Now What?

Today was our home inspection, and I was a little nervous about it. I had visions of them finding out that our pipes were corroded through or the roof had dry rot all through it, or some other catastrophe. However, the inspection went very well, and we only have to fix a few little things. (We don't have the official report yet, so I guess we can't entirely rule out a catastrophe!)
So...where does that leave us? I guess that means that I do actually have to pack up all of our junk and move it! There are no more excuses. I've packed several boxes already, but they have mostly been books, or tupperware we never use, or the heaviest of our winter coats. Now I have to begin packing stuff that we might actually use. Is there a scale of "necessary" for me to consult? The dishes are pretty necessary, but so are the cleaning products. I can't figure out which clothes to leave --will it continue to be nice weather, or will it decide to snow again? I don't really NEED the DVDs, but what will the kids do while I try to pack? Oh, the decisions!
Compounding this confusion is the fact that I have already nearly killed my husband with the few boxes I have packed. My mom gave us some boxes she got from a friend, and they are rather large. I thought I was doing pretty good, only loading them about halfway with books and then piling the lighter stuff on top. Dave went to carry the first box up the stairs (sidenote: only a few more weeks of stairs--yay!), and he almost fell over backwards! Apparently half a box of books is still a whole lot heavier than I would have guessed. The poor guy muscled them up the stairs and into his truck, but I think he may be considering calling a moving company for me!
In the end, we have about 4 weeks left to get it all figured out! That's a lot of time, but my end of school schedule is starting to look rather full. So, we may have to pull a few late-nighters to get it all done. But then we will have a wonderful new house and a new adventure to start on! God is good!

S-O-L-D

Yes folks, the letters above spell exactly what you think they do...the house is SOLD!!! In 30 days!! So, we weren't those people with the "amazing real estate" story, but I'm still pretty happy! We had some people come Monday night to look at the house, and then they came back last night for a closer look. They gave us a good offer this morning, and it's all set to go now! They didn't want to close until the middle of June, and we countered by saying that if we accepted their offer (which was a little lower than we asked), we wanted to close June 1st. They immediately accepted the counter offer, and we are on our way!!
Now, the fun REALLY begins. I thought cleaning our house was tiring. Now I'm looking at every nick-knack, book, toy, and dish and thinking, "I'm going to have to pack that somehow and move it!" When we moved into this house, we didn't bother with boxes. We just threw everything into our friends' cars and trucks and drove the 1/2 mile over here and threw it all in the house. But, that time we were two childless people moving out of a 900 square foot apartment. Now, we have 2 children and all their paraphernalia, and 1600 square feet of junk. (And that's not even counting the garage!!) So, I think some packing will be in order.
God is so good, and we are continuing to pray that the rest of this process goes smoothly. Please especially pray for Dave, as he is now in charge of getting the remodel done on our new house. Our marriage will be tested, as we will be living there while we knock out walls and build new rooms. I don't want to be a nagging wife, so pray that I don't find myself saying things like, "You know, honey, that gaping hole in the back of the house has kinda been there a long time. Could we do something about it??" Actually, Dave is very excited about doing the work and creating "his" vision on our house. It will just be a lot for him, because he is doing most of it during the evenings and weekends. In the end, it will be worth it, and everyone is invited to the housewarming party (although you might have a year or two to plan for it!)

Easter Snow

Whoever makes Easter dresses has obviously never actually spent Easter in about 80% of the states in the U.S. Since Easter normally falls in early April, it is usually chilly. Perhaps my friends and family in Arizona may be able to get away with wearing the cute, flowery tank top dresses that pass as Easter dresses, but it just doesn't usually work here. And what do people in Minnesota wear? Fleece? Our Easter weekend came complete with raging winds and snow. So, Paige's cute little Easter dress was covered up with a big, fuzzy sweater (which was equally cute). She looked like a little fuzzy polar bear with polka dots.

Garrett was a little easier to clothe. We decided his current eagerness to tear the knees out of his pants meant that we shouldn't buy him a suit. So, we went with the "cool casual" look, which he was very proud of:

We had a wonderful celebration of Jesus' resurrection at church and enjoyed the amazing worship of our Savior. God is so good! We hope your Easter was a time of rest and worship as well.

Meanwhile...

Probably every family who sells a house has this dream that maybe their house will be the one that sells in "just 3 days!". Maybe their house will be the legend that real estate agents talk about for years to come -"I remember this one house that sold to the first person who looked at it!"

And then....we wake up and realize that this whole house selling thing? It's not going to be an easy or a quick task. I will actually have to keep this house clean for weeks, perhaps months. That thought tires me more than you can imagine, but I will keep plugging on, in hopes that the right person is just around the corner.

Meanwhile, we are back to living our normal everyday lives. There are a few changes, as in my cell phone being in my constant possession, instead of buried in the depths of my purse. (Wouldn't want to miss "the call" for the house!) And, laundry must be either folded immediately and put away or left to wrinkle in the dryer where no one will see it. (The last option being my personal favorite). Paige and Garrett have adapted surprisingly well, and even help me spot things out of place before we leave in the morning. Garrett continues to believe that his toys are in danger of being taken, but he's relaxing a little.

Paige has discovered her "inner rock star" and is practicing at full volume. She grabs any available object that could possibly be a microphone or a guitar -broom, drumstick, fork, blocks. Then she belts out a nonsensical rhyme, shakes her hips and throws her head back on the high notes. She ends her performance with a very modest bow, closing her eyes as if to say "No, no. The pleasure is all mine". Unfortunately, all this rhyming has occasionally caused a not-so-nice verse to slip past the censors. For example, my mom caught on videotape the following verse, sung full-out with arms waving and hips shaking: "And that's the wo-o-o-r-d! And the word is a turd!" (At which point, the videocamera begins shaking uncontrollably from my mom's laughter). Needless to say, she keeps us all entertained.

Garrett continues to grow a half an inch a week, or so it would seem by the alarming rate at which he outgrows clothes. At last check, he stood nearly four feet three inches tall. He has also developed the little boy talent for tearing the knees out of his pants. I have no idea how he does it, but he can go off to school (or even church!) with a perfectly good pair of pants on, and return with a gaping hole across his knees. When asked what happened, he just shrugs and says "I don't know. I didn't do it!" Thank goodness summer is coming -shorts won't have any knees to rip out!

So, life goes on, even in the midst of trying to sell our house. We feel a little like we are "in limbo", but we know this period in our lives won't last forever. Instead, we are looking forward to celebrating the salvation that Jesus provided for us at Easter. Have a blessed Easter!