Update

So, my parents have dial up... that's why there hasn't been any updating until now. So, here's a quick overview of my life these days (without pictures of course - due to the before-mentioned absence of high-speed):

1. Living at my parents - staying in the same room with my daughter, who at one year of age, has decided not to sleep through the night anymore. NOT good for me. I was hoping sleep deprevation would go away after the child was 3 months old. Apparently, I haven't learned the lesson the Lord is trying to teach me through this. Lord, please hurry - I'm tired!

1. (con't) Chet has come in a few weekends. It's been GREAT to have him here even if we do have to sleep in a double bed (of which my precious man takes up the whole thing) in the same room with our no-need-for-sleep daughter. We may be walking around like zombies but we are together!!

2. My daughter will be one on Thursday. Wow - this Thursday... that means it's been a whole year and I STILL have baby weight to lose. Was it harder with the second child for everyone?

3. Our new home will be complete no later than June 4. That's the contract date, so I'm not holding my breath that it will be any sooner - however, our real estate agent has been by there several times and she says it's coming along great. The cabinets, molding, and painting are done... and Chet went last week to finish picking out appliances and light fixtures. I'm anxious to see what it all will look like!

4. My son will be 3 in June. We decided to have his party here before we go... so that means I'm planning two bday parties in the next three weeks. One with girly stuff which is more fun that I (who is not so girly) thought it would ever be... and one with Lightning, Mater, Sally, and the whole Cars bunch. It should be a big blowout with a spacewalk from Duvall's Amusement. My poor parents - they didn't really ask for all this excitement at their house!!

5. The last few days has been a chore cleaning out my parents' garage with a good bit of my grandparents' things. Garage sale will be May 12th. Hopefully it will all go - if not, I'm taking it to the Rescue Mission. NOT keeping any of it!!

Well, this is just a peek into our lives for the last few weeks. Hope you are all enlightened! Maybe I'll be able to persuade someone (Troy) to let me use his high speed internet and post some pictures after the aforementioned upcoming events.

House Found!

So, I used to think house hunting would be so much fun. Well, I guess if you're not in a hurry to find one it is. Monday was fun, Tuesday was okay, and Wednesday, I was so confused I couldn't remember what I looked at on Monday. Even the engineer within me who created a checklist for house hunting was confused!! More about the checklist later...

So, here it is:
This is the house we will inhabit - come end of May. It won't be complete until then, so we will be at mom and dad's a little longer than expected... however, we will have everything we wanted with this one. After looking at about 35 houses in three days, we decided this was the one. So, there you have it. We'll be Kansas residents come June. We're VERY excited!

And about the checklist - yes, this is the engineer type in me - I highly recommend making a checklist if you're looking at houses. I made one of all the things I "had to have" and "preferred to have" and "did NOT want" and it made looking a lot quicker. I just walked through each house and put checks and "x"es in the columns and on to the next house we went. It made reviewing them at the end of the day much easier - not to mention answering questions Chet had about them... since you can't take pictures and all.

Just for fun - here's what it looked like when we left for La this morning (yes, in April):They say this isn't normal for April - I sure hope so!

And... I can't blog about this without saying how the Lord has completely taken us through this process step by step. He has blessed us with selling and buying in a short time, with Chet's new (really wonderful) job, with grandparents who are perfectly willing to keep the kids while we work out the details, and most of all, with His desire for us in, "...plans to prosper and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future." May He be glorified in our lives.

new pics

Elizabeth - you sure are demanding!

SOLD

Well, our house sold the first day!! It is a blessing, for sure. God has truly seen us through this whole process with ease and I pray that He will continue to guide us...

Since I've been asked (ahem, Elizabeth) to update my blog more regularly with the moving news, I'll try to post more frequently! We are headed to Kansas to look for a house (and hopefully purchase one) this coming Sunday. My beloved starts work there on Monday and I will be with him for the first week - looking at houses and checking out where to get my hair done during the day - and then he'll see the few I've narrowed it down to in the evening. We will be back on Friday for his going away party with the office here and then he'll head back up there the next Sunday.

The movers pack and load our belongings the next week and we're out! The kids and I will be moving in with my parents until we are able to close on a home in Kansas. Hopefully, it won't be too long...

So, that's the update. I'll let you know what we find in wheat country!

You know you're hooked when...

... you order a "Grande Decaf Skinny Cinammon Dolche Latte with one Splenda." Yes, I found my self saying those words very recently. Never before had I ordered coffee with the "appropriate" language, but somehow, it just came out. At that very moment in time, as I stood glaring at the menu just above my head, I knew I would no longer be a casual coffee drinker. It was certain - I was now a member of the latte society.

Moving

Well, the process has begun. If I'm not talking to a relocation agent, it's a real estate agent or a moving agent or a mortgage agent... they're all agents. Some of them are VERY helpful... and some are not so much...

You know how when you tell people you're pregnant they tell you their horrible birthing stories? Well, when you tell people you're moving, they tell you all about the things they had lost, stolen, or broken! It's a little disturbing. I told Chet he would have to pull a U-Haul behind us full of everything we can move and the movers will be carrying only the heavy things we can't pick up ourselves! We'll just have to see how it goes, I guess. The lady from the moving company is coming to "inventory" our belongings tomorrow. That should be interesting... and probably a little convicting - I mean about how much unnecessary "stuff" I have... anyway, the house goes on the market on Monday. If you know anyone who might want one in our area, let them know! We have a fantastic real estate agent who will show it to them, gladly! This weekend will be spent painting, fixing cracks, cleaning out flowerbeds, etc. I can't imagine how I'll get everything done before then, but it will happen one way or another. Amazing how many things you just learn to live with - but you know no one else will want... like chips out of paint and weeds and such.

Wichita, here we come!

We are moving - to Wichita, Kansas! Chet got an offer from Johnson Controls - Controls division and we can't pass it up. He will be the Quality Manager at the JCI Facility that makes Heating and Air Conditioning units in Wichita. We are sad to leave friends and family, but excited about the new ministry opportunities the Lord is giving us in a new place!

Chet and I went this weekend and checked out the city and the housing market there. I was pleased to find a Starbucks and a Talbots (and also a Williams-Sonoma that Chet says he'll have to limit my trips into!) Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised to find out we'll have plenty of room for anyone to come visit ANYTIME - so, when we get settled, come on and we'll put you up in the Sears' Hilton - or maybe just the Sears' hotel...

I am excited to be staying home with the kids when we get there. It'll be a new adventure for me as I've always said I wasn't cut out for full-time stay-at-home work... but here we go - hope I can stay sane! There are many parks (a list of like 45 - really!) so we'll be outdoors a lot... and there are several museums along the Arkansas River to visit so I'm sure the kids and I will be checking them all out very soon!

Chet will be leaving soon to go up there and work - so pray for us as I finish working in Shreveport while trying to get our house ready to sell... which should be an interesting task! Also, pray that the Lord will provide us with Christian friends there who will encourage us and lift us up in Him. I'm sad to be leaving the precious friends he has given me here, but I know He will provide for us there too!

We'll try to keep you posted as things progress... but until then, check out how far you are from Wichita at Yahoo Maps:

http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw--#mvt=m&q1=Wichita%2C%20KS&trf=0&lon=-97.36084&lat=37.701207&mag=13&env=F

We can handle it!

There must be a sign on our front door that says, "Bring it on - the Sears can handle it!" Last week, Stahley got the chicken pox. This is the calamine before she had the worst ones... then, yesterday morning around 4am, I woke up sick. I threw up until around 10am. I was okay after that besides being so dizzy I couldn't even sit up! Wow - I watched tv all day lying down. NOT my idea of fun.

Tonight, Stone got sick at the dinner table. He was fine 5 minutes later, so I'm thinking he just gagged himself with too much food. He tries to cram so much in his mouth at once. I still don't understand that, but we're working on it. Anyway, time will tell. If he gets sick again, I'll assume he has my virus. If not, it was just the food... or maybe the cook!

Stone's mom & Grant's mom

Andrew's mom & Philip's mom (in the background on the futon)
Maggie's & Olivia's mom

On a more fun (or CRAZY) note, we DID spend the night to get into preschool at St. Pauls. We were fifth on the list. Stone's 5 little friends were 1-4 and 6. Jenifer, Kelly, Kim, Lauren, and I made a night of it, ordered Outback around 6pm, watched movies, and got Starbucks around 9pm. It was an interesting evening, but all in all, we're glad we did it. By 7pm Sunday night (yes, we were there at 1:30pm on Sunday!!) all the 3day a week 3 year old slots were full. Would I do it again? Probably...