Photo Shoot

Here are the pictures from our photo shoot the other day! These are the un-edited images...

7 Things I Learned This Week

Here are things I have learned this week...

1) I am MUCH more equipped to work at Home Depot than the employees I dealt with this week. A chandelier that was "out of stock, never coming back again, gone, gone, gone..." was AMAZINGLY on the shelf when I arrived at Home Depot. It's a miracle! And I had to help a lady in the carpet section because the employee could not answer her questions! Seriously, I asked a lady for help because I was trying to buy a lighting collection and she gave me a look like "you really want help?... am I supposed to do that?" Got the same look, and attitudes, from several other people!

2) "Closing" is a word that means nothing to me. We have had a million different closing dates and they all come and go... FRUSTRATING! They now say Tuesday...who knows. If I don't work at Home Depot in the future I want to be an underwriter and get people's mortgages done quickly! :) To clarify, we do not have a loan yet... we won't know about the loan until the day before we close. Isn't that just great!? They say things are looking good though.

3) I am 99.9% sure I do NOT want another baby. Our poor little man was/is sick and was up all night long last night. I don't think TJ and I have it in us to do the whole no sleep thing again. Say a prayer for our little man. He is SO stuffed up.

4) Sometimes doctors call and make appointments for you for no good reason. Anderson's foot doctor called yesterday saying he wanted to see him today and when we arrived he sent us home!!! He said he didn't need to really see him! What? He did give us our $30 co-pay back. Does he NOT know how hard it is getting two kids up and going in the morning and out the door for a morning doctors appointment!???

5) Don't schedule photo sessions during nap time. I don't think there is ever a good time to get professional photo's taken so I thought I would do it today!... AFTER the doctors appointment!... Oh it was horrible but we actually got some GREAT pictures of the kids. I can't wait to post them. They should be up tomorrow. Mom said it was like wrestling two alligators. It was madness!

6) I am VERY thankful to have my mom here... It's fantastic having a helping hand AND the ability to do some things with just TJ. TJ and I went and got ice cream tonight and that was a treat!

7) I am excited about the Olympics. I LOVE gymnastics, swimming, and diving the best and I hope TJ doesn't make me watch the stupid stuff like basketball! I didn't "learn" this but I thought I would add it in.

It's been a great week, but still have some frustrations about the house so pray that things keep rolling. Karoline got a haircut this week and Anderson got his rat-tale cut off. I don't count it as his first haircut because it was two cuts and I didn't have my camera with me. Here are some cute picture of the kids.

This picture describes the mood Karoline has been in all week :) The princes' crown is upside down.

Anderson is standing a lot now and Karoline likes to help...

Such a big boy standing up...



Anderson having fun with a basket of books...

Helping mommy with laundry...

Reading with Gammy in Anderson's room...

The new haircuts...

In The Middle Of Waiting...

Well, I'll start off by saying that having my mom here is nothing short of wonderful! It's so nice having this little angle that follows me around cleaning up after me and my kids :) Hehe... she is a HUGE help and I am so thankful she is here. Finally! She got in on Saturday morning at 2:30AM!!!

We are still in the middle of waiting! We are still working on the house loan stuff... we should know from Bank of America tomorrow about our new loan. They don't think it will be a problem at all so I hope they are correct. I really like the new people we are dealing with. I don't know that it's a done deal by any means but things are looking better than they did last Thursday. Here is our current prayer request: 1)That we get a loan... 2)FAST CLOSING! I know that fast and closing don't belong in the same sentence but we need a FAST CLOSING! Our contract runs out on Friday, Aug. 8th, so we will have to pay $100 a day until we close! I REALLY REALLY don't want to do this but since we have already extended our contract once before I am not sure if we can do that again. Anyway... KEEP praying.

Funny thing... yesterday I forgot to call AT&T to tell them we ended up not closing on Friday and they switched our phone to the new house. We were without phone and internet all day yesterday. It was strange! But it's back on now. It could have been worse. It could have been DirecTV or the power! :)

Also, on a side note please keep my friend, Emily, in your prayers. She is in the middle of waiting too! She is due tomorrow with her second baby girl and we are SO excited! She is READY to have this baby! Please pray for her comfort (is there really comfort during labor?), Avery, Ryan, and her mom as she is flying in tomorrow.

Here are some pictures...

This little man LOVES bath time. We do bathes every-other night. It does not matter where he is in the house or what he is doing, when he hears the water start to run he crawls as fast as he can to the bath and stands up while the water fills up. It's just too cute!


Precious girl before church... we went to the late service and mom stayed home with Anderson while he took a nap. I took her to the service with me so she could watch TJ play. She enjoyed it but once the message started she wanted to go to her class. She was so happy when TJ took her. She LOVES going to church!


The boy LOVES his puffs as you can tell... they never get old.


Sorry the pictures of Gammy are of her in her PJ's... Karoline's favorite time with my mom is during breakfast when they have an "oatmeal party"...

Having A Garage Sale While On The Phone With Lenders

Today was the first day of our garage sale... I did pretty well. We made about $175. Not too bad for a Friday. Maybe we will get more people tomorrow but I am honestly happy with the $175! I still have a TON of stuff to sell...

TJ stayed home from work today to help me with the kids and because he already took the day off because we were supposed to close on the house today. So it was great he was home... AND my sweet friend, Emily, came over so the girls could play. Emily is 9 months pregnant... could go into labor at any moment, and was so sweet to come keep Karoline entertained!

As far as the house goes, we have options... TJ and I have been on the phone ALL DAY! Bank of America is trying to get a loan approval through another lender and we are also meeting with a mortgage broker tomorrow to have a back up. We also have an amazing offer though Quicken Loans... so we have options. Everyone CANNOT believe we didn't get the first loan. SO KEEP PRAYING!!!! We are trusting God and KNOW HE has a bigger plan for our family!

Also, my mom is stuck in Denver, CO trying to get here. So she is supposed to arrive at 2:30AM! NO FUN for her! Anyway... here are some pictures from today! Between my yard sale and being on the phone ALL day with loan people, I am beyond tired!! I might even go to bed before midnight tonight!

Karoline and Avery having fun together...


TJ got yogurt on Anderson's head during dinner tonight... it was pretty funny!

Bad News... But Peace...

Well, we heard today that our loan did not get approved. I cannot go into all the details but it was a complicated situation and it just didn't fly with the mortgage company. Anyway, we are TRYING other ways of getting a loan so we have not lost the house... just our loan. There is HOPE!

I TRUST my GOD! I know that if we get a loan or if we do NOT get a loan HE has a reason and a purpose and I am okay with that. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray about our earnest money though. We really need that money back and it is up to the seller to return it or not.

I am so appreciative of my parents, and our friends, and church family here for all their help and encouragement. My sweet friend Emily came over right away just to give me a hug! I REALLY appreciate everyone! I will let everyone know what is going on when I find out more but for now we will not be closing tomorrow and I am not sure about the future. I am just going to take it one day at a time.

Tomorrow is our garage sale!! My garage is a MESS (see picture below!) but hopefully we can make a few bucks off our junk! :) Mom's flight got canceled so she won't be here until late tomorrow night... I need her for support and to put her to work :)

Because of all the chaos today TJ and I were not really focused on the kids... it was crazy and we were trying to talk and get lunch ready. Well Karoline and Anderson had enough of us not paying attention to them. Karoline took it upon herself to feed her brother... the whole container of Puffs!! Here is what she said...

ME: "Karoline, did you give Anderson puffs?"

KBG: "Yes Mommy. Anderson HAS to eat! He needed Puffs."

What a good big sister... then I grabbed my camera for a quick picture!

The MESS!!

Sweet boy...

I took this picture for my friend Emily... She thinks it's crazy that Karoline does not get out of the bed after the night and naps. It's not because of anything we did to teach her it's just her little (usually) obedient personality.

He loves to get the fridge toys off the fridge to play...


Anderson's funny way of holding the bottle...

My kids love being under my feet all the time :) Even while doing the dishes!

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!!

No More Big Macs

I LOVE my husbands post on his blog about the new boycott on McDonalds. Check it out...

Trying To Get My Mind Off The House...

I literally was sick today over this house situation. I hardly could eat... there is just so much at stake! I did talk to our processor today and he said that TJ's income was fine and that part of it was over so that is good. We are still waiting for some more info on our down payment stuff. I won't go into details but it is a little complicated and I hope it will work out. If it does not we might lose our $13,000 earnest money! OH PLEASE pray that this won't be an issue if we don't get a loan! This is a HUGE prayer request! Everything else I have bought for the house can be returned but this sofa we got on a floor model clearance for 40% off.... my dream sectional!... I am praying God has a plan for this sofa too if we don't get the house! It would not even fit through the door of our current home so we would have to try and sell it on Craig's list or beg Harvest Home to take it back! So anyway, even though I heard from the bank I don't feel like we need to start packing yet. They said we should know on Wednesday what the underwriter says and should know the DAY BEFORE WE CLOSE if we are finally approved or not! They don't give people a lot of packing time do they?

To keep myself busy and my mind focused on something else we are going to have a garage sale on Friday and Saturday. I figure I need to get rid of this stuff anyway so now is a good time. I called the paper and put in an add so that I could not talk myself out of it! :)

Here are some cute pictures of the kids... Anderson keeps standing more and more and is starting to let go of furniture when playing with toys. He does not mind his "special shoes" when he sleeps- PRAISE THE LORD! He is such a sweet little guy. Karoline is as funny as always. Her Sunday school teacher says she has the best sense of humor and she just adores her...OF COURSE! She did get a new pair of Dora glasses today and she is so proud of them (check them out in the picture of her at dinner... also note that Huggums had to be strapped down for dinner too!) We did get a warm day a few days ago so the kids got to play in the pool and Karoline's new Dora sprinkler. She wanted to go outside again today but since it was like 75 degrees it was a no go... Sorry for all of my Texas friends. Now would be a good time to come visit! :)

Keep praying and thanks for all the sweet comments and emails of encouragement!!


If we do move we really are going to miss our GIANT backyard. I think we have the largest backyard in the county! Our new back yard is big enough for the kids, just not quite as giant.




The kids waking me up from my Sunday afternoon nap!

Karoline (sporting her new glasses) and Huggums eat dinner...

Anderson eating some cheese...

To Loan or Not to Loan... Maybe?

I am an emotional wreck right now! Some of you know that we have been looking for a house since March. It has been depressing! What you get here for $400,000 is not a lot in comparison to Fort Worth, TX! All the houses we found needed a LOT of work! We also knew we really needed a fourth bedroom. My mom comes often and for longer periods of time and sleeping on my sofa is not fun for her. AND when TJ's parents come or if my dad comes with my mom they can't stay with us... it's just a mess! We have enjoyed our house that we have rented but have outgrown it!

One day our agent told us to go look at this house. He said it was out of our price range but he just wanted us to see it. Of course it was amazing compared to everything we looked at so far and we told him we would TAKE IT for $400,000. He laughed and said, "Yeah Right... it will probably be closer to $460,00 but we'll pray about it and see what God does".

So we began the waiting game... we waited and waited. We first had to wait for the appraiser to appraise the house. THEN we had to wait for the seller (a bank because it is a foreclosure) to decide on a selling price. At this point we still did not know if it would be in our price range or not. Please keep in mind that when you live out here you have to have a BIG budget for a home and even though TJ and I knew we would have to save every penny almost and it would be tight monthly, we both felt lead to look for a home and pray about planting ourselves here. We both felt like even though prices were still WAY more than we have ever been used to(even though they have gone down about $200-300,000 since when we moved here three years ago) that if we didn't buy now we would not be able to buy in this area for a LONG LONG time. SO we decided to TRY and buy a house...

Anyway, so after a TON of prayer and wondering and more prayer, we heard on May 15th that the listing price was $430,000. Still WAY out of our range but closer than $460,000!! So we had to wait again... to pray and think about seriously trying to get this house. We didn't know if we could put in an offer.. an offer that could possibly be accepted. We finally put in an offer and it got ACCEPTED!!! WHAT A BLESSING! We really didn't think the seller would accept but with the market these days maybe they were just ready to get rid of it... understandable.

SO... then comes the loan approval stage of things. We knew we pre-QUALIFIED but had not sent in all our paper work and stuff. We prayed for a GREAT interest rate..6% was my specific prayer request and we got it! Well... we were supposed to close last Friday (July 25th) BUT there is an issue and we don't even know if we are going to get a loan!!!!! OH MY GOSH! I am freaking out. Banks are being so strict right now, which I totally understand, so I don't know if we will or not. WE know we can pay our monthly payment and we have a good down payment but I know banks are being SO cautious! Honestly if they don't give us a loan I have NO idea who is out there getting a loan. But oh well...

The LORD has brought us a long way from seeing our California "dream home" and thinking there was NO WAY to there MIGHT be a way... IF we can get a loan. I feel like the Lord has made this happen... I KNOW He has made this happen. There were so many things that seemed impossible but became possible. BUT now we don't know if we are going to get a loan. No loan... no house!

My quiet time this morning was about God's faithfulness. I KNOW God is faithful... I KNOW God has a plan for our family... BUT what if we don't get a loan. I will be so disappointed and heart broken. I feel like if we don't get the loan then why did everything seem to work out along the way only for us to get to the end and then have my heart broken. But I cannot question God's faithfulness. I cannot allow my fear of disappointment to hinder me from trusting my God. The whole time I have prayed for God's BEST for our family. Maybe this house is His best. Maybe its not... I have to choose to TRUST Him. I know God has taught me a LOT through this experience.
- Patience- "The art of being peaceful and hopeful as you wait"
- Peace- I have learned that I have a peace problem more than a patience problem. It's not that I can't be patient but I have a hard time being peaceful about the outcome while waiting.
- Knowing that God is faithful... even when we don't understand His timing!
- His ways are BEST.

In my Beth Moore study I am doing right now (Living Beyond Yourself) I read this this morning "I am convinced that faith sometimes means knowing God can, whether or not He does."

That really touched me! I KNOW God can work this out. BUT He might choose to allow this house buying opportunity to pass us by. WHY? Because HE has something better planned for our family. I am praying for peace for my heart and my mind. I HATE being consumed with thoughts about when will the bank call to tell us what's going on.

Please pray for me and our family. We are SUPPOSED to close on Friday, August 1st. My mom arrives on Thursday to help with the move. She is staying for a month (it's going to be a LONG month unless we have the new 4th bedroom in the new house!). I need to have a garage sale on Saturday, the 2nd, so that I might can make a few dollars to put toward some "wants" for the house. THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO but I have no motivation because I don't know if we are moving or not. Our agent says to start packing... I am scared to start.

SO MAYBE!? We might be getting a house we might not. Please be PRAYING! To loan or not to loan?... that is the question!

P.S.- Encouragement and advice welcome! :)

Standing And Snowboarder In Training

Anderson started standing up on his own this week. He can stand for about a minute or so alone before sitting down. He is so cute. He also got him "special shoes" that he has to wear when he sleeps. They have a bar between them... it's kind of sad looking but he does not mind it at all. He slept great last night and I really thought it was going to be a bad night. TJ says he looks like a little snowboarder with it on. One day when he is in the Olympics for snowboarding we will dig out these pictures and what a story it will be :)... this is all TJ's idea.




Karoline is doing great drinking with a cup... she could always do it but I had to take up the rug under the table so I would not be afraid of a mess.


The boy LOVES his puffs... you can kind of see his teeth in the picture below. He has 5 teeth now... 4 on top and one on the bottom...

Especially For My High School Friends...

Isn't this funny... My mom kept my prom dress for her granddaughters to play with one day. My niece, Pressley, got into it this week at my mom's house!!! Isn't she so cute. She turned 8 a few days ago. I cannot believe how big she is! My dad sent me this picture with his cell phone so it's not the best of quality.


Pressley making a silly smile!