It's been a long time and a lot has happened in the last few months. Here goes:
Family -- As you probably already know, we sold our house in order to move closer to our dream of building our own house and living in the country. We live in a not-so-great economic area but thankfully our house was in one of the few larger towns. Our house went on the market on March 4. We had 5 showings in two days and received 2 offers on the fifth day. Even though we accepted one of those offers, the buyers' lost their financing. (The other potential buyer decided to walk away.) On April 4, we received offer number 3. They were very serious buyers and the process moved through quickly and smoothly. We closed on June 4 - exactly three months from when we listed the house. It was amazing to us that things went so fast, considering the real estate market around us. We're now living in a temporary rental house that is huge, beautiful and unfortunately in the middle of lots of college students. There have been a few incidents I'd like to forget but we just keep reminding ourselves that this is temporary. We will be moving into a lovely little house on a quiet dead end street in about 5 weeks! The search for a rental to live in while we build has also been a bit stressful, but we've finally got a place and that has been a huge relief.
The girls - Let's see. Each of the girls handled moving in a different way. They each had a harder time than we thought but we've moved through it now and I'm SO happy for that. Lael turned 9 last week and enjoyed celebrating with family and friends. My parents shocked us all by buying her a netbook for her to use in the fall for homeschooling. It has turned out to be a great help, as my laptop had to go into the shop. We took her shopping for clothes - her favorite thing and Josh's paents spent an afternoon here to celebrate her as well. She also had some time at our little beach in town, with two friends and some cake! Can't beat that, right? Alyssa has had the hardest time with moving. We've had to help her work through some fear issues that seemed to have nothing to do with moving, but she's made huge progress. She has also enjoyed having a very large bedroom, that she only shares with Lauren. in our old house, all three girls were in one room. Lauren has had the smoothest transition thus far. She did ask a couple of times when we were going home right after the move, but has quickly shifted into loving this house and I'm sure she will love the next one too. The hardest part for all the girls has been the loss of their fenced in backyard. I cannot thank the Lord enough that the rental we'll live in until our perfect house is built has a great yard!
Josh -- We finished moving the big things out of our house on Memorial Day, May 31. The day after that, Josh went to the doctor. (Over the next two days, we also had to finish cleaning and moving things out of the garage.) He had been having stomach pains that we were associating with his umbilical hernia for much too long. After tests, the doctor referred him right to a surgeon - not only did he have the umbilical hernia but he had a blockage in his appendix that needed to be removed immediately. Just barely a week after moving - Josh went into the hospital to have his appendix removed and the hernia repaired. We are thankful for the timing of it all. If we had waited much longer, we were told it was likely his appendix would have burst. The surgeon said his appendix was quite inflamed and a time bomb waiting to go off. The hernia surgery recovery has taken longer than Josh would like but when you mess with muscles like that - it takes awhile to heal! He's back to work now but has been told to not do any heavy lifting or strenuous stomach exercises until August or September.
August. hm. Kind of a bummer considering we wanted to start clearing land for our driveway. If Josh can't pick up trees and brush, he can't clear land.
God knows, though. We are just taking it as a season of rest. So it looks like we won't start building or even really clearing land until late fall or early next spring. We also have to move again the first week in August, when Josh still won't be 100%. Opportunities for faith surround us!
Me -- Well, I'm pregnant. haha. If you've never met me or noticed me during a pregnancy - I get rather round. Right out front, nice and low - round like a basketball that is growing into a beach ball every day. It's hard to believe that the third trimester is quickly approaching. Little baby girl - whose first name will be Addison, but still has no definite middle name - is very active and wiggly. She has three sisters who already talk about her like she's sitting right next to them, which I think is the cutest thing ever! I'm trying my hand at sewing a baby quilt, under the supervision of a very talented friend. I'm just sewing together the top, then she's going to make it pretty. I hope it comes together. We've also decided that I'm taking a break from canning this year. It was a hard one for me to take, as I love filling the shelves with produce that was preserved at the height of freshness. But not having another thing to think about right now is nice.
So I think that's it. Kudos to you if you made it this far!
Family -- As you probably already know, we sold our house in order to move closer to our dream of building our own house and living in the country. We live in a not-so-great economic area but thankfully our house was in one of the few larger towns. Our house went on the market on March 4. We had 5 showings in two days and received 2 offers on the fifth day. Even though we accepted one of those offers, the buyers' lost their financing. (The other potential buyer decided to walk away.) On April 4, we received offer number 3. They were very serious buyers and the process moved through quickly and smoothly. We closed on June 4 - exactly three months from when we listed the house. It was amazing to us that things went so fast, considering the real estate market around us. We're now living in a temporary rental house that is huge, beautiful and unfortunately in the middle of lots of college students. There have been a few incidents I'd like to forget but we just keep reminding ourselves that this is temporary. We will be moving into a lovely little house on a quiet dead end street in about 5 weeks! The search for a rental to live in while we build has also been a bit stressful, but we've finally got a place and that has been a huge relief.
The girls - Let's see. Each of the girls handled moving in a different way. They each had a harder time than we thought but we've moved through it now and I'm SO happy for that. Lael turned 9 last week and enjoyed celebrating with family and friends. My parents shocked us all by buying her a netbook for her to use in the fall for homeschooling. It has turned out to be a great help, as my laptop had to go into the shop. We took her shopping for clothes - her favorite thing and Josh's paents spent an afternoon here to celebrate her as well. She also had some time at our little beach in town, with two friends and some cake! Can't beat that, right? Alyssa has had the hardest time with moving. We've had to help her work through some fear issues that seemed to have nothing to do with moving, but she's made huge progress. She has also enjoyed having a very large bedroom, that she only shares with Lauren. in our old house, all three girls were in one room. Lauren has had the smoothest transition thus far. She did ask a couple of times when we were going home right after the move, but has quickly shifted into loving this house and I'm sure she will love the next one too. The hardest part for all the girls has been the loss of their fenced in backyard. I cannot thank the Lord enough that the rental we'll live in until our perfect house is built has a great yard!
Josh -- We finished moving the big things out of our house on Memorial Day, May 31. The day after that, Josh went to the doctor. (Over the next two days, we also had to finish cleaning and moving things out of the garage.) He had been having stomach pains that we were associating with his umbilical hernia for much too long. After tests, the doctor referred him right to a surgeon - not only did he have the umbilical hernia but he had a blockage in his appendix that needed to be removed immediately. Just barely a week after moving - Josh went into the hospital to have his appendix removed and the hernia repaired. We are thankful for the timing of it all. If we had waited much longer, we were told it was likely his appendix would have burst. The surgeon said his appendix was quite inflamed and a time bomb waiting to go off. The hernia surgery recovery has taken longer than Josh would like but when you mess with muscles like that - it takes awhile to heal! He's back to work now but has been told to not do any heavy lifting or strenuous stomach exercises until August or September.
August. hm. Kind of a bummer considering we wanted to start clearing land for our driveway. If Josh can't pick up trees and brush, he can't clear land.
God knows, though. We are just taking it as a season of rest. So it looks like we won't start building or even really clearing land until late fall or early next spring. We also have to move again the first week in August, when Josh still won't be 100%. Opportunities for faith surround us!
Me -- Well, I'm pregnant. haha. If you've never met me or noticed me during a pregnancy - I get rather round. Right out front, nice and low - round like a basketball that is growing into a beach ball every day. It's hard to believe that the third trimester is quickly approaching. Little baby girl - whose first name will be Addison, but still has no definite middle name - is very active and wiggly. She has three sisters who already talk about her like she's sitting right next to them, which I think is the cutest thing ever! I'm trying my hand at sewing a baby quilt, under the supervision of a very talented friend. I'm just sewing together the top, then she's going to make it pretty. I hope it comes together. We've also decided that I'm taking a break from canning this year. It was a hard one for me to take, as I love filling the shelves with produce that was preserved at the height of freshness. But not having another thing to think about right now is nice.
So I think that's it. Kudos to you if you made it this far!
I love newsy updates like this. Sounds like a busy season for sure!
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