Honest About Houses

So, last week I was stressing about looking at houses and looking for a home. I felt I had let my husband down by not loving the house he loved. I tried to love it for a whole day. I honestly tried to convince myself that this house was for us. But for some reason it didn't feel right to me. Was the house too small? Was the yard to small? Was it the kitchen? The bedrooms? The perfectly manicured yard? Nothing seemed like a good reason to not want to live in this beautiful house. I felt like a rat in a cage, with no where to run. We planned to go see the house one more time and probably put in an offer afterwards. Two hours beforehand, I finally broke down and said I did not think that our second scheduled visit was going to make me love the house. We canceled our appointment and spent several agonizing hours hating each other. He was upset. I was unsettled. Maybe I made a mistake... Why did I have to be the one to decide? We knew that time was of the essence, because an offer had been put on the house by a different couple the night before. We couldn't spend days debating it. Finally, I told Adam to call our realtor back. See if we could change our mind and see it. See if we could put an offer in. I felt horrible because Adam was so crushed about the house. He was already convinced this place was perfect. By the time our realtor got back to us, it was too late. The other offer was already going before the home owners. I'm not sure if I felt relieved or more guilty.

Two days later we saw two more houses. The first one we looked at felt like home when I walked in. Large rooms up and down. Over a half acre of land, with room for a garden and room for my boys to run and play in their own yard. Roomy kitchen. Fenced in patio area to play in. Big trees. It did need a new oven/stove and the bathroom was severely outdated. It was missing the extra family room that would be so nice when company was over and the kids got noisy. Adam said it was too small. I said okay. That night, I couldn't sleep. My mind kept going over and over about the house. I knew how Adam must've felt over the weekend. I was figuring out how we could work things in the house. Where we could make extra room appear, so our boys could play in their own space. Could we make a play space in the basement? And my new stove with oven would go right at the end of the counter. That stove-top would go and so would that built in oven that was half the size of a normal oven. How long did it take me to go to sleep? Maybe hours? Wednesday I practiced being honest. I started with my community group and how I needed to put my family first this week. I told my friend and employer about our plans to move and how, after the baby came, I planned to stay at home and watch a couple kids there. How I was not planning to come back to work and how the commute would be too long after we moved and I had two little kids in tow. I don't know how I managed that part, since I was dreading the whole conversation, but it was taken very well and given rather matter-of-factly. Then, at suppertime that evening, I practiced being honest with my husband. I told him how I felt about the house we had see the day before. I liked it. I really liked it. I gave my suggestions as far as family/play rooms go and about the stove and what not. He heard me out and we had a pleasant conversation. The next day we saw another house and both hated it. And we put an offer on the house that I loved. Adam was coming around to it. And, by Friday afternoon, after a counteroffer or two, the house was ours. Even Adam was excited! We will be moving this summer. In July. Before the baby comes! And I just may have time to settle in before September arrives.

Pink or Blue

I read about it in a magazine. And I thought it was the best. idea. ever. Well, maybe not ever... But pretty close. It was about cake. Pink or blue cake and a good surprise. The idea was, after your ultrasound, have the tech write on a piece of paper whether you were having a boy or girl, and stick it inside a sealed envelope so you cannot read it. Take the envelope to a bakery and have them make you a pink or blue cake depending on what is in the envelope, but frost the cake neutrally. I took it from there. I fashioned pink and blue flags so my guests could wave them in anticipation and share their guess. I also colored sugar with a few drops of food coloring so we could sprinkle our ice cream appropriately. Tonight we had our party. Adam, my very good secret keeper, kept the secret safe after he passed along the information to our cake baker, who turned out to be my Aunt, since the bakery didn't work out. Check out the pictures to see how it all played out!

Pink and blue flags await the voting!

The mystery cake

The crowd had voted. It's a pretty even vote! Might say 50/50.

"You mean, it's a brother?"

Happy Mom and Dad!

Boy: A noise with dirt on it.

My Sweets

Family. They mean the world to me. And I am growing more and more fond of them each day. I am soaking in my little boy each day I can. We snuggle longer before bedtime, way past "bedtime". He sits with me and begs for another story. He asks to kiss the baby, so I let him kiss my belly. He pokes at my flat belly button and I imagine how he is going to have to share me in four and half short months. He's been my only child for four and half years. We've never known any different. I'm sure he will love his little baby, and hopefully he won't feel any resentment at having to share his Mom and Dad and his snuggle space. As for my honey, I think he is growing sweeter every day. I just love this picture of the both of them.

Traveling Escapades

Did a little bit of traveling this past month. Got to hug some great people and eat wonderful food. Here's a tiny taste of the adventure.

Beartown State Park (I told you I wanted to go there)

This month we took a family vacation to see some good friends of mine. Adam, Josh and I drove 14+ hours to Greenville, South Carolina. It wasn't a bad drive, but I did take us two hours out of the way to see this really great park called Beartown State Park, in West Virginia. Josh had a hard time driving through the mountains, as all the curves and hills were making him carsick... But he loved the rocks and caves at the park. I'm pretty sure we even heard a bear, though it could've been something else... I'm hoping to share little clips of our adventure with you so "bear" with me!

Josh loved exploring the boardwalks at Beartown. He

often ran ahead a little ways to get a peek before we could.

"He hideth me in the cleft of the rock."

Each rock formation was topped with trees

and ferns like a little island. It was so gorgeous.

We had to stay on the boardwalks,

but they too us to all the good spots.

Isn't he a cutie face?

Family Fun?

Today was a gorgeous, Seabreeze kind of day. The local union that Adam works in was having their family picnic at Seabreeze. We went with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Jo (Grandpa also works in the union) and tackled the water slides right off the bat and right off the bat Adam threw his back out coming down one of the slides with Josh. He didn't complain about it too much and we enjoyed several hours of water rides and bumper cars, but by mid afternoon he was very noticeably walking crooked. His back was seriously out of whack by two or three inches. Needless to say, we didn't stay as long as we could have. We went home to ice his back and get some pain killers in him. Adam spent the rest of the evening laying on the bed trying to relax his back muscles. Hopefully, his back will have released most of the tension by morning so he can go to church pain free.

I'm kinda glad Josh and I have another Seabreeze date in a couple weeks, because I didn't get to ride the Jack Rabbit this time...

In Love All Over Again

Smitten. I can't believe she's really a girl. My parents have a granddaughter... I have a niece. Can we really dress this child in pink and put bows in her hair? Buckle shoes and frilly dresses? She's the epitome of tiny girl child. Came into the world with a bang, after just three pushes, 45 minutes after arriving at the hospital. Breathe in her new baby scent and stroke her baby soft skin. Enraptured. That is how I must describe it. Giddy with delight and waiting anxiously until I can see her again.

The Troops

Mom and Dad and the troops. (Adam is MIA.)

Happy 23rd Birthday!

We had a party last night. Someone we love turned 23. Did you have a good 23rd birthday Gramma Jo? Hope you had fun!

A Sunny Day Outing

I woke up to a beautiful, sunny day, and my mind began to run with all the things I could get done outside on such a gorgeous day. It was difficult for me to quell those thoughts, as my stay-at-home time is limited, but an outing had been planned by husband and son and I didn't want to miss out on family time just to spend it with some dirt. Josh had gone to bed the night before chattering about feeding carrots to the cows at Lollypop Farm and he woke up talking about it too. So I tucked my thoughts about raised garden beds into my back pocket and clambered into the car with my men. Grandma Jo and Grandpa Bob were meeting us at the "farm" and Grandma Jo was bringing her carrots. Unfortunately for the carrots, upon arriving, we found that we were not allowed to feed the animals. But we wandered the paths admiring the horses, pigs, emus, goats, cows, and ducks and we were even able to get up close and personal with the goats. Josh had such a ball playing with the goats. There were a couple kids (of the goat type) in the group of goats that were quite friendly. They came right up to us and nibbled on my coat. The not-quite-as-friendly goats were chased by a small boy, and I'm not sure who was having more fun, Josh or the goat being chased! I thankful that I had my camera along as I was able to get several good photos of the kids playing together, the goat kind and the human kind...

Sending Love

I am signing in from the Hotel Business center. Facebook is blocked, so this is howI am saying hi to my family for tonight. We went to a child center today. If we weren't paying for internet by minutes, I would write more about it, but it was amazing. Adam, I loooove you. Give Josh hugs and kisses and tell him Mommy sends him kisses from far, far away in Indonesia. The drivers in Medan are crazy. Pray we stay healthy with all the exposure to germs. (Telling myself they don't exist.) Got to go.... Love to all. xoxoxox

Life Goes On.

It's been an exhausting week. My mind and body are tired. We spent two days this week in Buffalo with Adam's family. Grandma's wake was on Wednesday and the funeral was Thursday. The funeral was done in a Catholic church and was very different from any funeral I had ever been to. It left my mind reeling and I was very grateful that I know my relationship with Jesus Christ is a personal relationship. I don't live in fear of not being accepted into heaven because Christ has already paid for my sins and has extended his free gift of salvation to me. My sins have been washed away and I look forward to seeing my Savior face to face someday. I am forever grateful.
This week I met family members that I had never known before and became reacquainted with some that we hadn't seen for a while. Together we mourned the loss of a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and neighbor. We laughed with each other and at each other. Shared food and hugs. Together we said goodbye to the woman for whom we had all gathered together. When the time came to go home, Adam and I were both exhausted. We left Grandpa behind while lifting him up in our prayers. It will be difficult in the days ahead as this new way of life becomes the norm. If you think of it, you can pray for him too. Hmm, I think it is bed time.

Antoher Goodbye

When we arrived at the hospital in Buffalo yesterday morning, it was very apparent that we didn't have much longer with Grandma. We took turns holding her hand, telling her that we loved her. We witnessed a man kiss his wife and his best friend goodbye. Tenderly holding her hand, stroking her hair and whispering "I love you" into her ear. He recounted the story of how they got together. How she had reached over and held his hand on the way to a dance and how she had asked him out first. His eyes misted over. This woman was his best friend. His wife of 55 years. His heart already ached with thoughts of her being gone. The cancer had taken it's toll on her body. She lay in the bed, her arms and legs worn thin, and an oxygen mask covered her face, to ease her toiled breaths. This was the girl he went dancing with, the mother of his children, the woman who shared his house and home. And now the time had come to say good-bye. His children had come. As had nearly all of the grandchildren. At 10:30 last night, Grandma slipped into eternity and in doing so, left a hole in the hearts of those she left behind. Good-bye dear Grandma.

Just Another Day at The Fair

(Adam helps Josh check out the John Deere tractors at the Erie County Fair.)

(Uncle Rick is a fireman, and his firetruck was at the fair.
.Lucky Josh, to have a fire captain for an Uncle.)

(Josh trying on Uncle Rick's fireman hat.)

Day #4: This was the day that we went to the State Fair. My camera had run out of batteries, and I left it at the apartment to charge. Therefore, I will share photos from the Erie County Fair, in NY. We had gone there with my in-laws a couple weeks prior to our visit with Jim. The Minnesota State Fair was a little more fun than that fair. There were the typical fair foods, smells and sounds. A few more interesting animals (I liked the birthing center exhibit, where there were newly born animals or soon-to-be mothers) and art exhibits... Food on a stick... You name it, pizza on a stick, pickles on a stick, potatoes on a stick, spaghetti on a stick, donuts on a stick... It was my goal to eat something on a stick while I was there, but I failed. Miserably. I suppose I'll just have to go back next year... Jim made sure that I got to see the historic section of the fair. Adam was not impressed while we dawdled in the printing press room and meandered through the corridors of the antique train cars. But I loved soaking it in. (Thanks Jim!)

When we finally left the fair, Adam was cross and needed a nap. So we headed back to the apartment and let Adam get some sleep. Our evening plan included dinner with a couple of Jim's friends, Dan and Jesse. Dan brought along his wife, Dee, and I got some much needed girl time. Spending days on end with two guys can wear a girl out, you know! It wasn't that we giggled like two school girls or anything like that, but having another girl around was something of a stress reliever for me. Oh, it was also this same evening that Jim took us to IKEA, the most amazing store in the world. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. I wish we had an IKEA down the street from us. But then, maybe it's good that we don't. To tell you about IKEA, I would need to write an entirely separate blog post, so I'll save you the details. In addition to seeing IKEA and eating with Jim's friends, this was also the evening I said good-bye to my orange Converse. They were my friends for three days, but they would not fit. It was a fun dream to have orange shoes, but simply not to come true. For just the night before, I had found a pair of black Converse at Target that fit me so much better and were $5 cheaper. Good-bye orange Converse!! And now it is 11:09pm and time for me to go to bed. Goodnight.

Minneapolis: Day 1

So we (Adam and I) spent all of last week in Minnesota with the great Jim the Third. My brother Jim moved to MN three years ago and since he was like our bff, we decided to drag ourselves out there to see him and his place. Jim is an excellent tour guide. He gets a prize for that. I'll break it all down for you so you can see what a good guide he was.

Days 1:

Saturday morning, Jim the Third served us a good breakfast of eggs and hash, then ushered us out the door and into his red Ford pick-up. I sat in the jump-seat. We went into the city of Minneapolis and over the Ol' Miss, as Adam called the Mississippi. We tried to rent bikes, but the bike rental was broken for the day. Or at least for us. So we walked around a historic hamlet, walked some more to Punch Pizza and then some more to a cute store. By the way, Punch's Pizza is the best pizza. I was very partial to the Napoli. I ended up eating this pizza three times while in Minneapolis.

In the afternoon, he took us the the Great Mall of America. At some point, I decided that I wanted some new sneakers. So we searched for some cool zapatos (which simply means shoes). I found this really neat pair of orange converse, and although they felt a bit tight, the shoes sales lady convinced me that, because they were canvas shoes, they would stretch and would be comfortable in no time. So I bought them. They were bright orange and oh, so cool. Oh, and the mall, though it was big, was just that. A big mall. It was the IKEA across the street that really caught my eye...

Saturday evening, we decided that we wanted to eat BBQ. So we went back into Minneapolis to find Famous Dave's BBQ. When we arrived, we found that Famous Dave's had a band that night and there was a cover charge of $5 a person. Adam thought that was ridiculous. We didn't come to hear the band, we came to eat some BBQ. So we left that place and found another, which was probably louder than Famous Dave's even without the band and it was packed with college age/late 20's people, and this is how the evening proceeded. We waited for the waiter to come, had to shout above all the commotion, waited for our drinks, waited for him to take our order, shouted some more to each other, waited for our food to come, waited for our silverware and waited some more for our check. We weren't impressed. And Adam was still hungry. (What sort of "fancy" restaurant doesn't have bread or something served with them meal?)

Okay and that is all I can cover at the time being... More later.

PS: Can you tell that Minneapolis is the real Flour City?

Nuts

I am eating Jim's peanuts. That's what he gets for leaving them here on the desk, don't you think?

Baking Adventures at Grandma's House

Yesterday we went to Grandma Jo's house. Adam likes to take Molly for walks with his own Dad and their dog Maddie, so we had gone to visit them. Earlier that morning, Grandma Jo and Grandpa Bob had purchased some rhubarb at the public market. Unfortunately for Grandpa, Grandma Jo is not a baker. But his daughter-in-law has a few tricks up her sleeves. (Who just so happens to be me.) The plan was that while the guys were walking the dogs, I would whip up a rhubarb pie. Not too difficult. But as I mentioned before, Grandma Jo is not a baker. We headed off to the store for some much needed supplies; flour, sugar and Crisco, along with a few items for lunch. Now I knew that I would need a pie plate, so I brought that. But I had forgotten a couple other kitchen gadgets that make my baking adventures a bit easier. Before I go on, in her defense, let me mention that Grandma Jo's house was not the first place where a pastry blender has come up missing. I had to smile as I thought of ladies in the old days who were also found wanting a pastry blender. I cut in that Crisco the best I could using two butter knives, and I think I did a pretty good job. But anyone would've laughed to see me rolling out that pie crust with a cold can of Genny Light! I guess I know what I'm getting Grandma Jo for her birthday, even if she only uses it to roll out play-dough with her favorite grandson... In all honestly, Genny Light rolls a pie crust almost as well as a real rolling pin, just a tad slower. And the lack of baking tools set me off in an adventurous spirit. I loved having to use a bit of innovation. I was even inspired enough to make another rhubarb pie after we had gone home for the evening. Though the second time around I used a real rolling pin.

I'm All Smiles

Earlier in the day, when I thought about going to see him, I thought I just might cry. But I didn't. Just pleased as punch, was I. He looks just like me.

Reason to Rejoice

He's here! He's here! He came in the wee hours of the morning. 7 pounds, 2 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long. Rumor has it that his name is Abinidab Jehoiachin, but I have reason to question that... I am so glad I have the day off today, so I can go see him if I please.

Baby Fever

There's seems to be the smell of a new baby brewing in the air... I am anxiously awaiting tomorrow morning in the hopes that I can meet our newest family member. My brother and my sister-in-law went to the hospital this evening. I can't wait...

I think I've been having baby fever lately. There are so many people I know either having babies or about to have a baby. I could count them on one hand, but then I would have to move on to the next. And then there is those having their second baby. Fine. I admit it. I'm slightly jealous. I've often wondered why God hasn't given us a second baby yet. We've wanted one for a while... I'm not upset and overly anxious about it, since I know God has everything in His hands and His timing is best. But when I was younger, I figured that I would be like my Mom. I always wanted a large family and since my brothers and sister and I were all basically two years apart, I thought that was how it would work for me too. I guess I am not quite the "cookie cutter shape" of my Mom that people think we are. Sometimes I wonder if it'll just be us and Josh. Sometimes I feel bad he has no one to play with but me. (I'm not really that much fun.) Sometimes I just want to smell a new baby. Now where is that new niece or nephew of mine???