Monday, June 25, 2007
For Sale!
Our house has a nifty for sale sign out by the road. Any takers?

We are praying for the right couple/person to come along and love our house and want it and have the money/funds to get it. We have one prospective buyer already, and he is excluded from the realtor, so if he buys it we don't have to pay any commissions and all that jazz...so that would be more than cool if that would happen. We have signed a 3 month contract with the Realtor and hopefully we can sell it before we have to make our August payment...that would be such a blessing. I have also added some unknown people to my prayer list. There is a house in town that is comparable to our home of which the owner is asking a good bit more than our house is listed at....so if it sells...and soon, then we could go up on our price, or at least be a lot better off...we want that house to sell before ours gets appraised at any rate.

We have a garage sale planned. It is going to be in the next town over at a friend's house. Having one where we live would be pointless, unless the deer and rabbits are really needing some baby toys and plates. Hopefully that will be a profitable endeavor. Every little bit helps.

We have so many things that we need to get done before we move. Lots of cleaning, on top of the packing, some fixing and that sort of thing. I am hoping that we can get it all done in time for some showings.

I have been reading a bit lately...which you may think is hard to do with so much packing and all. Late at night, too late at night most nights, I have been up reading some Dean Koontz: Odd Thomas and Forever Odd...both recommendations from my mother and both very good ones at that. I enjoyed them...they were definitely light enough to not be too scary for late night, and humorous enough to not be too weird for that late. However, I have had some weird dreams...not sure if it is related, but I am sure it doesn't help things. I also have just about finished Brain McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy which was very thought provoking and has lead me to want to learn more about church history...not that the book was about church history, but I have always sort of had an interest and it somehow sparked that interest. Any good recommendations? I have no idea where to start.

I have also been listening to some sermons that Adam has been downloading for the last year or so. They are also very thought provoking and have probably been some of what has lead us to step off in faith and take the position at the children's home. It is all a bit scary and also a bit comforting to know that we are heading more in the direction that we feel God has been leading us toward. Most of our concerns and worries are things that are totally out of our control...like the selling of the house, so we just make ourselves busy with things we can control, like the packing and hope for the best....
well, that is the plan at least.


Thursday, June 14, 2007
2, Boxes, Teeth, and Food
Aralyn is two! She is just growing so fast and learning new words everyday. She is so funny, and will tell you "that so foney" when she thinks something is funny, and then throw in a fake little laugh. She loves to play with baby dolls and will cuddle them up under her chin and tell them, "I wud jew baby" and "shhhh, shhhh". (I love you, baby) She calls all men daddy and women, mommy. So if we see a picture of a family, she will find the baby and say baby, the mom, is a mommy and the dad and daddy. It can be funny when it is someone who is not married and doesn't have children. She lives up to her middle name, Joy, all the time. Aidan thinks she is the funniest thing. We have to get on to him for laughing at her when she does things that she shouldn't...sometimes it is terribly cute and we all have to check ourselves and make sure that we aren't encouraging her.

Aidan lost his first tooth, Monday the 4th. Wow! He definitely looks very different without it. It being a top tooth makes it more noticeable and very obvious. His new one is coming in quick, but he has 2 other teeth that are a bit loose, so I wouldn't be surprised if he is toothless in the front for quite some time to come.

We have been boxing up things for a while. I rented a storage room here in town to move things out of the house as they get packed and get them out from under our feet. I lost the keys to the building after just 2 loads were taken out there. The very day that I got the room. Oh well, another $35 got the lock removed and a new one with keys that were promptly split between Adam and me to prevent a repeat. We have empty boxes sitting everywhere all over our house in various stages of getting packed. Fun Fun Fun.

We have a moving date of July 21st, and while it was a bit later than we thought it might be, it isn't very far from now. We are in the process of getting our house listed and ready to sell...should be crazy for a bit around here...and then it will be crazy somewhere else.

We went to VBS Sunday through Wed. The kids had a wonderful time and got some good play time in with their good friends. Alora even had her first big girl sleepover with her best little girl friend. They had fun and she did great...I don't think she could have cared that we were leaving her. She was very ready for it. Since we leave so early to get to VBS and get out so late it has been a week of trying to eat out as cheaply as possible. We hit Arby's up on their pick 5 deal and used some coupons and free Moe's money one night. One other night, while I had the 3 kids without Adam, I decided to be very brave and go to Red Lobster.

I told them how I expected them to act and to please be quiet and sit still and use inside voices and all the restaurant rules. I had a $25 gift card that someone had sent us and I was going to use it to make the meal pretty cheap. I figured we could get out for less than $10 plus a tip. Not bad for Red Lobster...if the kids would just behave.

They were wonderful! Aralyn was very tired and wanted to be held for a bit, but she really did very good. Alora got loud once and I reminded her to use her quiet voice, and I did have to tell Aidan to sit in his seat properly...since he had his feet up in the chair. But, for the most part they were very good and so polite. We saw someone that we knew and they came to say hello and introduce their father. We exchanged pleasantries and they commented on the children's good behavior. I joked about threatening them and we laughed at that. I told them I was probably crazy to try to go there with 3 kids, but so far so good. We were just about finished with our meal when the waiter came to tell us that our meal had been paid for. What a surprise! I felt so good. I didn't know if I needed to leave a tip or how much the bill had been, since I never saw it, so I left a few dollars...I only had 3 ones and a ten....I had been planning to put everything on my card. When we were finished we got our box and biscuits and headed to the front. There was an older couple sitting at the next table that stopped me to tell me that they enjoyed sitting next to us and hearing my children and seeing how well they behaved. I thanked them and then thanked my children for behaving so well. I felt so wonderful heading home. I had gone to a fairly nice place with 3 children...hoping for the best and got so much more than I had bargained for. We had a wonderful time, good food, good service, our meal paid for and compliments paid to us from several people. I felt so blessed. I went there thinking how blessed I was to have had the $25 gift card and how that would be so nice to make our meal more affordable, and left having put $3 dollars on the table. It is truly a humbling experience, but such a wonderful feeling. I hope that I can pass that on sometime.

My in-laws are at Palmetto Bible Camp this week. and my mother-in-law is going to come and get Aidan sometime tomorrow and let him spend the night at camp. He has some buddies there and should have lots of fun! I wish we all could have been there, but our plans had no room for that. Next year we are hoping to get to enjoy camp. I miss it! I haven't been since Aidan was 1. I am sure that he will have a wonderful time and will come home with lots of things to tell us.


Monday, June 04, 2007
Party time!
What a busy weekend.


It started on Friday when I decided to take advantage of a storage room rental special. I had found a $1 move-in coupon. I thought it would be a good idea to use that as we pack things up and get them out of our way. Hopefully it is more helpful than aggravating. I am trying to make sure that nothing that is getting moved out there will be things that I will need for about a month or so. That can be harder to do than you think. We'll see how it turns out. I am trying to label things well, in the case that I need to un-pack and find something.


My father-in-law and I went out to the building and took all the boxes that I had packed up so far. It took a long time to load them up from here and then unload them to there. I had decided to splurge and get a room that was climate controlled. The downfall is that they are inside...you go in a door from the outside and walk down hallways to get to your room. It would be tons easier to have one that you could just back-up to and drop your things off and go. However, seeing as how we live in SC and the weather is in the 90s this week and probably going to be in the 100s by the end of the month, I thought it might cut down on the sweating. Who knows if it will end up being more of a pain to have the storage room or not...but we have it now and it was nice to be able to walk through the house with our company this weekend.




Aralyn will be 2 years old tomorrow so we celebrated this weekend. My parents came, one of my sisters and one of my brothers and Adam's parents came for the party part. I was so behind on all my plans for the party, that I sort of threw everything together at the last minute. The cake was one of those things.


For Alora's 2 year old party, she had Dora, more my choice than hers. Aralyn chose Dora herself. It is all we talk about some days it seems. Doda eh Boots eh Doda eh Boots.


The cake I made for Alora was in the shape of Dora's head. It was the pattern that they have on the Nick Jr. website. Cute, but time consuming. I didn't have that sort of time, so I faked it. I made two rounds and decorated them (orange and purple and green...I know it looks like blue water). I had some Dora figures that were birthday party themed, so I decided to put them on as cake toppers. I didn't think about the fact that they don't have wide bottoms, so they didn't want to stand up. I think Boots and Dora were stuck in up to their waists to keep them from falling over (again), so the swirly purple (which looks blue in pictures) looks like water and Dora with her arms up looks like she is drowning. Oh well! Aralyn was happy with it!


She got lots of Dora related things for her birthday and she and Alora have had some fun dressing up her new Dora doll in the 3 outfits that she has.


My mom always brings all my children something when she comes...spoiling them. She brought Alora a cute little book that you decorate with little magnets that look like stickers. Aidan has a train book that is like this, but Alora doesn't care for it. The one she received is about some princesses getting dressed for a party, so you put their dresses on and shoes and crowns. Cute!


Aidan's book is super cute too. It is called Why Grandpa Rides a Harley. The grandson in the book is named Aidan, so my mom said she had to get it. The last reason in the book is-because your grandma likes to ride her Harley. Since both my parents have Harleys, it is fitting.


We watched 3 very good movies too. I had stopped by the rental store with my sister and we picked out Stranger than Fiction- weird but funny, A Good Woman- this one was based on an Oscar Wilde play and was surprisingly witty and ended, also surprisingly, happily. The last movie was Blood Diamond this one was vary good and riveting, but so hard to watch. I have read a book or two about the African problems mentioned in this movie and it just seems so futile. Probably most heartbreaking were the child soldiers. I just can't imagine the horrors that they endure in the brainwashing they undergo. What a heartbreak.




Overall we had a wonderful weekend with our families. I was glad that my parents got to hear Adam preach on Sunday...might be the last time they have the opportunity for a while. And, I don't even have to be sad that my baby is growing up until tomorrow!


footer