On the Streets of Philadelphia, pt 2

Does anyone else have a horrible time posting pictures on here? I can never get the spacing right for some reason, so vexing. Anyway, so there may or may not be more pictures of the trip. They are all up on Facebook though. Back to the trip highlights...

If you've ever driven for any length of time with young children in the car, you can just imagine what life was like for us during the 32 hours total we were on the road. We finally got the DVD player installed in working order while we were in Philly, so we had a movie marathon on the way home. Cinderella, Jungle Book, Winnie-the-Pooh, Shreks 1 & 2, and part of the Gospel of John got us to Chattanooga. The next day, Emperor's New Groove and most of the Pixar short films got us home. We made the trip up all in one day, and it truly was not as horrid an experience as one might think, even without a working DVD player. The one meltdown came from Isaac about 3 hrs outside Philly at 10-ish. I finally just had to take him out of the car seat and let him ride in my lap the rest of the way. He fell asleep as soon as I put him in my lap, and I was riding in the back seat.

Uncle Mike & Aunt Lynne were incredibly gracious to host us for a week. The children loved their little dog Jake, perhaps a little more than Jake wanted to be loved. We also spent a lot of time in the city with Nate & Hannah. We didn't do a whole lot of touristy things this trip, just an afternoon at the Franklin Institute. Mainly we spent our time hanging out with family and doing local Philadelphia stuff. I did have two delicious cheesesteaks while we were there, yum!

On the Streets of Philadelphia

Jared & I, along with Uncle Teve, took the kids up to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving. We left Birmingham the Friday before at 615 am, and after a "brief" layover in Knoxville to try and correct some Best Buy issues and various other pitstops, we arrived in Philly at 1-ish on Saturday morning. It was a wonderful time full of family, games, movies, junk food, walking, playing, and just about any other enjoyable thing you can think of.

Probably the most satisfying part of the trip to me was watching the children enjoy their cousins. As Nate mentioned at Thanksgiving dinner, its just wonderful to see another generation of family love each other. They had the best time!

Rachie celebrated her 5th birthday while we were up there. We all went ice skating during the day and then had dinner and her party that night. Aunt Lynne made her yummy Santa Fe soup, and we all had bday cookie afterwards. There were pink ballons, princess rings, pretty necklaces, and of course party blowers! Big fun for everyone!

A little perspective

Noah told me to put my iphone down the other day while we were in his room playing cars. Kyle & Natalie will undoubtedly get a big laugh out of that, but in my defense, I was planning a playdate for later in the day. Noah's request, or demand, did give me pause however and made me think how often the "most pressing" usurps the "most important." I thought about how often I make decisions without taking a step back to consider the big picture, how often I focus on the here and now without taking the time to consider the future. I began to ask myself some uncomfortable questions and found myself struggling with the answers. And yes, all this while racing matchbox cars and building lincoln log cabins for Polly Pockets. Just a sampling...

*Do I really have to say no when the children ask for one more story or when they ask if we can play car wash on the deck? Granted there are times when things such as those are just not feasible, but not often. They're young, and my time with them is limited. It shouldn't always matter whether I want to play or not. I imagine that the day will come years from now when I'll wish Noah would ask me to play football while I'm loading the dishwasher or Rach would want me to read a chapter book while I'm making supper.

*Is it really that big of a deal if Rach wants to wear her princess dress to basketball? Again there are times when its important to dress appropriate for the occasion, but not as often as we like to think. We're just heading to the gym to watch Jared play basketball with some guys from church. Does it really matter that my daughter is dressed as Cinderella? Or would it be better for me to let her enjoy picking out her clothes and getting ready all by herself?

*Am I going to remember a slightly offensive statement in 5 yrs? I can barely remember everything a friend and I talked about two nights ago, much less 5 years ago. And I'm pretty sure that my memory will get worse as I get older and not better. Wouldn't it just be better for me to go ahead and forget that that comment ticked me off now?

*Will it really bother me years from now that Jared didn't pick up his socks last night? Sure it frustrated the crap out of me this morning, but if something were to happen to him, would I care two straws about the stupid socks?

*Is that apology that I think I'm owed more important than that relationship? Again, if something were to happen to this person, would I honestly be still wanting an apology at their funeral? Wouldn't I much rather just be wronged and move on instead of letting a relationship be put on hold indefinitely?

*Do I know what kind of day the lady at the drive-thru had? Do I know all she has been through in her life? Regardless of that, am I even truly entitled to a polite greeting just because I decide I 'need' a frappachino?

*What will matter in the light of eternity?

Perspective is a very humbling, sobering thing. At least it is for me. I need those random reminders, such as a request to put my iphone down, to bring me back to that which is truly reality. So often I allow myself to become distracted with stuff that just does not matter. Lord, help me to see life, all of life, even the mundane everyday, thru the light of the cross.

Its that time of year again!

We took the big kids down to AU for the first game of the season! Big Thanks to Joe & Jennifer for watching Isaac for us! And Big Thanks to Kyle's mom's boss for the free tickets! And Big Thanks to the two unknown Tiger fans who handed free tickets to Rach (story to follow)! 

This might sound like a 'Duh!' statement, but experiencing an AU football game as a parent with small children is very different from experiencing an AU football game as a student or even as an alum without children. For me, this trip was quite nostalgic. It was almost surreal to walk through campus holding my daughter's hand...the whole time, my mind was rewinding back a few years to my days as a student. I found myself saying things like, 'your daddy and I had classes in this building' and 'I used to walk on the concourse every day' and 'there used to be a big eagle's cage right here.' 

Funny story ~ Before the game, we ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A on Magnolia. As we were leaving, three big guys were walking up the steps, and one of them had painted his chest orange. Noah zoned in on him and watched him walk all the way up the stairs. He was fascinated. As the guy walked by, Noah looked up at Jared and said, "Daddy, is that man wearing a shirt?"

"No, Buddy. He painted himself orange."

"He painted himself?"

"Yes, Buddy."

"Daddy, when I grow up, can I paint myself too?" We all thought that was too cute. Even the 'painted man' laughed and laughed.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day....

Rach practicing her 'I need tickets' pose. It worked! Jared put her up on his shoulders and within five minutes, two different fans handed an extra ticket to her. Yay Rachie!
Rach and her new doll, Auburn.

Look at me, Mommy!

Isaac has found some new favorite things to do ~ take a look...

Climbing up on the steps...

and pushing his airplane around the house...
and drinking out of a big boy sippy cup...
and riding around on his airplane...
and climbing into Noah's dump truck to wait for one of his siblings to push him across the floor.

Why I Tweet

I was asked recently about my affinity for Twitter over Facebook, and while both have their good points, I definitely lean toward Twitter. The main reason being that there are limits. My tweets can only be made up of 140 characters. In order to get my point across, I have to be direct. Theres no bush to beat around; theres not room for it. Granted, I'm not very good at this yet, but I'm trying. I'm beginning to see that being direct and to the point does not necessarily equal being rude and short. Its a very good lesson to learn. Not only does tweeting force me to be direct, but it also pushes me to be creative. I have to actually consider how I'm going to say what I want to say.  Theres only so much space. I have to think of various ways of communicating an idea before I can make it fit into the 140 character window. Thats another valuable lesson: Communicate, don't just talk. Another benefit to Twitter, theres no fluff. I don't have to weed through endless applications, updates, news feeds, etc. Not that there's not a time and place for all the meaningless time wasters on Facebook, there's just too much of them there. I get distracted. Every click leads to another click and before I know it, 30 minutes of my life is gone. I like logging in, seeing all the creative, direct tweets on one screen, and logging out. 5-10 minutes, and I'm done. With all that said, I am still a fan of Facebook, I'm just a bigger fan of Twitter.

Updates, Updates, Updates

I haven't blogged recently for several reasons, but the main one is because there seems to be so much to write about that I get overwhelmed just trying to condense it all into one readable (short) post. Life happens so quickly sometime, well most of the time, and I feel as though mine has gotten away from me over the past few months. I asked Jared when it was that our life turned into merely semi-controlled chaos, and he responded, 'probably around the time we first decided to put our house on the market.' That would have been back in January. Is it truly possible that my wheels have been spinning that long? Wow. So much has happened whether it be home repairs, or family drama, or projects, or family drama, or birthdays, or family drama, or vacations, or family drama that it would be near impossible to share it all. I'll make an attempt to hit the high points quickly yet thoroughly.

*Family Vacation to Foley*

The 5 of us spent several days down at my parents' house last week. Our new floors were being finished, and we needed to be out of the house because of fumes and mess. We had a great time and took lots of pictures, most of which are already online on Facebook. We spent one day at the beach (Love to the Freemans!) and it was full of moments that you live for as a mom. It was Noah and Isaac's first time to see the ocean (yes, i know Gulf Shores is not technically the ocean, but how do you explain the difference to preschoolers?) Noah wasn't too keen on the whole idea; he much preferred playing in the sand. Rach & Isaac, on the other hand, had a ball! It was really good to spend that much time with my parents as well. 

*House update*

As I said, the floors are finished! YAY! We have moved most of the furniture back in its place! YAY! We have a new dining room table and chairs! YAY! We have a new rug for the den! YAY! Most importantly though, my stress level has decreased dramatically and I feel like I have a home again! YAY! There are still a couple of minor finishing touches to be made, like touch-up painting the places were the "workers" sloshed stain on or scuffed up the base boards. And Jared still has to put up the new crown molding in the dining room. But other than that, it is ALL DONE! No, I haven't taken any pics yet...I don't plan too until everything is completely finished.

*Noah*

For those familiar with little man's tummy issues, we think that his reflux may be acting up again. He has had problems keeping his food down over the past few weeks, only after he eats fairly acidic foods, like spaghetti or pizza or even OJ. We started him back on his kiddie prilosec today so we're hoping that will take care of things. 

*Family Drama*

As you read at the beginning, theres been a ton. I'm not writing any details...just please pray for our (mine & Jared's) families. 

Hopefully, I'll have some time and patience to post some recent pictures. It just takes so long to do so on here that its hard for me to find the motivation to do it...esp when most folks can just click over to FB and see them all. (Sorry Trace & Kelley W!)

Happy Birthday Isaac (a week late)

So, my little (-est) man turned 1 last Tuesday, and I'm still having a hard time believing it. He has been 'baby Isaac' for so long that its difficult for me to think of him as anything other than my little cuddle bug. He's definitely not so much of a cuddle bug anymore though...the world is too fascinating and way more fun for him now that he can move around on his own. Another milestone this week~he took his first steps yesterday! YAY! I was so very excited b/c I actually got to see it! Somehow, even though I stay at home with the kiddos all day long, I missed Rach & Noah's first steps. Jared got to see those precious moments, and I'm actually glad b/c he doesn't get to see a lot of 'firsts.' Here are some of my favorite pics from Isaac's bday week:

Playing in the sprinkler moon bounce at the church on his actual bday...he had the best time crawling back and forth and fussed at me when I wouldn't let him in there with the daycare kids.

This is from his 2nd bday party at Gigi's house. I love his little face here! He was SO ready to get into his cupcake!
Isaac's dump truck cake. I made it using a cupcake kit from wal*mart, so fun!

This one was taken at his pool party on Friday after he had eaten his cupcakes.

Kitchen Update

Jared knocked out the wall between our kitchen and dining room last week....

The kids thought it was great fun to watch him and will still tell folks that 'Daddy broke the wall.' 

He has also removed the crown molding and chair rail in the dining room.

The trim and pantry & laundry doors in the kitchen that were once dark wood are now an antique white. 

The walls that were once red are slowly becoming a sprig of ivy.

Our hardwood floors are going to be put in over three weekends, which means that we'll have to be traveling three weekends in a row. I'm not too sure how I feel about that, but it is what it is and we'll find a way to roll with it. 

I've learned several things about remodeling projects thus far....

*time is always relative and schedules are always subject to change. this rule is helping me to grow my patience.

*there will always be some 'something' that must be done that you hadn't planned on. Because there was an outlet and light switch in the wall that we knocked out, jared and his dad are having to rewire that whole side of the kitchen.

*the folks at home improvement stores are not always the most helpful nor the most diligent of workers. 

*my husband has many hidden talents. it has been amazing to me to watch jared become quite the DIY-er. theres not much he can't do around the house. 

Doing a little painting....

So, after all the belly-aching I've done about painting trim, Jared and I have begun to do just that. With all today's rain destroying his 'hopes' of doing some more landscaping, Jared brought up the paint brushes and cans from the basement. The kids are playing in their makeshift fort in the keeping room, and we are saying good-bye, slowly but surely, to the dark wood trim in our kitchen. Its actually easier to do when we're not concerned about any errant paint strokes. Its only a matter of time (hopefully a short amount of time) before we get around to painting the walls and laying hard woods, so why fuss with painter's tape? Very freeing!

Also, I've decided that the size of the perfect house for a family is all relative, no pun intended. A couple of family members have hinted to me (and I'm sure a great many more feel) that we may be out-growing our little house, and that if we decided to add a 4th little one to the brood, we would definitely have to move immediately. To that I say, pooh. I'm falling more and more in love with our house with every improvement we make. What does it matter if we're a tad cozy?  

Stream of Conciousness...

I, like thousands of others, watched the season premiere of Jon & Kate Monday night. I don't think that I could express my opinion of what has happened to this family better than one of my friends in her recent blog post, so heres the link:

http://thevks.blogspot.com/2009/05/call-to-prayer.html

Our home's listing expired this wknd, which takes it officially off the market. I was amazed to receive 3 (yes 3) letters/postcards from various realty offices in the mail today offering their services. Does this marketing idea ever drum up business? I would think most folks who take their house off the market have a good reason for doing so and already have an alternative plan in place. Perhaps not...

I've decided, well almost decided, that I'm going to make an effort to begin following major league baseball. I absolutely love football and basketball. And in the past when these two seasons have wound down, I've found myself struggling to get thru the summer, sportswise. I used to watch the Braves every single night when I was younger, thanks to TBS. It wouldn't take a whole lot for me to get excited about baseball again. Just need a team to follow and cheer for. I would go back to the Braves, but Jared pretty much hates everything associated with that team. (So do his brothers.) So, I'm on the look out for another option....

Resolution ~ Bloom where you're planted.

Jared and I have decided that we're going to stay in our little house for a while longer. Several reasons behind this decision...

*1*  we should be able to pay off our mortgage in 5 years...thats a huge draw.

*2* we haven't found a house that we just love. we found several that we liked and even made a couple of offers. nothing just grabbed us as a must-have house though.

*3*  we're planning to home school for the first couple of years so we don't need the school systems yet.

*4* (and this was the kicker for Jared) Several folks were laid off from Protective last week. Now, Jared has no reason to think that there will be another round of layoffs or if there is that he'd be included, but then again, neither did any of the people who were involved in the first round.  

At any rate, I'm okay with the decision which is an answer to prayer. If I had known that this would be the ending to our house-hunting story a month ago, I would have become very angry and bitter. But God did a work in my heart, and I am content with what He has given to us. 

We are planning some fun projects for our little house that I'm really excited about. We're shopping for hardwoods for the den, dining room, and kitchen. We're also hoping to knock out the wall between our kitchen & dining room making the two into one big room. Its exciting! The whole family went to Lowes this afternoon to pick out light fixtures and outlet covers. Its amazing how little things such as those can change a room. I have a feeling that Lowes & Home Depot are going to become two of my favorite stores really soon!

Feeling a bit discouraged...

and no, this is not a shameless plea for encouraging comments, or maybe it is? :-)
I don't think I realized when we first put our house on the market what a toll this whole experience would take on my emotions. Its really hard to get so excited about a showing only to hear that the buyers' didn't like my house. Jared tends to rationalize their dislike and say, well, we don't exactly love the house either or we wouldn't be trying to sell it. True enough, but I can't help but take at least a small part of their dislike personally. We may be trying to sell this house, but it is our home. We've lived here for close to 7 years now and have a ton of memories tied up in this house. Is it wrong for me to get just a tad irked at someone who walks through it for five minutes and pooh-poohs it? Probably so. But I just don't get people. Take this one buyer for instance, they came through a couple of weeks ago and liked the house fine. But they wanted to look elsewhere b/c our neighbors had a bunch of clutter underneath their deck. Thats the feedback we received from the agent, seriously. I still don't even know how to respond to that. Anyway, I know its only been 2 months and I know the real estate market is down right now, yada, yada, yada. I'm just on the down swing of this emotional rollercoaster at the moment and needing to vent.

So, I went to get my hair cut last week...

which is something that I rarely do. Rarely here means 2-3 times a year. I just never really think all that much about it b/c I like my hair long and don't usually have a whole lot of time or desire to do much with it. Getting out of the door somewhat on time with three little ones has a tendency to reset my priorities. Anyway, so last weekend on my way to the grocery store, I decided to stop and get my hair cut since it had been, oh, 6 months since I had last had it done. Now normally, I try and go to a "real salon" since I don't go very often. However since this was a spur of the moment decision, I stopped at the first "no appt necessary" place that I saw in Cahaba Heights. Probably not the best choice I could have made. I'm fine with what the lady did with my hair. Like I said earlier, I wear my hair long with long layers so theres not a whole lot any stylist could do to mess it up. I just walked out of the place wondering what the manager could be thinking. A salon is a place of business where people go to be groomed, for lack of a better word. A person goes in with the desire to come out looking somewhat better than he/she did when he/she walked in. One would think that the stylists' appearance would be one of the top priorities of such a business. One would think that the stylists would dress and present themselves in such a way as to instill into their customers a strong confidence in their ability to make them look good. Yes, one would think. Apparently this is not the case at the particular establishment that I went to last week. Take my "stylist" for the afternoon for example. She was wearing no makeup. Her hair looked as if it had not been washed that morning. Her roots were clearly showing as were a couple of her tattoos. Her clothes were wrinkled with a slight aroma of cigarette smoke. She also seemed preoccupied with her cell phone. (I found out later it was b/c her ex-husband was late picking up their children from her mom's house.) All in all, she definitely did not look the part of someone who beautifies other people for a living. Again, let me say that I am fine with what she did with my hair. [Its not exactly hard to trim two inches...Jared has done that for me several times.] I just found myself looking around the counter for a comment card the entire time. In her defense, semi-groomed seemed to be the standard for all the stylists. Even the "manager" was wearing an 80s pink pantsuit, had dry, frizzy hair, and a definite smokers' voice. Needless to say, 6 months from now when I get my hair cut again, I'll definitely be going elsewhere, where appointments are necessary.

Friday Smiles (4 days later)

5 top things that I'm thankful for from this past week...

*1* Noah Bryce, whose 3rd birthday was this past Friday. Little buddy had a rough 1st month of his life, but has made up for it ever since. He only has one speed in life and that is very, very fast. He keeps Jared & me constantly on our toes and on our knees. I love you buddy!

*2* www.reformation21.org/calvin, a blog entitled Blogging the Institutes. I had begun slowly reading thru the Institutes and taking notes a while back, but got sidetracked somehow. Uncle Teve mentioned this website to me a couple of months ago, and I have just now remembered to get into it. Its been great so far.

*3* Bible Study Tuesday morning. Kelley gave a challenging devotional this week. I plan to blog about it in more detail as soon as I can read my letter without breaking down into tears.

*4* March Madness. I don't think there is a greater time of the year in all of College Sports than the month of March. How I love basketball.

*5* My wonderful husband, Jared, who listens to all of my emotional, hormonal outbursts and loves me all the same.

Pic of the Week ~

Noah has a bit of an obsession with balloons, which is why we normally don't keep them in the house. However, since his bday was Friday, Jared brought 2 birthday balloons home from work for Noah. The balloons probably spent more time on our ceiling than they did in Noah's little hands. This is Granddaddy being a hero and rescuing the red balloon. Noah thought this was a wonderfully fun game!

What I learned today

I've been told that you learn something new every day, and for the most part, I've found that statement to be true. Every day is a new day with new experiences, so it stands to reason that one would come away from each new day with some new bit of knowledge, however small or seemingly insignificant it may be. For example, the family and I had lunch at McAllister's Deli at Brookwood today. I decided to try their Cheddar Potato soup. It was delicious! I noticed that Jared was eating some saltine crackers with his soup, so I tried that. It was yummy too. I put some crutons from my salad in my soup, and again, it was delicious. So, just from that one brief lunch, I learned that I really enjoy McAllister's Cheddar Potato soup, especially with crackers and crutons. Will this bit of information have a great impact on my life in the future? Probably not, except for the times I eat at McAllister's Deli.

Friday Smiles

*1* We had snow this past Sunday! A lot of snow, I might add, probably the most snow that I've ever seen. It was so beautiful.

*2* The folks who came to look at our house last Saturday came to look at it again last night ~ thats twice in less than a week. Another couple came to see it this morning ~ three showings total in the first two weeks on the market! I am really encouraged by that.

*3* Isaac rolled over from his back to his tummy! This probably means that we should finally move him out of his bassinet. I know that he should've already been moved to a crib a long time ago, but he just sleeps so well. I think he likes the confined space.

*4* Gabby was an incredible help to me yesterday. I caught Noah's tummy bug and felt awful. She sent me to bed and completely took over with the kids.

*5* We have found another house that we really like, which even though we're not to the point where we can put an offer on it yet is still a blessing. Our fear in this housing search has been that we'd sell our house before finding one that we wanted. Well, we have one that we want and just need ours to sell.

Pic of the week ~ It had to be from the snow!

Our Little Ham

Isaac woke early from his nap yesterday, so Jared and I decided to take some fun pics of him playing. He was cracking me up with his facial expressions.

Friday Smiles

*1* We have our very first showing tomorrow afternoon at 3pm! I am very excited about it. Lisa said that the folks coming to see it are first-time home buyers with one child and another on the way. I'm guessing the kid-friendly colors in the bedrooms are a big draw for them. Can't wait to hear the feedback!

*2* Rach was a very big girl at her 4-year-old check up yesterday. She had to have two shots. There were some tears, of course, but she calmed down very quickly. I took her to Chick-fil-a for a brownie to celebrate!

*3* Noah has FINALLY started to consistently poop in the potty on his own. Guess he got tired of having his basketballs in time-out every other day.

*4* The house is on the market! This means that our wknds and evenings will not be filled with home improvement projects. I'm sure there will be a couple of touch-up things here and there, but for the most part we can go back to having our normal relaxing down times.

*5* Wednesday was visitor's day at Rach's ballet class. It was so much fun to watch my little girl dance. I'm so very glad she enjoys it so much. Makes a mama proud!

*Pic of the Week ~ From Visitor's Day*

For Sale!!!

Its finally official...our house is on the market! It'll be listed on Realty South's website at some point tomorrow, as soon as Lisa can get the pictures and the virtual tour (!) uploaded. I'm so excited. Jared has been working so hard these past few weeks getting everything ready. The poor thing hasn't had a real weekend since the middle of January. Now everything is over but the waiting.

Friday Smiles

Five things I'm thankful for this week ~
*1* We made it thru the first of the week with Jared being gone to Miami!

*2* Fireplace smores at Pop & Mamaw's were delicious! Such happy memories, even if we all came away from the evening with little sleep ~ thats whats supposed to happen at a sleepover.

*3* Our Music & More class was a lot of fun yesterday. I like it better with fewer children. Isaac had a blast ~ big smiles the whole time.

*4* Obama's economic stimulus package ~ no, I'm not a fan, but that $15,000 tax credit for home buyers will come in very handy.

*5* Speaker phone ~ it was so cute this week to listen to Rach & Noah talk to Jared each night while he was away.

*Pic of the Week* (A new feature to Friday Smiles)


I love this! Isaac was so focused on that Smore, and Jingles was as well. Poor Jingles...he tried so hard all night for just a taste.

a brief sampling of my 'Rosie List'

Rarely does a Tuesday go by that I come home from Bible study without a new quote to add to my Rosie list. My Rosie list is a collection of wit and wisdom from a precious lady in our church who graciously shares with all us girls her pearls of wisdom every Tuesday morning. Containing everything from a story of how God answered her prayer for replacing a typewriter ribbon one Friday afternoon to reminders for us to love and treasure our husbands each day that we have with them ~ Mrs Rosie's storehouse of life lessons seems boundless. It makes me so happy to walk into Bible study each week, see her caring and smiling face, and know that shes going to have something very special to add to our lives. So, here's to you Mrs Rosie ~ you are a joyous treasure!

"I don't know how I ever lived this long without them helping me."
~referring to her family, who she claims thinks she doesn't have sense enough to come in out of the rain.

"A lot of womens' problems is feelings."

"Every season of your life should be the happiest time of your life."

"I was so glad when that Bible fell in the commode."
~yes, there is a story behind this one and its classic!

Friday Smiles

Yes, I do realize that it is not Friday, but I ran out of time yesterday and didn't want to change the title. :0)

1* Isaac rolled over for the first time on Tuesday!

2* There are other houses for sale here in B'ham that Jared and I like just as much if not more than the one in Vestbrook that got away.

3* Uncle Teve has a girlfriend! No, he's not immediate family, but we're all happy for him just the same.

4* Anna is going to be able to stay with us while Jared is in Miami for a conference.

5* We've set a date for getting the house officially on the market...we're aiming for wknd after next.

Friday Smiles

*1* God doesn't ask us to understand Him or to figure out His plans for us ahead of time. He tells us He is good and asks us to trust & obey Him.
*2* God saw the huge mess that I would make of my life this week before I was even born, and yet chose me and called me His own.
*3* The whole family is working together on getting the house ready to sell. So cute to see Rach using the hand vac and Noah scrubbing the kitchen floor.
*4* We have the best real estate agent ever working for us...love to Lisa Clark!
*5* I'm loving some podcasts...how wonderful it is to have anytime access to incredible teaching ~ David Platt, Joel Brooks, John Piper, Greg Koukl, and many more. itunes rocks!

Up, Down, Up, Down

My prayer tonight as I'm falling asleep will go something like this, "Father, can we just forget this day? Amen." And I know that its okay to pray that way because 1) God knows that that is exactly what is in my head and on my heart anyway, so I may as well voice it and 2) Pastor Barry mentioned in his sermon a couple of weeks ago that he's prayed that prayer at the end of a day before. Here are just a few of the twists & turns of the rollercoaster that has made up my last 36 hours....
Up ~ an email from our real estate agent telling us that a house in our neighborhood is under contract...very encouraging news.
Down ~ a voicemail telling us that someone else has made an offer on the house in Vestbrook, meaning that we have to bust it to try and make an offer of our own.
Up ~ I got on the scale this morning and found that I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight...whoo-hoo!
Down ~ I way over-reacted on the phone with Jared while the children were listening prompting Rachel to ask me why I was mad at Daddy.
Up ~ Rachel figured out and read the word Dig during "school" while we were working on "ig" words.

Friday Smiles

I'm borrowing this wonderful idea from another blog that I try to be consistent about reading. Here are the five things I'm most thankful for about this week ~
1. Jared's meeting this morning about his very bad day at work yesterday went as well as could be expected, and that his job is secure.
2. Mortgage rates continue to drop which makes the house we really like in Vestavia a good possibility, and the sellers' agents are very good about staying in touch with us!
3. The children had a fun morning with Gabby on Wednesday while I went to the doctor.
4. I didn't pass out at said doctor appointment after the nurse took my blood. :0)
5. We had a fun evening with Uncle Teve on Tuesday.

House Hunting

Jared and I are going to look at a house today. This will be the 3rd one that we've actually gone to see in the past few months, though we (well, I) have been looking online several times a week. I'm cautiously optimistic about this house. It has everything that we "need" and pretty much everything we want as well including that all important garden tub with seperate shower, love to Debbie! I have been praying not so much that God would grant us the house, but that He would grant me the grace to be content regardless of what He has planned and that we would be wise in our decisions regarding the search. I REALLY do want the house though, and God is patiently teaching me to surrender that to Him and trust Him.