Working Weekend

Happy Easter!  He is Risen!  We had a great day celebrating Christ's resurrection with family.  Jenn was in town and came with us to church this morning.  We love our church and it was neat to celebrate our first Easter back in Houston with a church family that means so much to us.  Then, we went to lunch at Momma Hance's house.  She cooked a yummy meal and even did an Easter egg hunt with fun prizes.  After that, we went over to my parents house for dinner.  Dad his his all-famous steaks and baked beans.  It was delicious!  We are full and TIRED!

This weekend, we were pretty ambitious with the house projects.  We decided to tackle the flower beds in our front yard on Friday.  JW had off of work for Good Friday, and I only worked a half-day, so we had big plans.  Thursday evening after work we went to the garden center to stock up on all the plants we wanted to use.  I had done a lot of research and knew what we wanted.  It barely fit in our two cars, but we made it home with everything.  We went over to Momma Hance's Thursday night too to pick up some of her yard equipment to borrow.

Here are our before pictures.

 The beds were in bad shape.  Mostly hard clay, so they needed to be tilled up, cleaned out, and re-shaped.  JW looks good behind a tiller doesn't he? :)

Then, we had to move the bad dirt, add in some good soil, till again, and smooth it out to start planting.  Jenn came over in the afternoon and was a great help! 

We ended up covered in dirt, sweat, and black mulch, but it was well worth it.  We are very happy with the finished product.  It added so much to the front of our house.  We picked hardy stuff that will mature and grow fuller over the years.  It was neat to do all this work and know we were adding value to our own home.   Here's the finished product!

Saturday morning, bright and EARLY, we had a garage sale!  We had half of a garage full of things we needed to get rid of and family contributed as well.  We listed it on Craig's List Friday afternoon and put out a few signs.  People were in our driveway by 7:15 a.m. Saturday morning before we even had everything out.  It was a successful day, and we ended up making enough to cover the cost of our yard work, so it was worth it!  Our bodies are feeling pretty beat, but it sure was a productive weekend!

Where did March go?

Hi faithful blog readers... if you exist anymore.  It's been over a month since my last post!  I hate that, but we've been staying pretty busy.  So, here's my attempt to capture what's been going on.

We moved!  At the end of February, we were so blessed to have the help of friends and family to move us a few blocks down the street to our new house.  Moving is A LOT of work! I didn't do a great job getting a picture of our whole crew, but here are a few.

Jenn came down to help us on the first weekend we had the house.  Adam let us borrow his truck and we made a big dent in getting stuff taken down to the new house.  She was a huge help!

JW and Dakota making a trip.  

We had some great friends and parents help us make the big move the following weekend, and by the end of Saturday, February 25th we had everything in!

I mentioned how much we didn't like the indoor-looking palm tree plants that were planted in the front and back beds, so our moms pulled them right up and put them on the curb.  Love it! :)

Joey's dad came over the next weekend and helped us install cabinet hardware, add towel bars and toilet paper holders in the bathrooms, install smoke detectors, outdoor light fixtures, and hang curtains and things on the walls.  He was a huge help and we learned a lot from working with him.  He's moved a bunch of times so had a lot of helpful tips.

One weekend in March, I baked some small loaves of banana bread and we took them around to meet our new neighbors.  We have enjoyed getting to know them so far!

Since moving in, we've had some issues preventing us from doing laundry...  

 We had to have an electrician come out to install a new outlet for our dryer to be hooked up.  We realized when we tried to hook it up for the first time that there was only a gas dryer hookup and not a large enough outlet for an electric dryer.  That got fixed finally last week, but we've since discovered that there is something wrong with the drain that discharges the dirty water from the washing machine.  Our garage flooded this weekend when we tried to use it. I haven't been particularly thankful our washer and dryer were in the garage until this happened.  Oh home ownership!  We did a few loads of underwear and other necessities at my parents' over a week ago, and our fingers are crossed that the plumber coming tomorrow can get us up and running  pronto!

We did some fun stuff in the month of March too that was unrelated to the house or moving. 

We celebrated my dad's birthday with family dinner and a mini bundt cake tower for dessert.

Taylor came in town for a weekend from Lubbock.  It was fun to hang out with him and to go watch part of Hunter's baseball tournament together.

 Our Harley girl turned 3!

We took Hunter and a friend on a tour of Minute Maid park as a gift we gave him for his birthday.  They were cute and we had fun spending the morning with them.

We saw Tim McGraw at the rodeo with some sweet new friends from church.  The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is a pretty big deal and a lot of fun.  We grew up going every year, but hadn't been in years.  It was a blast!  

 JW also started playing in a men's baseball league with Adam.  They had a scrimmage a couple of weeks ago that Nana and Papa came to watch with me.  I hadn't watched JW play since high school.  I still have a crush on my man in his baseball pants.  It will be fun to go to games this spring.

We sure haven't sat still much over the last month since we moved, but we are loving our new home and are so thankful.  There are a lot of projects, but we've come to learn that home ownership involves a lot of work to get settled but is very rewarding.  Here's to hoping I can do a better job updating more consistently in April!  Thanks for sticking around!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day friends and blog readers!

We feel so blessed to celebrate our love today with a set of keys to our new home.  We love each of you very much and are very grateful for your role in our lives.  Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Big News!

We have some big news.... We're buying a house!!!  A lot of you probably know this by now, but I still  want to write about the last few weeks so we can remember this process.  The Lord has been so faithful to direct and provide for us every step of the way.  I love being able to look back at times when the Lord's provision has been so apparent.  It is comforting to look at life and know that He has provided before, and He will do it again.  This is one of those seasons I know we will look back on and be reminded of God's faithfulness.

This all happened really fast.  We met the man who owns the house we're renting over the Christmas holiday for the first time.  We had communicated by email as he's on a work assignment in Brazil, but had never met in person.  While he was over, we started talking about the upcoming months and his plans.  Our lease will expire at the end of May, and he wasn't sure if he'd be returning to Houston and need his house back or not.  He mentioned he would let us know in the next few months.

So, we decided to start looking at the housing market so we'd be prepared if we needed to move again.  After crunching some numbers, we decided we'd prefer to go ahead and buy a house rather than lease again.  We started doing some research online thinking we'd be ready to buy in the next few months.

Well, a few days into our "research" we found a house listed online that was down the street from the one we're in now.  It had been totally renovated, was in an area we clearly like, and was in our price range.  We got in our car at 9:00 that night and drove down the street to see it.  It had just come on the market.  There wasn't even a sign in the yard.

I called the listing agent on my way to work the next morning, Wednesday, January 9.  They told me that the house already had three offers on it.  I asked if it was too late for us to see and and put an offer in.  They said as long as they had our offer by the end of the day, they'd consider it.  So, we called the realtor we'd worked with last summer when we were looking for our rental.  She was leaving town the next day, but was available to show us the house that afternoon.

We met her after lunch and really loved the house.  Every surface had been redone... new dark hardwood floors, granite counters, stainless steel appliances with tags still on them, beautiful tile, bronze hardware and fixtures; all the colors and finishes we would have chosen if we had been renovating the house ourselves.  I was still pretty skeptical at this point that we could get everything we needed to in order so fast.  JW was pretty convinced we weren't going to find something this perfect again and that we needed to move on it.  So, we talked to our parents, who were all unanimously supportive and encouraging, worked with our realtor and a loan officer who rushed our approval for financing, and put in an aggressive offer about 10:00 that night.  We gave it all up to the Lord, praying that only if this was His will that our offer would be accepted.

We got a call before 9 a.m. on Thursday saying that the sellers had accepted our offer.  Our realtors were on their way out of town.  But, we worked with them long-distance and met with our loan officer, who may be our favorite person in this whole process, and signed the contract Friday afternoon.  By Saturday we were under contract!  Wow. Scary, but exciting!

We had the house inspected the following week, where of course we learned all kinds of things about our 1959 house.  That was overwhelming.  We prioritized the repairs we wanted done and sent our request to the seller.  They agreed to our list, and now we are only 10 days away from our closing!

We'll do a final walk through to inspect the repairs that were made next week.  We are also still working on researching and choosing home insurance and a home warranty and negotiating our way out of our current lease.  But, we're almost there and can hardly wait!

This whole process has been a roller-coaster and a whirlwind.  Sometimes I still can't believe we are doing this.  It has been emotional and draining, but we feel so blessed.  JW and I have learned (and are still learning) to work as a team and to be diligent in challenging things to make sure we continue to make the best decisions possible.  We are also learning to trust.  To trust that God is sovereign and faithful, and that He's got it all under control.

Home ownership, here we come!  Let the adventures begin. :) 

Post-Christmas Celebrations

Our celebrating didn't end on Christmas.  The Roush's drove down to Houston the day after Christmas to stay with us for a couple of days.  It was so great to spend time with them!  This was their first time to see our home in Houston.  We went out to dinner the first night they were here with some of their other Houston friends and went to look at Christmas lights.  The next day the boys went to the new Top Golf in Houston and me and Meg went to Harwin for some bargain shopping.  She got a cute new Baylor scarf that she's wearing in the picture below. 

Every year, JW's family goes to see a movie while Uncle Teddy is in town.  It worked best for everyone this year to do that after Christmas.  Our house is pretty central, so we offered to have everyone over for pizza before the movie. 

Nana and Papa- Aren't they the cutest?  I love this picture.

Uncle Teddy's first time to meet Cason

Jennifer and Sarah

Then, that weekend we drove up to Montgomery for Jenn to get baptized at her church there.  It was really special to get to celebrate that with her.  Starting this year, she is working for the church part time with the youth.  It was very cool to see all the kids come up and hug her after the service.  She is already very loved and going to make such a meaningful difference in students' lives.

After the service, Jenn had us over to her new house for lunch.  She made yummy tortilla soup with cornbread and dessert.  We all left there very full.  It was special to get to be there with her.

And, to wrap up 2012 we spent New Year's Eve over at the house of some new friends from church.  Aaron and Marianne host the community group we were a part of in the fall, and we have loved getting to know them.  Here's a picture of just the girls from that night.

2012 was a really great year.  Looking back at all we had to celebrate, we feel humbled.  We are thankful for the blessings and opportunities given to us and look forward to a wonderful 2013.

Christmas Celebrations- part 3

On Christmas morning we got an early start. We celebrated Christmas as our little family at home before heading over to my parents' for Christmas morning with them. We waited to put toys and bones for the dogs in their stockings on Christmas morning since we didn't think they'd survive the night if we put them out the night before. Dakota was so cute just laying beneath them trying to be patient. She'd get up and pace a little, and then come right back to her spot to keep an eye on them. Just like a little kid with anticipation. They're so smart.

JW did a great job wrapping, didn't he? :)

 

Real cowboy boots!  So excited.

Ok, please overlook the wet hair and warm up pants.  This is not the most flattering picture, but hey, it was early!

My aunt has these boots and I tried them on while we were in Dallas over Thanksgiving.  I fell in love with how comfortable they were, and I've worn them a lot already.

 

I wrapped boxes inside of boxes and put golf balls in there in order to throw JW off.  He's always shaking and trying to figure out what his gift in before he opens it.  He didn't figure it out this time.

 

Finally to the last one.  I gave him a Groupon for a helicopter lesson where he'll learn to fly a helicopter and then get to go up and try it with an instructor.  This is sort of a joke because JW always teases that we just need a helicopter to get around this big city and to avoid the traffic.  He's an adventure seeker too, so this should be fun.

 

Then, around 8 a.m. we headed over to my parents' house to do Christmas morning with them.  With little siblings, Christmas morning is always pretty eventful and exciting.

JW got a scarf in his stocking and put it on.  Leaning in that chair we decided he looked like a model.  I may be in trouble for posting this picture. :)  My favorite gift was a black leather jacket from my parents.  I had started thinking I wanted one of those, but hadn't told my parents.  They just picked it our for me and it is great!  Totally my style and I've enjoyed wearing it a lot already.

Next stop was Montgomery to see JW's dad's family.  They were hosting Joe's family at their house for Christmas dinner.  It was great to see the whole crew, and we played a fun dice game called Left, Right, Center.  Then, we stayed out there to open gifts with them after everyone had left.  Christmas day is also Matthew's birthday, so it was fun to be able to celebrate that with him.

 That big, ugly, garbage bag wrapped birthday present for Matthew is a poker table top he can take with him back to college for guy's night.  Don't judge my wrapping... it was huge and heavy!

We got home with big smiles on our faces from a fun day, but were excited to sleep in the next day.  Celebrating is tiring!

Christmas Celebrations- Part 2

We spent Christmas Eve celebrating with Momma Hance and her family.  We met in Sugar Land for an early movie and lunch.  Then, we headed back to Momma Hance's house to exchange gifts.  She got us a beginners handgun class and a CHL (concealed handgun license) class.  We gave her a family photography session, so soon we can all get family pictures made.  She's been talking about doing that for some time.  I think it's pretty neat we got each other activities we can do together.  I think as we get older, we appreciate experiences together more and more.

 I even got pink ear protection! :)

Then, we met for the Christmas Eve service at Nana and Papa's church.  It's always fun to have the whole family together and to see Uncle Teddy who comes in town from Boston.  After church we all go over to Nana and Papa's for dinner, singing the Twelve Days of Christmas, and presents.  I just love spending time with this family.  There is always a lot of laughter involved.

This weekend we got to do our beginner's gun class.  Momma Hance had a guy come over to her house to teach us and then we went to the shooting range for the first time.  We all ended up being a pretty good shot!

Then, today we went to take the CHL class and took our test.  My dad even met us for this since he's been meaning to get his.  We all passed!  It was a lot of fun.  Definitely a skill I am glad we have.  Who knows, going to the shooting range may be a new family hobby. :)