Moving Update

Many of you have asked for an update on our moving status, so I thought a post would be the easiest way to give an answer. :-)

We're moving out of the house July 2-taking our furniture on a moving truck to our new home (the rental property where both Kimberly and Erin have stayed). We're coming back the next day to clean, clean, clean until our house shines and then calling the carpet people in to do their thing. Next, we're calling in the home staging gurus to make our place look wonderful (it's been proven that homes sell 70% faster when they are furnished). Will's company is paying for it, so we figured we better do the most we can to make it sell fast (we have 3 months worth of mortgage covered as well and are ever so thankful for that).

Once that's all done, we're listing our house w/an agent. We wanted to do FSBO so we could save thousands of dollars, but with Will starting his new job the 2nd week in July, it's going to be much easier and less stressful if we do it w/a realtor. Otherwise we'd have to be apart or have Will travel back and forth and try to arrange showings when he's here. The only consolation is that we're doing Mover's Advantage w/USAA (our insurance company), so we'll get about $650 cash back for using their recommended agent. It turns out their agent works for the company we wanted to use anyway (Century 21)-isn't God good! :-)

The handyman should start fixing the roof/gutters on the screen porch tomorrow and Lord willing, be finished w/everything by the end of the week. Will fixed the gates/fences this weekend and re-did the shutters on his shed.

He also took some time to enjoy Father's Day. We had a very special time of family devotions-sang lots of hymns, read a passage, and prayed, and Ella managed okay. We're trying to teach her to be still and quite. Not so easy for a 23-month old, but she's learning. And Will was excited about his presents (a new work outfit, new swim trunks, and some new shorts); I got some great deals at Penny's. :-)

Thank you for your prayers! I'm soooo looking forward to being at our new location and being done w/it all!!! and I think Ella is too. We went down this past Thursday to take another 6x12 trailer down and since we've been back all she keeps saying is "Maw-Maw." That's what we call Will's grandmother whom Ella adores. She also says, "Neigh" because she loves feeding Sir, the horse that's there. I really think she's going to have a blast in the country. She loves her grandparents and great-grandma so much already!


A hug for her Daddy on Father's Day!


She's started feeding her stuffed animals some of her food (here she shares a cracker w/Cuddlebug Bear).

IT'S A BOY!!!

Wow, what a crazy weekend! We went down for Kimberly's shower (my sister-in-law) but found out on the way that she had just been admitted to the hospital b/c her water broke! (She wanted a home birth but her midwife legally couldn't do it b/c according to her calculations was only 35 weeks.) We got to Will's parents around midnight and Mom and Dad had already left to go to the hospital. I told Will, "Well, we'll just go over first thing in the morning; with this being her first baby, she probably won't have him before 8 or 9am ." We woke up at 6am only to find out from Will's parents that she had the baby that night. She was admitted around 8:30pm (3cm. dilated, completely effaced) and JONATHAN LAURANCE was born at 11:48pm after just 20 min. of pushing. He's 6lbs. 11oz. and 20 1/4 inches long and absolutely A CUTIE! Can you imagine how big he would have been had she waited till her original due date of July 1!

I'm not sure whether to be jealous of her short labor or to feel sorry for her that everything came so fast and she didn't have much time to prepare nor have much relief between contractions. Of course, later she realized she had been in labor all day while out to eat and to the mall w/Mom but didn't realize that's what contractions felt like. Hard to know when it's your first time!

What a blessing that her midwife and nurse-midwife were able to be in the room w/her and she was able to have a natural childbirth just like she wanted (minus the birthing pool). She was able to labor the entire time standing up and squatted to push the baby out. Laurance is already a protective daddy-it's so cute to watch! And, my, I don't remember Ella ever being so small (of course, she technically wasn't-she was exactly a pound more) but still, I've already forgotten how tiny newborns are. And...I can't tell you how much more seeing him made Will and I want another one soon.

Mom and baby are fine. Kimberly didn't need stitches but they are monitoring the baby for jaundice. He's a 12.5 right and if he gets to a 20, he'll have to get on antibiotics. So please pray the sunlight will help him and he'll get better soon. They had him under the lamp at the hospital for a few days but didn't make them bring it home w/them.

So, is this a first? You have a baby shower but the guest of honor can't attend b/c she just had the baby? We decided to go ahead and have it b/c it was too late to call everyone and it would've been too hard to try to schedule it all again. It all worked out fine though. It became a little more of a drop-in shower but we all had a good time and instead of seeing Kimberly, they saw pics of the new little family. I was a little disappointed that we didn't play games since that was my main contribution to the shower, but that just means I can use some of the games for Emily's shower and my work is already done...that is, unless I talk w/Liz and we decide to come up w/some crazier ones. :-)

We're so thankful we were able to be there to share in the miraculous event. Every birth truly is a miracle and every baby a blessing from God. And we're soooo looking forward to living closer to them so we can raise our babies together!