Visit with Nana and Poppop and House Update!

Jake's parents just came up for a visit from FL. They were dropping off Mackenzie's cousins, Kayla and Connor who had just spend 2 1/2 weeks with them down there. We got to go to Hershey Park with them and that was so much fun! Mackenzie loved the little rides and Jake and his dad had fun going off and doing the roller coasters! Jake's Aunt Anne even joined us at tha park for the day, it was such a great time! And God was so kind to us, we were one step ahead of the only thunder storm of the day. We had just gotten off the Chocolate World ride and Mackenzie had fallen asleep in Jake's lap and we came out only to see a huge swarm of people beelining it inside as thunder and lightening and rain crashed all around. We waited out the rain storm all dry inside while both of our girls power napped and then they woke up just as it stopped raining... couldn't have been a better day!

She had such a fun time with her grandparents. Aunt Sam and Kayla and Conor came over for lunch on Monday before Nana and Poppop left and Mackenzie was very confused since she is convinced the only Sam in the world lives next door and likes to play with her outback! Jamie came over and watched the girls while they napped so I could take them to the airport and when Mackenzie woke up she said, "Where Nana and Poppop go?" with her little hands raised in a question and I told her they had to go bye-bye and she said, "Oh, Sad Day!" It was so cute... she had such a good time with them!

Now the house update. Basically, we signed a contract back in May about house #1. It was a short sale and the bank had a 60 period to get back to us and accept our offer and move forward to settlement. They never got back to us. So in the past 3 weeks we started looking at houses again, found a cute one, went and looked at it and fell in LOVE. That is house #2. As I said before in my previous post, we really would have been happy in either house, but when we took Jake's folks back to see it on Sat. our hearts were just fully, fully engaged! Yesterday was the last day that held us in our contract with house #1 and since we still didn't hear from the bank, our realtors are now working to release us from that contract so we can go forward with this new house.

Now a little bit about the house. I won't say where it is, but it is close enough to a lot of people from church... namely a family with two awesome older daughters who will make the best babysitters if my family isn't available! It has tons of curb appeal, it is so cute from the outside with a fenced in yard and is just as beautiful on the inside. It is a 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath that has a wood burning stove, an updated kitchen, nice floors through (some pergo, some carpt), a garage, 2 sheds, a huge attic, all new appliances, new paint, ceiling fans in almost every room, and beautiful window treatments that are all staying!. They are leaving us so much stuff too since they are down-sizing... like the upright freezer in the garage, portable heater, lawn care equipment, Bose stereo surround sound that runs through the house, all the wood in the 2nd shed for burning this winter, the piano, and the plasma screen t.v. in the bedroom!!

Now I need to write about them because they are some of the dearest people on this earth... not because they are leaving us all of that stuff, but because of who they are! We showed up on Sat. with my mom, Stephen, both of the girls, and Jake's parents for our appt. to see the house. They had waited there just so they could meet us! They were so warm and welcoming, making it clear that they would leave so we could feel free to look around, but just wanted to stay so they could meet us and tell us a little more about the house. She had made us brownies and iced tea. They have lived there for 23 years, and their only adopted daughter just graduated from college. She said that they looked at each other a few months ago and said, "Ok, what's the next project to do around here?" and then she said they both felt from the Lord that it was time to move! He told us it didn't matter that they had recieved other offers, they just new this was the right fit for them and for us! This is what really floored me: they had a big sign that said "PRAY FOR THE MOONS" on their fridge! They had typed up a little prayer underneath asking God for His will for them and for us in this moving process! It was so amazing to know that the people we are buying this house from have been praying for us as we waited out this short sale! They want us to come back again so they can show us the little quirks of the house that took them forever to figure out since no one had shown them.

After all of the drama and saga this moving business has been for us, it really looks like we will be moving out of my parents basement and into our own home by then end of next month! This home doesn't need a stich of work done to it, it just needs our family moved in and it will immedietly be home to us! I am so grateful for this process to finally be coming to an end! I will desperately miss living here... not only all the wonderful family time and memories we've made, but being able to go out back and have a little friend for Mackenzie right next door (it doesn't hurt that I adore his mother either!) but I can't wait to invite everyone over to OUR home soon!!

House Update

Well, nothing is "new"... just same old waiting, waiting. However, there is an end in sight to our waiting. July 27th is the last day for the bank to come through and approve our short sale, we are released from that contract after that date and can move on FINALLY! We love the house that we are in a contract with right now and will be very happy if that is the home God has for us, but we are also excited that if that falls through we have found another home that we both really love. It is perfect for our family, but before I get ahead of myself and go to all the trouble of explaining another house that we might not get, I'll stop. Either way we will be happy. What I think is really neat about house #2 is that first, we're dealing with a person... FINALLY! Second, we saw it the first day it hit the market and made an offer right away contingent on us getting out of our short sale contract (our realtors really don't have much faith in the bank getting back to us by their deadline of July 27th). The owner recieve two more full price offers the same day, but because our wonderful realtors went to the trouble of writing a cover letter about us and describing our family and situation, the seller decided he wanted us to have the house! He is willing to wait the two weeks to see if the bank comes through or not, and he is hoping it doesn't cuz he would really like for us to have his home.

These next to weeks are going to be tough waiting and waiting and waiting to hear or not to hear from the bank... my prayer is that I would wait well. I don't want to be anxious and up late worrying about it and so far Jake and I are doing ok, but we're not through this yet. I think it will be neat that if we do get house #2 we can look back at these past 2 months in our short sale and see that ultimately, that was God's way of protecting us and having us hold out for this awesome #2 house. And if we do hear back positively from the bank that they accepted our offer on house #1, we are happy that we're not waiting these next two weeks in a panic that there is nothing else out there that we like!

Mackenzie has been having the time of her life pool hopping with her mama and Aubrey has been the most content baby, sleeping at all the pools and being held by all the "little mommies" that want to hold her. Mackenzie fell asleep on the way home today and I laughed as I pulled her out of the back seat and tiptoed her inside. She was drenched from her bathing suit, covered in peanut butter from her lunch, and sticky from the lollipop she got from the bank... life for her is pretty sweet right now!

4th of July!

We had so much fun on the 4th of July! We started the day with a parade in Marlton. Mackenzie loved it! Both the girls were decked out in outfits I had bought for them at the end of the summer last year... I didn't even know I was going to have another girl, but I was hoping!

Gotta love the bow!

After the parade we went home and took naps then we went over to the Lockharts' house for a surprise party for our friend Justin. He was totally surprised... and so was his little girl, Elise, who cried and cried after we all shouted surprise! Poor thing, we really shocked her!

Shana is my friend that reminds me of myself because she totally adores her husband, Justin, as much as I adore Jake! She is a constant example to me of speaking highly of your husband to others and appreciating him for all of the hard work he does. She has a baby that is barely a month old, but she's been planning this surprise party for him for months now since she knew she wouldn't be able to do much after the baby was born. She set up a whole special email account and delegated everything so she could bless her husband with a wonderful surprise party even though they just had a new baby! Way to go, Shana!!

Babies, Babies, Babies... here is Aubrey with her friends Avery and Sophia (they are cousins!)



Here's Madison and Aubrey together with the two "look alike" dads!

Here are our girls together again! We are so excited to raise our kids with the Palmers... we love them so much!

Here are SOME of the babies that God has blessed our church with in the past 4 months!

They were all so cute. They're all at the stage where they can't control their arms yet and they kept hitting one another in the face!

Who are all these babies you may wonder? Starting with Aubrey and going left: Aubrey Moon, Sophia Park (she is the oldest, 4 months), Eliana Mall (she is the youngest, 1 week), Eli Williams, Isaac Baloche, Alaythia Lockhart, Avery Chung, and Madison Palmer.

If you're looking for a church with lots of young kids... look no further!!! Three of these babies are first borns, two are second borns, and the three families at the end on the right just has their 5th, 4th, and 6th kid!!

That night we got the girls all bathed and dressed them in their froggy jammies... Mackenzie loves matching Aubrey whenever she can. Then Mackenzie insisted on playing with Aubrey. She takes Aubrey's hand and makes her spin the little mirror around. She is such a good big sister!

My Happy Birthday!

I had the best birthday yesterday! Both of my girls slept well past 9... something that has NEVER happened before! I finally heard Mackenzie stir around 9:15 and I woke up (yes, I allowed myself to stay in bed past 9 too... it was my birthday after all and I was up until 2 a.m. reading a really good book!) and snuggled and nursed Aubrey in bed while my mom got Mackenzie up and made blueberry pancakes together with her to bring down to me in bed!!! Yes, I got breakfast in bed on my 26th birthday!! It was a tradition that my mom started with me when I was 3... 23 years later and it's still going strong! (We had discussed it the night before and I told her I was all for it!)

After I had my wonderful breakfast in bed, we all hoped in my mom's van and went to Chic Fil A to get our free breakfast sandwhiches so we could eat them for lunch! We came home and the girls and I went to our new friends' house around the corner. We had met this family at church on Sunday and they came to caregroup the night before. They just moved here last month and they have two little girls almost exactly our girls ages! So we had a nice time of fellowship with them and then came home for naps and I got to lay out in the sun and read more of my captivating book ("The Atonement Child" by Francine Rivers)... I'm telling you, the day couldn't have been better!

Then Jake came home at a decent time and we took the girls over to the Palmer's house. (Lauri and I actually share a birthday and we shared the same due date for Aubrey and Madison!) They babysat for us so we could go out to dinner before we went to see Andy's play last night (yes, he was in another one! Beauty and the Beast this time... he was the Beast!) Tonight we're babysitting for them so they can go out for her birthday... they were so kind to let us go out on the actual day! Mackenzie loves Mr. Palmer and follows him around the house saying "Palma, Palma"... it's really cute!

It was a super wonderful birthday... I'll always remember my 26th birthday as the birthday God let my kids sleep in for!

Backyard Beach Days...