Where We Are

Well, much has happened since I last wrote, and also much has not happened. I thought that by this time I would be writing to you in our new house. We had put an offer on a house, it was accepted. We tried selling our house in the month our contract gave us to sell. It didn't sell, so we figured we would rent out our house. I had some great renters lined up, our closing date was in sight, and I had begun to pack. With less than a week to go, we got a call from the bank saying that the house was appraised much lower than what we had offered and they didn't believe the house was worth that much. It was a very significant amount of money. After much going back and forth with the bank and discussing our options, renegotiating with the sellers, the deal fell through. So we are not moving. Thankfully our renters were able to find another place as they only had a few more weeks to go before needing to be out of their place. We prayed through the whole process that God would have his hand on this process and if it was to happen, He would make it work. We were disappointed at first to not get the land that we had wanted, but are trusting that all will work out in the long run. So we are back to staying in our house for now. We're not actively seeking a new house, but if one comes along, we'd be ready to move on it. Thankfully I didn't get too far into the packing process before things ground to a halt. I still need to unpack a few things, but most of it got done. And on the plus side, I've sorted through 85% of our house and am getting rid of piles of things. I think our house lost about 800 pounds! That feels great!

We had a great 4th of July celebration last week. The parade route goes right by our house, so we enjoy having friends hang out in our yard and watch the parade with us. Here is Keilah in the evening of the 4th. The kids were out doing sparklers and she thought it was quite fun. She didn't go to the fireworks as she usually is sound asleep by that time and loud noises tend to frighten her a bit. Aaron stayed home with her. David was not feeling great, so he stayed home too and watched them from the yard. Abby went with Grandma to the park to watch them, and Ana and I walked to the school and had perfect seats on the hill to watch them. I think we'll go there every year. We brought a blanket and snuggled down and had a great time with just the two of us oohing and aahing over our favorites.

My grandparents are celebrating their 70th anniversary this week. We had a big family gathering earlier in celebration of that and Grandpa's 91st birthday. My grandma loves to hold Keilah and Keilah seems to enjoy Grandma a lot too. It warms my heart and I know I will cherish these pictures in the future.

My grandparents came over to our house to watch the parade with us on the 4th as well. Grandma held Keilah the entire time. She didn't share her even when a few other people asked if they could hold her. :)

Here Keilah is meeting her friend Ben. He's a bit over two weeks younger than Keilah. He's moving into town soon, so they had better get used to being buddies!

This is Ana's pet dragon Squiggles. She made him. She likes to feed him bits of her supper. Ana takes him many different places. He enjoyed watching the parade with her, though she finally put him on my chair, so he wouldn't get lost in the rush of candy gathering that was going on about her. 

And finally, I don't have a picture of it, but I've been busy picking wild raspberries out at my in-laws. They have piles of wild raspberries all over their property, so I've been going out about every other day and gathering all that I can. I've made jam with them - it's my absolute favorite type of jam. Tonight, I picked raspberries and mulberries and decided that I'm going to try a mixed jam and see how I like it. I surely do love summer time! My gardens are going well now too. Beans are beginning their bounty, my zucchini is still alive and bountiful- the squash bugs have left it alone this year, I still have lettuce and peas. All is well in my world!