The BIG NEWS!!!!

(This is a repost from Caleb's blog)

We are finally walking!!!! Check this video out:


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

On Tuesday I took his walker away so wouldn't have that "crutch" anymore. Yesterday, we went outside to play and since he didn't have anything to hold on to, had no choice but to walk. He walked down the sidewalk three houselengths (about 200 feet) and only fell down three times. The he toddled up the driveway like the video shows. SOOOO darn cute!!!

Pics from the weekend.

Only in Texas can you find beautiful azaleas, road-side bluebonnets, and fields of cactus all within a few miles of each other.


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

my little prodigy:

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

And finally: the first haircut. It was one snip of this rat tail!
BEFORE: (sorry there's no after)

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Off to the homeland

We are off to the homeland this weekend. While we are gone, I surely hope our agent will sell our house. Really, it's getting ridiculous. I am losing perspective I know, because it took us 5 months to sell our Hutto house, but I think it's been two months now and I'm getting frustrated.

So, in Tyler this weekend we are helping some of our friends move from Grapevine to Lindale, and then spending the weekend visiting peeps, and Monday Greg took the day off work so we are staying in Tyler so he can push resumes in town. He is going to make a list and just walk in places and ask for the HR dept. That's how he got on with Farmers, so we are hoping for another miracle.

So that's that.

And thank goodness we are missing most of the heavy rain and lightning today! It hasn't rained much at the house today, but it did rain a good bit last night. Greg came home "for lunch" so he could mow the grass before the downpour started and so it would look nice for the open house on Saturday. He was done for about 30 minutes when it started raining. Call that a close one!!

Update on the house

....... we got nothing. I'm disappointed that all those people that came for the open house haven't done anything. I even made bread! We haven't heard from our realtor about the second looker but I know she'll call as soon as she hears anything. We had four interested parties on Saturday's open house, and three on Sunday.. Nancy said she'll plan on doing another open house this Saturday if needed.

By the way, This Sunday is D-Day -- the day when the payment goes through the roof. Pray for us!

Some random photos

How on earth am I related to that BROWN woman?! Just getting back from Africa:


Cheese Face!


Caleb learned this pose from Uncle Cody!


Cutie Patootie~

Sure and Unsure

And I'm not talking about deodorant! Ha.

The house is still for sale, and now Greg is looking for a job. He is still gainfully employed, but we're not sure for how long. I'm hoping he'll be able to quit before he's, ahem, "let go." It's just not right. I'm not going to get into that right now though. I'll just say, in defense of Greg, that he has not done anything different in the last two years to go from top level employee to third class employee. It's the system, and the man. What's the movie saying? "D@mn the man." That's exactly how I feel about that situation. haha

The house, though, is a hopeful situation. We have someone coming to take a second look at it tomorrow! Our agent is also having an open house here tomorrow and Sunday from 2-4 pm. Let's the offers roll in!!! (Or just one, that would be good too) Now, the problem is, where to go? And here's another saga:

Greg wants to pursue becoming a police officer. I would LOVE that!! No for real, I would. Having a man in bed beside me that knows how to fire a gun. (That is just sexy!) However afraid I am of guns, he is NOT afraid. He would love to learn. So we have begun the process of getting him into Police Academy in three different DFW cities: Denton, Arlington, and *gasp* Dallas. (Hey, DPD is giving a $10,000 signing bonus to all new hires... worth it!) We went out and jogged a little yesterday. When I say jogged, I mean, Greg ran a bit and I walked fast pushing the stroller. He lapped me! lol! I was SO proud of him for running as much as he did since he hasn't run a step since WAY before his lung surgery... it's been almost 2 years since he last ran for a workout, and 14 months since the surgery. I think he is half dead today though!

If the Police Academy works out, it will be a good two month hiring process before he gets accepted and starts getting paid... which is why he needs to either keep his current job or find an interim job to get us by until Academy starts. I know Arlington's isn't until August 27th and that's a long time to wait. I'm really hoping for Denton, but we'll take what we get at first.

The problem might be living situation for the short term. We are just taking everything in stride right now. What else can we do? There are so many questions that could weigh us down and cause stress and worry but we decided when the bad things started happening to give it all up to God and that's what we've done. And it is SO amazing that God has been faithful to us every time. I really love this rocky journey we're on -- it's way better than day to day mundaneness. I'll really take this over the ordinary ANY day.

Birthday Party bust

First of all, I am SO sorry for those of you that wasted your day on Saturday! We really should have called it off earlier. If anyone hasn't heard, Greg and I both had some type of food poisoning starting Saturday morning. I am feeling great today and Caleb's appetite mysteriously returned last night and he is feeling 100% better too. Caleb wasn't sick with food poisoning, he was just sick with snot/cough/antibiotic side effects/etc. Greg is still trying to kick it, and he's in bed right now resting. He tried to go to work today and made it about 2 hours before he had to come home.

BUT, we are going to try to have his makeup party THIS Saturday, March 10th, same time, same place (Noon at our house) Anyone who was already halfway here and had to turn around is COMPLETELY off the hook this time! We won't have our feelings hurt at all if you don't want to make the trip two weekends in a row. We are just thankful that you were going to come in the first place. No pressure whatsoever for this party, we promise. We understand how busy weekends can be that you have to book them three months in advance!!

P.S. Does anyone know if Sam's will take back 2.5 pounds of salad and a sheet cake that says "Happy Birthday Caleb!"?

We had a looker!!

Tonight someone came to see the house FINALLY! The good thing: the house got shown! The BAD thing(s): the appointment service DID NOT CALL US, so we had no idea they were coming. Thus, the house was not show-ready at all. We are generally neat people, so it was not THAT bad, but dishes in the sink, clean laundry sitting in a basket, the bed unmade, etc. General everyday clutter, because, hey, we LIVE here. The people were really nice and were genuinely sorry that we were inconvenienced but we were just glad that someone came to see it! So now we wait, hope and pray for an offer.

Sidenote: Greg and I specifically prayed last night for someone to come see the house, then promptly fell asleep and put it out of our minds. Answered prayer, once again!!!

Happy Birthday CALEB!!! (poor baby is still sicky)

House update

Well, today we lowered the price a little. Since it's been on the market two full weeks and NOT ONE person has walked through it, we decided to start the aggressive selling tactics. I know everything will work out, but it's still a little discouraging that it hasn't even shown yet. One good thing is that twice now there have been a hoard of Realtors traipsing though the house next door and so they HAD to have seen our sign too.. Ours is planning an open house in a few weeks if necessary. I also wrote an article for the Fort Worth Star Telegram that is supposed to run in this Sunday's paper. We are going to be a featured story in the Real Estate section! woohoo!

Hurst, Tyler, or somewhere else?

This is our dilemma now. We were prefectly happy to sell our house and find a smaller one in Hurst. We really love our church and that's really the only reason we want to stay here. Oh yeah, and there's Greg's job that he doesn't like all that much but has and better keep until we find something better. SO, we went for a Tyler visit this weekend and it was so different than usual in the fact that we weren't itching to leave town on Sunday. We actually didn't get home until 8:00 last night so that means we piddled around Tyler for more than 48 hours and wished the sun would've stayed up a little longer so we wouldn't have to drive home in the dark.
Reasons to live in Hurst:
1. City living - close to everything
2. close to church
3. we have friends here now
4. Close to my family

Reasons NOT to live in Hurst:
1. Midcities probably doesn't have the best air quality around
2. all the houses we've seen are pretty old (50s-60s)
3. not too sure about the school district/crime ratings
4. just general uneasiness

My list of reasons NOT to move to Tyler:
1. Podunk
2. not the best shopping options
3. No HEB (not that there's HEB here either)
4. All the roads are so dang bumpy!
5. Mom, Grandma-Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles, cousins that live in DFW.
6. allergies

Reasons Tyler is a good idea:
1. Property Taxes are actually affordable
2. Cost of living slightly lower
3. We know our way around
4. Lots of Baptist churches to choose from
5. Everything is closer together/less gas
6. no trouble making friends, just look up our old ones
7. TALL TREES
8. Trees in general (mesquite is NOT a tree!!)
9. we know the school system
10. Dad and the Rices live there

So this is still in the preliminary stage, but I am starting to feel the pull. I'm not all that happy about it after I've said what I've said about "people that stay in their home town for their whole lives" but maybe I'm finished with the fast lane. It's been a five year process but I think I'm ready to go home. Ugh, did I just say that???