Odds and ends, mostly pictures of Chloe

We have sold our house AGAIN! Well, it is under contract again at least. Hopefully, we will close at the end of the month and be moving to Lincoln. Still house searching from afar, hoping to find a great home! Chloe is a full-on walker now. She walks most of the time and is just as happy as can be! She loves the freedom it brings. She is hungry more, and the last two days as eaten a whole banana at one sitting. She is a delight to be around. She says lots of words, some consistent and some random. We swear she said broccoli the other night. Anyway, have to include some cute pictures because this child is SO PHOTOGENIC!!4th of July

Pulled out all her books and crawled in the bin!Be still my heart!LOVES WATER!
We let her play while we were watering the plants.The shirt had to go.Gush, gush! Doesn't this face just say, LOVE!

Guns and Booze

The three of us have been in Lincoln for the last week almost because our roof is being replaced. We decided it would be a good time to come check out some houses. My parents graciously are letting us stay in their AWESOME home, after some of the stuff we have seen it rocks! Sadly, they haven't been here and we have missed them a ton. I haven't lived in Nebraska for 12 years, so in getting ready to come back I am making some cultural observations along the way. We have looked at 10 houses in the last few days and we are exhausted, and haven't found 'the house' yet. What I have found out in being in 10 homes is that Guns and Booze are a centerpiece in many of these homes. Gun cabinets, gun racks, bows and arrows, and other hunting gear. Whole basements dedicated to a 'man caves'. The guns don't come alone. In most of these homes next to or near the guns are large amounts of hard liquor. That seems like a bad combination to me. I am not anti-alcohol, or guns (well sort of... you can have them, I just don't want to know about it). It was shocking to me for some reason. I grew up here, but this just seemed so foreign to me. Then I realized that I am not really a true Nebraskan. My parents are from Oklahoma and though I was raised here, as my husband stated it, I am a hybrid Nebraskan. I have lots to learn about this culture and the people we will be working with. A few years from now my guess is, you'll be more likely to see me wearing red than holding a rifle and taking a shot.

Great start to Monday

I actually won something from a blog giveaway. A really inspiring blogger, Aimee, was having a giveaway and I randomly got picked. It was so exciting to see that email in my in-box. I am excited to get the print of her great artwork. I chose this one, wanting to be inspired to create in a bit more of a structured way again. Go check out her blog and enjoy the beauty she captures.

Waiting

I have never really liked waiting. I would say I am generally a woman of action. I like to get things done when I know they need to be done. Back in my school days when I knew a paper was due in a few weeks I would make sure it would be done about a week in advance. The pressure of waiting until the last minute drives me crazy (and creates low level anxiety). We put our house on the market and I was prepared to wait. Then we got 2 offers within 5 days of listing. We accepted one offer and moved forward, with an expected Aug. 2nd move. Last week we learned we needed a new roof. We were disappointed, but willing to replace it and continue on. With the replacement of the roof we raised the asking price a bit, because the value of the home increases with this improvement. We raised the price VERY little. They rejected our offer and counter-offered with something CRAZY. We passed, dissolving our contract and putting us back to square one. People looking in my closet, keeping things clean, etc... We are getting new roof and re-listing. Waiting on someone to buy, waiting to move, waiting to say goodbye, waiting to start our new job, waiting to look for a new house. I am trying, trying, trying to not freak out. To enjoy this time, to trust the Lord's timing. He has never failed me.