Catching Up

For Christmas this year my dad surprised us with a refurbished computer because ours is SO INCREDIBLY SLOW. Two months later I have finally transferred all of our files over and hooked up the new computer! And how wonderful it is to have a computer that will do what I intend it to do when I intend it to do it! I have had so many things I have wanted to write and so many pictures I have wanted to post, but I have not had the patience to wait on a computer that will not function properly. I started a post that had a zillion pictures of all that we have been doing lately, but I think the only ones who would appreciate that would be me and the grandmothers...so grandmothers, I will email you all of the pictures soon! Instead, I just thought I would put a few of the fun day we had about a month ago when we actually got some real winter weather. It sleeted at the end of January and left a beautiful blanket of white all over our yard. Elisabeth loved every second of it...

Waiting for Mommy to go outside...






After about 20 minutes or so I thought a moment to defrost was in order...But apparently,



the world...


had...


ended!!!



But after she realized we were just taking a break and we headed outside, all was right in her world again.

I happen to LOVE everything about winter! The celebration of Christ's birth, the decorations, the lights, the music (I start listening to Christmas music around September!!), the frigid air, the bundling up, the warm drinks, the wonderful memories of Vermont at Christmas, and multiple viewings of White Christmas (which just happens to be my favorite movie). I couldn't help but want to sing, "Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow! It won't be long before we'll all be there with snooo-oooow!" It's from the movie...my sisters get it! Anyway, it was a fun day for us and it was so fun to see her excitement. Despite the fact that we were both numb, Elisabeth would have stayed outside all day if I had let her. It was a nice diversion from the ordinary. Too bad that's all we got. I'm secretly hoping that we end up moving somewhere with lots of snow!

On a more recent note, Elisabeth has been getting ready for warmer weather...

My friend, Selorm (pronounced Say-loam...Elisabeth called her Yoam), came by to visit a couple of days ago. Elisabeth loved her and her sunglasses, as you can see. Selorm is pregnant with her first baby...a girl, due this summer. So we got to talk all things baby, which is always fun! Her husband is in Brian's class, so we've known her throughout our time here. I was feeling kind of down on Wednesday, just doing the same old, same old, when Selorm called out of the blue. She was a ray of sunshine to my gloomy day and I was so grateful to have her over. She is full of life and laughter and that was just what I needed that day!

I will do my best to keep you updated more often, although most of the time we aren't doing much exciting...

We're usually just cooking...

and cleaning...

"Vacuuming" with one of the attachments to the vacuum cleaner.

and running errands...

Making an important phone call...probably to Russ...she's always "on the phone" with Russ!

Literally looking for her keys!

and taking care of babies...






Okay, so I couldn't help myself with all the pictures! But there aren't nearly as many as I was planning to post! Thanks again for the computer, Dad. I'm a pretty patient person, but our old computer was ridiculous! This one is amazingly fast and I am so grateful!

Indecisive and Worn Out

I have a running list of all the things that have been going on with us lately, wanting to blog about them to let everyone know what a fun and hectic last few weeks we've been having. Bear with me as I try to get the pictures downloaded and posted. It will be soon! In the meantime, and since it doesn't take nearly as long, I am just playing around with my background. Now that Spring is making its arrival, I thought something a little more festive was in order as far as my background is concerned. Not that anyone cares, but I do. And I will probably spend many a wasted hour trying to find the perfect one. Anyone who knows me well knows that picky and indecisive are two words that describe me well! A downfall, I know. But hey, we all have them!

In the meantime, I did say I would try to take a few pictures of what our pool actually looks right now...so here they are. Not really a good selling point, so we've been quite busy trying to get this mess cleaned up. We always enjoy seeing the transformation after we clean up the winter mess, but I could certainly do without all of the pain from my incredibly sore muscles! I will say, however, that several days of intense yard work is a great way to lose a few pounds really fast!

We're Listed!

We have officially put our house on the market! Yes, we still have a little more than a year before we leave this town, but we've decided to go ahead and list the house. This house has been a huge blessing while simultaneously being a huge test for us. It's a beautiful home, an older home. And older typically means "needs more work." It's pretty ironic that we finally seem to have everything fixed and we feel led to sell it. Just when we could sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor, we will be handing it over to someone else. But my mom always taught me to leave things better than I found them, so I feel good knowing that we are definitely doing that! We are actually looking forward to downsizing. Brian still has a little over a year of school left and we are excited about being able to spend his days off doing things as a family rather than trying to take care of things around the house. And with him having to travel a good portion of next year, it will be nice to have some extra money to possibly go with him...or at least visit him. And just maybe we can get away on a little trip, to say, California?!!

Please be praying for us, that the house will sell quickly and at the right price. We feel that this is what the Lord is leading us to do, so we are putting it in His hands. We are excited to see what happens!!

Why WE fell in love with the house...

and one reason we are ready to downsize! If it always looked this nice, well, it DOES NOT always look this nice! I'll try to remember to take a picture of what it looks like in the winter so you can compare!

Why I fell in love with the house...

Feel free to spread the word. I've posted some pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/blackoaklane/BlackOakLane# and can be contacted at blackoaklane@gmail.com if you happen to know someone looking for a home in our area. Right now we've just listed the house for sale by owner, so if you happen to have any real estate wisdom, by all means, do share!

As I said earlier, this house has been a huge blessing and a huge test for us. The Lord has taught us so much in owning our own home. He has proven Himself faithful to us time and time again, and I think that this house will always mean so much to me because of that. It was always hard to go through the trials that we faced here, but hindsight has such an amazing view of all that He has done for us. I couldn't always see it then, but I can clearly see it now. The Lord has taught me to trust Him here. I know He has much more to teach me, and I have a feeling that He has a great deal to teach me now that our house is officially FOR SALE.