So Long, 2009!

What a year it has been.

:: Cory turned one.

:: we led our first small group as a married couple.

:: and our second.

:: I helped put on Conversations at Northland.

:: we heard about a church in the Atlanta area and drove up to check it out.

:: we moved.  Twice.

:: we started the long process necessary to adopt our daughter from Rwanda.

:: I watched my first nephew being born.

:: we drove to FL three times, TN three times, SC once, and AL many times.

:: we got renters for our house in FL, and lost them 6 months later.

:: I shot a wedding with Kelsey.

:: Jeremy went camping with the men from church.

:: we either had (overnight) guests or were guests for some part of 24 of the 52 weeks of the year.  Wow!

:: we had four fundraisers and applied for four grants and a no-interest loan (adoption-related stuff).

:: we mailed in our dossier!

:: Iain turned three.

:: we celebrated five years of marriage.

:: we suffered some major car-repairs.  With major bills.

:: we spent our first night away from the boys.

:: I started working in the nursery.

:: we bought a house.

:: I learned to crochet.

:: Jeremy played drums several times at church.

:: we hosted our first Christmas.

:: we've got a play group meeting at our house once a week.

:: we spent four months (and counting) paying two mortgages.  Anyone want to rent a house in Altamonte?

:: we joined an amazing church.

:: we have been happy, tired, stressed, amazed, discouraged, lonely, thankful, and overwhelmed.  It's been the craziest, weirdest, hardest year since we've been married.  

Goodbye, 2009.  I'll probably be asleep when you depart.  Ready for the next trip around the sun!

How to Make Friends

One of the hardest things about moving up here has been starting over. I mean, not knowing anyone. At the Middle House, one time, I realized I needed a tablespoon of baking powder to finish a (really good) cake. Are you serious? I have to load up two children right before dinner, drive to Wal-Mart, unload them, fight the crowds to the baking aisle, get that one tiny can, stand in line for ten minutes, get them back in the car, drive home, unload them (by now they're fussing because dinner is late), bring them in, feed them dinner and oh yeah, the cake still isn't ready.

So I (bravely) went next door, and asked my neighbor (whom I had met once or twice) to borrow some. They have a little daughter, and seemed friendly and approachable. And then that evening, I brought them some cake. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Or not. I never heard from them again. They didn't even return my dish. I promise, the cake was good!

Perhaps I have the black thumb of friendship.

Yesterday at the library, I looked around at all the moms with kids the ages of my own, and hoped for a chance to talk to someone. Surely someone out there has room in their little black book for one more friend. Aha, I see her.

She has a boy a little older than Iain.
She has the stay-at-home mom uniform on (rather than the professional mom ensemble, which shows a possible lack of time for spontaneous trips to the park).
She looks nice enough.
And, oh yes, glory be, I hear her talking to the librarian about homeschooling!
And better yet, about Sonlight curriculum, the very one I am investigating for my boys!

I (bravely) approach her.

Me: Excuse me, did I hear you say you use Sonlight? (ah yes, that was a brilliant line.)
Her: Yes. (um, see, I just tossed you the conversational ball. You have to toss it back now. Give me something here, anything!)
Me: (faltering. She sure was chatty with the librarian not two seconds ago.) Um, do you like it? (stupid question. If she didn't, why would she be using it? Trying to cover, I continue) I'm thinking of using it for my kids.
Her: Yes, I like it. There's not enough seat work, though. I have to use some other stuff for that. Otherwise I just read [to her son] all day.
Me: Oh. (insert inane responses and small talk here)
Her: (insert inane responses and small talk here)

Awkward.

She gave me her name and number, in case I had more questions. That was nice. But after the way the conversation went, I think the death knell was sounded on that possible friendship before it began.

Sometimes taking the (brave) initiative really doesn't pay.

Finally!

After much hoop-jumping, paper-faxing, document-signing, phone-call-making, driving-and-driving, paperwork-doing, praying... we're closing on our new home today! Oh, you should have heard our great sighs of relief when, last week, we pulled into the driveway to take care of some stuff and saw this:



Our new house has been christened by Iain The Rock House. His reason is that the back yard (or jungle, if you want to be accurate) has a little part that is fenced in, right off the deck. It holds an odd little shelter and a hot tub (which we are not keeping), and the ground is covered in wonderful small ROCKS! When he and Cory saw that, they decided they like that house. When we asked Iain what he thought, he said he wanted to live there. Okay then, we will.

I think it's a cool name, also, because of Matthew 7:24-27 (which, un-coincidentally, was the passage I read this morning - the day we close on the Rock House):

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

We are very, very aware that this house does not belong to us, but to the Lord, and that it is His to do with as He chooses. We are also very aware that He gave this house, this specific house, into our keeping, to bless us, and so we could use it to bless others. And we will do that, by His grace.

We wanted a large house, big enough to fit our future family into, with room for Jeremy to work at home, and room for guests, including people who might need to stay a while. We wanted the bedroom spaces to be fairly small, and the living spaces big, so that everyone who lives or stays at the Rock House would be encouraged to "do life" together, rather than to isolate themselves in their private space. We wanted a large backyard for the boys (and future children) to have room to run and play and be outdoors. We wanted enough room in the living/dining/kitchen area to be able to have lots of people over. We wanted to be in a good, established, family-friendly neighborhood (and I really wanted trees everywhere!). We wanted to be near our new church. And in the Rock House, God gave us all of this. And it was a foreclosure, which means a really good price and a mortgage we have a good chance of paying off completely (another of our long-term goals).

God is good!

Come visit us at the Rock House!

Stay tuned for lots of chaos as we pack up the Middle House, move to the Rock House, and fix it up. It does need some work. But that will make for some pretty cool before and after shots.

And really, come visit us. We have room!

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.”
(1Chronicles 29:11-13 ESV)

Confessions

So it seems that when I am stressed and when Jeremy is working lots of hours (and those things often seem to coincide), I do one of three things:

1. eat a lot
2. want to buy everything
3. read a lot

Relating to number one: more specifically, I want to eat junk. Brownies, ice cream, candy bars, chips and dip, coke, milkshakes, Lauren's cookies.... I'm not saying I always do eat these things. But oh, how I want to!

Number two: Our budget is thankful that I don't actually partake in this "retail therapy." And it's a weird thing for me, as normally, I'm not much of a shopper. But I did buy myself a bag - hot pink with stripes. Maybe being into pink is a symptom of stress, too. Maybe I'll paint our new house pink, when we finally close on it. Or maybe I'll paint our current house pink with stripes, to match my bag. I'm sure our landlord would love that, cheerful fellow that he is. (Yes, that is sarcasm tainting my words. Tainting them pink. Okay, enough pink already.)

And three: I hate to admit how much I've been reading, because you might think I have nothing to do, and thus nothing to be stressed about. I promise, I read fast. And we go to the park a lot, and in between chasing boys, pushing them on the swings, and following them down the slides, I read. Outside of those two explanations, I have no defense. I have no idea how I've managed to read this many books since we've moved here. Read this; maybe it'll explain it better (scroll down to the March 13 entry entitled "Coping"). Escapism.

Here are the books I've read since we moved:
Confessions of a Reformission Rev
Death at Gallows Green
Quaker Summer
Embrace Me
Red Helmet
The Quilter's Apprentice
No One You Know
The Church Ladies
River, Cross my Heart

and I'm part way through:
It
Indigo Waters
Breaking Free

If this craziness doesn't stop soon, I'm going to read through the whole library. Even the books I don't like. I'm not choosy.

Markering

We've had many cold days of rain, plus several days where someone was feeling yucky, so we've been inside a lot. What to do? "Markering!" says Iain. Nona bought these funny markers for the boys when we moved up here ("weebles wobbly" type things, and they make animal noises when you put the caps on. Really odd. And very funny.), intending for them to be used on the drive. But I squirreled them away, for such a time as this (they had plenty of new playthings for the drive, and they had Grace, so don't feel sorry for them!). Anyway, with a roll of brown paper as our canvas, "markering" is our new favorite activity.










The walls and the carpet and everything else in this house is off white, beige, tan, etc. Not my favorite. My eyes have been craving color! And since all of our wall-hanging-type things are packed, and I didn't want to buy more, I challenged myself to make do with what we have, decorate the walls, and not spend any money or, obviously, paint or change the rental property. This was my challenge. My goodness, what this woman can do with no money! Okay, I admit, my project is way, way, way less cool than her house. But hey, gotta start somewhere.

Anyway, with the markering craze going on around here, I decided to use Iain and Cory's (but mostly Iain's, as Cory tends to just throw crayons on the floor, pick them up, and start again) artwork, add a Scripture verse, and thumb-tack them to the wall. Iain likes to see his work displayed, I like the verses being all over the house (Deut 6:4-9), and they do add color. It's a win-win-win. :)

This and That

Cory is adorable!



Here's the living room - and Iain making a snake or a train (it changes frequently). He's really into lining things up like this: rocks, balls, toys, cars. Funny boy.



And Iain's room:

Times of Grace

The first few days we were here, it was raining and cold. Grace did a great job keeping the boys happy inside among the boxes and the chaos, but eventually, cabin fever set in and they braved the weather and hit the playground. Remember I told you that our townhouse backed up on the park? Here's the view from Iain's window.



Book reading is always a hit with the boys, and especially when Grace (who insists she can read nothing that is not written with rhythm) is around. I think she read them a thousand books. Or at least 50.



Sunny days emerged and the troops hit the park again. They like the playground equipment alright, but the real attraction is the mulch.



Here's our tiny but well-loved back yard. It's actually really nice because it's off the dining room and the kitchen window looks out on it... and it's completely fenced in. The kiddos can play with minimal supervision.



And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: the Big Chicken!


I promise, this thing is THE landmark here. Every direction is given with the Big Chicken functioning as the North Star. For example, to get to the post office, you turn right at the road immediately after the Big Chicken. If you want to go to Aldi, it's the road right before. There's even a billboard that tells you to turn at the Big Chicken. And whenever anyone at church asks where we're living now, we simply say, "You know the Big Chicken? We're a few miles south of that." And they always know exactly what we're talking about.



So on Grace's last night here, we went to eat at the Big Chicken (really, KFC is such a boring name). We were amazed: inside, you can buy t-shirts, beanie babies, key chains, mugs.... I tell you, it's crazy! There are even pillars inside that are made to look like the chicken's feet. So you're eating chicken inside of a chicken.... I don't know what I think about that.

Anyway, the Big Chicken's beak opens and closes, and his eyes roll around and around, giving him a slightly zany, crazed look. If we go missing, suspect the maniac chicken.

Come visit and we'll take you there, too! You know you want to!

-------------------------------------

P.S. Here's our day today: Jeremy and Iain are suffering from some kind of stomach flu; Cory is recovering from the same. I haven't gotten it and am praying that I won't. And the washing machine flooded the laundry room and the hall. I had to laugh (or was it a groan) when I saw that, in the midst of chaos, the washer went haywire. But it's getting fixed today. Whew.

We're Back

Back from the deep dark hole of no internet access. Be on the lookout for posts depicting our many fun adventures so far. And especially watch for a giant chicken. I am telling the truth.

We're Here

For any of you who haven't heard yet, we've moved. Yes, just like that.

--On Saturday, Feb 28, we put the house up on Craig's List to rent.
--On Sunday, one family came by to look.
--On Monday, two more people came by... and both of them wanted the house.
...so on Monday night, we read up on how to check credit, and we wrote a rental agreement.
--On Tuesday, we did credit checks and looked made a list of all the things we needed to do on our house, and started looking for a place to go.
--On Wednesday, we called references, made a decision, and let the family know they could move in soon.
--Thursday, Friday... packing, cleaning, fixing
--Saturday... packing, cleaning, fixing, Jeremy's parents visiting
--Sunday, Monday, Tuesday... packing, cleaning, fixing. Dinners with people, small group. Tuesday night was our last night in our home.
--On Wednesday, we loaded the truck. And got permission to bring my cousin Grace up with us to help. And spent the night at my mom's house.
--On Thursday, we drove south to visit Yaya (Jeremy's grandmother).
--On Friday, we said goodbyes and drove north. We added about 3.5 hours onto the normal drive time because of having a big truck and a potty training boy. We finally pulled in to our Middle House at 8:30pm, put the boys to bed, and unloaded the entire truck with the help of Jeremy's friend Ryan and my cousin Chris.
--On Saturday, two weeks after we listed the house, we began digging ourselves out of the boxes, trying to put things away, and make for ourselves a Middle House that feels like home, for the time it is our home.
--And on Sunday, we went to church. The church we moved up here for. It was good.

We call it the Middle House because we're renting this small townhouse by the month while we look for another place - a real home - to buy. This way, we can make sure we like the place we land.

Grace has been invaluable. Everybody should have a Grace.

The Middle House is, well, interesting. I'll post pictures and stories when I get it put together enough. Suffice it to say that the backyard opens up to the playground (good) and most of the appliances don't work (bad).

So - we're here, we're doing well, and we don't have internet access yet. I'm at Panera, loving hot chocolate and quiet. But it's time to head back to the Middle House and get back to work!