Just the facts

I really want to write a creative, sentimental, heart warming post about how we are officially out of the house that we lived in for the last 8 years. But I'm so utterly drained physically (ok, and emotionally) to talk about it. But I feel I need to at least share what's going on now.

We closed on our house yesterday. Finally. :) We got the last of our stuff out, signed the papers, and handed over our keys. The last day and a half since has been... a little nuts.

We are officially in my in-laws place. For those that missed it before, my mother- and father-in-law are in Costa Rica doing language training to be on the mission field. My brother-in-law was the only one living in their house but he graciously stepped out of this 600 sq ft place so my family of 7 could have somewhere to stay for free for the week. :) It is tight, yes, but we're making it work and we're completely grateful for a free place to stay. Jake's parents come back into the states on Friday so we'll be out by then, and moving in with some friends for a couple of days before the kids and I leave for Florida. Jake needs to stay here to stay on top of house stuff and ya know... work. :)

The big news: we finally came to a contractual agreement on a house! It was a foreclosure and needs a lot of work, but hopefully work that can be done quickly. The very latest we will close is May 20th. (Obviously praying it will be much sooner!)

And if you do the math, that puts us moving in when I'm 35-36 weeks. Whew! Cutting it close. :)

Ok, this is the part where I'm tempted to open my heart and share more, but truly... I'm exhausted! These are going to be a crazy few weeks so I might not get a chance to update more, but if you are able to pray, here are my requests:

~That the closing on the new house would happen sooner than later

~Safety as we travel to FL

~Sanity for this pregnant momma

~That my many many Braxton Hicks would stay just that and not become true labor until its time.... and we have a home. :)

~Peace for my little ones during this transition

~Jake. Though he IS in fact, superman, he could still use prayer as the weight of SO much is on his shoulders.

~Health for all (Abby and Mabry have had the pukes the last 2 days.) :(

Thanks to all our family and friends for loving us and doing what you can to help us out. We're so grateful. Much much love to you all...

Where I am. Physically and otherwise...

So everyone has been asking: "Where are you now?"

Weeelllll....

We are still in our house. It just doesn't feel like it because we are still in what I previously referred to as "camp mode".

Why are we still in our house? Because the buyers keep requesting to move back the closing date so they can have a little more time to pull their paperwork together. Our agent says this is nothing to worry about, that they still want the house, its just paperwork stuff. The cons of this situation are: well, we sure wouldn't have packed up all of our stuff and moved it all into storage two weeks ago. The pro: we have no were else to go, so at least we have a roof over our heads. :) So while it is a bit annoying, we're thankful to be here as long as we can. Almost like the Lord is taking care of us. ;)

How long will we be here? I don't know for sure but we will probably close the end of this week now. Jake actually just brought back our loveseat (so we at least have somewhere to sit), and a little kids table and chairs (so the kids aren't eating on the floor). Boy after living with nothing for even a short while, its amazing how grateful you are for basic furniture! And I'm basically still relying on some amazing friends and church family to do laundry. THANK YOU... you know who you are. :)

Where are we going from here? Keeping with the original plan to go to my in-laws until they get back from Costa Rica. And after that, going to the beach for a week (because hey, there's no where else to go right?! lol) and after that, we still aren't sure.

Have we found a house? Right now we are offering/counter-offering on house #3. The first two didn't work out. Long story. But even if we get the one we are working at now, we won't be able to close until about a week into May. Thats at the very earliest.

How am *I* holding up? You really want to know? (This is your chance to close this window and pretend Amy has it all together. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Well... I'm kind of upset with myself that I'm not better at this. When things are comfortable its so easy to say, "OH, I can do that! I'm young, I'm strong, I'm resilient, I can navigate our family through whatever it is we need to do during this time of transition." But unfortunately I'm irritable, slightly depressed, and I might have scared my husband the other day when I burst into tears while making dinner.

Am I going to be okay? Yes.

Is there anything anyone can do to help? Not really.

Am I being a whiner? Yes.

Do I need to just suck it up? Yeah.

And do I KNOW that? Fully.

(I'm in the mood for Q&A type posts, just humor me.) :)

I could sit here and tell you that I'm a trooper and I'm hanging in there. I could tell you that I'm doing what needs to be done and have a great attitude and that I'm excited about where God is taking us next. But that wouldn't be honest.

The truth is that I'm emotional and a little bit miserable and all I want is to be in a house thats already set up. I want to send my kids to school and spend the day sitting in a rocking chair, singing to the baby in my womb while folding tiny newborn onsies freshly washed in Dreft. I want to set up a bassinet next to my bed and smile at it every time I walk through the room.

But ya know? I do need to suck it up. That time will come, its just not here yet. Right now I need to focus on who's house I'm going to do laundry at next, make sure we have enough plastic spoons for breakfast in the morning, and give my kids extra cuddles at night because I'm one of the only solid things in their little lives right now. (Because, hold on to your seat, I'm not the only one going through this!) I need to give some honest input to my husband on the pros and cons of the houses we're looking at instead of feeling "over it" whenever the subject comes up. I need to get on my knees and.... well, I just need to get on my knees.

I need to be a mom, wife and child of God instead of a big baby. Ouch, it almost hurts just reading that. :)

So.

Somehow this post went from being a house update to confessions of the whiny and irritable. Sorry about that. Wait, no I'm not. :) Thanks for reading. Stay tuned to see how God whips me into shape as I'm quite certain He will. As only He can. Please Lord... :)

A perfect description

I've been thinking all day that I really need to update my blog. And while I do plan to post sometime this weekend with a house update, I came across this little description of my baby and body for "this" week on BabyCenter. And it fits me to a T. So why re-write when I can just share straight from BabyCenter, right?



"As baby gets bigger and stronger, you may be experiencing leg cramps and mild swelling of ankles and feet, difficulty sleeping, shortness of breath, lower abdominal achiness, clumsiness and scattered Braxton Hicks contractions (hardening and relaxing of the uterus, like rehearsals for labor). You may also be urinating more frequently again as the uterus continues to push on your bladder."

Yeeaaaahhh that about sums it up!!! :) Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing. :)

Keeping busy (and some Abby cuteness)

Five kids, an empty house, chilly weather, nothing to do.... at least they have each other to play with! (Be sure to watch to the end to see my cutie-tootie tell you her name and how old she is. :))

Sharpie's and 4 year olds don't mix

Remember when I posted about how not to pack? And to never let your 4 year old find a sharpie? Thought you'd enjoy this...




She found it during her nap in my room, so I found her like this after her nap. Thats why she's a little sleepy looking. :)




I didn't even get a picture of the craziest part because I didn't see it until later... she actually took the sharpie and jammed it into her ears and twisted it in like a q-tip. But her ears are SO small that I couldn't even get my finger with a washcloth over it into her ears to clean them out. And there was no way an actual q-tip would clean sharpie (and I didn't want to put soap or anything in her ear) so she just had black ear insides for a couple of days until it somehow wore off its self! It was freaky looking!!!

For the record, the rest of the packing days I wore all 3 sharpies in the house on a string around my neck.