China Cabinet

I was really excited about our new China cabinet. In fact, it is gorgeous, just what I wanted, and was a spectacular Craig's list deal. 'Cept we had to go to Hiram, GA to get it. And we bought it from an older gentleman, so I wasn't exactly sure how Ben and I would get it into my Dad's pickup on our own. So I suggested Ben call Charles and see if he could help.

Well, turns out the entire Spoelstra family of 3 felt like going on a drive, and Dawn wanted to see our new house anyway... so, they went from Marietta and we went from Dunwoody, and we met up at this Hiram Guy's home. Strange when you think about it... all 6 of our lives momentarily converging in Hiram, GA. Anyway, I do love the china cabinet and will one day soon have a blast unpacking my beautiful China into a place where people can see it.... but it turned out to be a great day because we got a great new China Cabinet AND we also had a terrific visit with Dawn, Charles, and Leif!

We're home!

We really enjoyed our visit with Linda and Louie, and we got to see our niece Taylor, our nephews Zachary and Brandon, as well as Ben's brother John and his wife Amy. I'll post a few pics soon.

We're home now. Kinda weird to come home to our new house.... but didn't take too long to get used to the idea. (-:

I got lots of my half of our adoption paperwork done on the plane ride home. Maybe I'll feel up to typing it all into the computer tomorrow. Maybe not, but I'm ready to be done with our part and into the waiting phase.

Well, even though my body thinks it's just 9:30, I still feel tired so off to bed for me!

BORING BABBLE...

Our cats really like their new house, I think. They have lots of room, not to mention stairs, where they can run and chase each other. And last night, Ben and I were watching TV and they just snuggled and snuggled with one another. They hadn't been snuggling as much once we got our old house de-cluttered and on the market. Maybe they could sense the stress and impending change. So happy they seem happy! They also have (at least) two random cats that show up at our sliding glass doors to peer in. Hysterical to watch them all try to sniff through the glass!

In the morning, we have our CPR certification class. One of those things potential adoptive parents have to do. Once that is done, we will have to work on our paperwork. There are lots of introspective questions to answer on long, individual questionnaires. I'm thinking I might take mine with us on our trip to Iowa over Memorial Day weekend to try to get a running start on it all. Then we'll have individual interviews with our adoption counselor, and then the last step before "just waiting" is to put together the profile all the prospective birth Moms will view.

Our house got cleaned today, and we had worked on getting boxes more in order earlier this week. We still have a long way to go, but it's starting to feel more comfortable. A lot of the boxes are books and files that just need to be put in their place in the office. I'm hoping to make progress on that and hanging all the towel bars, hooks, etc over my long weekend. I'm really hoping we won't move for at least 15 years... I'm not such a fan of this moving thing.

I only have to work 3 days next week and 3 days the week after. Monday is my regular off day, and then we leave for Iowa on Friday and fly back Monday evening. I took Tuesday off as well because I do lots better when I have a day at home after a vacation.

I'm looking forward to our trip to Iowa. We'll be visiting Ben's parents, and hopefully get to see a niece and nephews as well. Hadn't realized it, but I had only been to Iowa in the cold months. It should be neat to see it this time of year.

My new job is going very well. I had a performance review today that was very positive. In comparison to the office from whence I came, the new office is better managed, we (the claims representatives) have more time to work our work, and the overall positive morale in the office are all great improvements! Interesting news.... my prior boss (whom I did NOT particularly
like working under or with or around... ) announced her retirement. Sure hope they get someone positive and good down there in Morrow!

Talk at you later! Enjoy the weekend, y'all!

Mothers Day

Isn't it great that Mothers' Day celebrates all the awesome Moms out there? I know both my Mom and mother in law are incredible Moms, and deserve all the celebration, appreciation, and gifts they can get. And I have lots of girlfriends who are awesome Mothers. It's fun to watch friends learn to be Moms. You know, you knew them before they were ever married, then they got married, and now they have little ones....

It is a difficult day for a lot of people, though. Yesterday I was at Costco with about half of Atlanta. It was a zoo- especially in the flower section (the reason I personally was there). I saw a middle aged lady driving down the isle crying. I wanted to go to her and give her a hug, but resisted because I didn't know her from Eve and thought I should not invade her privacy. I understand, though. Mother's Day is really hard if you've lost your Mom recently, or if you've always hoped to be a Mom, only to find out that you aren't going to be able to have any kids. Worse yet, think about the almost Moms. Women who are mothers, but lost their babies before they were ever born.

In adoption class last Monday, they reminded us about an entirely different group of people to remember on Mother's Day. There are many, many birth Moms out there that chose life for their babies and then, out of love and graciousness, gave their babies up for adoption. No one gets to give them a card, a hug, or a even a thank you. They probably aren't comfortable standing up or getting a rose at church. But they are some of the best and least selfish Moms around.

I thank God today and everyday for the birth Mom of our future child or children. I pray that God loves her and takes care of her, and helps her know just how special she is. And I thank God in advance for the sacrifice she will have to make in a time of crisis in her life in order to chose life for her unborn baby.

Happy Mothers Day.... to all of the mothers, birth mothers, and adoptive mothers!

Settling In ... at least a little

Hi everyone.

I have finally been catching up on my sleep, so I am feeling much more myself. Our bed continues to be AWESOME and comfy, even in its new home. And we no longer have airplane noises to put us to sleep.

We got our new washer and dryer today. They're the neat new high energy front loading kind. We used consumer reports to decide which ones to get. We're already doing our first load. Also, the DISH network is here setting that up for us. Dad very generously gave us another of his HD flat screen TVs, so we're looking forward to some great TV viewing. No worries, Dad upgraded at his house, so he is not doing without. (-;

My computer is all hooked up now, and our office is coming together a little at a time. It is nice to have my desk in place and mostly set up. I can relax here! (-:

Thanks so much to our Lifegroup who came and helped us for a few hours on Wednesday evening... they unpacked some of our boxes for us.

Yesterday, Erika and my sister came by. My Mom has been helping a ton-- which included yesterday. We got my kitchen underway. I have so much kitchen stuff, though. It fit in my prior kitchen, but that was new construction. Having some issues in this 1970's house, but I expect to get some additional furniture to use as a pantry, so that will help a lot.

We'll get our kitty cats this evening.... Baxter is such a crazy and curious cat that it just hasn't been safe for him yet! We'll do a bit more kitty proofing and then go get them from Grammy and Grampy Julyan's!

communication breakdown

I haven't checked e-mail in days. Feels like an eternity! Ben got our Internet up last night, but I haven't set up my computer yet.

Also, our cell phones barely work at our new house -- oh, btw, we did close, move in, and finally got our power on. We slept here last night for the first time. Anyway, if you try our cell numbers and miss us, you can leave voicemail, but you may also want to try our new home phone! (-:

Well I am typing this on my iPhone, so I think that is as much updating as my Ambien influenced right pointer finger can take...

Call or come by! We have plenty of unpacking left should you find yourself with nothing to do...

SOLD!

Hooray! We closed on the sale of our East Point home!

We will close on the purchase of our Dunwoody home tomorrow.

Movers Scheduled

Our closing is scheduled for today at 4 PM, and they actually have the packet at the attorney's office. Hooray!

Our movers are moving us tomorrow (Tuesday). I have been approved for leave on both Tuesday and Wednesday, so I will be returning to work on Thursday.

We would love and really appreciate some help getting settled in on Wednesday and/or this Saturday if you happen to be available... just shoot me an email. (-:

Thanks bunches for your prayers!

Clear to Close!?!?

I'm not 100% convinced, but apparently Bank of America has pronounced our buyer's loan clear to close and the "packet" is on it's way to the attorney's office. We're scheduled for a 4:00 closing today. I think I'll fully believe that once everything is signed, but I will call to start arranging the movers and utilities as soon as Scott, our realtor, calls to let us know that the packet is in the hands of the closing attorney's office, and it is in time for the 4:00 closing to happen.

Limbo Land

Well, as of close of business on Friday, our closing attorney's office still had not gotten the infamous "packet". Which means we are still completely in limbo.

Our kitties are with their Grammy and Grampy Julyan, as we took them there when we thought we were going to close at 4:30 Friday.... which, of course, did not happen. This house is lonely without them, but it doesn't seem fair for them to have to spend an hour in the car to bring them home and then take them back a few days later. Good news is that they thrive there. My parents spoil them with affection, and are home more than Ben and I are.

Our house is a catastrophe, which puts me even more on edge. Boxes everywhere, things half-packed, odds and ends that have been removed from their official place, but not yet gotten to a box. We figure we might as well pack a little here and there because that will mean our movers will cost less.... we will be charged an hourly rate for 4 guys, so the more we do, the fewer hours they'll take.

At this point, I've told our realtor not to call us until the packet is with the closing attorney and we are ready to schedule a closing for certain, or if it becomes certain that these people won't be able to close at all. The hour by hour updates and what if's were way to stressful, and literally wasted both Thursday and Friday away. Not going there again. Not gonna do it.

We cancelled the turn off of our major utilities and our internet/TV, and didn't even bother to guess when they will need to be turned off. We postponed the delivery of our new washer and dryer, and the set up of our new TV and internet. Our movers kept our deposit since we cancelled last minute- luckily that was $170 and not more, and we did not reschedule them either. We decided we won't rearrange any of those things until the closing is final. Unfortunately, when (or if!?!) we do close, it will mean a lot of scrambling to arrange the utilities, et al. But better that then having to call to change it all a third time. (Our original closing was supposed to be on April 10th, so I'd already done the first round of changing dates before doing this second round on Friday!)

It hasn't been a fun experience at all, but we'll make it through eventually, I guess! We do trust that God will work it all out in his time, and that He turns ALL things to GOOD. The interim just sorta sucks!

We're grateful for everyone's prayers, and the support of our friends and family. Thanks so much! We love you!

No Closing Means No Moving

Well, our buyers weren't able to close again today, so we've called the movers to cancel them. They say they can close on Monday afternoon, but at this point, I'll believe it when I see it. We are starting to have doubts about if they'll be able to get their mortgage at all, as all we keep hearing is that the lender hasn't been able to finalize things and they won't be able to get it ready by whatever the last time we'd come up with for a closing. We really don't KNOW what is happening and why the bank keeps delaying things.

We absolutely will not move until we've sold this house. I certainly feel horrible for the people we're buying from, and pray that somehow we'll still be able to get this one sold and move there soon.

I think our home phone will be cut off on Sunday, so be sure to call us on our cell phones until we get to move to the new house.

The one good thing to come from all this is that now, I won't have to miss Midtown's Ladies Retreat this weekend.

Please pray for Ben and me that we'll continue to trust God's timing, and that He turns ALL things to good.

Just a partial closing today....

The buyers' lending company for our house didn't have their act together, so we spent most of the day on the phone trying to ascertain if they could close today-- which they kept saying maybe, but they never committed to it. It was hard getting any information for the majority of the day. Of course that was pretty stressful considering we had a closing scheduled to buy a house at 2!

Meanwhile, we did close "in escrow" for the house we are buying. That means we went and signed everything so as soon as the money from our sale gets wired, that will be a done deal and we can just go pick up the keys.

The "good" news is that the buyers' loan is fine and should go through. We're waiting now to find out if our buyers' lender got their "packet" to the closing attorney's office before close of business today. If they did get it in, we will close at 9 in the morning. However, I am assuming they did not since we haven't heard anything and it's almost 7. Hopefully, then, it will get there first thing in the morning. If it does, we should close at 11AM, and then the money should be wired to our other closing attorney's office, and once they get the wire transfer confirmation a few hours later, we can pick up the keys and start moving stuff in to our new home. I'm guessing that will be around 1 tomorrow. But no guarantees.

It's been pretty yucky today-- we certainly hoped that since we'd given them a week longer than they had asked for that our buyers' lender would be ready-- but, alas, that wasn't the case. God will work it out.... just hoping he does tomorrow since it's too late to cancel our movers on Saturday! (-;

Did you get the E-Vite?

I sent out an E-Vite invitation to our "Greatest Ever Unpacking Party". I certainly did not mean to leave anyone out, so if you didn't get it, shoot me an email so I can add you to the list! (-:

GREATEST EVER UNPACKING PARTY

YOU ARE INVITED....

TO AN UNPACKING PARTY!

At our new home.... Sunday, April 27 at 1:00PM until we can't take it any more.

We'll feed you lunch, drinks, and snacks.

More details later, but pretty please save the date. (-:

We've got movers to do the moving and packing up, but would love some help getting things out of the boxes and put away. Feel free to drop by for a short time or as long as you'd like... even if your real motivation is to check out our new place! (-:

Hooray!

Well, it's all set. We are under contract to buy our new home! BOTH closings are scheduled for Thursday, April 24th. We'll have movers come on Saturday the 26th, so our first night at the new house will be on the 26th.

We're so grateful for so many answered prayers, and the support of our friends and family. Thanks so much! We love you!

Completely NEW plan.....

Well, things changed. First, our buyers had a hiccup with their original loan plan, so now they are doing a VA loan. That usually takes longer, and they had submitted a request to change the closing date to one week later. However, after asking around about VA loans, Ben and I asked them to stretch it two weeks later. We're still waiting on their response, but hope that will work out. I had already done all the phone calls to transfer, cancel, and set up movers, utilities, the cleaning guy, etc and I was not pleased with the prospect of having to undo all that, redo it for a week later, and then having to undo and redo again because they'd been too optimistic... anyway, with the new timeframe, we started thinking, well, maybe we DO have time to find a house... So, we put a hold on the apartment lease. Thankfully, we only lost $100 for the application fee (ie credit check).

We looked around at houses yesterday and today, and WE DECIDED ON ONE!!! We're meeting with the realtor tomorrow afternoon to put together our offer. My parents came to check out the two we'd narrowed it down to, and they both agreed that the one we're going with was a better choice, and they both seemed to like it a lot. Ben had been leaning that way as well, and they all convinced me. Now I'm super excited about it.



In case you want to look it up, here's the info: 4674 Pyrenees Court - MLS# 3620253 . It is in Dunwoody, off of Tilly Mill. The house is on a cul-de-sac and has four bedrooms and 3 full baths. We are excited about having a garage, and the master suite is bigger than most in our price range in Dunwoody -- it will actually fit our monstrous bedroom furniture! The fourth bedroom was listed as a first floor bedroom, but we're going to use that as our Office/Library. The yard was well cared for, and there is a great Dogwood tree out the kitchen window. Ben's commute will be 5.4 miles and mine will be 11.1 miles (opposite traffic). EXCELLENT! It feeds into Chestnut Elementary School, Peachtree Middle School, and Dunwoody High. The pictures in the listing have wallpaper and colorful rooms, but they went through and made it all neutral with no wallpaper. (What goes around comes around, eh?) Best of all, it is 100% move-in ready and vacant so a pretty quick closing should not be a problem. We'll probably ask to do the 25th, assuming that our buyers agree to the 24th. Then we'd move on Saturday the 26th. Hmm. That's just three weeks from now...

Apartment Dwellers

Well, we made the decision to rent an apartment. There was one 4 miles from Ben's work (an awesome change for him!) that allowed us to get a decent price with just a four month contract. We'll be moving into Post Oglethorpe on Friday the 11th. It's a roomy two bedroom apartment with a two car garage that we will use as our "storage unit" and have everything under one roof again. Hopefully, this will allow us to take our time choosing the right house for us and to save a little more for a down payment.

This apartment thing was more Ben's idea than mine, and it hasn't been an easy week for our marriage, but things seem to be getting better. Change is hard no matter how much of a blessing the change represents, I suppose. I was NOT happy that this would mean needing to move twice in half a year. I like order and I was REALLY looking forward to nesting in my new home and preparing the house for the baby we'll be adopting and the rest of our lives! Not to mention, just three short years ago as we were pre-wedding, I moved in October, January, and again in March- and then had to adjust when Ben moved in, too. You can imagine I was ready to never, ever, ever move again!

In the end, I suppose Ben is right about getting a short term apartment. I just wish it had been a more gradual discussion and decision process rather than his sudden announcement (maybe pronouncement!?) that most of what we've been discussing and acting on about buying our next home was all wrong, and the houses we'd looked at were not really options now, and we need to hold off a few more months to save more money before buying a house.... Because, you know, I wasn't stressed enough about the fact that we got a contract with a closing date less than three weeks later and had no place to move to, so it was a GREAT idea to add fuel to that fire!

At any rate, choosing to live in an apartment for four months WILL allow us to be patient and wait for God's timing on our house purchase. It WILL allow us to cut back on our commuting expenses and time. It WILL allow us to live in the area we want to live without making a rushed decision on a long term commitment. And the drawback of moving twice, well, I guess that is offset by Ben agreeing that we can hire "real movers" for both the move out of this house and the future move from the apartment to the house we'll buy.

And, btw, we WILL buy a house in the near future! And you'd better believe when we do, I'll waste no time getting the nursery set up.... and nesting like crazy. Nesting meaning getting the house how WE want it, as opposed to just a generic house. Ben thinks it will be 18 months before we get to adopt a baby- and it could be-- but Ben also thought this house would never sell before June or July. I was pretty sure it wouldn't take very long. Hmmm. Who was right on that one? God's timing is perfect, definitely, but not always predictable! Never say never! (-:

May you rest and wait on our dear, loving father and all He has in store for you!

UNDER CONTRACT

And soon to be homeless... We accepted the 4th counteroffer and are now under contract. We are pleased with the agreed upon amount. They do have a 7 day "due dilegence" period, but there is no indication of that being a problem. The closing is scheduled for Thursday April 10th, and we'll move out the following Saturday and Sunday.

We looked at a dozen houses in Dunwoody this afternoon. A few might work, but none of them are ones we couldn't wait to jump on. It would probably be an easier search if we had another $75k to spend, but, alas, we don't! Anyway, we will not settle on something just 'cause we're in a hurry, so keep prayin' "our" house will get listed any day now! (-:

My cousin Lindsey had her baby boy on Saturday. They are in Oregon. Congrats and best wishes, Lindsey!

Getting closer to "Under Contract"

We're on counter offer 3.... they made an offer, we countered, they countered, and we countered again.... We're pretty close to their last offer, so things are looking optimistic.... just down to working out the smaller details like closing date and how much we'll pay in closing costs...

Happy Easter!

Offer and counter offer out there.... we'll see!!!

We got an offer for our house!!! We've submitted a counter offer, as it wasn't a high enough offer, but they seem to be really interested and in a hurry... If our counter offer is accepted, and everything goes well with the inspection, we'd close on April 7 and have to be out by noon April 13th... our house search just picked up some serious "umph"!

We're looking at some houses today and will probably look all weekend, but figure we'll need to get pods and stay at an extended stay or something. Grammy and Grampy Julyan have already agreed to let Baxter and Lucy stay with them, so the most important detail is worked out. (-;