Wow!  Where has the time gone?  Is it really mid-June already?  Life has been so wonderfully busy lately!  The school year ended with all of the normal end of the year activities.  M and DH have started their summer jobs, hoeing onions for some friends of ours.  M finished driver's ed and got her learner's permit.  And the neighborhood kids are still coming out to play!

C is learning to more fully enjoy his job, which is a huge blessing.  We still need to find a winter hobby for him, but for now he is content.  The biggest news:  we are buying our first house!  We have been married for almost 17 years and have never owned our own home.  My in-laws purchased a home for us and C's younger brother to live in while C finished college.  Then we moved to a job where a house was provided for us.  Although we changed jobs, a house was provided for us with the next job as well.  We have been renting since last October, and have a one  year lease.  We're a little worried about what will happen with that, but trust that the Lord will watch over that aspect of our lives too. 

It is truly amazing how we got this house.  Our realtor had been out of town for a week, so last Monday I called him to let him know we wanted to go take a second look at a home.  He told me that there was a couple coming in that afternoon to put their house on the market, and continued to tell me about this house. It sounded perfect!  Well, he set it up and we went and saw the house that same day.  Within an hour later we had signed the papers to make an offer.  No one else saw the home, so we didn't have to worry about competing bids.  The family that owns this house had an offer in on another home and were waiting to know if their bid had been accepted, before fully agreeing to our bid.  It took a day longer than we had hoped, but their bid was accepted and so we were set to buy the house!  On Friday we signed all of the paperwork for the loan and that afternoon the appraiser got his part done.  If things continue along this course, we will close in just 3 1/2 weeks!  It is so exciting!!!

We came home that night after seeing the home and the kids asked if we liked it.  We looked at each other and grinned as we told them that we did and we were buying it.  They were shocked!  After waiting for one full week, we took the kids to see the house tonight.  They loved it.  But, I think they loved the yard even more!  There is a sandbox, trampoline (which we are buying from them), swing set, lots of space and lawn, a great climbing tree, a possible future garden space, a basketball hoop and a nice patio.  I think the best thing of all about this house is that we don't have to do any work on it!  It is move-in ready!