moving isn't so bad after all

as you can see, bozeman travels well. in fact, he does some of his best sleeping in the car. so do i... good thing LH is such a wonderful husband and doesn't mind doing most of the driving. it's also a good thing that he is such a good driver so i don't get car sick when he drives. i could tell you some stories about me getting car sick... but you might be eating lunch while reading this and i don't want to spoil your appetite.

we just got back from spending a few days with wonderful friends in our new city. i call them wonderful because this is the second time that they have welcomed us into their house, dog and all, so we could go house hunting. this time, they even had a brand new german short-haired pointer puppy who became bozeman's best friend. hopefully, they will have some play-dates once we get settled so they can wear each other out! i know LH is hoping that they will have some play-dates just so he can play lego star wars on our friends' xbox 360. have you ever played that game? so. much. fun. i can't understand why LH would get upset when my character shot and killed him, though. whoever decided to create a video game with lego characters was a genius! no blood and guts and it's actually funny when c3po's arms get ripped off. and no, i'm not promoting violence.

so here is the good news: we signed a lease for the house and will be moving in as soon as the movers can get our things out of storage and into the house. i am thrilled. we looked at several other houses just to make sure we were getting the "right one," and i even told LH that i could live without stainless steel appliances (our realtor told me to think about what i was saying) but in the end, we ended up with my favorite house. of course, now that we have signed a lease, i'm expecting our condo to sell right away. well, expecting might be too strong of a word, maybe i should say hoping? praying? begging and pleading? at any rate, we have a place to live and i'm very excited about it. now, we just have to convince my brother to come visit after he finishes his finals so he can help us paint, paint, paint!

moving woes

well, the movers emailed us today to say that all of our furniture and belongings have arrived in our next city and could be delivered today. the only problem is that we don't have a place for everything to be delivered to. you see, when we wrote the contract on the house, my husband wisely put in a contingency that we would not close until our condo sold. in a different housing market from today's, we would more than likely go ahead and close on the house and expect that our condo would sell soon. in this housing market, however, we are not taking any chances. the last thing we want is to be stuck trying to sell both the condo and the house a few years down the road when the military transfers us again. this has been especially difficult for me because i became so emotionally attached to the house. for awhile, i refused to accept any other options and only half-jokingly told my hubby that he could live in base housing and i would live with my parents until our condo sold and we could buy that house. unfortunately, either he talked to my parents, or my mom read my mind (which is more likely), because my mom told me that i couldn't move back in with them. darn. of course, i wouldn't really want to live separately from the hubby for any reason other than a deployment (and i've even considered stowing away for those occasions. did you know that they have signs at military airports telling you that it is a crime to stowaway or harbor a stowaway?).

i've taken solace in these verses right here: Matthew 6:25-34. these words tell me not to worry about tomorrow, because our heavenly father will provide for us. if he takes care of the little sparrows, how can i think that he would forget about us and our needs? he has it all under control, and even though things may not go according to my plans, God knows exactly what is planned for the hubby and me. i also trust my hubby in his decision making and his ability to find a replacement house for us if need be. when we got married, i agreed that he would be the head of the household and i'm doing my best to be supportive of him.

for now, the hubby, bozeman and i are living in our empty condo with a few outfits each, our mac computer and printer, one pot, one pan, a baking sheet, four dinner plates, four salad plates, four cereal bowls (which is not nearly enough when you eat as much cereal as we do), four spoons, four forks, four knives, one paring knife, one chef's knife, tongs, a basting brush (why did i feel it was necessary to keep this?), a pizza stone, several dish towels, no oven mitts (oops), and a pantry and refrigerator full of food. oh, i almost forgot our miniature, pre-lit christmas tree that is taking up residence in our empty living room (picture coming soon). if anyone wants to send us any care packages, we will gladly accept them!

p.s. we obviously still haven't decided on a nickname for my hubby. a few are in the works and i'll share as soon as there is a consensus.

under contract!!

pictures of the house

has a house ever made you cry?

before this past weekend, i would have answered “no” to that question. but now, my friend, i have cried because of a house. the hubby and i went house hunting this weekend, hoping to find our next home in just one day with our realtor. it sounds like a lofty goal, but we had both prayed about it ahead of time and asked God to give us wisdom in choosing the right part of town and the right house.
after endless hours of research on the internet, there was one house in particular that the hubby and i were looking forward to seeing. it was older, 27 years old to be exact, but looked solid. our realtor showed us some rather interesting houses, some really nice ones, and some houses that belonged to families that we felt sorry for because we knew that they needed to sell. finally, we visited the house that we had both talked about ahead of time. as we pulled into the driveway, we saw the homeowner walking out the back door with a basket of something, heading to her next door neighbor’s house to wait while we perused her home. i liked her immediately, although i’m still not sure why. i fell in love with the house as soon as we peeked in through the front door. there were plenty of windows and there was so much sunshine streaming in through them. the hardwood floors ran throughout the entire house and they were beautifully polished; this was a big selling point for both the hubby and me. as we walked through the house, i could envision us living and entertaining in it.
it wasn’t until we walked around the exterior of the house, though, that i started to get teary eyed. when we rounded the corner into the backyard, my eyes started to sting and water. i didn’t know what was wrong with me! the hubby and i were looking at the roof and then at the bushes along the property line that i hoped were blackberry bushes and it hit me that this was the house for us. i’m not an emotional girl, but something just made me tear up, something told me that we had to buy this house. i even thought that the homeowner was sitting in her next door neighbor’s kitchen, watching us walk around the house, and praying for us. i felt it. at the end of the tour, i told my hubby that this was the house; none of the others were even contenders in my mind. i also told him that i couldn’t be analytical about it and he had to be the one to make sure that this was the right choice. we talked about it with each other on the drive home and then we talked to both sets of parents and now we are getting ready to make an offer! woo hoo!