Another Fortune Cookie

Before I had mentioned a couple of ironic fortune cookies I had opened. Here is the second one:
"Your surrounding friends will take good care of you."
Yesterday this little beauty showed up on the sign in our front yard. Even though the deal we got was by no means what we had hoped for, we're definitely starting to see it as a God thing that it is all happening at once. With that in mind, though, there is a lot to take care of in the very short future. That fact is what bring us to today.
We had a group of friends show up today to help us finish up the projects we have to get done on the house. We didn't get it all done, but made a huge amount of progress! Well, actually... they did. I tried to keep the boys from killing themselves with power tools and try and pick up around the house while they did most of everything else. We got a HUGE oil tank out of the basement that we agreed to and two whole sides of the garage are finished! We'll be at it again tomorrow trying to finish off the last two sides since we have to have them finished by Tuesday when we close on the house. It will be such a relief to have it all done finally!
In the meanwhile, Joshua is still excelling at learning to spell and read! Today when I was getting dinner ready, he asked me to help him find a letter "e" so he could spell the word "bike." I'm so stinkin' proud of him! Looking forward to Jeremiah being more verbal so we can enjoy some conversation as well. He's still learning more everyday. He just can't communicate it as well as Josh yet. It won't be long, though.

Our Way Home

It hasn't even been a week since we've been home but it feels like it's been forever! Here are some pictures of our way home. This is my Great Grandma Bazley who turned 91 the day before this picture. We took her the richest chocolate cake I have ever seen! The boys enjoyed visiting with her, giving lots of hugs and kisses before leaving.
On the way home our seating was better for us. It was a long day and we were really glad to be back home!

Yesterday we took the boys to Build-A-Bear. Normally I'm not a huge fan of spending more then you need to on things, but these teddy bears are special. We had Phil record a message for both boys and put inside their own bears. That way when he's gone, they can hear him tell them he loves them whenever they want!
We took the bears to bed last night and this morning they're still carrying them around!
Overall, right now things are crazy! Getting ready to close on the house, Phil is finishing up his classes, preparing to move, preparing for two different roads trips (one for Phil and one for the boys and myself) and preparing to be apart in a way we haven't had to be in 3 1/2 years.
As I write this, we have several guys here working on removing the tank from our basement and finish up on siding on the garage. I'm inside trying to catchup on chores. Please be praying for us over the next couple weeks. We're taking things one step at a time, hoping we're not forgetting everything and trusting in God's grace and goodness to get us through.

Road Trip...

In a few weeks this is where the boys and I will be heading. Phil will already be in Mississippi by this point. If you have any ideas of things we could do along the way to help break up the trip, please pass it along!

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Halloween Prep

We haven't gotten unpacked and I still haven't finished putting up pictures from our trip and I'm already thinking about needing to get costumes bought for the boys. With the move all happening before Halloween, I want to get them so we don't end up getting whatever yuck is left behind in the stores at the last minute. I put up a poll on here that will only last 3 days to get some opinions on ideas I have for the boys... please put in your ideas if you have them! Soon I won't get to dress them however I like so I'm trying to take advantage!

The Last Couple Days...

Busy, busy, busy!

We took a trip to a place called the Nut Tree where we had a great time on some rides...

That night some old friends of ours arrived. We did our best to show them some of Napa Valley. Eric and Phil are old Navy buddies (check the irony in Eric's shirt). We were so glad to have time to see him, his wife, Joleen and their kiddos.

This is Madison and Jacob with the boys. The next day we were able to meet up with someone else special: Phil's sister and her family! We thought we were going to have to miss seeing them, but it worked out at the last minute.

We are big fans of cousins! Left to right, it's Jacqueline, Jeremiah, Makenzie, Alexandra and Joshua.

News on the Move

Far be it for our lives to get boring!
While we were in Disneyland on the first day we got a call from our realtor, Brenda. We had an offer coming in on the house. This person was trying to take advantage of a program that is coming to an end in Illinois to help out first time buyers by asking the seller to pitch in some of the downpayment. After small negotiations, we agreed to this. She has offered our full asking price, but because we'll be paying on her downpayment, when everything is said and done we'll still owe our mortgage company to get everything in the clear. It's certainly not what we were hoping for, but we're starting to see that timing of it and the fact that the house is selling at all is a God thing for us. Because the program is coming to end at the end of the month, we have to close by the 30th. We arranged to stay in the house until the 18th of October, but by then is when we will have to move. We'll be looking for a place to rent in Virginia then maybe buy again in a year or so once Phil gets back from his deployment. Hoping this time we can make it a home we'd feel comfortable renting out when we transfer away from Virginia. That's too far into the future to plan for right now. Just wanted to update everyone on all that is going on with the house. We should be crazy busy with closing paperwork and finishing house projects until the end of the month (after we get back to Illinois, of course) then getting things together for the move that will happen in the middle of October. All in all, thank God (literally) that the house is selling. Please keep praying for all this as we have a lot of work to do to get our ducks in a row in the mean time.

Day 3

Happy Birthday, Jeremiah!
Pirates of the Caribbean


Pushing me into the waterfall... the boys were helping too!

Meeting Captain Jack Sparrow
Goodbye, Disneyland! We had a great time!

Disney/California Adventure Day 2

One Incredible family taking a picture with another incredible family (at least I think so anyway).

The first highlight of the day: Conversations with Crush (the turtle from Finding Nemo)

Josh didn't get chosen to ask him a question. He was so upset, we decided to let him ask the crew member hosting the show to see if Josh would be happy with that. Crush came back out (guessing he somehow saw Josh being so upset) and had an extra long conversation with just Joshua!! They talked about what he likes to eat and his favorite color. We felt like Josh was the most important boy there! Had a blast in a Bugs Life world

Mickey cookies!
Jeremiah loves his Nana
The second highlight of the day... Playhouse Disney Live!

I got to learn how to use a segway... Phil laughed

After a long day of play...

Disneyland Day 1

We ran in and got a great seat at Blue Bayou for our first meal in the park!
Josh and Nana waiting for lunch.

Josh's first time on the teacups! (Jermiah was napping)
Josh and the Matterhorn while we were watching a parade.
Trying soooo hard in Toon Town
The highlight of our day: Meeting Mickey Mouse!!
We had a great first day in the park! So worth it!