Two Reunions

This summer, P has had two reunions, but neither are the kind you would expect. In June, we attended a weekend-long reunion of his Junior High class. There were only 8 people in his 8th grade class, so it was fun to have them all together again.

As random as that is, I think last night's reunion is even more random. We got together with P's college housemates. Now, this in itself doesn't sound so weird, but I feel compelled to retell the night's events.

We showed up in front of their old college house, which they had named "Paradise City". It has since been renamed several times, but ironically is called "Paradise City" once more with no connection to the original name. After all of the roomies showed up, including one who now lives in CO and another who drove in from Pittsburgh just for this event, we knocked on the door of the house to see if we could have our reunion in their yard. The confused college girls seemed less freaked out once they saw that we had kids with us. They agreed, and the next thing you know, we had music plugged in (led off by "Paradise City" of course), corn hole set up, and blankets and chairs on the ground in the front yard of their old college house.

After a little while, one of the old roomies asked if we could get a tour of the house. The girls agreed, and led all 10 of us plus 2 kids through their home. They had no idea how giddy they were making these 30 year old men. The old stories started rolling out, and at each turn of a corner, someone had another, "Oh, remember..." story. It was so fun to watch.

Now, this seems awkward enough already, but don't worry, the awkwardness is only just beginning. After about 15 min. of wandering through their house, one of the guys asked if he would be allowed to climb into a hidden storage crawl space to retreive a "Paradise City Time Capsule." She granted him permission, so he pulls out a head lamp and crawls into a tunnel opening about the size of a checkerboard inside this girl's closet. He finally emerged successfully carrying a plastic container ducktaped shut.

We brought it into these girls' living room, and all of the guys gathered around to open it together. The contents were random and included the following: a pink flamingo, a bon jovi poster, old unopened mail for each of the guys (luckily nothing was too important), other random items that had adorned the walls during college and a collage of pictures of the roomates from each year that they lived together.

We ended up staying in these girls' house for probably an hour and were finally able to drag the guys out when one of the wives declared that she was hungry, and since she's pregnant, you don't mess with a pregnant hungry woman.

Don't worry, it was all documented on video and in pictures. I am still laughing about it thinking of what these girls must have thought. I can't imagine this was how they had planned on spending their Thursday evening, but they were so gracious and hospitable as they allowed these grown men to take a trip down memory lane. Thanks to the girls from the new Paradise City for allowing this random reunion to occur and to be so much fun!

God's Purpose or Mine?

I wanted to share an excerpt from a book I was reading today called, "My Utmost for His Highest."

"We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God's purpose for us. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself. If I can stay calm, faithful and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish- His purpose is the process itself.

God's purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious."

It was a good reminder to me in the midst of this huge life change. Just thought I'd share it with you all. I hope it is an encouragement to you as well. Was it a super-sappy Stephen Sharp song that said, "I'm learning if I focus too hard on the end, I forget to love the process of the means."?

New Home

A quick post to let you know that we did find a place. We are super excited about it and feel like it will be a great fit for our family. It's a little smaller than our current house, but there's a park literally right out our back door. And there's a fenced in backyard and a usable basement.

New address: 6613 Murray (same city and zip)

Yep... we are sticking in the same town. So, P and I have been married for 7 1/2 years, lived in 3 places, all within a mile of each other! God sure has a sense of humor!

We start moving our stuff into the new place this coming Friday and then close on our house the following week (Aug. 7th).

I've got to get dinner started. I'll type some more updates later.

One long day

We've had some very busy days lately, so I decided to let yesterday be a day of resting at home. My plan was for both boys to get good naps on their regular schedules in hopes that we can get back to some kind of routine. What's the saying about the best laid plans?

A woke up yesterday morning calling for me (this is normal). I went to his room and told him he could get up and we'd read books together (also normal). He stood up to come with me and his legs buckled completely underneath him sending him tumbling to the ground (this is not normal). He tried again and ended up on the ground again saying, "I can't walk, mommy!" I figured he slept on his leg funny, so I carried him to the couch and read some books. About 5 or 10 min. later, he stood up to pick out some new books, and his leg completely buckled underneath him sending him to the ground. He spent the morning crawling around, unable to put any pressure on his leg.

We went to check out a new place to live at 9:45, then straight to the doctor at 10:45. She sent us to Children's hospital for some tests. Poor A had to get some blood drawn and an xray of his leg. He was such a trooper, especially since we had to wait over an hour and a half just to get in to get his blood tested. He wasn't a huge fan of the needle, but I the Dora sticker afterwards cancelled out the pain a little bit. We didn't get home until after 2:30 (A's nap usually starts at 1:00).

Not the day I had planned at all, but both boys were such troopers. A is feeling better today, but not back to his normal 2 1/2 year old boy self. All of the tests have come back negative, so we are guessing he just pulled a muscle in his leg and it had stiffened overnight making it harder to walk in the morning. Though he is still babying his leg a little, he can walk today and has even attempted to run and jump a little. I'm hoping the dreary weather and constant rain will keep both boys asleep a little longer today to make up for the missed naps yesterday.

Two stories

Two stories from today:

1- We went to a birthday party for a neighbor boy who turned 3 last Friday.  A was so excited.  We made a card, and he got to wake up early from his nap to go to the party.  We were there for maybe 10/15 minutes when a lady started doing face painting.  The birthday boy got a blue batman logo painted across his entire face, like a mask.  As soon as A saw this, he jumped into my arms and buried his head in my shoulder shaking with fear.  We ended up leaving the party because he was petrified.  The rest of the night he kept crying because he wanted to go back to Owen's party, but if I offered to take him back over, he started shaking with fear again.  Even as he was falling asleep tonight he kept saying, "No like Owen with blue paint on his face."  I am interested to see if he wakes up with nightmares tonight.

2- The boys are now sharing a room.  A's bed is on the floor since he still tends to fall off every now and then.  Today, I was laying next to him for a little while before he fell asleep.  C was in his crib right above us.  I thought he was just rolling around in his sleep, but when I looked up, his little smiley face was looking over the edge of the bumpers looking down on me and his brother.  It was too cute!  Hopefully the image of his baby brother's smiley face will replace the image of Owen's blue face.

Four days later...

Was it only Tuesday I posted?! It feels like a lifetime ago. Here's the quick updates:

-We are under contract again. Same couple, but this time they were a little more willing to compromise.  We were quickly able to come to an agreement, so we close on August 7th.  

-No... we still don't know where we are going.  We are looking to rent in the nearby area.  There are a LOT of places for rent, but not a lot that fit our needs.  Part of me is so worried about the details, sad to leave a home and neighbors that we love and overwhelmed by this whole situation.  But the other part of me is excited for this next step.  I am currently reading this book and the chapter I read last night was ironically called, "A House is not a Home."  And, it's true.  All I need are my hubby and my boys, and the rest is just details.  

-So, I'm off to pack some boxes and search online for a place to live.  

Two cute pics

Baby C has acid reflux.  We recently tried to wean him off his meds, which was pretty unsuccessful.  He would scream when he laid down, so I tried to get him to sleep in his swing.  This is how I found him when I went in to check on him.  At least P was smart enough to take a pic before we moved him into a more comfortable position!

And here is an adorable pic of A with our 3 next door neighbors.  He will be so sad whenever we end up moving and he no longer has these three next door.  

Back to the Beginning

Today, we ended our contract on our house. The buyers have been frustrating since the beginning of this process, and we couldn't come to an agreement on the items that needed to be fixed on our house before closing. We feel our house is in very good condition, but we were willing to fix several things for them to help make the sale smooth. However, they wanted us to fix over five thousand dollars worth of items that (in our eyes) were not essential. Needless to say, there was no middle ground to be found.

Though it's frustrating to be back to holding open houses and keeping the house ready for showings, we are confident that this was the right move. A HUGE thanks to Uncle and Aunt YaYa for watching the kiddos today while we raced around the house getting it ready for an open house tomorrow. It would not have been possible without their help, and who knows... the right buyer could come through tomorrow!

More Cleveland Pics

Cleveland Trip

We just returned from a long weekend visiting family in Cleveland.  The trip was so much fun!  We normally spend all of our time in Cleveland at Gramma the Great's house as family filters in and out.  This time, though, we ventured out to some different places.  We took the boys to a Science Museum that had a great little kids' area.  A loved dressing up in different costumes, playing in a ball pit and banging on the bells and drums.  C loved watching A run around.  I sometimes think Baby C lives vicariously through A!  He wants so desperately to be running around with him.

We also had a chance to visit one of P's uncles at his fire station.  It may go down as the single best day in A's life.  He got to drive the truck and squirt the hose!  

We hit up a 4th of July parade, too.  You can tell from the pictures that A wasn't a huge fan.  I think he would have loved it, but it started out with a small band.  He'll tell you "I no like guys with drums."  I guess it was too loud, though he covered his eyes and not his ears.  The rest of us enjoyed it, though.  And when we went to P's uncle's house for dinner, A got to climb a tree house.  He forgot all about the drummers.

With a family dinner on the beach and great time with our extended family, we had a blast!  It was very relaxing, which we needed. 

The next few weeks are going to be a whirlwind.  We have a contract on our house (finally!).  We are negotiating what needs to be changed now that the inspection is complete.  Assuming everything works out, we are closing on July 31st.  

I know the next question that is on everyone's mind, and the answer is no... we still don't know where we are going next.  We are hoping God reveals that part of His plan sometime in the next three weeks.  

"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you a hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11-13

Baby C pics

The other day, I needed to get started on dinner, so I put Baby C on a blanket with some toys.  He decided he was more in the mood to cuddle under a blanket with a good book!  I don't quite know how he finagled his way into this position, but it was so funny to find him like this.  

We are trying to transition C into a crib in A's room... he's been sleeping in our room up to this point.  He seems to like it, but he'd much rather play than sleep!  What a smiley kid!  It's hard to be mad a kid that is that cute!