I'm still here...

I've gotten a few emails from friends wondering where I've been and why my blog has been pretty quiet these days. I just haven't had the 'get-up-and-go' lately to sit at my computer and blog. I've been a bit down in the dumps, but fortunately Edward was home from work for a few days and that helped. We also watched the movie "Defeating the Giants". If you've never watched it, you need to! It's a must-see movie. I wasn't thrilled that the movie was about a football team, because honestly I can't stand that sport, but I have to say it was a great movie!! The movie was a LOT more about how to trust in God and how to wait on His timing for things. I needed to see this movie...it's helped give me peace about our own situation with the house.

So...what have we been up to? Well, we all went on a field trip to the local Superior Court. It was an amazing trip, and I'm sure that my kids had fun while also learning quite a bit about 'real life'. An attorney was our 'guide' and as we sat in one of the court rooms, he taught the kids about who works there, how things are run and why we need to have a court system. He didn't dumb it down at all which was great. Most trips our homeschool group has had lately, have been geared towards the younger kids since there are so many of them. This trip, although those who went were still mostly young (only about 1/5 of the group was there), was geared for older kids. Lionel had a blast! Sweet-Pea also learned a lot, but some of it went over her head.


The best part was that we got to sit in on several court cases. We were there over 3 hours in all, and about a hour of it was watching the judge deal with case after case....drunk drivers, larceny, battery, domestic disputes and more. The kids eyes were opened to some of the evil that is out there, especially when they got to see the actual perpetrators. They even got a tour of the criminal holding rooms, elevator (with special locked area) and more. When the judge came out, the Marshall announced all to rise etc. and the kids did it without question. We were able to sit in the front row, so they got a good taste of what court was like without distractions. They talked about it all the way home. Lionel said he never ever wants to be in that situation...phew...sigh of relief! ha ha

The attorney also gave us a tour of the Law Library and got the kids involved by pretending they were in certain situations that would require them to be in court. It was a great trip and we are so glad we went!!

After we got home, Sweet-Pea decided it was time to trim her bangs. She used to have bangs when she was very young, but she grew them out. She wasn't sure about it at first, but then she decided to go for it and now she's glad she did. She said it's so much easier and now her forehead doesn't get cold. She's so funny! Here she is holding up her cut hair...not enough for Locks of Love since it's just her bangs, but still, enough to put away for her scrapbook. =)

The rest of her hair is in a ponytail...it's not ALL cut! I don't think my heart could stand to see all her hair cut short. She's been growing it since birth - it's her trademark.





Side view:


As for news on the home-front...we had a GREAT open house this past Sunday. 14 families came through and 3 were seriously interested. One gave us a low-ball offer, but we refused it, especially since their Realtor sent it to our Realtor via email...probably because they were so embarrassed at how low it was (over $100,000 below asking price!!) It wasn't worth a counter offer...although we were tempted to counter it with $1.1 million!! We think they were just being rude. Anyhow, we have yet to hear from the other 2 families.

We also had another showing the other day, but that person said the house was too big for them. I'm not sure I understand why they were here then. They were in the house for over an hour. The Realtor knows the square footage of the house before coming, plus the fact that we have 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms should give it away that it's a larger home. We just feel like some Realtors don't 'get it'...they waste our time showing the house to people who aren't looking for what we're offering. I often see that on some of those HGTV shows. People ask for a 3 bedroom home and the Realtor takes them to see a 2 bedroom condo. Huh?!? It's amazing.

So...again, we wait. The people who originally wanted our home are still anxious to purchase it, only they now need to find another buyer. They too had a great open house on Sunday, but no official offers yet. I'm hoping they will sell first and we can all be done with this. I would actually hate to sell our home from under them when we know they still want it...but if we can sell it in the mean time, we will have to. We stand to lose the home we want to purchase if it takes too long. The builder is holding it for us for another month...so pray that we will be able to settle this with a contract in hand before then. We're not sure what God is doing, but we are trusting in Him for His perfect timing and His perfect will. In the mean time, we pray - LOTS!