Today I . . .

. . . woke up earlier than usual and actually had time to sit down with a cup of coffee before taking Noah to school.

. . . stayed at Noah's school today for two hours shooting pictures of he and all his schoolmates. It was really fun. I love watching children of all ages learn.

. . . watched Maia be a big girl and play on the play equipment with all the "big kids". She doesn't need me so much anymore. It's hard for me, but I'm happy for her making a stride in independence.

. . . took the kids to the library and saw Noah and Maia sit down at the table and read to each other. Talk about a tug at my heart!

. . . leave shortly to step foot in mom and dad's new house! They close on their house in just a little over an hour. I'm so so so excited for them. Now I pray they can sell their old house. Will you pray, too? The market just is not good right now.

. . . ask you to pray for a friend's loss. She had a miscarriage at 12 weeks a few months go. Then not long ago she found out she had a viable pregnancy (with a heartbeat and sac!) and today at her ultrasound she found out the baby died. I know what she is going through and I know that the only thing that will carry her through are prayers. Please pray.

. . . have to go to the store to buy a new belt for my vacuum (I can't go a day without vacuuming and already it's driving me crazy being unable to and it's not even been 18 hours!) and also Oreos for friends, Beth and Rodrigo. Tomorrow I shoot their maternity photos and Beth is craving Oreos. I thought I'd be nice :c)

. . . leave you with a picture for Foto Friday. Noah's all ready for the weekend. Are you?

Our doggie

This may be silly to ask, but, would you please keep Frankie, our doggie, in your prayers today?

I just dropped her off this morning for a procedure to have her teeth cleaned. To do it properly, they have to put her to sleep. Frankie is a large dog and almost 11 years old. It's kind of risky, but she direly needs them cleaned as she has never had them cleaned before. She has major tartar in them and tartar can make a dog's lifespan shorter because it affects the heart and the liver. So we really need to do this.

They are suppose to call me when she gets out of surgery. I'll let you all know when I know something. Thank you ~~

** my update is, I have no update!! Grrrr.. I'm soooo nervous right now. I never thought I'd be so nervous but knowing how old she is and that she has to be put under, I just worry. She's one of our family! So they close at 5 and it's 3:15. You'd think they'd call by now. So I just keep waiting. If they haven't called by 4:00 I'm going to give them a holler. I guess I love my pooch more than I thought I did :c)

*** She is fine!! I had to call them (*rolling my eyes*) ~ she is all ready to go. So I'm off to pick her up. I can't wait to love all over her. :c)

Goodbye, Jeff

Tonight is Jeff's visitation with the funeral tomorrow. I still cannot believe this. It makes you really think about life . . .about your significant other, family and friends . . . and makes you truly truly see how precious life is. Rachel said goodbye to her husband Sunday morning as he left for work. That night instead of him walking in the door, she got a knock on the door from a fellow employee of her husband's. He then took her to the hospital where she saw her husband for the last time . . . who had already passed away. It's just a huge huge wake-up call when something like this happens so close to home . . . to a friend. Here's a picture of Rachel and Jeff (2nd from left) at my 30th birthday party. With them in the picture is Vickie and Randy, our close friends. Please think of the Miller family tonight, especially Rachel and her boys, Christian and Scotty.

Prayers for a friend please.

I just found out from my friend, Vickie, that a mutual friend's husband was killed in a carbon monoxide poisoning at a corn plant at ADM on Sunday. He was 46 and has two high school aged boys. Jeff and Rachel were our neighbors in Decatur. Also a good friend of my dear friend, Jen, in MS. Please keep the boys and my friend, Rachel, in your prayers. It can't be easy.

Prayers for my brother

My brother suddenly has a Staph infection in his arm. It's really really bad. You know how men are. They hate going to doctors and put it off and put it off. Chris finally went in over the weekend because his arm was swollen badly. They thought he had a spider bite. He came back a few days later because it had progressed. The redness and swelling had went up his arm and he started feeling tired and weak (we're talking a big big boy, if you know who my brother is). So they tested the area and 48 hours later it was confirmed (just yesterday) that it is indeed Staph.

Chris is down in Kansas City. I saw pictures (Alexis saw them, too) of his arm. Oh my gosh, you cannot even imagine how severe it is. He does not have insurance so my mom has been sending him money Western Union to pay for his medications. He doesn't have family down there. I think he needs to be home. If it gets any worse, I think mom will make him come home if that means driving down there and getting him herself (which she would absolutely do). He can't work because of the pain and his fatigue (and he was about to start a new job on Friday), but with it being such an open wound and as bad as it is, there's no way he would be allowed even if he was feeling like it. Please please please keep him in your prayers. It can be fatal. I think he's scared and Chris never gets scared.

Prayers for a friend

Please say an extra special prayer for Alexis today. She's having a really really tough day. Thank you.

13 is our lucky number

I don't think I could say that I like the number 13 except for these two small reasons -- we sold our house yesterday on the 13th and because our new house address is 13 ______ Court!!!! YES WE BOUGHT A HOUSE, and not just A HOUSE but the one we knew could be the "one" when walking in it a few weeks ago.

God is GOOD!

I have realized and came to terms with a lot in the past week, and that is firstly, we were not meant to build a house . . . yet. I do think one day we will. That will be our next journey, but it's just not time yet. We still have many years ahead of us! But, I realized that we were meant to be in the town we were building in, just not meant to build something we really couldn't afford (who wants to live paycheck to paycheck on a super duper tight budget? Not me.) God's whole plan was this town, but an already established home. We were halfway there when we decided to build, just not all the way to what God had in store for us, and so He let that be known when we could not sell our house by owner for 3 months yet sold it by realtor in 9 days after coming to this realization finally and being at peace with the decision. (If we had sold it, we would have immediately started building and God knew that, which is why it took 3 months to help us see what the true plan was.) Who can argue with that?! Can you believe it? We had a dozen interests, one verbal offer and one written offer in just 9 days? In a town where it's a buyers market and not a sellers market, how unbelievable but what a blessing!

We also did a bit of soul searching and a lot of prayer. I asked my hubby if he had prayed about it and he said 'no'. That really shocked me. I said 'don't you think you should?'. He said without hesitation 'yeah'. I went on a walk about 10:00 that night and prayed my entire mile and a half. Neil prayed that night also. And it was the next day that we found out this girl had accepted our counteroffer.

Another amazing thing is, we leave for vacation on Sunday for a week. We were dreading the fact that we would have to keep the house showing that week and my mom and friend, Heather, were going to come and vacuum, keep the litter boxes clean, water my plants, feed the cats, etc. Now they don't have to do that and we don't have to worry the entire trip. We can truly enjoy ourselves and have the time of our life. I cannot wait for vacation. Lord knows we really need this.

So the new house. Wanna know about it?!?! Ok, you're right, that's a really silly question. Duh. So here's the details . . . it's about 35 years old, and not at all what I would have picked out for us, but the interior pictures of it online looked stunning and and so that made us want to see it. And, . . . we fell in love with it.

This house has almost twice the living area as our house now with 2677 sq. ft. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths (I've never had more than 1 bathroom in my homes since I've lived on my own, so this will be awesome . . . minus the cleaning part, ha!). It has a brand new remodeled kitchen with cherry cabinets (!) and the entire house has new pergo flooring, even in the bedrooms - fun! It has a two-tiered deck in the back that has been well-maintained and for the kids, a swing set and play house --- woot-woot!!!

Let's see . . . an attached garage, an OFFICE for me, play room area for the kids, a living room and a family room. We have decided to not use the living room for us, but for me to take my clients to. So we hope to get some new furniture for that room with a nice presentation table and then I can fill the walls with my portraits. I really like the color of the walls throughout the house, but since I absolutely love to paint walls (I know, there's seriously something wrong with me!), I will probably repaint just about every room. Oh, and there is wainscoting in the kitchen and master bedroom - I love wainscoting!

One of the best parts of all with this house is, it's in a very well kept subdivision with LOTS of trees, on a large lot and it's on a quiet cul-de-sac. I've been lurking through the neighborhood quite a bit and there are kids everywhere Noah's age! The biggest negative for me is the color of the house, but it can be painted. I have never painted a house, but I'm up for attempting it!

We close on our current house July 18th and the new house July 9th! Which mean when we get back from vacation, we have just a few weeks before we can move in to the new one! It's going to be one heck of a crazy adventure, and as Erin told me in an email, we'll still need prayers for as crazy as it will probably get, so keep them a coming!

Is this absolutely crazy and wonderful?! I love the number 13! And, again, God is good, God is great!

Lastly, we need you to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as tomorrow we take Maia to see the Orthopedic Surgeon in Springfield. They say he's highly sought after, but that doesn't mean I'm not a little nervous. Actually, I'm very nervous. I already know that Maia has to have x-rays and that is just not something I want to make her do, but I have to. It's going to be a hard day. :o( I hope she doesn't remember it.

Now, let's go celebrate! And I am! Tonight I'm getting a pedicure, going shopping with a friend and out to eat for 'ritas. I am so so so so excited.

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!!

YAY! Someone took my self-portrait challenge!

So . . . Lisa wins!!!!

Love ya, Lisa! Thanks for following through! I guess you're the only one who loves Val. Pitty on me. (Hehe.)

Check out her cuteness!

Oh, and by the way, speaking of prayers, keep her in yours as she is pregnant for the 6th time. Like Val, she's experienced 3 broken dreams saying goodbye to 3 beautiful angels. She and I don't have a good standing in this arena. Please pray for her and this new dootle.

Anyone else want to take this challenge!? It's fun . . . trust me and you'll get bonus points!