Home, Sweet, Home!!!

Wheee!!!!! We LOVE our new home!! And it actually feels like home already! I had ambitions to take pictures of all the activity, but there was so much activity, not ONE picture was taken! :)

Highlights of the weekend:

• Our two Dads coming over Friday with trailers and helpfulness. When they brought the kitchen table in, it was so cool - the table looked "small" compared to it taking up 2/3 of our previous kitchen! They worked hard and must have been exhausted.
• On Friday, Mom Vanderwest helping pack our whole kitchen and then unpack the kitchen over here. She's a great organizer and "non-clutter" person - I even had two boxes of garage sale items just from the kitchen. :)
• Saturday: Wow. The men were strong, efficient, hard-working, eager, no complaining (except Boyd did try to convince me I didn't need my favorite silk tulips and some other decorative things :). They were like machines! Thank you, each of you, for giving your time and energy for us. Moving began at 10 am, ended at 2 pm.
• Nathan, Robyn, and Seth enjoyed the day at the Oxford's playing with their crew...thank you, Lori - what a blessing to know they were in good hands.
• Kim helping with last packing and cleaning up at our old house...then bringing us yummy tacos for Sat. dinner. What a servant.
• Watching Jonathon Vanderwall bring box after box upstairs. I hope we can train our children to be so willing and helpful at just 9 years old.
• Working with Sister-in-law Kelly and niece Leslie to set up the kids' rooms before they came home. Their rooms look tidy and sweet. Kelly's fun and a "get it done" kind of gal!
• Feeding the work crew pizza for lunch. We set it up at the island and a few minutes later it struck me that there were 15 people eating in my house and I hardly noticed it. Wow. What a cool feeling.
• Joanne bringing a tasty lasagna over - making it in her kitchen around her husband who was painting(!) - we enjoyed it for 2 days!
• It was fun to hear people say how happy/excited they were for us!
• The kids are so tickled! They love it all! I think having more space will help everyone feel like they have room to roam and space of their own.
• I was careful to not lift things (due to all the great help)- though my back was squawking at me a fair amount on Fri and Sat nights. All that bending up and down and being "on" made for some tiring days. I am feeling better now. Before the move, I did pray to not go into labor on Saturday! (4 weeks to go now)
• Looking out the windows on Sunday and seeing snow falling from the picturesque pine trees.
• Ken worked on getting much of the garage organized on Monday while I was at school. I love that man so much! It has been a joy working together in this endeavor.
• We're feeling fairly settled - Ken said our work of weeding through everything and packing conscientiously made for a smooth move.
• Most of all, we feel humbled to have so many people willing to help us and be excited with us. We are blessed. Many times in the past days I have been moved to stop and thank God for this wonderful tool and blessing.

A Tuesday Tradition?!

Second week in a row of a Tuesday snow day. . . I think I could get into this! Apparently there are icy roads in this rural area. This semester my schedule changed, so a delay doesn't mean anything different for my teaching schedule. It is nice to have a more relaxed morning with Nathan and not have to get him "up and at 'em" so early. Last Tuesday I continued going through more STUFF and packing away, so the day was quite useful. This Tuesday will be more fun - unpacking and finding places in our new house for our things!!!

When Ken took some time off over Christmas, he started a new idea with the kids. Each morning (when we planned to be home for the day) he asked each of them what was something they would like to do just with Daddy during the day. This morning at breakfast, I asked each of them the same thing, so sometime today I will be playing Rummikub with Nathan, baking cookies with Robyn, and playing Don't Break the Ice with Seth. It has been a great thing - helps focus to be sure to spend time with them and not just around them. And, one-on-one time is special and really helps in all aspects.

Thank you, Lord, for this surprise day at home today! :)

Got an answer for this question?

The past four days have been THE COLDEST of the winter so far - we're talking single digits, drive the 1 1/2 blocks to church because it's too cold for the kids (and Mom) to walk, frigid, bone-chilling temps. (unlike the beautiful fall days pictured above)

So, you may wonder, what IS the question?

Here it is . . .

Why, oh why, would our dog be shedding like crazy?? Black hair all over! She loves to roll around on the area rug and leaves a trail of hair. Remember my new vacuum cleaner? We're still good friends. And it honestly seemed like Jessie BEGAN this terrible shedding the day the weather turned so bitterly cold. Her favorite thing to do is roll around in the snow (we think she's scratching her back) and then come in and continue to roll all around on the floor. Perhaps she somehow knows we are leaving this home soon and she wants to be sure her smell, ownership, etc., remains?

Ah well, maybe she'll get it all out of her system before we move into our new home?! We can only hope. Good thing we like her so much.

In order to keep track of time (which is a rather nebulous concept to children), we count the number of 'night's sleeps' until something is to happen. Five night's sleeps it is! :)

p.s. And why can't I get this post to paragraph correctly?! Sometimes computers have a mind of their own.

A New Home For Us!

We officially closed on Monday and after Ken does some painting and moving of various boxes, the "big move" will take place on Sat., Jan. 26. Hopefully the weather will cooperate - at least not be a slushy mess?

I stopped over today (first day it's been vacant) and it was a great feeling to walk through and check it out again. We'd been in it twice, and now that it's vacant I could get even more of a feel for all the areas. I am so excited about the kitchen / dining area - it feels like it's 3x the size of our current (rather small) kitchen...and we'll all be able to fit around the table! Yeah!

We pray our home will be a blessing to our (growing) family and to others. It was not coincidence the way this home "fell into our laps" . . . after months of praying, we believe God had this one in mind for us and He worked the details out (including having us wait, wait, wait on another home we were interested in and not understand what was taking so long)! When I was rather frustrated with the wait/uncertainty, I prayed, "Lord, please put us in a home where I can serve others the best...my husband, children, and others...and if that's our current home or another home, just make it clear to us, because there's nothing I can do and am completely dependent on you." Without exaggeration, I got home 3 hours later to a positive message on the machine regarding the one home and within two days we had not one, but two great homes to choose from. Isn't that the Lord? When I got to the end of myself, He was there waiting.

Much packing to do...must go! :)

Packing and More Packing...

I was reading an article in the GR Press that goes along with what we've been up to lately...Here are some interesting excerpts:

"Open home's energy by getting rid of the clutter."
A woman named Christan Hummel says space clearing can remove the clutter that "drains energy by blocking the invisible life energy flowing through a living space." (feng shui) She continues, "Think of it like emotional baggage in the house, it tends to clog up the pipes, and it bogs down the homes' energy. A good house clearing is sort of like acupuncture for your house."
"January has been dubbed Get Organized Month..."
"To our subconscious mind, clutter triggers images of stagnation...when we see clutter our mind equates it with chaos and dead energy."

My! I had never thought so philosophically about the "stuff" in my home - although it does make sense. I feel calmer when my home is orderly. Ken and I have been going through everything we own and sorting. Much is in the garage sale section of the garage; the other side contains boxes filled with items to move. My mom used to tell me to "Be Ruthless!" when I was cleaning my room, going through clothes, etc. Her words have echoed many, many times in the past weeks! Ken is a trooper and we make a good team - we work together and he does all the lifting and carrying. When we moved to this home, it was Ken and I, along with a bed, dresser, kitchen table, couch and chair, clothes, and a few decorations.........now, nine years later, there are 3+ children, a dog, the two of us, and LOTS more than we started with! It's felt good to "weed and thin" as we've packed...and I think we'll appreciate that when we unpack in our new home!

In other news...
- had a good Dr's visit this week - praise God for that! 7 weeks to go!
-Robyn is VERY excited about her birthday coming up Feb 3. She came up to me a few days ago and said, "I've thought about what I'd like to have at my birthday party." Oh? (I guess we're having a birthday party!) If she knows you well at all, you just may be on her invite list...we made a birthday chart together on the computer and each day she excitedly puts a sticker on! Sweet and cute, our girl is.
-Seth has been doing puzzles like crazy! The other day he took out a 63 piece and with minor help from me, did the entire thing. Then he pulled out a 100 piece Care Bear puzzle and worked diligently until finished, again receiving minor help. All three LOVE puzzles!!
-Ever read the children's book Fancy Nancy? Check it out sometime - a young girl who loves all things fancy. After reading aloud to our three many times over break, I brought it to school and read to my students (6th & 10th graders). They enjoyed it much. Nancy loves "fancy" language and throughout the book uses "salsa" words instead of boring words: "Posh is a fancy word for fancy!" The Princess and the Pizza is another current favorite at home.
-We all enjoyed being home together over Christmas vacation. Ken took a few days off after New Years and in the midst of packing we did some fun family things. First grade has been great for Nathan, but it was sure nice to have him home, interacting with siblings, playing games together, etc.
-It's the end of the 1st semester at school this week - complete with exams, etc. I always like this week and how seriously (most) students take their work and want to do well. Next semester my classes switch and I will no longer have my beginning band students, but instead pick up a 9th grade computer class. Band is a joy, bringing them from knowing nothing about playing to doing quite well (for 4 months)...and I will miss them. We have a good time together - it's a fast paced class, and the kids have jumped on for the ride. Excellent students this year, too. They will now be in "full band" every day with the main director. One good aspect about the new semester is that my English class rosters will stay mostly the same - some years there's a huge turnover and it's like starting the year over. The makeup of both English classes is great; I told them I'm glad we'll be together next semester because I like all of them. 10th English has been a great fit for me this year - I've let the superintendent know how I've liked it and would enjoy having 2 classes of it next year. Can't hurt to think ahead, right?

May you experience positive "feng shui" this week by decluttering something! :)