A Time For Romance

I have told ya'll about my dear friend Lauren, from It's Becker Style, several times.  She's awesome.  One of the many reasons I love her so much is because she spontaneously does things like this.  If you hop over to her blog, you will see that she has challenged her readers to a month of silent romance. 

What does this mean?

Every single day during the month of February, she wants us to find ways to show our husbands how much we love and appreciate them.  This could be anything from a note in his lunch to a 'night to remember'.  All of these things should be done without mention of this challenge.

So, I'm in!  Are you? 

If you decide to do it, let us know so we can trade ideas and encourage each other.  I hope this helps to make the most romantic month of the year memorable!    

I'm Trusting You...

I have always had an innate understanding and trust in God's Will.  It is not something that I worked to develop, it has just always been there.  That faith has always brought me great comfort when I was up against something that was, humanly, very hard to understand. 

This trust has been under attack in the last few weeks.  As exciting as this move is, I am terrified!  I am scared about spending the money that we have worked so hard to save. I am scared to finally come to terms with the idea of homeschooling (I didn't say that out loud, ignore it).  I'm scared that I won't cut it when trying to be the mom I KNOW I'm called to be. 

The other day, after looking at the amount of closing costs/realtor fees needed for the selling and purchasing of these two homes, I about lost it.  As I rode in the car with P, I closed my eyes and prayed, "Lord, I don't want to do this.  I know we are supposed to, but I don't want to.  It's too hard."  With the most perfect clarity I got, "Trust me."  With that, I went to sleep (I think it was more of a body shutting itself down from stress kind of nap) and woke up with the most awkward peace.  I was still anxious, nervous, and emotional, but I had an authentic peace that if I just keep going, it will come together as it should.

My dad has always told me that at some point in life, I would have to risk it all.  I'd have to step up, shut my eyes, and just jump.  Well, I think this is it.  This is our game-changer.

I have trusted in God's Will for my life thus far, and they are right, His will always brings me the most fulfillment.  I suppose there is no reason to stop trusting now.  But for the record,

I'M SCARED OUT OF MY MIND!!!

(Thanks for letting me say that!)

It's Raining!

I have wanted rainboots for over a year!  On rainy days, everybody always looked so cute wearing their rain boots and skinny jeans.  Then there was me, dredging through, jeans wet to the knees. 

The thing is that I am a bargain shopper.  I refused to just go out and send $30-$60 on RUBBER RAINBOOTS.  Not happening.  One time, I saw them marked down on clearance for $12.99 at TJMaxx but for some reason didn't buy them...bad decision making clearly!

From that day on, $12.99 became my goal price.  Well, almost 9 months had passed, the rainy season almost over, and I was still soaking my jeans.

Until...

We were wasting time walking through a store and there sat ONE pair of rain boots about my size sitting on the clearance rack!  P told me to go look just to see if, by any slight chance, they were my size and price. 

Size: CHECK

Price: $9.99

Enter the happy dance!!!  I was SO EXCITED!  I had waited so long and FINALLY I was finally getting my rainboots!  WOOHOO!

So, today is the first rainy day since then and I am SO excited to be rocking my super cute, polka-dotted rainboots!  Who knew, something so simple could make me so excited...does that mean I need to get out more?

______________________________________________________

On another note, we are signing all of paper work to put our house up on the market today.  Scary scary!  I'm anxious to get a bunch of contractors into the new house to give us a final number of what we are looking at in renovations...I'm ready to get this thing started!  Definitely feeling the anxiety of the calm before the storm.

The Nitty Gritty

There is a great swing on the front porch!  So great that Mini-C
refuses to get off of it without an absolute fit!

Now that I have gotten everybody excited about our new adventure, I wanted to tell you more about this house.  I will preface all of this by saying, decorating, colors, remodeling, etc, are NOT my thing.  If you have suggestions, let me know!

So, our lovely, new, enormously big house.  I never expected to buy a house in the 5000 sq ft range.  Neither of us did.  I grew up in a large home and since becoming a mom, I have learned that chasing children through a big house can be quite complicated.  So, when I first saw the square footage on this house, I was hesitant.  Then, when we went and saw it, I realized that it was wonderfully compartmentalized.  It is not huge open spaces, rather large specific spaces that I can keep under control.

The house is a forclosure so it's not in perfect condition.  In fact, it will need quite a bit of work upon closing but that was something we took into consideration with our offer.  We had it inspected before we even put in our first offer so we knew what we were getting into.  While the list is long (new roof, flooring, kitchen counters, sealing/staining the logs, etc) there are no structural issues.  In fact, the inspector, in his awesome country accent, referred to it as "a sturdy ol' gal."  haha.  How's that for comforting?

The land is AWESOME!  The home backs up to a ton of trees with a creek being our property line.  We also have an AMAZING rope swing tree in the front yard.  That will be one of our first things we do upon moving in. 

We don't close for another 60 days, so we have until March 25th to get all of our stuff in order.  While the purchase of that home doesn't depend on it, we will also be selling this house.  So, pray for my sanity as I organize all the necessities for a renovation and showings on this house with three kids all at the same time.  I'm a little worried. 

So, I am going to do my best and keeping ya'll up to date and keep the blog posts coming.  BUT, if I am not around, you know where I am...losing my mind! 

Stay tuned for this awesome adventure!  I can't wait to see whats next!

Under Contract!

My husband and I have a dream.

We have a dream where we can raise our kids to be self-sufficient, do it yourself, running through the grass barefoot, fun loving, 'old school' kids. 

We have a dream of having a few chickens, maybe some horses, a goat or two, and some dogs. 

We have a dream of teaching our kids real life and practical lessons that will not only help them pass their standardized tests but will also give them the confidence to go out and chase their dreams with enduring perseverance.

We have a dream that our kids will grow up as kids and not know about the chaos of the world around them until they are actually old enough to comprehend it.

We have a dream that our kids will care less about the TV and video games and more about going outside to play on the rope swing and treehouse.

We have a dream to raise our kids in such a way that responsibility is not something they do rather it's who they are.

We have this dream.

We've always known exactly what we were working towards but we were waiting to see how we got there.

Then, about 6 weeks ago, P sent me a random e-mail with a link.  I opened it and laughed.  It was of a foreclosure listing of a huge log house that looked like it was an old house sitting on the side of the road. 

NO WAY.

Then, it just kept going.  He finally convinced me to go see it.  After that, I agreed to see the inside with a realtor.  With every step, I was expecting SOMETHING to scream

NO!!!!!!!

But, it never did.  The house is SO COOL.  It has almost 4700 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, and 4 1/2 bathrooms.  It's on 5.5 acres.  Despite it's look of utter discombobulation, it's bones are beyond sturdy.  With every meeting, inspection, and pre-qualification, the journey just kept moving.  And now, as of January 25, we are official 'Under Contract'. 

When our realtor called to tell us the news, neither P nor I really knew what to say.  This is it.  This is the start of our dream.  It may take a little bit of blood, sweat, and tears but it is what we make it.  The door has now been opened, it's time for us to step through.

So, here we go!  This road will be long but worth it.  We are not just buying a house, we are buying a dream.

Let's Do Something Fun!

For the past month or so, Little P has approached me at least once during the day to say,

"Let's Do Something FUN, mom!"

When he first started saying that, I wanted to drop my shoulders and ask what he was talking about!  We've been building castles with blocks!  Coloring!  Dressing up! 
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT 'SOMETHING FUN'!?!?!

It took me about a week but I finally figured it out.  He wasn't asking for me to move mountains, he just wanted me to shake up the routine a bit.  While our routine is very functional for me, the one who has a bazillion other things to do in the day, it can get boring for them.  So, whenever he's asked, I've been trying to be creative with coming up with something different. 

This morning, he asked first thing and, in light of the fact that we're leaving for a trip today and I need some time to finish preparations, I suggested that they eat their breakfast at their little table in the playroom while watching a movie!

THEY FLIPPED!

He was so excited to do something different (aka 'fun')! 

My kids are great at pushing me to break my mold.  I am such a woman of routine that sometimes I lose sight of the fact that, while it may work for me, it could bore the heck out of them.  I'm trying to learn how to be a little big more 'loosy goosy' and just go with it.  Routine's are great, but even they need to be adjusted sometimes!

So moms, break your routine, forget your laundry for a bit, and GO DO SOMETHING FUN!  They aren't little for long, right?

Pocket Surprise

After the Crayon Catastrophe I had a few months ago, I have become very diligent about checking pockets before putting clothes into the washer.

Today, while putting in a pair of Little C's super cute skinny jeans, I laughed when I saw what she had stuffed in that oh so small pocket of hers...

A car. 

Of course!  Girls should ALWAYS carry cars around, right?

I think its time I get her some pretend make-up or something.