We stocked up on firewood and water, just in case. (You know that means we won't lose power at all now...) The kids are excited - Az5 is at Grammy and Papa's house this week, so they can play games tomorrow without any interruptions.

Update on the house

The Lord has been so good and gracious to us. We have accepted the offer, even while it was lower than our asking price. The couple has since waived their option period as well as their right to terminate the contract. They have also accepted our inspection of the property, and the house passed the termite inspection.

What does this mean? It means that they are more than likely not going to ask for us to make any repairs and the big thing is that.....


WE MAY CLOSE NEXT FRIDAY. Can you believe this?!? I have prayed that God would allow our house to be a blessing to the buyers, and in this case it is. The gentlemen's first wife died several years ago, and then he remarried four years ago. He and his second wife have been living in the house he lived in for 40 years with his first wife, and our house will be their new start. They are so excited! Also, the Lord has answered our prayers that the negotiation period and closing would go smoothly - can it be any smoother than not negotiating anything? And to close 9 days after the offer?!?

I continue to be amazed at His goodness and mercy and wisdom and perfect planning! :)

WE HAVE AN OFFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our realtor just called and we have an OFFER!!!!! on the house we're trying to sell!!!!!! It hasn't even been listed with the new realtor for a full 3 weeks yet - PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!

Keep us in your prayers - both for wisdom as well as for the Lord to smooth out all bumps and details along the way. I am THRILLED!!!!!!! :)

To Keep Catching Up....

We have discovered the zoo here. We've only been once so far, but we all loved it and spent the whole day there! It is a really nice zoo, not terribly huge, but with a really good variety of animals - both local as well as exotic. The zoo had just started letting their new snow leopard cubs out for the public to see when we were there, and got to see them as they napped. The zoo doesn't have an aquarium but does have an aquatic area with dolphins and sea lions that we were able to feed that day. The zoo isn't very far from our house - only about 20 minutes - and so our New Year's present to ourselves was a year-long family membership. Now we can all go whenever we want, and it is very nice to be able to go walk around outside and enjoy God's amazing creation! (The first picture is the oldest snow leopard cub, snoozing the day away - you can't see Mama in the picture, but she is on the ledge just above the cub - she wasn't too sure about all the people coming to see her babies.)

My Favorite Upward Moment so far....

And a few notes for clarification - 1. Az3's in the green jersey on both videos, and the only kid on the court with glasses. 2. The lady in the blue shirt is ref #2 - the other ref is wearing zebra stripes. 3. The court behind Daddy is where our pastor and his oldest son's team is playing (he is the coach), and we play them in a few weeks.

Upward Video #1

Sorry, but I didn't want to overload the last post. Enjoy! (And these were taken with my digital camera.)

Upward Bound Basketball

So Az3 is playing Upward Bound basketball this year, and Daddy is his coach. He was sooooooooo excited about this as soon as we found out! We have played two games so far, and the team has done really well.

(For those of you that are unfamiliar with UB bball, here's how it works - it is run through local churches, with parents as referees and coaches. No one keeps score and there are no team rankings. The emphasis is on players learning skill basics as well as how to be a team player. The logo is "every child a winner" - b/c they will win when they realize that God loves them, has made them special, sent Jesus to save them from their sins, and has a wonderful plan for their lives. WE LOVE IT!!)

We're in the 3rd/4th grade division, and only have 7 on the team. We started with 9, but one kid moved and another broke his foot and is out all season. It has been so much fun so far - practice on Thursdays, games on Saturdays. The boys all have memory verses to work on during the week, and then there is a devotion time for everyone during half time of the games.

Pictures are from our first 2 games, so you can see the two jerseys we have. and the videos are to get an idea of what the games are like, as well as our favorite moment so far! :)

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to you!

For my new year, I have several big things I want to accomplish this year - the first is reading through the whole Bible this year (and I have a devotional to help keep me on track), as well as memorizing 2 verses a month. (This is from the LPM blog - let me know if you want more info...) :)

Catch-up Time...

So moving....was incredibly emotional. My parents helped load up our U-haul, and then we spent that last night in town at my parents' house. Hubby and I drove our car (with the dog in the crate in the back) and my dad drove the Uhaul. My mom and the kids followed later. (There's a funny story there about Dramamine, but I'll share later.)

We arrived at the house, and it is huge!! Almost 700 sq ft more than our previous house, and like I said before, because God is good, almost 1000 sq ft bigger than the first rent house we thought we would live in. (and cheaper still - how amazing is that?!?) It took a while to get things unloaded and what not, but we finally got settled.

Then the next thing was getting everyone ready for school - the older two started school 3 days after we moved. That was done on purpose, because that way they were not sitting around all summer wondering who they could play with. It also helped force us all into a routine quickly. The 2 pictures are from the first day of 3rd grade (sigh!) and the first day of Kindergarten. (yes I cried!) Lil Miss Kindergarten only goes a half-day, but that's what I did, and it works well for our schedule. Az5 goes to a local PDO 5 days a week while I'm working, and she loves it - she has adjusted very well to the new surroundings and schedule too.

A few thoughts about moving...

So let me just confess before I start any updates that this move has been the biggest emotional wrenching thing I've done in my whole life. It has been harder on me than anyone else in my family - living in the same town almost 30 years (the only place I'd ever known) and then leaving is awful. Hard. And there's just no other way to say it - I think I probably went through a bout of depression over it. Yes, I'll admit to that - there were days when I didn't care what was going on in the world and didn't care to be part of it either. Please understand - I've been through incredibly difficult/hard times in my life before, but I still had my family (extended) around; I still lived in the same place - still walked into the grocery store and knew almost everyone, still went to the same church, still knew how to get any where in town by shortcuts, etc. I still drove by my high school and college on a regular basis. These were all things that comforted me.

Now the Lord had shaken me to the core of who I was, and all I had to lean on was Him and the beautiful family He had provided. While it is a scary thing to have everything in life turned topsy-turvy, the blessing is that HE is enough - He is sufficient! Praise God that He loves me (and my family) enough to not just provide for my salvation but also for my mental well-being. And more than enough for our physical needs and even some wants too! More to come on all of that in future posts...but rest assured, I am now back towards feeling like the "normal" me, a more wholesome me, but wanted you to understand what a life-changing event this move has been for me, more so than anyone else.