A NEW HOUSE!

That's what it felt like coming in after our Accredited Staging Professional was finished with our house. She did such a fantastic job-now I really don't want to leave! :-)




















Now if we can just get people here to see it, I think we'll have a good chance of selling it-thank you for your continued prayers!

It's raining Duckies!

Elizabeth and Emily have more details about Emily's wonderful baby shower held last Sunday at Ma-Ma's, but I thought I'd post the few pics I had. Emily looks so adorable pregnant-she's still so tiny and of course, all baby. I'm sure she'll be fit and trim as soon as little Benjamin pops out. :-) It was great fun planning the shower w/Elizabeth though all the decorations were her idea. Lots of rubber duckies and some cute froggies. So boy and so cute! I just contributed some games, which thankfully everyone seemed to enjoy. And the food-absolutely delicious!
Can't wait to meet Benjamin Thomas Gray!

Oh, and I had to thow in some pics of Ella and Ba-pa at the 4th picnic. So precious!

I'M TWO!!!

Please come help me celebrate
My 2nd birthday at the lake
We'll laugh and run, swim and play
And enjoy icecream cake all day.

Well, that was what her invitation said,
But it should have read,

Please come help me celebrate
My 2nd birthday at the lake
I'll get sick, and Mommy will fall
And in unison we'll begin to bawl!

:-)

Here are the promised birthday photos. Enjoy!

And here's a comparison-Ella at her 1st b-day and 2nd b-day. This really makes it obvious how much my baby has grown. Will I ever stop calling her "my baby"? Probably not. :-)

For Sale By Owner

Yes, you read that right-we've changed our minds back to our original plan after some encouraging words from some good friends who had great success w/this. We have some great neighbors who are willing to show the house if someone wants to see it during the week and we'll be back every weekend someone wants to see it. We're planning on trying it this way for 1 month; if no potential buyers in that time frame, we might try a realtor again. Our first realtor interview was awful. She was recommended by USAA and had 20 years experience, but she was not prepared in her presentation and not at all motivated about selling our house. She had no real market strategy. It was like she was just still doing her job but had really left it years ago (as far as being excited about what she does). There was no way I was giving this lady $7000 for basically just putting a sign in my yard. Will and I decided right then and there, that there was no way we could do any worse, MLS or not!

We didn't feel like trying another one USAA had and then possibly another-just a waste of our time. It's not worth the $650 cash back bonus for using one of "their" agents. So, if the FSBO doesn't work for us (and please pray that it does!) we're going to go online and pick our own agent by looking at bio sketches. Sometimes the ones who've only worked 2 years are better b/c they're still so motivated and excited about their job. If we're giving a realtor that money, they're going to have to work for it.

Ella had a most interesting 2nd birthday-I'll write more about that later when I can post pics (my camera hook up that goes to the computer was accidentally packed up!). In short, she was sick and I took a terrible fall (I slipped on her vomit while trying to rush her to the bathroom-how many people can say that!) and thought I was going to have to go the the ER. But thankfully, my neck was not broken (I hit the corner of a wooden TV table and then fell on a hardwood floor-my feet just went completely out from under me!) Turns out I have a very hard head and back and God was completely watching over me! Definitely not a b-day we'll soon forget. Thankfully, my soreness is getting better and Ella hasn't thrown up since early Sunday morning. However, she still hasn't gotten her appetite back-I'm so glad I'm still nursing. On Sunday, breastmilk and 4 saltine crackers was all her little tummy could take.

We're going to the rental house tomorrow-Will's already got all our furniture down there. He may be down for the 4th picnic depending on how the fixing up goes w/this house. Oh, the emotions of walking in yesterday and finding my house almost completely empty. All the memories-and yet, God reminded me that my home is really wherever my dear hubby and daughter are. But still-it is hard. Especially Ella's room. And now today, it has a new coat of paint. :-( No more cheery yellow. Oh well, we'll just have to paint her rental room that color again.

Thank you all for your prayers!