Friday, July 29, 2005

OUR FIRST NEW HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think I can put into words how wonderful and abundantly the Lord has blessed me and my family.  You have to understand, I never DREAMED of owning my own home nor of a house this wonderful.  If you know anything of my background you know how I grew up moving around a lot and some of the hard times my family has had. And when I did think of us buying a house it was always in terms of a small fixer upper. In 4 years the Lord has taken my family so far in both our walk with him and us having a life full of joys, hope and peace. We have gone from depending on food pantries and church paying our rent to Josh becoming a Journeymen Painter and earning very good wages.  I can only lift my hands up in praise to HIM and cry tears of joy and thankfulness. I marvel at how he has taken care of us and provided for EVERY need and how it seems like he has opened this window of heaven on us and let the blessing rain down.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.   John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.   3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

 If you have been following my journal at all this summer you have seen all the ups and downs we have gone threw searching for a house and how almost by accident we stumbled on this deal.  A newly built stock home in a brand new development that had been unoccupied and they wanted to get some one in there like yesterday.  The sales lady Holli was the most nicest one we have ever met (and we have met several now).  When we thought we were going to go with a different, smaller house we still wanted her and her company to know how well she treated us and our family and how she went the extra mile for us.  But it seemed like God kept directing us back to this house, for he knows the plans he has for us.  They dropped the price, paid ALL of the closing (we did not pay a dime and in fact we are getting money back from them on the closing) the financing worked out so we could get the monthly payment we felt we needed so I would NOT have to go back to work just so we could live in that house.

A house that we all fit in and are not on top of one another.  All these extras that blow me away.. the master bedroom is bigger than our current living room and I have never had my very own bathroom, having a dishwasher is also a first for us. For now until the subdivision is built up more.. we own the Biggest house on the block! A house where we will have a feeling of community with neighbors and streets and side walks that the kids can ride their bikes on or just go for a walk with out worrying about heavy traffic. We are not in between two fire departments like we are in this house so we will not hear sirens all day and night.. it is VERY quiet out there. I am told the schools are very good and has a gifted program that Zane can get tested for.  It is like God read my wish list and checked it off one by one and handed it over to me! 

We met our neighbors and they seem very nice.  An older couple with two girls, 10 & 12 and a dog.. named Lily (will ppl please stop naming thier pets after my children!lol)  They have been waiting for new neibhors with children so thier girls could have someone to play with. They are from Minnasota but have lived in Wisconsin before (close to the town I was born in) so we share a Northern Accent that Josh loves to tease me about sometimes.  And upon talking to them I am glad to hear they are pro-life also.

Yesterday my emotions were like roller coastering.  I woke up waiting and waiting for a call about when the close would be.  Loan Lady called Josh at about 10:30 saying it was set for 3:00 and they would call us with how much we needed to bring to close. We didn't get our van out of the shop because we thought we were going to have to pay at least $300 when we went in for close.  Time kept on ticking away slowly and we were getting nervous that we had not heard back yet.  At 1:30 Josh called the title company.  Title Company Lady said she was sorry that Loan Lady told us it would be at 3:00, the paper work was not all ready just yet and she would call us back when it was all set.  I was almost certain that the close was going to be moved AGAIN and was ready to explode!!  At 3:30 she called back saying we could come in when ever we were ready to sign the papers and we DID NOT need to bring a cashier's check.. we owed NOTHING for the closing costs. I am not exactly sure how it worked out but we were also going to be sent a check for $100 (that about covers the deposit we had put down). I later asked her how often the seller pays all the closing.. she said almost NEVER and it is lucky for us how it worked out that way.  (if you have noticed ppl have been calling us lucky left and right but I say LUCK has nothing to do with it.. IT IS ALL GOD!!!)

I tried to get Josh to dress up better for the closing but he didn't see the point of it.  I at least got him out of his work clothes.  I put on my pearls and wore my fav lime green shirt.  I reasoned that if we are going to sign on such a house we should at least look nice too. Since we did not have to bring any money we went and paid for the van and took all the kids with us to the close.  I am glad they had a box of toys to keep the kids at bay while we signed that mountain of papers.  You think they had to use a whole tree to make all that paper???  As we were signing I could not take my eyes off the Title Lady's wrist.  She was wearing a bracelet similar to the one I had put on my wish list in my journal a few months back (can't find that entry right now)  As we were leaving I asked her where she got it from and told her that it had my fav colors in it and I saw something like it on the net but it was like $30.  She said oh just go to one of the China stores they are very reasonable there.  Then she said, better yet.. here.. and took it off and gave it to me!!!!  Do you see what I am talking about?!!!  Do you see how these blessings seem to be just pouring down on us?!

After the close we drove out to Troy where our house is.  We stopped in town at the grocery store.  We figured we could just pick something up to microwave since there was one built in to the house to use.  As we entered the store Holli our sales lady spotted us. She was doing some of her own shopping and was just leaving.  How funny that we ran into her!  We hugged and she said welcome to the neighborhood and how happy she was for us.

So for our first dinner we had chicken strips and chips and pudding.  Josh and I did get a cheap bottle of Arbor Mist but I can't wait till we do the final move in and share a nice bottle in our Grand Master Suite bedroom lol. Josh has enrolled us in something like a wine of the month club and we just got two very good wines from France and Argentina.  Any one want to give us a wine rack for a house warming gift??

OK.. I have TONS of packing to do.  I tried to put off most of it till I knew 100% that we were going to move.  It seemed iffy for awhile to me and I didn't want to have to do all that and not end up moving.  Josh is going to his mom's this weekend with a truck to bring stuff she is giving us to the new house and some stuff she wants to keep in storage.  I am sure I am going to be taking boxes and things to the new house over the next week or so but the BIG finnal move is set for the weekend of the 12th.

And I also wanted to say  THANK YOU to all my friends who have been cheering me on threw all this with your comment and prayers!!!!!!  I wish I could have you all over for wine and cheese or a BBQ.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Audio entry

Rumor has it...

WE CLOSE AT 3:00!!! 

 That is what they are saying any how.  I'll keep you updated.  : )

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Thought for the day: Worry is the darkroom in which negatives can develop.

No I am not overly worried. I am just feeling a bit discouraged before I go to bed.  Think I need to reflect on a past entry I posted about discouragement.  It just has been a bummer day when I expected it to be full of joys.

It is 1:00 a.m. and you would think by now we would know what time we were to go to the title company to close on our dream house and how much we are to bring for the scheduled close (tomorrow or today how ever you see it). Essentially I have been told the hold up is all about paper work and not to fret, we have the house and loan. I am starting to distrust Loan Lady and know that she has told some small lies to other ppl so I have to wonder what if anything has SHE lied to US about? And with our van being put in the shop for repairs and Josh not working his conventional job this week and skimping on our normal groceries it feels like it is all hitting me at once.  I have always fought those seeds of doubt that I am not good enough, good enough for such a nice house or to even own my own home.  I have tried not to call it MINE until after close but I let myself decorate the whole thing in my head and on paper and for once dream.  Oh you should just see all the plans I have for it.  But I am reminding myself today.. it is not what I have planned that matters but what God's Will is for our life.  Going into all this we deeply prayed and asked him for guidance but you know sometimes our flesh can drown out his voice if we let it.  We asked him to put up road blocks if this house is not where he wants us to be.  Right now all I see is big brick walls.  I guess you could say I am preparing myself that a move may not be in our near future.  I have told Josh that we should tell all those involved that if we don't close by Friday that we are going to walk away and take it as God's Will.  It hurts to think that is a possibility.  Not so much because I love that house that much, but because I cringe at the thought of all these ppl we have told about it, asking how the new house is and having to inform them it didn't happen.  It is like I can hear the na sayers laughing or celebrating our downs and saying behind our backs.. hahaha what where they thinking in the first place.. but that is mostly ME and no one I know personally who would say that (I would hope). 

And spending all day dealing with these computer issues has not helped my moral any either! Or hearing Sophia ask when she is going to get her Birthday presents and not having ANYTHING to give her but hugs and kisses.  She doesn't understand the concept yet of having a delayed celebration in two weeks. She just knew today was her special day and it should of involved at least ONE gift.  The planned gift was going to be the keys to our new house and her being first to open the door.  Still hopeful that we can make that Josh's Birthday gift instead.

There.. maybe now that I got that all out of me and those tears, I can let it rest and what ever happens ...happens?  Maybe I can sleep?

Doesn't sound very safe to me.. Please read if, especialy women who are thinking of using the Patch

Abortion-Causing Birth Control Patch Manufacturer Faces Class-Action Lawsuit

NEW YORK, July 27, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Ortho Evra manufacturer, Ortho McNeil, is facing a lawsuit filed by 10 women Monday for damages related to use of its abortifacient so-called birth-control patch. The women, who all suffered from strokes or serious blood clots, described the drug as “unreasonably dangerous,” and “defectively designed,” according to a CNN report.

The women, ranging in age from 18 to 47, are from across the US and all suffer from long-term debilitating effects from the patch. Nineteen year-old Amanda Bianchi of Colorado Springs, Colo., described suffering two strokes and recurring migraines after developing a 10-inch blood clot in her brain after use of the patch in 2004. “It's not fun to have to get up and not be able to go to school and live the life that you were living, you know?” she said.

“When used as labeled, Ortho Evra is a safe and effective birth control choice for many women,” a company statement claimed. Last week, LifeSiteNews.com reported that the risk of developing a fatal or non-fatal blood clot while on the patch is three times greater than with use of the abortifacient birth-control pill. An AP report also noted that 23 deaths were attributed to use of the patch since its US Food and Drug Administration approval in 2001. An FDA spokesman assured women that “evidence indicates the product is safe and effective,” according to a statement sent to CNN.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Birth Control Patch Claims 23 Lives and Counting
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071506.html

This is really adding to a bad day! gurrrrr..

Ok so you want to know what is going on with my journal??? That would be a good question and I am so sorry to those of you who have me on alerts and seem to be getting alot of them from me.   A good chunk of my day has been wasted on this gurrr..

I have been back and forth with Joe the AOL Editor and he has been something of the go between for me and the Tec people today.  I have done many spyware scanners and downloading some other stuff.  And yes some junk was found on my computer but even after taking care of that this problem is still here.

I even had a guest poster post a test on my journal if you noticed lol..

New Journal Entry
A new entry has been posted to the Journal:
Hunybea's Open Journal
Subject: wooohooo this is a test
Author: ianc04
"hi - just testing :-D"

That was one of the "superusers", who has access to all AOL testing the prob for us. (Bet you didn't know AOL could do that huh!) Well after all this they could not "recreate" the problem, so they can not solve it.  If I use http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ and sign in to AOL using that and edit my journal the mystery audio link DOES NOT come on when I go and edit.  But when I go back using my AOL program it does.  The conclusion is.. according to the tec people anyway, it is a problem with MY machine and they can't do a thing about it.  I need to find it and get it off and until then use mozilla to edit my journal.  UGH!  I also posted to the suggested message board http://boards.aol.com/aol/artlist.mbl?boardId=535948  to see if anyone there can help me with all this.

So the problem is if I edit an exciting post using my AOL software some how a nasty porn link masked as an audio link is added, but not in an original post.  Something may be on my computer doing this (some vicious spyware program that seems to slip past every scanner I have downloaded).  AOL employees did all they felt they could and I am left to figure it out on my own. If I can not get this fixed I am planning on doing a system resotre tonight. 

This on top of our close date being moved.. our van being put BACK in the shop (not having the money to pay for it today) and not celebrating Sophia's birthday the way I had wanted.

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY SOPHIA!

 

 

 

( I AM GOING TO ASUME THAT IT IS SAFE TO POST AS LONG AS I DON'T GO BACK AND EDIT IT..gurr)

Today is my youngest of 4, fourth birthday!!!! My baby!!! *snif*snif*  She is getting soooooooo big!  In honor of her day of birth I have put together this YGP to show her threw the years.  Enjoy it best as a slide show.

Since our plans are quashed for her birthday today we are going to have a party in two weeks when some out of town family will be in.  Annie and Zane wanted to do something special for thier baby sister non the less.  So they set up all of Sophia's little ponies and had me print out some pics from the online My Little Pony coloring book to make a Parade of Ponies for Sophia on her dresser top.  That was sweet and I should of got pics but too late now. Sophia is busy playing with them and coloring in her pony pages.  It is not hard to guess that she wants a Pony room when we move.