Our New Home

We've been in our new home for almost a week now and I've been so busy unpacking, plus the internet didn't get hooked up until yesterday, that I haven't hardly put thought into updating this blog.  I'm sure you are all dying for photos and stories, but that will have to wait a little bit longer because there are still boxes everywhere.  Every time I think I'm done with a room (my closet for example) I discover 5 more boxes (I didn't realize I had so many freaking clothes!!!!!)  Being 37 weeks pregnant is not conducive to settling into a big new house.  I can get a few good hours of unpacking in each day before I wear out, need to prop my feet up, and/or take a nap. 

We've investigated the two major issues we had concerns about: 1) the pool chemicals and 2) the water damage from the master bathroom, visible from the living room.  The pool is safe to swim in (still no safety gate so watch your children!).  Matt has gone in a few times with Savannah and they are both LOVING it.  It's not heated so I haven't had much interest, and Savvy only last about 5 minutes.  Matt thinks it's perfect.

Matt and Savannah swimming in our new pool for the first time

Matt cut a hole in the living room ceiling and thankfully found that the damage was extremely minimal and hired a friend to fix it.  No big deal and now we can use our master bath!

For the most part everything seems to be in great working condition.  The appliances in the kitchen, although old and ugly, are REALLY good quality and work wonderfully.  That's good news because we have no money to fix anything, but bad news because we want everything to be pretty and new and stainless.  I've cooked a few dinners on the range and made cookies in the ovens so I guess we'll stick with what we've got for a while.

OK, I have no pictures and this is all really boring stuff.  Let me get back to unpacking....maybe even get an entire room done, and then post a pic or two :)

Mark this day in History

Today we celebrate three very important things:

1.  We signed docs on our new house and can be expecting keys as early as tomorrow afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. We discovered that Savannah has freckles!!!!!

Savannah's newly freckled nose

3. Savannah has (just barely) enough hair for pigtails!!!!!

Horses, Hugs, Hunting, etc...

Savannah has been exposed to a lot of new activities and adventures lately so there have been a lot of cute photos.  Here are a few more from the last few days.

My mom sent Savannah THE CUTEST little horse outfit to wear around the ranch here.  In true ranch style it only took about 20 minutes for the brand new outfit to be completely filthy! 

Savannah showing off her new horse shirt

Riding Rita in her new horse outfit

Giving Lexi, one of the 5 dogs on the ranch, a hug

The next morning Savannah spent a good amount of time collecting rocks in her shopping cart and bringing them to Moonshine, the next door neighbors' horse-sized boarhound.  She also threw a few balls for the energetic ranch-hands.

Savannah filling her shopping cart with rocks

Tempting Moonshine with a gourmet meal of rocks

Playing fetch with Blue and Smokey

Later that day we took a family trip to Bass Pro Shop to see the fish (Matt wanted to check out some guns of course).  Savannah talked about "sees fish" (seeing fish) the entire 40 minute drive.  Oddly, she was terrified of the big fish behind the tank, but absolutely loved the little fish in the stream.  My personal opinion: Bass Pro Shop is not worth the 40 minute drive.

This is about as close as Savvy would get to the fish tank without being held

Safe in Daddy's arms

Daddy bought Savvy a gun!!!  Just kidding.

Savannah's first shooting lesson...she's very trigger-happy

This bear is nothing compared to Daddy

She couldn't get enough of the fish in the stream!

Random Cute Stuff

We have the cutest little girl in the world, which naturally means we have more photos and videos than we know what to do with.  Here's a random little collection for your enjoyment.

Group 1: The quad pictures I promised a week ago.  I finally bothered to use YouTube to post videos to this blog so you should be able to watch in full quality.

Group 2: Fun on the Farm!  Savannah got to ride a horse for a few minutes last weekend. I missed it, but Matt took the photos and video.  I guess she loved it!  Every morning after waking up, the first thing Savannah wants to do is say hi to the horses, dogs, and especially to Moonshine (the next door neighbors' huge boarhound)

Savannah's first horse ride

Group 3: I am 36 weeks pregnant!  Savannah and I tried posing for a duo belly pic (I think my belly finally caught up with hers)....don't mind my post-gym ickyness. 

36 week belly pic

Savannah's Pregnant Belly

The Local Watering Hole

One of the "benefits" of living in really really really tight quarters is that it sorta forces us to get out.  This afternoon Matt and I were enjoying some down time for an hour or so....just long enough for Savannah to get completely stir-crazy.  Matt suggested we take her downtown to play in the fountain, which I've always considered really gross.  I'm not a germ-a-phobe or anything, and there's always several kids playing in it, but the fountain has always been taboo in my mind.  We went regardless and Matt got his way....and Savannah had a BLAST!  I came to find out the city puts chlorine in the water, so it should be safe.  But mark my words....if Savannah comes down with some nasty bacterial infection this week we'll know why. 

Savannah having a blast in the downtown fountain

There's no stopping her!

 

 

It wasn't a particularly hot day today so after 15 minutes or so of getting completely drenched (and mommy wasn't smart enough to bring a towel, just a change of clothes) we took Savannah for her very first cup of Hot Cocoa, which of course she LOVED and made her extremely hyper! 

Savannah enjoying her first cup of Hot Cocoa

Hot Cocoa Mustache!

Homeless, Jobless, and Pregnant

In case you didn’t catch the title of this entry, it’s “Homeless, Jobless, and Pregnant.”  It may sound like a joke, and honestly I can’t say it without laughing, but it’s true.  The short version: we had to move out of our old house before closing the loan on the new house.  Continue reading for the long version.

We were supposed to close on the old house on Monday, July 29^th, and then close on the new house on Wednesday July 31^st.  Our buyer was unable to close on the house until the 31^st, which then set the closing date on the new house back until Monday.  We had planned to move out on the 3^rd but then rescheduled for the following weekend….no big deal.  

Problem #1:  We were renting back 7 days in the old house to give us enough time to move out.  This was a great plan when the house was scheduled to close on the 29^th and we were moving on the 3^rd.  But now we couldn’t close on the new house in time to move out that weekend, and our 7 day of rent-back expires on a Wednesday.  We were told on Sunday, August 4^th that we HAD to be out of the house by 5pm on Wednesday.  We scramble to pack boxes and coordinate friends to help us move in the middle of the week.  No big deal because we were supposed to close on the new house and get the keys any day now.

Problem #2: The loan broker does a verification of employment for Matthew on Monday, August 5^th, a week after he was terminated from his company.  We were told that we did not need to report the status change to the loan broker because the loan was so far in the process that it wouldn’t make a difference.  Well, that might be the case if the lender and the broker were on top of their game on didn’t procrastinate on everything.  They waited until the day before we were supposed to close (and this is AFTER closing has been postponed several times) to do the verification and almost pulled the plug right on the spot.  Matt had to do some “sweet talking” and pulled a few strings to even get them to continue processing the loan.

Tuesday evening we had several handfuls of friends from the church show up at our house to help move boxes and furniture into a couple trailers and trucks.  A couple from the church has graciously offered to not only let us store our stuff on their property, but to let us stay in the apartment attached to their garage.   The small 200 sqft space might not seem like much, but we are SOOOOOOOOOO blessed to have it!!!!!  Wednesday we moved out the small stuff and by 5pm we were OUT.  Goodbye to our first house.

Savannah helping Daddy take furniture apart

Loading Furniture onto the Trailer

Even as I write this I am not confident that the loan for the new house will go through.  Our seller is giving us until next Friday, August 16^th to close the loan before she gives the house to somebody else.  We are very frustrated with the lender and the loan broker for telling us one thing and then requiring something different.  We are frustrated that they are taking so long to do this job.  And we are frustrated that this is completely out of our hands.

We are beyond blessed by our family and friends and especially by our Church.  I’ve was able to leave Savannah with a friend on Monday and then with my Aunt on Wednesday while I pack and move.  We’ve been asked to dinner two nights in a row (which is a huge blessing because the apartment does not have a stove).  We had more than enough people helping us physically move our stuff, and will most likely be asking them to move it again soon.  We have a roof over our head and a place to store our stuff.  Our church even offered to pay for a storage unit and/or a Uhaul truck for us.  Can you believe that?!!!  God is taking care of us without a doubt.  We may be "homeless" but we have a roof over our head, a comfortable bed to sleep on, and a warm shower.  We may be jobless, but we have money in the bank, Matt got one offer yesterday (though it was not a strong offer) and had a good interview today.  And we may be pregnant, but regardless of the situation this is a loved and wanted baby who will be welcomed into this world like a prince by everyone who knows us. 

Now for some fun stories and pictures!  The property we’re staying on has lots of dogs and horses which Savvy is just LOVING!!!!  And there’s plenty of space for her to ride her quad! (For some reason I'm having trouble uploading the videos of the quad so I'll post those later)

Savannah playing on the "Eish" (Horse) Food

Matt showing Savannah how to feed Horses

Savannah feeding her new friend