What a break!

Wow! I am so sorry for the lapse in blogging! I can't believe it has been so long since the last update.
So, let's start from the beginning.
We officially sold our house April 27th. We spent our final weekend in the house packing while the kids relished the time with the neighbor girls. Our plan was to fully move out by Sunday night, then come by Tuesday morning to put out trash/recyclables. By Sunday afternoon I was uncertain if we would really meet the goal to move out by that evening, but it all worked out. In addition, we had the opportunity to meet the buyers. They came by with the wife's parents, hoping to show them around. They are a nice couple and I know that house is perfect for them. I have been over there/texted with them a few times since they moved in. I really thought I would be extremely emotional about moving out of my house, but it was not as emotional as I anticipated.
Since we moved out, we have been living with my parents. We thought from the get go that this would simply be a quick stay. We anticipated having our new house within a month at most, so we packed 2 weeks worth of clothes for everyone. Ha! We were so wrong! It has been 4 1/2 months of living here at my parents house, but now I can say that the end is in sight!
The offer that we put on the foreclosure fell through. While we were quite sad about that, we know that that is not the house that God had for us.
So, we continued to look at houses and toyed with the idea of buying land and building.
I was constantly checking real estate sites looking for new houses/land and was getting quite upset at the lack of houses/land that were going on the market.
Why were we not finding anything?!?!
We have been with our Realtor to see many houses and unfortunately they all fell short.
So, we again discussed buying land and building a house. We played around with the numbers and found out that we could definitely build a house. B really wanted to buy at least 5 acres so we would be able to have some livestock.
We found 5 acres in an area that we really liked and put an offer on it. It was accepted, but when we went to look at the land we noticed that it was pretty sloped. We went to a few of the neighbors houses and talked to them about drainage issues. One of the neighbors was very forthcoming and shared that just a few lots down from the land that we liked flooded quite a bit in bad rains. That made me uncomfortable. There were also 15 acres for sale on the opposite side of this land, and the land in those acres did not slope as much as this 5 acre property did. The price for the 15 acres was just a little under triple what we were going to be paying for the 5 acre lot. I told B exactly that, and ultimately let him decide which land to purchase because the whole thing was just overwhelming me. So, the week after that B shared with me that we had put an offer on the 15 acres of land. After a few days, we learned that the seller of the 15 acres accepted our contract!
So, we are set to close on our 15 acres of land 3 weeks from now!!!! I know that this gift of land is from the Lord. The land had been on the market, originally I believe, for about 2 years. Aside from that, B offered a little more than double what we did on the 5 acres and the buyer accepted without any counter offers.
Once we had a signed copy of the contract we began fervently working with Jason, owner of DFW Creative Homes. He has helped us throughout the entire search for land, going with B to different properties to give us his opinion on land.
Last week I drove out to North Fort Worth to the architect/engineer's business to sort through house plans. I was hesitant to drive out there as it because the traffic out there is horrible. After looking through tons of house plans (a stack of papers about 1 1/2 inches tall) I decided to stick to the preliminary plan that had been drawn up for us. I drove home in the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine...not fun! But at least we knew what the layout of our house was going to look like. After some changes we now definitely have what the inside of the house will look like done! YAY!
Today, B sent me an email from Jason that shows what the outside of the house will look like as well. I can't believe how fast this is coming along!
If all continues to go well, we will be in our new house by the time the kids get out of school for winter break! What better way to spend school vacation than in your new home! I am giddy with excitement!

It's been a Whirlwind Month around here

At the beginning of March we decided that we would put our house on the market to see if we got any hits on it. I admit that I was reluctant to do this. I hate change...
Within 10 days of it being on the market we had our first offer. The potential buyers ended up backing out because they felt we weren't bending enough from them (they kept asking for item after item.) We were more than relieved that they chose to walk away.
The following week we received two offers on the same day. We are now in the option period with the chosen contract, which ends on Thursday.
If all goes according to plan we will close at the end of the month.

So, where does that leave us??? We found a beautiful house that we love and will be placing an offer on. It is a foreclosure though, so the process will most liking be a lot longer.
We plan to move in with family for a bit if we need to, but it would be great if we could just get this ball rolling and close on our new house.

I have many mixed emotions about moving.
Elijah was 6 months old when we bought this house. When we were looking at it, he rolled over for the first time.
Kalei has only ever lived in this house.
Aside from that, I put my roots down here. It's our first house. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

Let it snow!

This winter has been one of the coldest and wettest that I can remember.
It has snowed at least 3 times, but today blows it out of the park!
As of 9:15pm, we have 8 inches of snow on the ground. The last time we got snow was on Dec. 24th and it was windy to boot, so it was not fun playing out there at all. Today there was little wind, if any, and we had so much fun playing in the snow!
When I went outside a bit ago I was shocked at how bright it is out there. I didn't even need my camera flash to get decent pics of the house with all the snow.
Anyways, I took plenty of pics throughout the day, but most of them are in RAW format and I don't know how to convert those to jpeg, so those will have to wait. But, here are a few that I just took after changing the camera back to jpeg.

Withdrawals...

One Sunday in January after we came home from church I turned the oven on to make a batch of chocolate cupcakes. We had a get together to go to, and had been busy that Saturday so this was the only time I had to bake.
I turned to oven on to preheat and then turned back to my cupcake batter. B was in the kitchen with me doing something. The next thing I knew, he told me to get out of the way cause he needed to grab the fire extinguisher. I instinctively moved out of the way and then looked at what he needed it for. Apparently he saw some fire in the oven. Originally he assumed that the fire was from some food drippings, but I had just cleaned the oven recently. He turned off the oven and started to push me back towards the window--now, if we had been smart, we would have gotten out of the kitchen altogether.
We both seriously thought that the oven was going to explode! There was a bright white light and then eventually the oven went dark.
Before we left for our get together--cupcake batter ready to be baked elsewhere--I made him turn off the breaker since I didn't trust the oven.
Later that evening, B determined that the heating coil had gone out.
Long story short, we ordered a new coil. Said coil arrived and B got to work fixing the oven...or so we thought.
Monday evening he asked me to bake some muffins. I was excited about using my 'new' oven, so while I was prepping dinner I turned the oven on to preheat. After about 10 minutes I decided to check the oven to make sure it was heating up, so I opened the oven door and found it was cool as a cucumber on the inside :(
After the kids were in bed, B started looking at the oven and found that when the original coil went out, another thing had gone out as well...probably from the heat of the fire on the inside of the oven.
So, here I am, almost 2 weeks later with no oven to bake in :(
Looks like a new oven is in my future, and it can't get here soon enough!!!

9 Years

Okay, we honestly didn't plan our kids birthdays to be almost exactly 2 years apart, but hey, they are. Though it does make it easy at party time, especially because they have always wanted to have a joint birthday.

Today is E's 9th birthday. My first born. My son. When I was in labor with him, I thought it was just a stomach ache. Early labor started in the morning. I was throwing up and couldn't keep food down. At 3:30 that Saturday afternoon I heard a POP and felt a trickle. Sure enough my water had broken. We were at the hospital by 4:15 and then there was a great gush! By 7:34 pm, my baby boy had arrived!!

So, in honor of his 9th birthday, here are 9 fun facts about him:

• He has always been a sweet boy. I used to sleep with him on my chest every afternoon for our afternoon nap. He still lets me cuddle with him.
• He is very independent. Always has been. I would put him down and he would be content playing--as opposed to K, who always had to have someone near.
• By 18 months he was addicted to Hot Wheels. When he was 2 yrs old he could even identify if a car was a Hot Wheel. There were many times we would give him a random car and he would look for the Hot Wheel logo, and if it was not there, he would let us know it was not a Hot Wheel and he would not play with it!
• He started walking on October 31, 2001. B and I were watching the World Series (Yankees and Diamondbacks). E was tempted by a red plastic cup I was drinking water from. B had E by him and he started taking steps to get the water.
• When E had been crawling a few months, B and I would put E in the middle of the room. We would go to separate sides of the room and call E to see who he would come to. He came to me most of the time!
• Since I was in the hospital with brand new baby K, E didn't get to have his 2nd birthday party on time. We celebrated his birthday with friends in February.
• After E's Hot Wheel addiction, he switched over to a love of Bionicles, and now to Legos. I am constantly stepping on or vacuuming up legos.
• E has only lost 4 teeth. Both my kids were late teethers. He is anxiously awaiting to lose more!
• He is very competitive---could he get that from me ;) He loves to play games so we play games at least 2 to 3 times per week.

Happy 9th Birthday E! Loved you yesterday, love you still, always have and always will!

7 Years

At 9:01 a.m. seven years ago, B and I welcomed baby K into the world! I can hardly believe that she is 7!In honor of her 7th birthday, here are 7 fun tidbits about her:

• She has the best personality! She always has a quick comeback ready.
• She is perhaps the sweetest girl I have ever known. She makes cards constantly wishing us a good day or to tell us that she loves us. She loves to be around babies/toddlers and is a great help!
• She is a dancer. This is her 4th year in dance. She is doing ballet, tap, and jazz.
• She loves 'girl time.' And I love to have girl time with her! She always wants to go to the mall, and I promise, I didn't teach her that!
• She is extremely reserved in new situations but talks nonstop here at home. Sometimes I wish it were the other way around ;) She started talking before she was 1.
• She has a great laugh! She loves for me to tickle her (crazy girl!)
• She loves her Papa's lemon pasta. And her Papa! She has had him wrapped around her pinky since she was born!

2009 Year in Review

I can not believe that today is the last day of 2009. When I think of how 2008 was closing I knew that God had some major changes in store for us in the coming year. Again I can not help but feel as if there are more changes that God is preparing us for in 2010.
So, with that, here is a run down of the highlights and lowlights of 2009.

January--E & K both celebrated birthdays. E turned 8 and K turned 6.

February--Tia, B's sister who had lived with us for a few years, got married. Both kids were in the wedding. She met an awesome guy and I know that God has His hand on their marriage.

March--On the 15th, the children publicly accepted Jesus as their Savior through Baptism! The following week, B got a phone call offering him a position with a new job. We had 24 hours to decide if he would take the job--kinda funny when you think about it, since he had initially pursued this job in Oct. 2006.

April--A whirlwind month. B left on April 21st to go to a 6 month long (really 28 weeks) out-of-state, training for the new job. Before this, B had been working from home since E was 3 months old. So, to not be around him at all when we were so used to him being around was hard. The first few weeks were extremely hard. We had a few things that kept us busy, such as the kids sport activities.

May--B was able to come home for the weekend of Memorial Day. This weekend also happened to be K's dance recital and I was beyond thrilled that we would be together as a family for this short amount of time and that B would be able to see K's year of hard work!

June--I had decided back in late April that I would try to work at two Mother's Day Out programs in the summer to keep us busy, so this month is when it started. It was hard. Most of the month is a blur.

July--B and I were able to spend the July 4th weekend together. The kids stayed with some friends and I flew out on the 2nd. We had a great weekend together and went to the beach to see the fireworks show on the 4th. A few weeks after that B was able to come home to spend some time with the kids.

August--The kids and I took a mini vacation with Aunt J to Abilene. We needed the time away and it was so much fun.
K began her 4th year of dance. I started schooling the kids again. E is in 3rd grade, K is in 1st.

September--I left the kids with some friends and went on a trip to New England with J, my mom and my aunt. This trip had been in the works since 2008 and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to go when B accepted the new job. Thankfully one of my friends allowed the kids to stay with them until B was able to pick them up. This trip was a much needed respite from single mom duty.
B's company had the labor day weekend pre-arranged as a trip home, so when I got home from the airport B and the kids were at home waiting. We took B back to the airport on the 8th.
On Sept. 9th we received word that my dad's mom, my Grandma Louise, had passed away. I spent the next 24 hours trying to figure out where to send the kids as it was to expensive to take them up to New York for the funeral. E had a trip to D.C. already scheduled with my sister, so he spent an additional day at her house while my friend L offered to watch K for me. So, on Sept. 11th my sister J, my brother and I headed to New York to meet up with my parents who had already traveled there.
I really didn't know my grandmother that well. I can only remember a handful of times that we saw her.

October--B had one more pre-arranged trip home, and it fell on the 2nd weekend of October. On the 20th, I celebrated my 30th bday. I worked that evening at church ( I do childcare) and my friend who I work with had decorated the room for me and brought me a gift and some balloons. It was such a sweet and heartfelt gesture. B's birthday was on the 26th and it killed me not being able to be with him and celebrate.
I left that weekend though to go to GA for the last time to spend the weekend with B while the kids stayed with my mom. We headed up to Savannah and even had dinner at Paula Deen's The Lady and Son's restaurant.

November--My trip to GA lasted until the beginning of Nov. B graduated from training on Nov. 3rd and we began the trip home. The trip lasted about 17 hours of driving time. We picked the kids up from my parent's on the 4th, and I was relieved to have my family all back together.
B started his new job on the 6th, and we celebrated my 30th and B's homecoming with friends that weekend.
We also were able to celebrate the adoption of my friend S's baby girl. What a humbling experience.

December--This past month has gone by in a flash. We have slowly started to settle into a routine.

While B was gone for those 28 weeks, I honestly felt that I needed to just survive. We would have arguments because he would say that I should be flourishing, but I felt like I was doing all I could to just survive.
I could not have possibly made it through the time that he was gone without my friends and family. There is a gentleman at church who constantly called asking if I needed help with anything and he helped me with the lawn work and other household things that would pop up and need replacing/fixing. My friends were there for me when I needed them most and listened to me when I needed to talk. And my family. The kids and I spent a lot of time with my family, especially my sister J and I cherish those moments.
Finally my God. I could not have survived without His love and grace. The first month or so that B was gone I had trouble sleeping. Any little noise would disturb me. I went to bed thinking of ways to protect my kids and myself and I woke up thinking of ways to protect my kids and myself.
Let me end this with my life verse:
2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give me the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.
God would place that verse on my heart and in my mind and I can clearly say I have felt His peace through all I have been through.