She has an attitude....

I think I have officially been ignored by our daughter for the first time.

We (okay, it was really my idea) decided to try out this idea that our little Flash can see now. I got an LED flashlight and put it up against SN's belly. It took moving it around a bit before I had it positioned right but suddenly SN jumped and said "Ahhh!!" Apparently Flash had jumped hard away from the light. So I kept trying to move the light around but didn't get another reaction from her. SN said she thinks she faced the back and was ignoring me after that.

And so it begins....

LB

Reflect upon your present blessings...

... of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. 
- Charles Dickens

Every once in a while, you sort of get the feeling life is reminding you how blessed you are and how much you take for granted. This week has been that reminder.

In the midst of contracts, inspections, notices, and loan documents - I got one of those texts/calls that you never want to get. Last Tuesday, New Year's Day, I found out that one of the guys that I teach with - the guy who had been the only other honors chemistry teacher with me for four years - had a pretty serious car accident New Year's Eve night. He was coming home on the interstate and, for some unknown reason - he fell asleep, hit a slick spot, we really don't know - his Suburban left the highway. It went over the outer road and ended up in a small grove of trees, wrapped around one of them. The good news is that he was wearing his seat belt so even though he broke both bones in his left lower leg, a wrist, and the vast majority of bones in his face; he is alive and will recover.

Since I am one of the two of us chemistry teachers (out of five total) to have a chemistry degree and training, it makes sense that I am the one that will take over most of his class planning duties. This includes planning for AP Chemistry (which, although I have taken a week-long workshop on the topic, I have never taught) as well as continuing to be the lead planner for honors. Of course, this is also in addition to my other two classes - AP Physics B and Senior Physics - and, you know, growing a new human. :)

The thing that keeps tripping me up about all of this is how close we probably came to losing him. I guess, more than anything, it makes me even more aware of living each day to the fullest and - especially with Flash on the way (and making her presence known more and more each day) - to not get so far ahead of ourselves and caught up in all the planning and waiting and wondering about the future that we forget about right here and now.

I didn't (and typically don't) do a New Year's resolution, but I think that thought - of being present today and enjoying the blessings I have been given - is probably somewhere along the lines of my wish and hope for this (crazy, life-changing, overwhelming, and completely and utterly amazing) new year.

SN

Tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor.

So last night when we got the message that the seller had counter-offered, we were sort of getting frustrated. It just seems like at every turn, we are meeting resistance and we are not sure if that's just part of the process or if its someone trying to tell us to move on and let it go.

Fast forward to church this morning. I had volunteered to drive our golf cart/shuttle so we got there early. They were handing out the new directories and it was the annual poinsettia "in memory/honor of" day where they print all of them in bulletin. So while I was driving, LB went on up to church and started reading through the poinsettia list. When I got there, she pointed out that the seller's realtor had gotten a poinsettia in memory of someone. We looked up the realtor in the directory and saw who she is. Since we have gotten several names of contacts through church, LB wondered if the same would hold true for the seller. So we turned in the directory to the right page and, lo and behold, there she was.

Not only does the seller's realtor go to church with us, but so does the seller. So all through church, we were trying to decide 1) if she was at the 8:50 service with us (we think she might have been) and 2) do we just walk up and introduce ourselves or what?

I had to go drive after church, but LB talked to our pastor who said she thought that we should mention it to our realtor and see if she can facilitate a meeting or at least getting the information to the seller. She also said that the seller is a "dear" who would probably think it was really neat and would like to know that there is a connection between us.

So, I reiterate, tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor.

Oh, and P.S. our realtor thought that the seller meant that trying to take the wallpaper off the walls in the kitchen would potentially damage them, but she was going to check today.

SN

House update

Yesterday afternoon, our realtor let us know that the seller had agreed to the higher price but paying some of the closing costs. We signed the new offer last night and this afternoon, got a counter offer back. Basically the seller wanted to clarify a few things - that the carpet would stay (but be protected while the wallpaper and painting was happening), that the walls would be painted the antique white by Behr (which is fine with us), and that all the wallpaper would be taken down except for where it was already painted over and where it would cause "serious drywall damage" to do so. 

Did you hear the record scratch, because that's sort of the sound we heard when we read that part. So now we are asking questions. Does that mean the wall by the stairs (where it is already peeling off and the wall behind it is not in great shape)? What will you do if you can't (or, it seems won't) take the wall paper down, just paint over it?  When (and by whom) is the decision made that it will cause too much damage?

We have asked our realtor these questions and are now waiting for a reply before we move forward.

SN

Faith is not simply a patience...

... that passively suffers until the storm is past. Rather, it is a spirit that bears things - with resignations, yes, but above all, with blazing, serene hope. - Corazon Aquino

I think we are really trying to live into this idea lately when it comes to finding and buying a house. We found a house we really like last Sunday. We had looked at it online but were not terribly impressed with what we saw. Then we drove by and it's one of those houses that looks way better in person so we decided to go look at it. Once we got in there, we just kept feeling more and more like we could live there and that it fit our life - or at least what we think our life will look like with children and the like. Last Friday or Saturday the seller had upped the purchase price by about $10,000 and stated that they were going to take off all the wallpaper - a very good thing since it was straight out of the 1970s - and repaint the entire interior. They were also going to rip out all of the old carpet (again from the 1970's, but not in bad condition) and replace it. Since we will be moving with a small herd of doggies, we kind of don't need the new carpet - plus we can do something different like hardwood or laminate later on.

So Tuesday, we sent an offer to buy it for the original asking price (before they were going to do any work) but that would include them taking all the wall paper down and painting the walls is neutral color that we would agree to. We also wanted them to pay all of the closing costs. Wednesday afternoon, we got a counter offer (which was not surprising.) They wanted to pay 1/3 of the closing costs, the paint color to be "antique white" and the purchase price to be about $3,500 more than the original. We counter offered that the paint color was fine, they paid the closing costs, and the price is $2,000 more than the original. Yesterday we got word that the seller had declined that offer and wanted to move ahead with the carpet.

So we're not sure where that leaves us. Basically, we think that since she is being stubborn on the bottom line - she would take $2,500 more than original but not pay any closing costs - she at least wants us to believe that the wall paper and painting is costing that much. I'm not sure I buy that, but it wouldn't be surprising since there is a lot of wall paper and some of the wall will need skimmed and stuff. If it is costing her that much, then her counter leaves her $200 in the hole by paying 1/3 of the closing and upping the price. The other thing is that we're not sure how it will appraise - even with new paint - and how that will affect the bank giving us our loan. When it comes right down to it, as long as we can get the loan for it, I think we like it enough to be willing not to squabble over the difference.

But....... like so many other times when life seemed to be in a bit of upheaval, we have that strange calm that whatever happens - we get it, we don't; we pay a little more, we pay a little less; it has new carpet, it doesn't - it will be fine. We have been (and are and will continue to be) so very blessed and know that there is a plan and purpose for our lives. We are trying to live into the "blazing, serene hope" that come from our faith and is brought to the forefront of our lives this time of year (and especially this year in light of recent events) when we are remembering and celebrating Christmas.

SN

All great changes...

... are preceded by chaos. -Deepak Chopra
(Otherwise known as month 5 and 6 updates)

That statement pretty much sums up life right about now. Since last we blogged, which I admit whole-heartedly was far too long ago, we have looked at roughly every house for sale in (or approximately in) our price range in town. Ok, that might be a slight exageration, but we have looked at a lot! And the overall impression when leaving most of them was, "Eh, it was ok but...." Followed by at least a handful of reasons why we couldn't possibly live there. There have been a handful that were fine initally, only to be thought and mulled over and then considered not acceptable. There are at least a couple that are at the top of the list and we're working on deciding between those.

When we started this whole process, I thought we were really not going to be that picky - we just wanted a house that we could see living in for some years, bring Flash (and her future siblings) home to, and that was comfortably affordable. I guess we are more picky than we thought. I guess that really shouldn't surprise me too much, though, considering the time we had picking a donor.

Speaking of Flash: she is growing and getting stronger each day. In the last two weeks, especially, she has been really active anytime I am fairly still - sitting in class, standing and talking to a group of students, laying down at night - particularly if I have been up and active for a time before that. LB has gotten to feel her at least two or three times, last night being the most recent, when I lay on my stomach and she puts her hand under my belly. The latest ones were by far the strongest and I'm starting to see where it could get old really fast. But I'm trying so hard to just enjoy these moments and not wish to be through them or that they weren't happening.

So that's the quick 5/6 month update. Hopefully once the holiday stuff all slows down (not to mention the house stuff, if we get that all figured out) we will get back on track with the blogging. Until then - Merry Christmas!

We're making our lists.....

For those of you who don't know my wife, let's just say she has a knack for sorting. As of this moment, we are re-sorting (and counting and making an Excel sheet of) the baby clothes we already have. We sorted them once - into size and girl vs. neutral/boy - before we knew that our dear little Flash is a girl so now we're going back through them to get out the blatantly boyish ones. You know, the ones that say "sweet baby boy" or something like that. Since we were going through them anyway, LB wanted to record the numbers - you know, to see what we really need as far as sizes or types of clothes.

Although I would really like to laugh at her and make fun, I can't help be glad that she is taking charge of this organizing stuff. She has made lists - with due dates and phone numbers and everything - and remade lists. She has read the books, kept up with all the pregnancy changes (even helping me calm down when I didn't know something was supposed to be happening or normal), and mostly just kept us sort of moving along this path towards mommy-hood.

I think I bring all this up because I didn't do the whole "what I'm thankful for" facebook post or series of posts and am maybe wanting to get those thoughts down somewhere.

And at least near the top of the list, if not at the very tippy top, is my wonderful LB. The road we have taken to get here is anything but straight (maybe pun intended?) but I wouldn't trade it for the world. She is my rock and her love and support help me to be so much more than I could ever think of being on my own. She believes in me to the end - even when doubt and fear and hopelessness is all around - and I know that she is in my corner and has my back forever.

Of course, in the middle of - oh crap, never mind, I'm over half way through this thing - our first pregnancy I have to be ever so thankful for Little Flash. She has already changed our lives and I know that she will continue to revolutionize what we call life and love and dreams.

The last big thing I'm thankful for is our family. When I think of all the people out there in the world who can't love who they love and have their family, I truly appreciate how amazing and wonderful our families have been to us. From the get go - ok, maybe not the way-back-ten-years-ago get go, but definitely the four-years-ago get go - they have been nothing but supportive and loving.

Sure there are plenty of other things I'm thankful for - a free country, an awesome church, more than enough (if we're really honest about it) money to be comfortable, a great job, etc. - but these three things are the ones that have been mostly on my heart and the ones that have been needing to be expressed.

SN