We have the keys!

Thurs. p.m. we were given the keys to our new home. :)
Mrs. Harley left the house spic-n-span clean. Our realtor was very impressed w/ how clean it was. She says that's not usually the case. The kids are beside themselves w/ excitement. Troy & I mapped out on paper and on the property where the dog run will be. We've got a pretty good idea where we're going to put the horse fence (to keep the horses behind the house). The entire property is a sticker bed/plantation! Troy mowed the dog run area yesterday including scalpping it to try to remove as many stickers as possible. Poor guy. He's fighting a head cold, too, & had to breathe in a ton of dirt mowing. He sounds aweful today. Tay's fighting a head cold of her own, too. Bree is getting over hers. She missed school Thurs. & Fri. last week because of the snot. She was pretty fussy & disagreeable (for her norm) so I know she didn't feel too great! Garrett's doing fine. Waiting to get his cold probably. Why should he be left out?!?!?!?! I took MANY pictures of the inside of the house yesterday. I hope they turn out. There is so much I want to say about many of the pics. Don't know if I'll be able to. Time is a factor more than anything! Our Cambridge Ct. house is in total disaray at this time. Boxes EVERYWHERE! :) Process....got to love it! I asked Troy to unload the rest of the boxes in the garage instead of in their appropriate rooms. I figure we can bring in the boxes as we need what's in them. My thinking is...if we haven't needed it in the next 6 months, we don't need to keep it. We can give it away or sell it in a garage sale. The less crap we move in the house, the better. Hey, if we keep our house empty of everything but furniture, maybe we can keep it somewhat tidy!!!!!!!! I'm trying!! Really. I went to Lowes hardware last night for about 3 hours. Looking at kitchen cabinets, countertops, texture, paint, etc. We plan to gut the entire kitchen and rearrange it (move a wall back into the hallway & do away w/ the hallway) and add an island in the middle of the kitchen. This needs done before we move in because of the mess. We have to get the dog run done so we can move Brody to the new house. We need to so we can get the Cambridge Ct. backyard presentable for showing the house. We've got our handyman (Steve) lined up to start on some minor things left at Cambridge Ct. to fix so we can get it on the market. I'm jumping all over the place talking about all of this. So much, so little time, & I want to try to download these pictures & put them on this blog. If you read this but dont see the pictures, check back later & maybe I'll have them on the blog.

Well..........an hour later & I still haven't figured out how to get the pictures on this blog. I thought I was doing it like all the other picture downloads, but it's not working. Sorry. Unless a miracle happens AND I have time to experiment w/ it again, you may end up having to come here in person to see the "before" pictures and the changes we make/made.

Well, everyone. Long time no blog! We have been so vey busy; busy with life; busy with home repairs; busy with packing, etc. I talked to my realtor today. I thought our closing was Nov. 7. That's not correct. Our lease agreement w/ the current owner is up on the 7th. Our closing is next Wed. Oct. 29. I've got mixed emotions. I'm excited about the new house, but I already miss this one. AND, it looks like we're not going to be able to do anything to the new house before we move in. We don't have the $$$$. With the price of oil down like it is, we can't sell oil properties for the $ figure they were hoping for. So now we have a house w/ only 3 bedrooms instead of 4. I don't when we'll be able to get it fixed how we were hoping. Oh well, I've said all along, we could always make do w/ how it is if we had to. Right now we're going to have to. I have no idea where we're going to put everything. In the garage I guess. There's not nearly enough cupboard space or closet space in the house. As soon as I can get pictures of the inside of the house, I'll post them on this blog.
We haven't got our own house on the market yet. We've got boxes everywhere. I don't see how we can "show" it until we're out of it. I pray that God already has a nice family that is just waiting for a house like ours (like we were waiting for the one we are buying). How nice that would be!

the Swimming Pool (& BreeAnn)

Today's Bree's Birthday!!!!!!!!! She's turning the BIG 5!!!!!!!!!!
We're going to take her to Chuck-E-Cheese tonight. Just our family minus Taylor. Taylor just left with Troy's parents to go to Las Vegas for the weekend. They are taking her (& Loren & maybe Loren's mom, Michele) to see a few shows for their birthdays. Taylor turned 13 on Wed. and Loren turned 13 three weeks ago. Pray for their safe trip and return.

I tried to meet Bosworth at the new house to do a scope of the air ducts (in ground), but they never showed up when I could be there. They ended up coming 5 hours later. While we were there, I took some pictures of BreeAnn next to the pool. Enjoy!

Inspections on the new house!

We made an offer on the house last Wed. By Thurs., the offer was officially accepted and signed!

Today (Tues. the16th), we had all of the inspections: termite, pool, septic, home. Except for a few minor things, it all looks very good (so says all the inspectors). I'm not sure what happens next. Duh!!!! The owner of the house was there. She is a super nice Christian lady who was widowed about a yr. and a half ago. She's still having a hard time. To hear her talk about her deceased husband, you would know they had a very good, healthy, & Godly marriage. She hasn't been able to find a place to live. Housing in Midland is hard to find right now. The city has issued an order to build more apts. because there just isn't enough housing for folks (especially low-income housing). This sweet lady is looking for a townhouse or retirement community. And she's got an added worry - she talked about "what happened w/ the stock market yesterday". I don't know. I haven't heard any news in a couple of days so I don't know what's happened.

I'll try to attach pictures of the house.

We did it! We made an offer!

Yesterday, Troy & I took a look at a property that was just listed the day before. It hasn't even been put in the computer yet. No sign in the yard saying for sale - nuthin'. The listing realtor, Sandy, works at the same real estate firm as our realtor, Jo Braden. Jo has been asking around if anyone new of any property coming up for sale that had acreage along with a house to fit our size of family. Sandy is friends with this recently widowed woman and mentioned to Jo that she had a friend who "might be getting ready to sell her home". Sandy told Jo we could have first look at it. Well.......we did, we liked it, and we made an offer. I wouldn't say we are getting a good nor bad deal. It is a fair deal. Land is going for $40,000-$70,000 per acre around here. Where this house is, land is anywhere from $60-$80,000. We're paying close to $60. The house is in a row with 1-2 million dollar homes. No, this isn't in it's element. Although the house is nice, the property is nicer. The house doesn't nearly measure up to my house right now. It cetainly has potential to. We're going to have to make a few changes and some big "add ons" to make it "measure up" to this one. Just $$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ☺ and more $$$$$$$$$$

We've been looking for many months and have looked at/driven by/investigated many, many properties (listed & for sale by owner). I've been praying & letting God know (as if He didn't already know) that He's in charge. I've been anxious yet patient for Him to provide what He wants us to have. His plan is ALWAYS better than my own. I'm not saying that b/c it's the right Christian thing to say. Nor am I saying it b/c it's the truth. Although, those are 2 good reasons. I'm saying that b/c He has proven that to me several times (that I'm aware of) and I'm sure many other times that I'm not so observant of. If this is not meant to be, then I pray that it doesn't work out, and we'll keep waiting on the Lord.

Our poor realtor was over here last night until almost 10:30 with papers/contract for us to sign. We gave her a couple of checks, too, so the offer has officially been made.

I have no doubt the owner/seller (Mrs. Harley) will accept. Then we're off to the races with the inspector and all of that stuff.

I wish I had thought to take pictures with my cell phone. With my luck, I would have & then I wouldn't be able to figure out how to get the pictures off the phone!!!!!!!!!!!!! (No, I don't know how to do that yet - it's a new phone! ☺ ) However, I never could do it with my other phones either!!!!!!!!!! ☺ Taylor just showed me how to do the smiley faces!!! Thanks, Taylor!!!!!!! ☺☻

That's it for now.
Love you all.
God bless,
Gina

Here goes!

I am very reluctant to begin this because anytime I tinker around with technology, it blows up in my face. Everyone says, "Oh, it's easy. Just download......, or just sync this to that....., or plug this to that using your USB cord and ......." It doesn't matter what it is, I can't ever seem to get it to work right. Technology & I are like oil & water. But I thought I'd at least give this a try. So here goes nothing.
I've been getting occasional blogs from friends letting me know what's going on with their gang and have enjoyed keeping up with them. (Yes, I'm one of those people that enjoy receiving a mass letter at the end of the year which summarizes what everyone's been up to for the past year.) Those are better than the cards at Christmas & New Years! I always intended to do a letter like that but can't seem to find the time, so I thought I'd give this a try. Eventually, I hope to figure out how to get pictures (& maybe video) on here. That's a very tall order for me. Don't hold your breath.
Anyway...........here's the latest.
Taylor started 7th grade & Garrett started 4th grade. BreeAnn is still 4 (for 2 more weeks) so she doesn't start Kindergarten until next school year. She goes to the Mother's Day Out at our church. Kids are all diving (yes, Bree, too). Tay & G are taking piano again this year, while Bree is also taking ballet. She begged me all of last year to take ballet so I enrolled her. She's only had 1 class so far so I don't know if she really knows what it's about yet. G's got a ton of school work on homeschool days. This is going to be a very big jump for him in learning to manage his time & to stay on task. UGH!!!!!!! Pray for us both!!!!!!! I need patience & deligence to teach him in a way that is healthy, constructive, & that doesn't tear him down in any way. He needs prayers for concentration, focus, perserverance, etc. Taylor's off to a pretty good start this year. She seems to be fairly organized & on top of her assignments. Hers is no longer homeschool per se. She goes 5 days a week, but it's arranged more like a college block-schedule.
Her schedule is:
Mon. 8:00 - 2:00
Tues. 8:00 - 12:00
Wed. 10:00 - 11:00
Thurs. 8:00 - 12:00
Fri. 8:00 - 1:00
The school has a Bible study curriculum, Bible class, mentoring class (where the upperclassmen mentor the younger students - girls grouped together separately from the boys), and a big emphasis on character development. Academically, emphasis is put on neatness, organization, time management, thoroughness, discussion/participation in class. I am so thrilled that we are blessed enough to have this school and to be able to send her to this school.
Garrett has one of the world's best teachers this year. She is a beautiful Christian woman who is .......... I don't even know where to start. Words don't begin to describe her. She's just absolutely awesome.
I'm having to put in alot of volunteer hours at T & G's schools. They keep tuition "down" by having parents fulfill a contract of volunteering so many hours per school year. Since I don't have a class this semester (fall) I'm trying to get the entire school year's hours in now (about 5-10hrs/wk), b/c I will have a class in the spring. It will be my one-&-only class in the spring & then I'll be gradiated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippeeeeeeeeeeee!
Troy & I have been trying to paint the outside of the house. It's been needing it for a long time. We've been hunting for a new place to live. Don't necessarily want a new house, but we need some acreage to put our horses on so I can begin to use horses to do counseling with and I need to have easy access to them (feeding every a.m. and every p.m.) so I need to be able to have them next to home. My realtor tells me there's one that's suppose to be coming on the market around the end of this month. It's in the most perfect location (convenience to everything, close to kid's school where they could walk if needed, still in town, great location for clients to get to). However, it's possible that it may not work out. I know that. It's just a good thing we're not desparate or in a hurry. I'm just anxious to begin doing EAP (Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy).
I guess that's it for this blog.
Hope I don't bore anyone to death.
I'll try to blog regularly or when there's something to report.
TTFN,
Gina