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!!