The Suite Life

When we sold our old house we were only supposed to be spending 3 days in a hotel suite before closing on our new house. We sold the old one on Monday and were closing on the new one on Thursday. That got pushed off to Friday.

Then after we signed all the documents on Friday and even got the keys to our new house, we were told the bad news. The money to purchase our new home had been delayed due to a paperwork issue and was currently stuck in a bank in New York. It wouldn't process until the following Monday. So the former owners were afraid to let us move into our new home over the weekend, because if the money somehow did not go through, they would be stuck with a family of 8 squatting in their home.

That's why all 8 of us ended up squished in one room with two queen size beds and a fold out couch for a week. It made me feel really bad for families who have to live long term in a hotel. But it was a little like child birth; painful, uncomfortable, longer than you ever think it will be, but worth it in the end to get a beautiful blessing.

Fence Follies

Just before the sale of our home was supposed to come to completion, we hit a snag. The home inspection had gone off without a hitch. But then the person who was sent by the bank to do an appraisal noticed some flecks of white paint on one little section of our fence beside the house.

He reported it and said it could be lead based because our home was built in the 70's. So we had to replace that one section of fence and remove any and all flecks of paint on the ground among the dirt and small rocks. You know, in case the future owners plan to allow their 6 and 8 year old daughters to spend hours each day sucking on the fence or licking the dirt. I said that was silly. Just because parents decide to let their kids suck on the fence and lick the dirt, doesn't mean they'll choose that particular spot. There is plenty of yummy unpainted fence around the yard, after all.

So, in observance of the lunacy already begun, we allowed the kids to help put up the new fence boards. They thoroughly enjoyed it and we were only out approximately a hundred bucks and a day's worth of time.

Zoo-per Birthday!

For "Spaceman Spiff's" 8th birthday we took him to the Denver zoo. We surprised him by showing up in his 2nd grade classroom with all our kids and saying, "Happy Birthday!" Then we checked him out of class early and took him for a fun filled afternoon. We debated whether or not to take him out of class, but in the end we decided that the wonderful surprise and memory would be better than an extra 2 hours of class time, especially in the life of a little boy who has so rarely had good things done for him. Since he ended up having to leave our home approximately a week later, I was so glad we made his birthday extra special.

The Boss (or so she thinks)

Katie is 100% sure that she is in charge here. If anyone tells her, "no" about anything at all she will burst into tears and tell us "they said no to me!" She will demand that I sing to her, "Mommy SING!" and she will smile sweetly while doing what we've told her not to.

If we try to talk to her about what she's done wrong (because she can fully understand us), she will squeeze her eyes shut and pretend she's not there. She is the most talkative child we've ever known. We're constantly amazed at her vocabulary. Or, as she would say, it's "awesome!"

What's odd to me is her logic. She will hit someone repeatedly to get what she wants or to get their attention, but if they grab her hand to stop her she will scream bloody murder and run to tell me that, "hit baby, no no!" That's what she calls herself. If you ask her what her name is she'll tell you, "I Baby". She also likes to point to me and announce to strangers, "that my mommy."

She's a very strong willed, outspoken little 1 1/2 year old and she very much knows what she wants. I think we'll have to continue to disagree, however, on who is actually in charge here.

Popsicles, Chalk, Walk

This year it seemed like Colorado didn't know it was supposed to be Fall or winter. We just kept having beautiful "Indian Summer" days. Our family took full advantage of it. I'm sure some of the reason was the sweet sadness of knowing that we'd be selling our home very soon. We wanted to spend time walking the paths that had become so special and familiar to us over the past few years.

We let the kids take chalk with them on this walk, so we had colorful little scenes all along the way and at the playground where we spent some time. I know there will be new trails to discover next summer in our new home, but this is where we first took Kevin on long walks in his stroller and where he first learned to toddle down the sidewalk. And these are the roads that we pulled Katie along, throwing little toys and sippy cups over the sides of the wagon that we've had since the kids' godparents surprised us with it when Gloria was a baby 9 years ago.

This was our first real "home" in Colorado and the place that won our hearts over, letting us believe that maybe we were meant to live here after all.

Half Sister, Whole Hearted Love

We learned over the summer that Brianna and Shane had a new baby half sister named Nevaeh (Nuh-vay-uh) through their biological mother. The family of their other half sister, Kylie, called us up to ask if I would come to court and testify about a few things regarding their adoption. We hadn't heard from their family since December of 2009.

Through all of that we were able to schedule a visit with Kylie. They live almost 2 hours away. We were invited to have lunch in her home. She has a very loving father and extended family through him. Kylie is a sweet little thing and very smart. Brianna and Shane haven't lived with her since she was one year old. They really loved getting to spend time with her again. I hope we can continue to have visits and exchange photos and letters in the year ahead. Keeping siblings together is an issue very dear to me, so we'll do whatever it takes to maintain a relationship with any current and future siblings they may have.

Friends are the Spice of Life

My good friend, Deanna, and her family moved to a new home at around the same time that we did. So we tested it's capacity by accepting her invitation to lunch. The kids were all incredibly hyper running up and down the stairs and in and outside. They must have played with every toy in the whole house.

Katie and her best buddy, Elizabeth, were the cutest. They pushed matching strollers with doll babies in them all around the house. Meanwhile, Deanna's husband Chad worked on our car with Daniel out in the driveway. Chad diagnosed our air conditioning problem and bought and installed a new fan for us. Good friends are such a blessing! Especially ones that aren't freaked out by our horde of children. Of course, with Deanna expecting their 4th child soon, I suppose they are just practicing for having their own horde.

The House We Didn't Buy

It's funny how God works things out some times. When our old house went under contract the first week of September (or would you call it the first week of August?) we were a bit panicked. The only house we had an offer in on was a short sale, and we'd only put the offer in 4 weeks prior to that. Short sales take about 6 months to a year to complete.

So we suddenly had to find a perfect home, that we could afford, and put in an offer, be accepted and get to closing in less than 30 days. After frantically looking for a week, we found the one in this photo and put in an offer. The day after we wrote the offer, our realtor called to say our short sale house was miraculously going to be able to close no later than mid-October. Although it was a little smaller than the one shown here, it had a fully finished walk out basement. It was no contest. So we took back our offer on this one and prayed fervently that God would continue to work everything out on the short sale.

We got another call a week later saying that now the bank wanted the whole short sale deal done by September 30th. Our realtor had the impossible task of getting everything approved and filed and processed, etc in less than 15 days. They moved mountains and despite a few glitches (like the money for our loan accidentally getting delayed over the weekend) we were in our new home by the first week of October. We only had to stay in a hotel for one week. We learned that everything we owned filled 5 large storage units. We also learned that God has His hand upon everything we do, so there is no need to panic, no need to fear. He is sovereign and He knows our needs and the desires of our heart.