The House is Sold!

I took a couple pictures during our hotel stay that I thought I would share.  The pool pictures make me smile.  The boys had a great time jumping in as creatively as the could, while Grace spent her time in the shallow end.  David went in the pool w/Rich on a different night, so I didn’t get any pictures of him. 
I  like the picture of me and “the babies” because it reminds me of when I just had J and E.  They were that little once and I have pictures of a younger “me” with them on my lap.  Time goes by so quickly.  J and E don’t sit on my lap anymore, they’re too big!   I’m so thankful for my little ones, and that I still have children in my lap!
We’re back from the hotel now, it’s been a good week, but we’re all tired.  I have the kids taking naps right now and I’m going to go lay down when I’m done here.
House update:  We have one offer “on the table”, and a very interested couple that want to look at the house for the second time tonight.  We’ll see!

Pool Fun:

Rich took the kids swimming the first night we were there.  My children are rarely in a pool, and their only experiences in a pool were structured swimming lessons.  This was their first time just having fun.  Jacob came back the first night with a red front.  Rich laughingly told me later that Jacob did a belly-flop and hit the water as straight as a board.  When he came back up for air he said, “This water SLAPS!!!”  From then on, he was more careful about his “entry position”.

Me and the Little ones:

Can anyone guess my favorite color? 

“Choose to be joyful,
Choose to be thankful, and
Choose to be real.”

I took a couple pictures during our hotel stay that I thought I would share.  The pool pictures make me smile.  The boys had a great time jumping in as creatively as the could, while Grace spent her time in the shallow end.  David went in the pool w/Rich on a different night, so I didn’t get any pictures of him. 
I  like the picture of me and “the babies” because it reminds me of when I just had J and E.  They were that little once and I have pictures of a younger “me” with them on my lap.  Time goes by so quickly.  J and E don’t sit on my lap anymore, they’re too big!   I’m so thankful for my little ones, and that I still have children in my lap!
We’re back from the hotel now, it’s been a good week, but we’re all tired.  I have the kids taking naps right now and I’m going to go lay down when I’m done here.
House update:  We have one offer “on the table”, and a very interested couple that want to look at the house for the second time tonight.  We’ll see!

Pool Fun:

Rich took the kids swimming the first night we were there.  My children are rarely in a pool, and their only experiences in a pool were structured swimming lessons.  This was their first time just having fun.  Jacob came back the first night with a red front.  Rich laughingly told me later that Jacob did a belly-flop and hit the water as straight as a board.  When he came back up for air he said, “This water SLAPS!!!”  From then on, he was more careful about his “entry position”.

Me and the Little ones:

Can anyone guess my favorite color? 

“Choose to be joyful,
Choose to be thankful, and
Choose to be real.”

A Purpleamethyst76 Update!

We have a lot of people coming to look at the house we are selling so we are still staying in a hotel.  I am home now with the kids so that I can do some laundry, air the place out, let the kids play with the neighbors, make a few phone calls, and get some more things for tonight and tomorrow. 
We visited the house we are buying yesterday and it was so neat to walk in it and around outside.  I didn’t know that I will have a creek!  I love the sound of running water!  And this is not one of those little creeks that dry up in the summer, it’s full of nice rushing water.  The kids had such a fun time catching little frogs out of the pond with nets. 

I am reminded once again of the importance of continuing to take care of myself even if my schedule and life is thrown off track a little.  I need to keep up with my devotions so that I don’t feel weak spiritually.  I need to also take care of my body by eating and drinking properly and getting enough rest and exercise.  I also need to make sure I am taking good care of the children.

“Lady’s Mantle” from my garden.

Caleb walked
half way
across the room today!

Hurray!

I am the type of person who thinks that everything in the house has to be spotless, and it has to look like a picture from a magazine.  I will feel guilty over everything–the crayon on the walls, the tree that needs to be cut down, the cats that live here.  I get stressed.  This is a perfect opportunity for me to learn to let go.

Rich is doing as much as he can.  He was home yesterday at 3:45 and we went away with the kids for a night at a hotel.  His company paid for it.  A whole suite, with enough room for the 7 of us.  It was AWESOME.  He is working from the hotel today.  We may check out this morning if there is just the 1 appointment:

(Today there is an appointment at 11 and so I came home to just freshen things up, spray windex around, wipe the counters off w/lysol wipes, and throw a load of laundry in the wash.)

Thanks for all the prayers.  It feels so good to know that people are praying.

PS.  The sign is up now.  Makes me feel sad and strange.  I’ve still been thinking of it as mine, all mine.  We found out today that 2 more of our neighbors are planning on moving. 

Later. . . . .Now I am in the hotel on Rich’s laptop.  He just left with David to go pick up some furniture for Elissa.  I just read mymeandering’s blog and it’s put me in the same mood that I get in when I look at an inspiring magazine or read an inspiring book.  Love it! 

We have 2 more house appointments tomorrow and one is a re-show.  Someone is interested enough to come back!  That’s a good sign!

Okay, what to do when I want quiet but I have 2 crazy boys in the room with me?

The sign isn’t even on the front yard, but we have 3 appointments already for today.  The first one is at 4:30 and so I am busy cleaning.  The kids are all in bed.

Pray for me!

We were up late last night.  We took the kids to see fireworks  It was fun and it was beautiful.  Caleb was especially cute.  His little eyes would blink-blink at the bright lights and then he would point up at them.  The boys watched silently, with a comment or a cheer now and then.  Grace was another story, she was bounces, giggles, laughter, chitter-chatter, and excitement (“that’s what little girls are made of”).
Did you ever notice that when you think, “oh, the kids are so tired, they’ll sleep SO good tonight”, it doesn’t happen?  David woke up with a bad dream at 4:00am.  Rich and I had a very hard time getting back to sleep.
We were up for the day before 8, faced with the challenge of cleaning the house for online pictures (to sell the house).  Oh, was that hard.  I ALMOST thought about crying when the real estate agent was walking down the driveway and I checked the boys room to see a “pig pen”.  But, thankfully, it all came together and our agent was nothing but praise for us, “I can’t believe you have 5 children in this house, you would never know it”.  Apparently she’s seen a few houses in her day that were less than clean. 
That’s over now and the papers are signed.  The house is officially on the market and I have to be ready with short notice for people to come see it.  I have to be out of the house on Wednesday from 9 to 3 for the agents to all come see it.
Rich had a softball game today and we just got back and fed the kids and put them to bed.

Now we’re going to try to get take out and have a nice late dinner together.

Relax

Writing Lesson:

I read this in an old Reader’s Digest and thought it was funny:

How to Write Good

Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
No sentence fragments.
It behooves us to avoid archaisms.
Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
Don’t use no double negetives.
If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times:  Resist hyperbole.
Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Writing carefully, dangling participles should not be used.
Kill all exclamation points!!!
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Take the bull by the hand, and don’t mix metaphors.
Don’t verb nouns.
Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
Las but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

Okay, maybe this is not interesting to some of you, but I got a chuckle out of it.

and Thoughts. . . . . . .

I spent some time today w/Karen.  It was nice to visit with a friend.  We talked a little bit about eating organically.  Do any of you have any suggestions or comments about healthy food choices?  Recipes?  I made a recipe using bulger (whole grain wheat) last week and it was good.  It was basically a pilaf, you saute mushrooms and green onions in some butter, add the bulger and some water, cover it and bake it in the oven.  It had a nice, nutty, earthy taste to it.
I feel a pull to slow down and get back to a basic lifestyle.  I want to focus on my relationship with the Lord, family and friends, to love my neighbors and my church family, to enjoy God’s creation, to eat and drink in a more healthy way, to re-discover the meanings of holidays, to teach my children how to be creative without plugging something in or replacing batteries.  I love to read, I love quiet, and I love the simple things in life.