Yesterday We went over to Paul and Katie's new house to see how they were coming along and to deliver much needed Chalupas.  I have to say even though there were boxes everywhere along with paint supplies it looked awesome!  We had fun discussing decorative possibilities and planning for a deck to be built but mostly I got seriously MOTIVATED!  We already have about half our stuff packed up and stashed in the storage unit but there is still a mountain of empty boxes just waiting in the garage for us to complete the project.  Last week we finalized our financing and arranged for our new home owner's insurance... all that's left now is to load up and go!  (oh yes, and a few hundred signatures to sign!)  The kids are already planning a trip to the local nursery to get bedding flowers for the front lawn... they want to peek out the basement windows and see their "garden".  I am mentally measuring the house and trying to organize what furniture will go where.  If only August 14th would hurry!

Finally our house is under contract and we are due to close on August 14th.  The sad reality is that I have a ton of packing to do.  It is definitely note worthy that half of our belongings are already packed and waiting in the storage unit for moving day but it's the BIG stuff that is left behind.  It's hard to decide just how much to pack up in the next three weeks and which items can be loaded "as is" onto the moving truck.  In the mean time Chris and I are making endless phone calls to insurance companies trying to get the best quote and haggling it out with our lender over details of the closing settlement.  At the same time we are waiting, as patiently as we can, to hear back about the list of items we asked the sellers to take care of before we take possession.  Our primary concern at this point is the roof of the Mayfair house which has suffered some hail damage and we are hoping will be replaced.  We have to just wait and see if their insurance provider will foot the bill.  As I wait I am snipping ideas from my favorite decorating magazine, DOMINO, and dreaming of dressing the ghostly white walls of my new house in COLOR!!! 

 

My summer classes at St. John's School of Nursing are completed and I have blissfully been enjoying not reading my textbooks.  Although the clinicals were not "easy" I definitely found them a lot more manageable than the hours I spent working towards my PN license.  My feet on the other hand have suffered horribly from plantar fasciitis on account of my worn out shoes and the fact that there wasn't a chair for a tired nursing student to sit upon. I am now nursing my own poor soles with foot soaks and stretching/strengthening exercises.  This has been quite the summer with both Chris and I missing work due to injury.  Hopefully I'll be back on my feet (literally) next week.  Chris' thumb has thankfully healed quite nicely and he has been back to work since the last week of June. 

 

With the weather being so hot the kids have been enjoying trips to the Jordan Valley Park play fountain and the local library (ah air conditioning!)  Of course they have also spent plenty of time climbing the trees in our front yard and learning to do flips on the trampoline.  Grandma Carol spoiled them rotten with a field trip to the Laura Ingalls-Wilder house in Mansfield, Mo.  This has become a new obsession for them as Grandma has been reading the "Little House" books to them when they stay at her house.  They love the attention and the stories too!  All three were especially pleased to have a little "Christmas in July" when we took them to Toys 'R' Us to spend their Birthday/Christmas money from 2005.  I couldn't help reminiscing about the time that Grandma and Grandpa Askew came to visit us in Taiwan and we had our own Christmas in July complete with a construction paper tree.  I think I may have just started a new tradition with our kids (although saving the money to begin with took lots of coercion!)

 

 

The open house we had was somewhat successful even inspite of the rain.  We had a woman come by 3 times to look at the house.  First by herself and then with some friends and her children to see if they would give it the stamp of approval.  We were really set for an offer.  We were surprised but undaunted when she gave an offer that was $11,000 less than the asking price and without any earnest money.  Of course we hadn't had any other offers so we were generous and went ahead and countered.  I have to say that this woman was really confused about the process.  She decided to "represent" herself since she works for a law office but the contract she wrote up was no where near legal.  Our realtor really had a time "fixing" all her goofs but in the end we had a good offer for her.  We lowered the price by several thousand and clarified some terms such as the home warranty that has already been purchased, we also asked for a very small 0.5% earnest money.  She decided that she wanted the time extended for her to respond since her parents were coming to view the house so we (generously) let her have more time... then too our surprise she just walked away.  I guess there is a lesson to be learned here.  We will never again look at an offer without earnest money and we will stick to the rules of the game... when a time frame is set you stay with it!  In the mean time our hopeful house on Mayfair is sitting empty and unsold.  We do not know what God has planned for us but we are trying to be patient to see Him work out his plan.