a hodge podge

We closed on our house yesterday. We are now official homeowners. (How did this happen? 2 kids and a mortgage!)

Even Emma seemed to understand and all day was so relieved to have “home”. I only moderatley panicked before, during and after closing. I can’t take it back to the store if I change my mind! BUT we are excited.

After the closing, Daniel and I first came to the house before getting the girls from my parents and THIS was posted on the windows:

What!? They were warning stickers stating the house was under surveillance and demanding that a Certificate of Occupancy must be obtained before moving in.

WHAT?!!?

The stickers were signed and dated for yesterday. Posted the day we purchased our first home. Talk about immediate stress. We literally only owned the home for minutes and there was already a problem. I called the number posted, and prayed in the Spirit while on hold. The unhelpful man told me to call a different number. No answer there. I call back to Mr. Unhelpful. Another number is given. They, also, are unable to give me answers but think the inspector who posted the signs might know something. He has one office hour per day and is unreachable. But where and who I question out loud, has my answers. What is wrong with my house and why weren’t we notified or red flagged in an inspection?

The inspectors secretary explains that he gets all of his orders from the city and it is the city that will have all the information I need. She offers me a phone number….it’s the first phone number that I called twice. To my delight, someone else answers. I explain my situation and she takes my name and address and the name of the inspector.

“Oh really? He just walked in for a meeting, please hold……holding…..He’s says it’s your lucky day. Take the stickers down. The city only wanted to start monitoring it because it has been vacant!”

Thank You, Jesus.

Once we were given permission to enter our own home, we photoed our first keys and unlocking. Daniel also carried me over the threshold and proceeded to walk around the house saying “That’s my toilet, that’s my light fixture, that’s my ugly kitchen floor”…and then he did “snow angels” in the carpet. (Why not!? It’s our house, right!?)

We brought the girls back took our first family photo and showed them their room. Emma was so excited she was jumping and dancing in her no-longer-gold room.  

We had a wonderful dinner last night with our families and our pastors. We had subs on a blanket in the living room floor and prayed for God’s blessing and protection over our home. Daniel also enjoyed his first game of pool with his brother.The four of us “camped out” together on the living room floor last night.

Today we were busy painting. We have a crew lined up for Saturday to help us move in all our belongings.

It’s good to be home.

instructions +alece headbands”

bible hodge podge pictures

I finally have some half-way decent search terms. Until now, they weren’t even blog-worthy. I don’t know what you all write about to get the crazy searches that you do. So, here ya go:

2008 jeep commander photos : That’s right, I’m driving a Jeep!

sweet swim child girl : I have two of these.

dr. paul yonggi cho: sure.

“i had such a bad hair day” : often.

“bibbidi bobbidi blue” : our paint color of choice.

black and white worship and joy : I’m not sure what you’re asking.

explosion in window : if this is your situation, why are you reading my blog?

fail : hmmm

trendy girls : you won’t find that here, sorry.

fire restoration service paid : woo hoo, thank God for rental insurance

“funny garage sale antics” : what’s not fun about that?

cheezball necklace : I love it!

meaning of hodge-podge : our family, of course

sewer backup urine basement smell : it’s sad that this combo of words led someone to my site

sanders “carmel cake” : yum yum

Our Anna Bear is One today. I am in awe.

We are continuing to pray through this process but we decided that we should apply to see if we could get preapproved for a mortgage. If we did not get approved, then we’d know we were not to buy a house and if we did get the word to buy it would already be set in (pre)motion. We heard today that we were approved. And continuing in the spirit of preparation we felt that no matter where we move we know that we really want to purge and get some clutter out.

I quickly perused through the kitchen and gathered an overflowing laundry basket of things. Anna was helpful in the decluttering process.

                                     

We are only a half a day into our trip and are having a great time! We are currently just outside of the city and are getting ready to pack up and head into Chicago. So far we:

• had a great time in the car (the girls slept a good part of the drive)
• ate traveling snacks
• saw a Muslim family praying to Mecca at a truck stop
• took Anna swimming for the first time
• let Emma swim “by herself” with floaties for the first time (she LOVED it!! we left go of her and she started giggling uncontrollably!!)

Here are some pictures!

Yesterday we decided to visit Chicago for Memorial Day Weekend. Daniel has both Friday and Monday off so we’ll leave tomorrow night. Sunday morning we’ll visit either Willow Creek or Bill Winston’s church. I am VERY excited for our vacation.

To give the moms a break Daniel is leading worship on Sunday for the first time in a looooooong time (since our church closed in ‘06). The girls were helping him practice. Emma was helping strum and Anna was organizing his music.