Movin' On Up

I wish I had pictures of our moving truck! My sister-in-law does - so I need to get some copies. As I mentioned before, the truck was quite the sight! Our camera was buried somewhere for most of the moving chaos, but here are a few shots!
Yeah, I look a little haggard here...I think this was day 2 of unpacking. We were all tired as you can see.
Jason's creativity while marking boxes. You see, I like every box labeled with contents. I guess he was tired of describing the many pots we own.
Evelyn was such a great helper!
Her reason to learn how to crawl on moving day - explore the contraband that was sprawled all over!!!!

Tree Limbs Crashing Down

Quick pre-moving story. Five days before closing, a wind storm came through our old 'hood and caused this tree limb to fall on our garage roof. Not good. Long story short, we took care of it and were REALLY glad to just get out of there before the whole house fell down!!!! :-
)

Story Time

I do have many stories to tell! The computer was in the basement for the first couple of weeks we were here and I never wanted to go down there to be on it because the floors are hard tile and Evelyn was quite accident-prone with her new crawling abilities. But, Jason moved it up the spare room, and alas, here I am to blog!

The first story was of the drive here. It was B.A.D. I have blocked most of it out of my memory because it was really that bad. I planned to leave for the four-hour drive by 2:00. I think it was after 5:00 by the time we left. We ended up having the truck early, so Jason also came with on Thursday night unlike the original plan for just Evelyn and I to go. So, I followed Jason who was driving the 26-foot cab U-Haul pulling our Taurus behind it. We still don't know how he made some of the turns as it was seriously longer than a semi! To backtrack a bit, we were really blessed to have Mike and Tessa help and stay until we shut the door of the old house one last time and get every last thing cleared out (we BARELY got everything with us - the guys had to unpack and repack the truck, van, and car again and again to make it all fit. Crazy!!!). We ate the last Popsicles out the freezer and hurried off. It was a surreal feeling leaving that empty house behind, not even knowing for sure if we would ever be back in that town even.

Poor little Evelyn was kind of freaked out I think about all of the commotion of the previous days and she was in the back seat of the van surrounded by stuff packed all the way almost to the ceiling! She was such a trooper for the drive, but despite no naps really that day, SHE NEVER SLEPT A WINK during the drive! I pulled over more times than I kept track of. My saving grace was the plate of peanut butter cookies that Tessa made for us as they kept my blood sugar high and appeased Evelyn as I Gumby-twisted my arm back to give her crumbs. I also had to give her water bottles, pop cans, pens, and other forbidden objects for 30-second intervals of her happiness!

But, we did make it eventually, and around 10:30 had left the U-Haul on the new street for the night. We fought off the June bugs (yuck, they are plentiful here) and made our way to Burger King for an 11:00 nutritious dinner! :-) We slept at Jason and Christy's that night - it was so nice of them to have us. Evelyn was so glad to be out of a car seat and chaos that she had an adrenalin rush that had her bouncing off the walls until 1 a.m. (this is when her schedule was officially ruined and is still being repaired!)

We were thrown another curve ball the next day at closing. They were holding the key until the money was wired. We were told there should not be any problems, but, we did not get the key until 4 hours after closing and we were so blessed that the previous owners were still in town as the glitch involved a paper that they had to sign. Me and Jason's stomachs were both in knots as we sat and waited homeless in our van. There was a time when it was looking pretty dim that we would leave with the key and that having to wait until the following week for the banks to re-open and straighten things out. But, God totally worked everything out and with about 5 minutes to spare before the end of the banking day, we had our key!

As Jason mentioned, family and friends have been so generous and welcoming to us! We had so much help and tons of delicious goodies from friends! We really do love it here and are getting quite settled in.

We have already enjoyed the closeness to family as well - we have done the trip to my home state the past two weekends for a dance recital and my sister Brittany's graduation party. For both events we loved being able to attend, but loved even more the fact that we did not have to pack suitcases and were able to come home and sleep in our own bed!

More stories to come and more "normal" posts about our little crawler (who is attacking the printer under my feet as I type!)

Quick Run-down

It has been a CRAZY last couple of weeks! Hence, no posts and very little reading of anyone else's blogs.

Here is a quick run-down of what has been going on at the Our Love Story house:

• We sold our house in late April. There were a few bumps in the road regarding the inspection. We had to take money off of the price to compensate for the aging roof. We also had to pay $950 to mitigate the radon level in the basement. Never knew what radon was before... It is pretty nasty stuff. The buyers paid for the radon test, but we legally had to pay for it. All in all, we are trying not to think about all of the money that we lost and just be thankful that we have sold the house as many are still for sale in the neighborhood. Being together (all week :-) again as a family is priceless.
• We found a house in the new city about a week after we had the offer on our house. Just like we were suspecting, God knew that our new house wasn't ready yet so that is why it took so long to sell this house. It is a nice 3-bedroom ranch built in 1976. I am most looking forward to the larger kitchen and windows and patio doors that face the backyard and playset. I can already imagine our kids playing on that playset and me watching them out the kitchen window! Praise the Lord we got the house - we acted fast and beat out several other buyers. Unlike the housing market here, the market in the new city is hopping!
• Dance Recital Extravaganza Weekend was last weekend. My mom had her recital on Friday night and my step-mom's studio had their's all weekend - we attended the Saturday night show. I always love to see my siblings (yes, even my brothers dance adorably) dance! It does make me miss dancing SO much. I don't dance, sing or act anymore - I miss that chance at creative outlet. I hope I can take a dance class, join a choir, or sing on a worship team after we move and are settled in. I am very proud of my mom and step-mom for their great choreography. The shows were both great, and as always, get better every year.
• Due to our situation, I caught a ride with Jason and stayed with my Anderson family for the week before the recitals. This way, I avoided a 5 1/2 hour car trip alone with Evelyn. The week went by fast and was filled with costume and hairpiece making and other recital preparations. My mom makes most of her costumes! We also got to stay with the Johnson fam after my stepmom's recital for a night. Great Grandma Jane was also in town from Phoenix. We saw lots of other relatives at both recitals, too. It is great to see (aka show Evelyn off to) them! :-)
• After the weekend, Evelyn and I took the Amtrak train home. This was a nice way to travel. Evelyn thoroughly enjoyed being out of a carseat for travel! We were blessed with double seats the whole time and I was able to watch most of my mother's day gift from the Johnson's, "27 Dresses," on our portable DVD player. The train was delayed by almost 2 hours due to track work. And, my porr friend Tessa got lost coming to get us at the train station. So, it was a much longer journey than expected, but still better than a van ride alone with an infant (yeah, I get to do the 4 hour ride alone on moving day. Start praying now as Evelyn usually gets the "mommy entertainment show" during long rides while daddy drives...)
• I am crowned! The crown on my back molar is on. I managed to totally grind my temporary crown to a sharp peak. My cheek is glad to have that thing gone! This confirms my suspicion that I do indeed grind my teeth. I have a constantly sore and clicking jaw. So, I pretty much already knew that I grind my teeth and need a mouth guard. I tried an over-the-counter version once that failed miserably as I could not close my lips over it... A story for another post.
• Evelyn is a little Cheerio lover!!! She also likes fruit puffs and these rice wafers that I found. I gave up on baby food a long time ago as she never liked it. But, my little babe loves to gum these new treats that I have been feeding her. I even managed to pass one back to her at a stop light today - great new distraction!
• Evelyn is also in love with trying to kneel or stand, but can only do so with assistance. She knows all of the ways her body moves and she is screaming for freedom (sometimes even literally!) Diaper changes and putting her into the carseat have sometimes been challenging lately as she tries to roll away from me. She might be one of those kids who skips crawling...we'll see! I really want her to learn everything in her own time and not be forced to move to a milestone. And, I really don't mind any days she give me of being immobile - I know life will get even crazier when she is mobile!
• We had a rockstar weekend of garage sale-ing. I hope to post about all of my great deals!
• Packing is coming along slowly but surely. Jason is much better at staying on top of it and that motivates me - I am the procrastinator. The big move day is June 6th. We plan to have the 26 foot U-Haul packed up Thursday night and then Jason will drive it over on Friday morning. Both home closings are on Friday. I am planning to be at a friend's house on Thursday night so that I don't have to sleep on a floor and then try to drive alone with a baby under a very important time crunch.
• I can't remember everything else that I wanted to say. It is getting late. Oh, one thing - don't expect too many posts from me as we are in the midst of craziness. And, I am not sure if we will have internet at our new house. Still crunching the budget numbers. We shouldn't get it, but I/we really desire it... The only reason we have it now is because I had gotten it for work and then kept it to stay in better touch with Jason and not be so lonely while we are apart. We would like a home phone too and possibly basic cable (not sure what will happen when the whole digital TV thing changes as we don't have digital TV's and have not done a lot of research about the converter boxes). Ooh - that reminds me - So You Think You Can Dance - my all-time FAVORITE show starts this week! I am SO excited!

Take care everyone! We'll keep you posted!

Home Sale Update #2

We accepted the counter offer on Monday night. It was not quite "our bottom line" price, but we didn't want to lose the deal. We are losing money on this house as we are selling only two years after buying it in a better market and we put quite a bit of cash into renovating it. But, we are trying to look at it like a break even if you calculate the amount we would have been paying in rent the last two years. We are just thankful that we have an offer and that we have a light at the end of the tunnel!

The closing date was June 1st on the offer, but we've since realized that is a Sunday. So, we are in the midst of figuring out a new closing date that is around the 1st. We don't know where we are moving! Jason has been looking at houses in the new city and nothing has really stood out to us. The hard part is that the market there is SO much better than it is here - we have been interested in houses but never were even able to see them because they sold within three days of listing!

Jason is looking at two potential houses tonight, so we'll see how that goes. We keep saying that God was keeping us from selling our home because our new house was not ready yet!

The inspector is dropping off the radon test on Friday afternoon and the inspection is on Sunday. So, we'll be even more calm next week when the results of the inspection come through. We just had an inspection two years ago, so we feel pretty good about things. Like I mentioned before, it is just the roof - we knew we would probably have to replace it within five years of our purchase and this past winter had record snowfalls and was really rough on roofs in the area. But, God is in control!

We'll keep you posted! Thanks for all the prayers, good vibes, and crossed fingers!

Home Sale Update!

We received an offer last night on our house!!! The offer was lower than we wanted, but we countered the offer and should hear back today.

So, please pray for us! Hopefully we can negotiate a price that works for us and then all we have to do is get through the inspection - which should be fine other than the buyer finding out that our roof is on the older side.

We will keep you posted! Thanks in advance for your prayers!

Love,
Jason, Amber, & Evelyn

Update

Evelyn is 5 months today - I can hardly believe it! She is getting so strong - I bet she will be sitting up in no time. She "flicks" herself back though when she sits - this scares me, as my arms or the Boppy pillow won't always be there to cushion her fall!
Jason started his new job last Monday. He liked it. It is very different that what he used to do - much less creative. But, he thinks that he will grow to enjoy the job, that he will be able to learn new things, and that the position will be less stressful. The largest benefits to his new position are the flexible hours - he just needs to put in 40 hours per week - and the availability of overtime. His previous position required 45 hours. The new company encourages overtime because they are so busy, and so even if Jason continued working 45 hours a week that he is used to, the 5 hours of overtime pay would be very helpful for our budget.

Last week I stayed a few nights with Jason at the B&B that he is staying at and the others at my mom's house. The woman who runs the B&B is very nice. It turns out that she left for Mexico last week and will not be back until mid-March! So, other than Jason and one other guest who stays two nights for work purposes, the place is empty! The owner said that Evelyn and I are welcome to stay with him whenever we want and that we can all even stay on weekends! Praise the Lord! It is so great to have the option to be with him during the week and be in a "home" setting with a kitchen and living area to use.

So, I called and gave my notice at work since I will be spending time in the new city during our transition. My last day is Friday! This will relieve so much stress from me. Trying to work 20 hours a week from home has proven to be much more work thank I had anticipated. We are hoping and praying that our budget will work out so that I won't have to work in the new city.

We did put on offer in on a home in the new city - contingent upon our home selling. We'll see what they think about it - it was quite a bit lower than the asking price.

No offers yet on our home. We have had two second showings and one couple still interested, yet they are trying to sell their own home before putting in an offer. God has worked out all of the other details "to a T," so we know He'll work out this whole house thing.

Friends have been SO gracious this week to me as I am home alone with Evelyn. Two dinner invites already! I am so blessed to have such great friends! My one friend lent me the Bumbo chair that Evelyn is sitting in. She is hanging out in it now as I type. Leaving behind my friends here will be the hardest part - I have made so many great friends here. But, with good friends, no matter how much time passes, you can pick up right where you left off!

We will keep you all posted! Thanks again for all of the prayers!

Firsts - Installment #4

We are in the process of selling our first house.

(Yes, the sign is crooked. We had a TON of snow and Jason just went out yesterday since a lot of it melted and fixed the sign with a borrowed sledge hammer!)

We are very excited to be moving, although the timing was completely not what we had planned.

Flashback to two years ago...Jason and I sat in our car driving up the street to this very house for a showing. He asked me if we should forget about buying a home and just pack up and move to the city we knew we wanted to make our roots in. We had looked at SO many houses and none were what we wanted. We knew it was a pivotal time - move to desired city across the entire state, or stay here and buy a home to make an investment. We ended up liking this home (finally one we liked - the poor Realtor showed us over 40) and decided that it was God's way of showing us that He wanted us here. Jason also felt that he needed a little more experence before he could look for another job. We did not know how long we would live in this town, but we assumed it would be at least five years or until our kids started school.

Back to the present...After Evelyn was born, I desperately missed my family. They are a 5 1/2 - 6 hours drive away. It was very hard for me that they weren't around. I have also always felt bad that I don't ever get to see my little brothers and sisters in their school programs, dance competitions, etc. Jason saw me shed many tears in my hormonal flux postpartum period(moms - you know what having a baby does to your emotions!) And, he had been hoping for some changes at work that he did not see occuring. Jason told me that he was going to start networking in the city that we wanred to move to - change up our "plan" a bit and look at moving within the next year or so. I was thrilled! One thing led to another and Jason actually went for an interview. He accepted the position in mid-December and he starts on January 21st!

We put our house "for sale by owner" for about a week immediately after and then got realisitic and started working with a Realtor. If we had more time to wait, we would have stuck with FSBO, but we want to move as soon as possible. God did work out the detail though that she is not charging a full commission, just a flat fee for listing and assisting us. We host our own open houses and schedule our own showings.

We really had no action at all until last Sunday's open house where seven couples and a Realtor came through. One couple did a second showing last night and they are very interested but not quite ready to put in an offer, as they are just putting their own house for sale. We hope things continue quickly as I will continue to live in our house until it sells. Jason has arranged through contacts from his new company to stay at a B&B during the week. Oh how we will miss him during the week!!!

We are starting to look online for houses in the new city and think we might be able to find something for less money and thus allow me to quit working! That would be SO awesome! The city/area we are moving to is about an hour's drive from the border of my home state and is the perfect halfway point between both Jason's parents who live in the middle of our state, and my two sets of parents that live in my home state. I also graduated from college in the city, so I have four years of experience living there, friends there still, and know of at least two churches there that we would love to attend! Plus, I am excited because, unlike the small town we live in now, the new city has: a mall, TJ Maxx, Borders, a theatre that has traveling shows come through, a great community theatre group, a dinner theatre, the University - which offers so many entertainment opportunities, and much more! Plus, there is virtually no traffic! I always said that you can always give yourself 15 minutes for driving time and you can be anywhere that you want to in that city!

We are also looking forward to family being able to more easily come see us - less bag packing and more nights in our own bed! We are putting roots down and are extremely excited about it.

So, thank you to all who have already been praying for us. Please continue to pray that our home sells quickly, for us to find a new home at a great price, for Jason as he travels during the interim, and for me as I hold down the fort alone.

A major "first" this is!