Still no word from the bank. June 1st is quickly approaching and my mind is already starting to fill up with things that need to be done before the end of June...like packing up a 2-bedroom, 1,000 sq. ft. apartment. For some reason it's hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that we'll be moving out of our current residence in just over a month. I don't feel like I can start to make plans until we hear back from the bank. It's almost like there's a road block blocking the way.
Our apartment is being shown today to perceptive residents. This will be the third showing since we put in our notice at the beginning of this current month. I go back and forth between wanting our apartment to look all nice and tidy to wanting it to look like a dump, hoping that no one will be interested in it, if indeed our housing falls through. Alas, I couldn't force myself to be that cruel...and I can't live in that environment anyway, so my apartment as I type smells sweet and looks tidy.
My little boy Simon has been such a joy this week. He's saying more words, helping me more often with chores around the house...he loves to help me unload the dishwasher and also help put laundry into the dryer. He gets this huge grin on his face as he helps me. He's also been interested in books lately. About one or two times a day, the apartment will get really quiet (any mother of a child will know that that's usually a sign that something is up - lol). I'll start getting worried as I look for him, not knowing where the heck he's disappeared to. The search doesn't last long as I wander into his room only to find him sitting on the rocking chair in the dark looking through his beloved Dr. Seuss books. It melts my heart every time this happens.
As you can see from the video, Simon has become enamored with his paci. We thought we were doing so good only giving it to him during the night, but he's a smart little kid and has figured out how to retrieve his paci's from his crib. I think we're going to have to either take them away from him cold turkey or find a better hiding place. ;)
I must sign off now. Simon and I are going to go outside while our apartment is being shown. I hope we don't faint from the heat (98° heat index). Farewell.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Mother's Day take 2
I celebrated my second mother's day this past Sunday (third, if you count mother's day 2008 when I was 6 months pregnant). I had an enjoyable day that was spent at home, church, Gulbranson house and ending again at home. Simon was a little trooper, spending the day with family without a nap. He promptly fell asleep in the car on our 20 minute drive back home from Peter's family's house.
I was spoiled by both my husband and son (not to mention Peter's sweet mom and sister). Peter gave me a bunch of purple tulips (my favorite!) and Simon gave me the new Emma on dvd. Simon also picked a dandelion and gave that to me too (my first flower/weed from my child!!!).
There are many things that I'm thankful for as a mother, here are just a few things that I've jotted down.
Simon makes me happy in ways that no other could:
The feel of his little hand in mine as we walk together.
The way he pats his chin to "say" thank you.
The infectious giggles that come out of his little body as I tickle him.
The funny noises he makes when he sees an animal or a baby.
The words that come out of his little mouth that surprise us on a day to day basis. Ready set go and 1,2,3 are his newest phrases, although you would have to be his momma to understand what he's actually saying. ;)
His sloppy wet kisses.
The way he goes to bed each night. This is usually how bedtime happens at our place: Me: "You want to go brush your teeth?" Simon upon hearing these words, takes off running to the bathroom. ((brush, brush, brush)). He then hops down from the closed toilet seat after brushing his teeth and runs into his room. He pops his precious paci into his mouth while his daddy holds and prays for him while I lay my hand on him. He likes to lay his head on Peter's shoulder while acknowledging the prayer with mmms and uh-huhs. It's the cutest thing ever.
I love watching him play at the playground. He has no fear and will go down the scariest slide without hesitation.
The way he climbs onto the computer chair that I'm sitting on to sit behind me as I type.
His fascination with game shows. Seriously, he loves these shows - his favorite being Deal Or No Deal. I think it's the constant clapping and the cheering that fascinates him. It's really cute watching him clap right along with the audience.
He's my little boy, my buddy, my baby. My love grows stronger for him every day, even when the whining seems to be more then I can handle or when his strong will gets ever stronger - the good outweighs the bad and I can say without hesitation that I am SO blessed to call him my son.
I was spoiled by both my husband and son (not to mention Peter's sweet mom and sister). Peter gave me a bunch of purple tulips (my favorite!) and Simon gave me the new Emma on dvd. Simon also picked a dandelion and gave that to me too (my first flower/weed from my child!!!).
There are many things that I'm thankful for as a mother, here are just a few things that I've jotted down.
Simon makes me happy in ways that no other could:
The feel of his little hand in mine as we walk together.
The way he pats his chin to "say" thank you.
The infectious giggles that come out of his little body as I tickle him.
The funny noises he makes when he sees an animal or a baby.
The words that come out of his little mouth that surprise us on a day to day basis. Ready set go and 1,2,3 are his newest phrases, although you would have to be his momma to understand what he's actually saying. ;)
His sloppy wet kisses.
The way he goes to bed each night. This is usually how bedtime happens at our place: Me: "You want to go brush your teeth?" Simon upon hearing these words, takes off running to the bathroom. ((brush, brush, brush)). He then hops down from the closed toilet seat after brushing his teeth and runs into his room. He pops his precious paci into his mouth while his daddy holds and prays for him while I lay my hand on him. He likes to lay his head on Peter's shoulder while acknowledging the prayer with mmms and uh-huhs. It's the cutest thing ever.
I love watching him play at the playground. He has no fear and will go down the scariest slide without hesitation.
The way he climbs onto the computer chair that I'm sitting on to sit behind me as I type.
His fascination with game shows. Seriously, he loves these shows - his favorite being Deal Or No Deal. I think it's the constant clapping and the cheering that fascinates him. It's really cute watching him clap right along with the audience.
He's my little boy, my buddy, my baby. My love grows stronger for him every day, even when the whining seems to be more then I can handle or when his strong will gets ever stronger - the good outweighs the bad and I can say without hesitation that I am SO blessed to call him my son.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
the {pre} teribble twos.
There are days when I feel like a handicapped person. These last 20 months have been seriously life changing. Each month brings something new and I've found that I've had to exchange the activities and day-to-day things that I once enjoyed doing, with toddler-friendly activities. I feel stuck in toddler world and I can't tell you how excited I get when I get to interact with adults face-to-face. I sometimes yearn for the baby days to be back where getting out wasn't so stressful. Sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder who that person is looking back at me. I feel SO different. Marriage changed me too, but being a mommy has changed me in a different way.
There are days (like today for instance), where I feel lonely, where I feel like getting together with a girlfriend, heading over to get coffee while chatting and sipping hot liquid for hours without having to worry about nap time or a toddler running around reeking havoc on innocent beings. Shopping is something that I miss too. Shopping now a days consists of running in and grabbing the necessary items and dashing back out the door taking the least possible time. I miss fun shopping, browsing through unique shops and trying on cute clothes. I also miss shopping without having to chase or quite down a loud and fast little boy who would much rather be in the child play area then browsing through boring clothes and shoes. ;)
There are days where I just need adult interaction without any children present. Today, I just want to do fun things, having a toddler makes all of those things 10x harder.
Both Peter and Simon have been dealing with allergies these past few weeks. :( Simon's energy level hasn't really changed, he's still as active as ever, even with a runny nose and stuffed up face. He has been a lot more cranky though (which is understandable - I'm not the most pleasant person when I'm feeling sick either), but it's been difficult for me to show patience with his constant whining. He's at the age right now where we hold our breath and cross our fingers when we take him out places. You just never know when he's going to explode...It usually happens when you strap him in his stroller or a cart - he hates to be confined (his carseat getting the same reaction) and would rather walk around with the big people - which is fine, except for the fact that you never can tell when he'll let go of your hand and bolt...or when he'll throw himself to the ground because we're moving on instead of going where he wants to go.
Eating out with him doesn't happen very often any more. Just as he dislikes his carseat, stroller and cart, he abhors a highchair as well. He'd much rather be running around then sitting still eating. He's pretty good with snacks throughout the day, something that he can eat while "on the go" - but sitting down to dinner is a totally different story. Patience is definitely something the Lord has been installing into my impatient being...especially when it comes to being a mommy to a energetic 21 month old.
{sigh}
Sorry about my whining. I know, you all are probably reading the title of this post and thinking terrible twos? How about terrible twenty.sixers?! Ugh. I'm thinking the same exact thing right now. I do love my little boy SO much and wish that I was better at this whole mommy thing. I wish I knew how to live both of my lives...the mommy life and the free-spirited, fun-loving young women life. I'm usually pretty good at combining a little bit of both, but obviously, not today.
There are days (like today for instance), where I feel lonely, where I feel like getting together with a girlfriend, heading over to get coffee while chatting and sipping hot liquid for hours without having to worry about nap time or a toddler running around reeking havoc on innocent beings. Shopping is something that I miss too. Shopping now a days consists of running in and grabbing the necessary items and dashing back out the door taking the least possible time. I miss fun shopping, browsing through unique shops and trying on cute clothes. I also miss shopping without having to chase or quite down a loud and fast little boy who would much rather be in the child play area then browsing through boring clothes and shoes. ;)
There are days where I just need adult interaction without any children present. Today, I just want to do fun things, having a toddler makes all of those things 10x harder.
Both Peter and Simon have been dealing with allergies these past few weeks. :( Simon's energy level hasn't really changed, he's still as active as ever, even with a runny nose and stuffed up face. He has been a lot more cranky though (which is understandable - I'm not the most pleasant person when I'm feeling sick either), but it's been difficult for me to show patience with his constant whining. He's at the age right now where we hold our breath and cross our fingers when we take him out places. You just never know when he's going to explode...It usually happens when you strap him in his stroller or a cart - he hates to be confined (his carseat getting the same reaction) and would rather walk around with the big people - which is fine, except for the fact that you never can tell when he'll let go of your hand and bolt...or when he'll throw himself to the ground because we're moving on instead of going where he wants to go.
Eating out with him doesn't happen very often any more. Just as he dislikes his carseat, stroller and cart, he abhors a highchair as well. He'd much rather be running around then sitting still eating. He's pretty good with snacks throughout the day, something that he can eat while "on the go" - but sitting down to dinner is a totally different story. Patience is definitely something the Lord has been installing into my impatient being...especially when it comes to being a mommy to a energetic 21 month old.
{sigh}
Sorry about my whining. I know, you all are probably reading the title of this post and thinking terrible twos? How about terrible twenty.sixers?! Ugh. I'm thinking the same exact thing right now. I do love my little boy SO much and wish that I was better at this whole mommy thing. I wish I knew how to live both of my lives...the mommy life and the free-spirited, fun-loving young women life. I'm usually pretty good at combining a little bit of both, but obviously, not today.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Resting in Jesus
I started this post Friday morning. I remember crying and then feeling ashamed at my tears, I didn't want to be an emotional wreck all day long, so I wiped my tears from my face and sat myself down to write. Sometimes when my fingers are flying across the computer keys the tears stop and by the time I'm done writing (whether I posted or not) I feel better. It helps to get your frustrations out.
I never published it because it seemed unfinished. I guess it was.
-----------------------
Friday, April 30th, 2010 (11:31am)
So I cried some tears today, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I feel let down. Let down by the bank, let down by my faith and let down by God. Yikes, did I just admit that!? I almost feel like David in Psalms 22 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Acknowledging these feelings made the tears run freely. Through these last couple of months, my faith has been strong...really strong. I knew we had a powerful God on our side and I knew that He was a loving God who knew the desires of our hearts and knew that $8400 ($8,000 tax credit + $400 apartment deposit) would come in handy for us.
Thursday night we talked about re-signing our apartment lease and since Peter was going to be at work all day Friday, he went ahead and signed. I have yet to take it down - I'm waiting until the last minute. ((See, I have a tiny bit of faith left - either that or denial :P))
One of the major reasons for re-signing the lease was because we hadn't heard a word from the bank yet and we didn't want to take the risk of being homeless 2 months from now. It's pretty discouraging admitting that we're not as close as we would want to be concerning becoming homeowners. I know in reality, God hasn't let us down.
The prayers that we (and countless friends and family members) have uttered on our behalf have not gone unheard. He has greater plans for us - money is not everything and it's certainly not going to solve all of our problems (it certainly wouldn't hurt though). I'm still resting in Jesus, still trusting Him, still loving Him for all He is and all He has done for us (past, present and future)...
Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless,
Satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings,
Meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings:
Thine is love indeed!
-------------------------------
As I re-read that post, I feel an overwhelming sense of awe. How could I feel so discouraged and let down one minute and feel so hopeful a few hours later? Here's how: God. He does that and delights in turning our frowns upside down and making us sing His praises.
My brain is a little fried (so bear with me), I want to continue the story of God's faithfulness - so, without much further ado and in the words of the great Paul Harvey here's the rest of the story:
As I posted above, Peter and I had re-signed our apartment lease for another year, knowing that we could bow out of it if need be, giving up our $400 deposit. I actually hadn't signed it yet and was secretly waiting until the end of the day to take it down, giving the bank as much time as possible to get back with us before the end of the day. Peter called me around 3:00pm asking if I had taken the lease down yet, I sheepishly said "no". He said that that was fine and that he was going to call our Realtor and let him know that we were going to re-sign our lease and that we would have to push our closing date on the house to July 31st instead of the end of June. Truth be told, I wasn't looking forward to having to move at the end of July, nor was I excited about having to pack, move and unpack so close to Simon's 2nd birthday. But I agreed, as it seemed to be the only smart option.
About 10 minutes later, Peter called me again and said that he had talked to Mike and that he had explained to him that since we weren't going to qualify for the tax credit that there really wasn't a reason for us to stick with the June date. After hearing Peter out, he said that he had done some digging around and had asked a few people and it turned out that we did indeed qualify for the tax rebate since the sellers signed the purchase agreement a day or so after receiving our offer a few weeks back. We haven't heard from the bank yet, but rumor has it that they'll accept our offer and work with our closing date too, sooo...we should be all set. Also another big praise (and a huge leap of faith), is that instead of re-signing our lease for our apartment, we turned in our 2 month notice.
So, if everything works out we'll have our deposit and the tax rebate. God is amazing and His timing is quite powerful. We're hoping that we do indeed qualify - please pray with us that his information was correct and that we can close before the June 30th date to qualify...and that we have a place to stay 2 months from now. I've joked with Peter that if we are indeed without a place to stay, we can put everything in storage and Simon and I can vacate to my family's for a bit while Peter resides with him family and continues to work- lol. Thanks friends!!
...Open the eyes of my heart,
I want to see You.
To see You high and lifted up,
shining it the light of Your glory.
Lord, pour out Your power and love,
as we sing Holy, Holy, Holy
I never published it because it seemed unfinished. I guess it was.
-----------------------
Friday, April 30th, 2010 (11:31am)
So I cried some tears today, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I feel let down. Let down by the bank, let down by my faith and let down by God. Yikes, did I just admit that!? I almost feel like David in Psalms 22 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Acknowledging these feelings made the tears run freely. Through these last couple of months, my faith has been strong...really strong. I knew we had a powerful God on our side and I knew that He was a loving God who knew the desires of our hearts and knew that $8400 ($8,000 tax credit + $400 apartment deposit) would come in handy for us.
Thursday night we talked about re-signing our apartment lease and since Peter was going to be at work all day Friday, he went ahead and signed. I have yet to take it down - I'm waiting until the last minute. ((See, I have a tiny bit of faith left - either that or denial :P))
One of the major reasons for re-signing the lease was because we hadn't heard a word from the bank yet and we didn't want to take the risk of being homeless 2 months from now. It's pretty discouraging admitting that we're not as close as we would want to be concerning becoming homeowners. I know in reality, God hasn't let us down.
The prayers that we (and countless friends and family members) have uttered on our behalf have not gone unheard. He has greater plans for us - money is not everything and it's certainly not going to solve all of our problems (it certainly wouldn't hurt though). I'm still resting in Jesus, still trusting Him, still loving Him for all He is and all He has done for us (past, present and future)...
Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless,
Satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings,
Meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings:
Thine is love indeed!
-------------------------------
As I re-read that post, I feel an overwhelming sense of awe. How could I feel so discouraged and let down one minute and feel so hopeful a few hours later? Here's how: God. He does that and delights in turning our frowns upside down and making us sing His praises.
My brain is a little fried (so bear with me), I want to continue the story of God's faithfulness - so, without much further ado and in the words of the great Paul Harvey here's the rest of the story:
As I posted above, Peter and I had re-signed our apartment lease for another year, knowing that we could bow out of it if need be, giving up our $400 deposit. I actually hadn't signed it yet and was secretly waiting until the end of the day to take it down, giving the bank as much time as possible to get back with us before the end of the day. Peter called me around 3:00pm asking if I had taken the lease down yet, I sheepishly said "no". He said that that was fine and that he was going to call our Realtor and let him know that we were going to re-sign our lease and that we would have to push our closing date on the house to July 31st instead of the end of June. Truth be told, I wasn't looking forward to having to move at the end of July, nor was I excited about having to pack, move and unpack so close to Simon's 2nd birthday. But I agreed, as it seemed to be the only smart option.
About 10 minutes later, Peter called me again and said that he had talked to Mike and that he had explained to him that since we weren't going to qualify for the tax credit that there really wasn't a reason for us to stick with the June date. After hearing Peter out, he said that he had done some digging around and had asked a few people and it turned out that we did indeed qualify for the tax rebate since the sellers signed the purchase agreement a day or so after receiving our offer a few weeks back. We haven't heard from the bank yet, but rumor has it that they'll accept our offer and work with our closing date too, sooo...we should be all set. Also another big praise (and a huge leap of faith), is that instead of re-signing our lease for our apartment, we turned in our 2 month notice.
So, if everything works out we'll have our deposit and the tax rebate. God is amazing and His timing is quite powerful. We're hoping that we do indeed qualify - please pray with us that his information was correct and that we can close before the June 30th date to qualify...and that we have a place to stay 2 months from now. I've joked with Peter that if we are indeed without a place to stay, we can put everything in storage and Simon and I can vacate to my family's for a bit while Peter resides with him family and continues to work- lol. Thanks friends!!
...Open the eyes of my heart,
I want to see You.
To see You high and lifted up,
shining it the light of Your glory.
Lord, pour out Your power and love,
as we sing Holy, Holy, Holy
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