12 Days and Counting ...

12 days. That is the number of days until we are no longer owners and residents of our beautiful historic home. That is not too many ... less than two weeks. Wow.

Appraisal's In ...

... and we are good! I have been praying like crazy that our house would appraise out at the sell price, and it did -- even a little more! Looks like we are one step closer to moving and it definitely time to start packing!

God is good and His timing is, too!

Ask and You Shall Receive ...

I know that I have been lax in posting pictures the past few months, so here are a bunch to try to catch up ...


Here is the low-down on each picture:
The first is a PJ party with his cousins, Harlee, Kellyn and Keegan.
The second is him blowing out the candle at his second birthay party.
The third and fourth are of Drew and cousin Liam at Halloween -- Drew was a scarecrow and Liam was a crow.
The next three are making Christmas cookies at Ma-wroose & Papa's house.
The last one is of Drew, Papa and Ma-wroose at Auntie Anne's surprise 30th birthday party -- this was such a cute night because Drew kept slinging his arms around Ma-wroose and Papa for a picture.


Enjoy!

"Awwwww. Tute!"

Drew's vocabulary is astounding. He speaks so well, and says so many different things. Some of my favorite phrases that Drew says right now are:

• When he sees something that he thinks is cute, like if I wear a new shirt, or his baby moose animal shape, he says, "Awwww. Tute!" (Translated: Awww. Cute!) It is so sweet!
• When he is kidding around and being goofy, if you say something to him that he thinks if funny or doesn't think is right he will say, "No waaaay!"
• When we are playing, he will lay himself in our lap and say, "I a baby, Mama. Gooo-goooo-aaaa."
• Whenever he sees a game on TV (no matter the sport or the team) he says, "Gooo wions!"

He also is doing a great job counting and can usually count to 13 without help (although he sometimes goes from 2 to 5 ... ).

On our way to St. Louis the other day, I gave Drew a Doc Hudson car (from "the movie Caarrs" as Drew says it) to help keep him occupied for the long drive. One of the things that Drew has done for the past year and a half, or so, is that he pumps his arm up and down as we go by "beep-beeps" (semi-trucks) to try to get them to beep at us. After I gave him Doc Hudson, he kept bouncing Doc up in the air when we passed a truck and when they didn't beep at us he would say, "Ohhh. DocHudson missed it. Oh, man!" and then he would purposely giggle. It was so funny. Tim and I were cracking up! It was dark so none of the trucks could see Drew or Doc Hudson, so he said it over and over.

Each night before bed we pray with Drew and we often pray that Jesus will heal Papa's memory (Papa is my dad, Fred). This morning, when Drew woke up I asked him if he slept well. He said yes. I asked him if he had any dreams. He said yes. Then I asked him what he dreamt about. He said, "Papa-wroose. They get better." I am not sure what this was all about, but if it was a dream about Papa's memory being healed, I say bring it on, Jesus! :)

I love this little boy -- he is soooo tute! :)

New House?

So, last week we walked through the first "potential" new home. It is in a very ideal location (in Michigan, people) but it is a total no due to size and a very funky lay-out! Tim, Drew and I met our realtor there, and my mom joined us because she has been dying to see this house. Drew was totally into looking at the new house. When we walked into one of the rooms, we talked about it being like Drew's room because it had the same ceiling fan. My mom told Drew something about playing cars in the room. In his sweet little mind, I guess that it meant that it was now his room. He would take our hand and bring us in the room and say, "See. See Daddy. My new wroom. I pay cars in here." It was so funny!

Later that night, we were getting ready to go out of town. I told Drew that we had to get ready to go bye-bye. He looked at me and said, "We go to new house?"

I don't think he gets the overall process ... giggle! A couple more house on the list to look at ... we'll keep you posted.

It's Never Easy ...

Well, we officially started looking at houses today. In respect for our time, the sellers time and their sanity, we decided to drive by all houses before we see them. We drove by literally 15-ish houses and I didn't see one that I would want to follow up with a scheduled walk-through on. I remember when we were looking for a house the first time and we hit a few discouraging moments ... well, we had our first one today. I think we are feeling pressure because we need to figure out a place to move to in less than a month since our close date is (unofficially) February 9. If we can't find a house, then we need to find something to rent ... I know that God will take care of us, and He has a plan, but this is a bit of a stressful phase.

Going. Going. Gone!

So, it is official. After a few rounds of back-and-forth, and almost nine months on the market, we have sold our house. As of now, our close date is February 9 -- that is like one month and one day away! I cannot believe it! We are going to have to hustle to get all packed in that amount of time.

I am not going to lie, I totally cried the night it was all finalized. My poor hubby just couldn't believe it. I couldn't help it! I just keep thinking about Drew's adorable nursery, our beautiful dining room, all of the work we have done, our perfect Christmas tree window ... Drew's first steps in the living room, bringing him home the first day ... all of these things ... and it just made me sad to leave. I know that it will be better for us -- much, much better, in fact -- to get a house on a bigger piece of property, but I will miss this house. It is so beautiful and full of character -- I just love it!

Evidently, the couple that is purchasing the house is totally in love with it, so that will make the whole process easier. They walked through the house three separate times (they were also the first couple to ever ask for a showing). The first was while we were in St. Louis for my Uncle's funeral. The second was the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend. The third was the second Saturday in December at 9:15 in the morning (ugh!) -- we had to cancel a date night so we could get ready for that one! :) Since then, they had expressed interest in making an offer, but we just weren't sure when it was coming. It came on Monday this week, and it was a relief to know that someone sees as much value in the house as we do.

We have a couple of house options to drive by and possibly go through (trust me, I will never flippantly walk through a house for sale again -- unless it is an Open House. It is too stressful for the seller to have to get everything ready to just take it lightly!!) but if those don't work out, we will probably just do an apartment until we can find the house.

So, please pray, pray, pray. Pray that our house appraises at the price that we agreed on; that all of the financials go through; that we don't pack up everything only to find out that something is not going to work; that everything goes smoothly; that Drew transitions well to wherever we end up. And, while you are at it, praise God for blessing us with a buyer. I am extremely thankful for His provision and timing.

We'll keep you all posted of our new address -- as soon as we have it! :)

Katie