We are REALLY loved!!!

I have never been a high-energy person. But I have been feeling especially tired and run-down for the past several months. Tired to the point of being unable to concentrate or remember things. I assumed this was due to the increased responsibilities of having 3 children, a busy church calling, and a husband in graduate school. In April, David and I both felt strongly prompted to speed up our plans to put our house on the market. We had been planning to do it sometime in the next year, but felt that we needed to put it up for sale within a couple weeks. So, despite struggling with lingering cold symptoms and upset stomach, I worked late nights with David to clean and stage the house for selling. Thanks to Aunt Mel, Mom, and other family members who volunteered to help clean house and watch our kids so we could accomplish this. You saved our lives, literally.
We received an offer within a couple weeks, which surprised us, especially in this market. When we got the results of our home inspection we discovered that the furnace needs to be replaced, due to a carbon monoxide leak. The CO in our home rose to dangerous levels when the furnace was running. It appears that the leak had been gradually getting worse. This explains why I have felt so awful since last fall. It also explains why we were all throwing up at the beginning and end of May, during the cold spells. We have had carbon monoxide poisoning. Fortunately, David, who has spent less time at home, has escaped relatively unaffected. It is sobering to think what might have happened, had we not spent half of our time this unseasonably cold spring either out-of-town or driving around house hunting. Had we not decided to move this year, what would have happened when we turned on the furnace next fall?
The moral of the story is, follow your inspiration. (And install a CO detector.)
I know that the Lord has guided our steps and protected us from this hidden danger. I am so grateful that we didn't all end up seriously ill, or worse. We are so blessed.

We are loved

Almost every day, I take a list of addresses, throw the kids in the car, and drive around looking for appealing houses that are for sale. Today, we packed a picnic to eat at a park somewhere in the midst of our house hunt. The kids were whining for food, so I drove up to a park in Mapleton. As I was parking, I felt that we should NOT get out of the van. So I turned around and started driving home, much to the kids' disappointment. On the way home, Christian's diaper exploded, and Clara pooped her pants. As soon as we were home, Nathan and Clara both had bad attacks of "the runs," requiring substantial clean-up. Boy am I glad this did not all happen at the park! Someone was watching out for us.
The Lord is always leaving little "love notes" around for us to find. Today I found one as I was scrubbing the bathroom floor, grateful that I was not in a filthy park restroom wondering what to do.

haircuts

The kids got their summer haircuts. Since Clara is bitterly opposed to having things put in her hair, I made it shorter so it wouldn't get as much food in it and so it would be easier to brush. I guess I'll just have to wait for my dream to be fulfilled of doing fun hairstyles on my daughter.

Christian got 3 new teeth last week. He has been a much happier boy this week.

Nathan finished preschool last week. He sang in his preschool program. So cute!!!

Nathan is glad to be done with preschool. He never really loved preschool, but it has been good for him. He has learned a lot, and not just about numbers and letters. He also learned that he wants a mohawk, like his friend on the top right. I'm hoping he'll forget about that wish.

Clean and Mean

It's better to be happy and messy than to be clean and mean, unless you are trying to sell your house, I guess.
Where there are small children, a house can never be completely clean all at once. Entropy is the rule. Sparkling bathrooms have to be smeared. Gleaming mirrors must be smudged. Beds beg to be jumped on. Crumbs need to be scattered. Stickiness must be spread throughout the kitchen. Freshly folded towels cry out, "Unfold us and trample us onto the crumby, sticky kitchen floor!" Then the phone rings. "Can we come look at your house in 10 minutes?"
Where's the balance between keeping your house ready to show, and being able to live in your own house? What level of cleanliness can I reasonably expect from myself and my children. I feel like all I ever do is clean and tell my kids, "No, you can't do that because it will make a mess." My stomach twists into a knot every time the phone rings.
Maybe I should just relax and let people see our house how it really is, instead of trying to pretend we don't live here. Maybe we should just go live with Grandma until the house sells.

We ain't met yet but I'm willin' to bet, you're the house for me

There are pictures to go with this post, but I need to ramble first...

Those who are familiar with "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," will remember the song Adam Pontipee sings as he goes around town looking for a wife. Well, this week I can identify with him, because I've been going around town looking for a house.

"Pretty and trim, but kind of small. Heavenly yard, but ugh, that house! Gotta be right to be the place for me."

There are plenty of houses in the valley that would do the trick for us, but we're kind of hard to please, because we'd like a bigger lot to go with it. We'd like to have room for a big garden and several fruit trees, room to keep chickens, room for the kids to run around, room for Nathan to tinker, and room to escape the claustrophobia of life without neighbors breathing down our necks. (I love living around people, but I don't like having to listen to their music all the time, and I don't like having five different families able to see into our yard at all times.) If we really want that, we're probably going to have to go south, but David doesn't want a long commute everyday. Decisions, decisions...

Yesterday was a turning point for us. I had been house hunting for most of the week, and was beginning to realize that we couldn't have a nice house with a big lot, close to work, for the budget that we have. (Unless the Lord decides to grant us a miracle, which I am not ruling out.)

We drove down to Springville and Spanish Fork, where lots of big, inexpensive houses on big lots are going up. As we looked at all these fancy new houses on fancy streets with fancy cars and toys, and kids in fancy clothes playing outside, we realized what was most important to us, and the deciding factor among all the other criteria we've set.

What we are really looking for is the right environment to raise our kids. David can live with a slightly longer drive to work. I can be happy with an older house that doesn't have a beautiful, modern kitchen. For heaven's sake, we can even remodel if we need to!

David often says that the best thing that ever happened to him as a kid, was moving away from all the "stuff" and living a simpler life. Spending more time with family, learning to work hard, and finding joy in things that money can't buy. THAT is what we want for our kids.

That being said, I also want our kids to look forward to coming home from school everyday, and their friends to enjoy being with us, so the house needs to be decent.

Anyway, we won't be buying anything until we can sell our house, so it may be a while. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite pictures from our week of house hunting:

Love this yard! 2/3 acre, fruit trees, gardens, sheds, llamas in the lot behind. BUT, the house that comes with it needs A LOT of work!

You always hear that bathrooms can be a selling point. You never know what you will find when you look in a bathroom.

What a great laundry room! You can't see it, but there are also shelves and counters.

Another great bathroom.

We'd have to get a moving truck to move all the junk out from the previous occupants.

Am I in a time warp?

This looks exactly like the kitchen I had when I was a little girl.

This is how Nathan felt after a week of house hunting. He got to go with me so that we wouldn't wear out our welcome with the wonderful people who watch our kids.

Busy-ness

Here are some of the highlights from the past few weeks:

• We visited David's parents in Sandpoint for "spring" break. It snowed almost every day, but we still had fun. Our visit included a close encounter with a moose in the driveway.
• David submitted a rough draft of his dissertation to his doctoral committee.
• I found several more gray hairs. Yikes!
• Christian said his first word. (No-no-no-no-no-no-no.) He also learned to crawl, and increased his number of teeth to four.
• We decided to try to sell our house, and have begun fixing it up. We'd like to find a house in the area with more storage, and with space for a workshop for Nathan. (His projects have started taking over our laundry room, garage, back patio, and are creeping into the rest of the house.)

My crush on Christian continues...

A moment of sunshine on the farm.

Christian spent much of his time in Sandpoint on the bottom shelf of the coffee table.

I accidentally put this picture in twice, and couldn't figure out how to erase it. Enjoy seeing more of the sweetest boy ever. The Lord must have sent him to our family with the mission of making me want more kids. He will probably succeed.

We took a walk at a bird sanctuary in Bonners Ferry. It was windy and freezing cold, so we decided to turned back and enjoy the scenery from the car. We saw a golden eagle perched next to the road. We also got to see a bald eagle and its mate trade off covering their nest.

My mom took the kids and me to visit the new Deseret Bookstore in downtown Salt Lake.

We rode TRAX down there. It was the kids' first time riding public transportation.

For someone who does not like seatbelts, Clara sure was scared on the train without one. She looked like this for the entire ride.

A grimace of determination.

Christian has mastered crawling and is no longer content to stay on all-fours.

Two fleece blanket worms.

Lesson Learned

1 gray house
1 unattended can of white paint with paintbrush
1 unattended helper, age 3
10 seconds of "help"
1 hour of elbow grease for mom (thank goodness it came off!)
2 wiser parents