Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Home At Last
Wow... it's been a roller coaster last 6-7 months! Jon started the interview process at Central State Bank in October and had a job offer the beginning of November. We got our house listed that first week in November and Jon moved into an apartment in Muscatine over Thanksgiving weekend.
In what we thought was "bad" timing for listing our house in North Dakota, we've seen blessings abound! Our house was on the market for almost 6 months before we closed on it April 22nd. What felt like the longest winter of our lives was really long - Grand Forks didn't get a LOT of snow compared to other years, but it was by far the coldest winter we spent living up there. And the cold weather combined with the timing of "holiday season" meant the housing market came to a stand-still. We had many many showings, which, for me, were steady doses of encouragement and reminders that God hadn't forgotten about our need to sell our house. He sent many timely showings which I believe kind of kept me going and gave me hope.
So while we were working on selling our house up in Grand Forks, Jon was spending a portion of most weekends down here house hunting for us. I wish I had kept track of how many houses he went into and checked out for us. We had a couple that stood out at different points in the process but I am so thankful for the fact that time allowed us to not rush into buying what we thought would be best right off the bat. Jon had a chance to get more familiar with the town, the neighborhoods, the feel of different houses, etc.
Early in March we decided to change our search parameters a little bit and this beautiful house became an option for us. Jon saw it a week or two before we the girls and I headed down for our March visit. When we all saw it every single one of us fell in love. We looked at it twice while we were over a long break that week and spent the second half of the visit in Harlan (due to predicted storms in North Dakota). While we were in Harlan waiting out the storm up north, enjoying celebrating Tru's birthday and hanging out we got an offer on our house in Grand Forks. After a flurry of text messages, phone calls and emails by the time we left to head back up to Grand Forks we had an accepted offer on our house up north as well as an almost officially accepted offer on our new house down in Muscatine. We were able to celebrate the good news with both of our families when word came back that our offer was accepted to buy this new home. It was truly a delight to have had the four of us all together for those few days of craziness of house selling and buying.
So our last drive up to Grand Forks was much easier knowing it would be our last trip north. And most of April was spent finalizing all the details that go into selling and buying. A bit stressful but it all worked out perfectly. We drove down to Iowa on Thursday, April 21st, closed on our house in Grand Forks on April 22nd, spent Easter weekend in Muscatine all together as a family, started the girls in school on Wednesday, April 27th, closed on our new house on Monday, May 2nd, had our "stuff" delivered on May 3rd and we've just been busy jumping into life in our new town since then!
It's been a bit crazy the past several weeks and I'm hopeful that by the time school gets out in early June that we will be settled into more of a normal routine. We are absolutely loving our new house and neighborhood. The neighbors to the north and south of us are very nice and we're starting to get to know them. The "neighbors" in our backyard are wonderful - Horses! There is the top part of a pasture right behind our fence and we've gotten to know our 4-legged new friends. They love carrots, bread and our grass. :) Bailey seems to love them as well. She tried to be tough at their first meeting but after a few barks the horses just kind of stared her down and she backed off immediately. Now she loves to run out and see if they are at the fence so she can eat grass with them. I even caught her nuzzling one of them the other day. She gets a bit excited when they whinny or snort, but if she tries to bark at them they remind her quickly that they are the ones in charge. The girls are in love with them as well and love to feed them. They enjoy the fact that the horses will come over just for a good petting as well.
The other exciting change that comes with living in this new neighborhood is the fact that there are built-in friends right around the corner. A few days after moving in, 3 of the neighborhood girls came over to check out the horses and our girls went out and got to know them. There is a 4th-grader, a 5th grader and then a middle schooler as well. I foresee our girls hanging out with the other 2 younger girls a lot. They stopped over last night and played for a bit and then the girls and I walked them home so we could figure out which houses they live in as well as to have a chance to meet their parents. Bria was grinning from ear to ear last night when we made it home and to bed. She is beyond excited to have met these girls and seems to have a lot in common with them.
Emmy will be the youngest kid in the neighborhood, but I think she'll hang out with Bria and the other girls most of the time and get along just fine. And she's already been invited to a friend's birthday party this weekend so she's jumping into the world of making friends quickly. She's still missing her best friend a lot, but thanks to the wonders of technology they can skype and email and call eachother whenever they want to. Emmy is very excited to get to skype with her tomorrow after school.
So, that's life for us in a nutshell the past month. It's been crazy, but so good! And although spending the long winter apart from Jon was definitely not on any of our lists of "favorite things to do", good things have come from that as well. Jon was able to really dive into his new job and responsibilities and really focus on getting a handle on things at work. And the girls were able to really come to grips with the whole moving "thing".... they had time to process it, accept it, and to be very excited about it. I haven't heard anyone say anything bad about being here. God has blessed us with an amazing house in an incredible neighborhood and we are all just very thankful. I'm very much looking forward to the next few weeks of trying to settle in here. We have a lot of things to do as far as sorting through and organizing all our stuff in our new and different space. I'm not a "honey-do" list type of person, but Jon's list of things to help me with or for him to do is definitely growing! So we're going to take these next few weeks and really focus on finishing up the school year for the girls, trying to get a handle on what to do with our stuff and just getting used to all living together again. Once summer starts we're planning a trip back over to see our families for a weekend and really going to focus on just relaxing and enjoying each other this summer.
In what we thought was "bad" timing for listing our house in North Dakota, we've seen blessings abound! Our house was on the market for almost 6 months before we closed on it April 22nd. What felt like the longest winter of our lives was really long - Grand Forks didn't get a LOT of snow compared to other years, but it was by far the coldest winter we spent living up there. And the cold weather combined with the timing of "holiday season" meant the housing market came to a stand-still. We had many many showings, which, for me, were steady doses of encouragement and reminders that God hadn't forgotten about our need to sell our house. He sent many timely showings which I believe kind of kept me going and gave me hope.
So while we were working on selling our house up in Grand Forks, Jon was spending a portion of most weekends down here house hunting for us. I wish I had kept track of how many houses he went into and checked out for us. We had a couple that stood out at different points in the process but I am so thankful for the fact that time allowed us to not rush into buying what we thought would be best right off the bat. Jon had a chance to get more familiar with the town, the neighborhoods, the feel of different houses, etc.
Early in March we decided to change our search parameters a little bit and this beautiful house became an option for us. Jon saw it a week or two before we the girls and I headed down for our March visit. When we all saw it every single one of us fell in love. We looked at it twice while we were over a long break that week and spent the second half of the visit in Harlan (due to predicted storms in North Dakota). While we were in Harlan waiting out the storm up north, enjoying celebrating Tru's birthday and hanging out we got an offer on our house in Grand Forks. After a flurry of text messages, phone calls and emails by the time we left to head back up to Grand Forks we had an accepted offer on our house up north as well as an almost officially accepted offer on our new house down in Muscatine. We were able to celebrate the good news with both of our families when word came back that our offer was accepted to buy this new home. It was truly a delight to have had the four of us all together for those few days of craziness of house selling and buying.
So our last drive up to Grand Forks was much easier knowing it would be our last trip north. And most of April was spent finalizing all the details that go into selling and buying. A bit stressful but it all worked out perfectly. We drove down to Iowa on Thursday, April 21st, closed on our house in Grand Forks on April 22nd, spent Easter weekend in Muscatine all together as a family, started the girls in school on Wednesday, April 27th, closed on our new house on Monday, May 2nd, had our "stuff" delivered on May 3rd and we've just been busy jumping into life in our new town since then!
It's been a bit crazy the past several weeks and I'm hopeful that by the time school gets out in early June that we will be settled into more of a normal routine. We are absolutely loving our new house and neighborhood. The neighbors to the north and south of us are very nice and we're starting to get to know them. The "neighbors" in our backyard are wonderful - Horses! There is the top part of a pasture right behind our fence and we've gotten to know our 4-legged new friends. They love carrots, bread and our grass. :) Bailey seems to love them as well. She tried to be tough at their first meeting but after a few barks the horses just kind of stared her down and she backed off immediately. Now she loves to run out and see if they are at the fence so she can eat grass with them. I even caught her nuzzling one of them the other day. She gets a bit excited when they whinny or snort, but if she tries to bark at them they remind her quickly that they are the ones in charge. The girls are in love with them as well and love to feed them. They enjoy the fact that the horses will come over just for a good petting as well.
The other exciting change that comes with living in this new neighborhood is the fact that there are built-in friends right around the corner. A few days after moving in, 3 of the neighborhood girls came over to check out the horses and our girls went out and got to know them. There is a 4th-grader, a 5th grader and then a middle schooler as well. I foresee our girls hanging out with the other 2 younger girls a lot. They stopped over last night and played for a bit and then the girls and I walked them home so we could figure out which houses they live in as well as to have a chance to meet their parents. Bria was grinning from ear to ear last night when we made it home and to bed. She is beyond excited to have met these girls and seems to have a lot in common with them.
Emmy will be the youngest kid in the neighborhood, but I think she'll hang out with Bria and the other girls most of the time and get along just fine. And she's already been invited to a friend's birthday party this weekend so she's jumping into the world of making friends quickly. She's still missing her best friend a lot, but thanks to the wonders of technology they can skype and email and call eachother whenever they want to. Emmy is very excited to get to skype with her tomorrow after school.
So, that's life for us in a nutshell the past month. It's been crazy, but so good! And although spending the long winter apart from Jon was definitely not on any of our lists of "favorite things to do", good things have come from that as well. Jon was able to really dive into his new job and responsibilities and really focus on getting a handle on things at work. And the girls were able to really come to grips with the whole moving "thing".... they had time to process it, accept it, and to be very excited about it. I haven't heard anyone say anything bad about being here. God has blessed us with an amazing house in an incredible neighborhood and we are all just very thankful. I'm very much looking forward to the next few weeks of trying to settle in here. We have a lot of things to do as far as sorting through and organizing all our stuff in our new and different space. I'm not a "honey-do" list type of person, but Jon's list of things to help me with or for him to do is definitely growing! So we're going to take these next few weeks and really focus on finishing up the school year for the girls, trying to get a handle on what to do with our stuff and just getting used to all living together again. Once summer starts we're planning a trip back over to see our families for a weekend and really going to focus on just relaxing and enjoying each other this summer.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Emmy's 1st Grade Music Program
Last night was Emmy's music program. She was so excited and we got there really early to get the best seat so we could get a good video for Jon to see. By the time the program started and the warm temperature in the gym and the bright lights..... Emmy was one tired little performer! So some of her usual "spunk" was hiding, but she did a great job and had fun, even though she tried to take a mini nap when they would get to sit down between songs for a minute. :)
So her she is, and there are videos below of all her songs....
Spring Music Program Parts 10 - 12
Here is the last set!
Disney Medley:
The Tooth Songs:
Born to Make Music:
Disney Medley:
The Tooth Songs:
Born to Make Music:
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Move Dates Set.... Tentatively
It's hard to believe it but as of right now, so long as there are no unpleasant surprises in the next week, we will have packers here next Tuesday and Wednesday and they will load up the moving truck on Thursday and we will be in Muscatine with Jon for Easter! It's kind of crazy to realize the days we've been waiting for ever since we put our house on the market 6 months ago are finally almost here! I'm so thankful that someone else will be doing all the final packing for us - I remember doing that all by myself when we moved from Iowa to North Dakota 4 1/2 years ago (with a 2 1/2 year old and a just-turned-6-year old). That was not fun, but we survived. This time packing should be much less stressful. The girls will be in school while most of the work around here is being done so hopefully everything will just go smoothly. This morning is the FHA appraisal on our house up here. We spent last week having someone here help us fix a few little things with the idea being that we would have any potential FHA issues fixed before they even get involved in the process. We keep trusting God that the details are already taken care of and can't wait to finally be done with this moving process and all be together in our new house. It looks like we'll be able to close on our house in ND on April 29th and on our house in IA on May 2nd. So we'll all be sharing Jon's apartment space in IA for about a week and a half while we get the girls started in school down there and wait for our closing day. Like I've said before, this entire process that we started at the beginning of last summer is finally going to be wrapped up soon. Then we'll move on to the next step of getting the girls really established at their new school, in a new town, new church, new friends and all those other "new" things. We're so glad to be almost done making the 1500 mile round trip between our old home and our new hometown. It will be nice to be closer to our families again. But honestly, I just can't wait to live with Jon again - living without him with us for the past almost 5 months has really not been the way I want to live life. We're all better when we are all together than when we are separated my many miles.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Surprise from This Blessed Nest!
Imagine my delight when I was checking out my blog today and found a comment from "This Blessed Nest", letting me know that I had won 1 of her 3 giveaways she had posted on her blog. Any of you who know very well at all probably know that I LOVE bags, purses, totes, etc., but I am kind of picky at the same time. When looking through This Blessed Nest I fell in love with her designs and I'm crazy excited to know she'll be making a bag for me! I'll definitely post a picture after I receive my latest treasure. :) (can you tell i'm a little excited?!) And on the home selling front.... all the minor repairs are done and the appraisal will be Tuesday morning.... keep praying!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Offer is Officially Accepted!
Good news this morning.... we've been waiting since Saturday night to hear from the relocation company who is working with the sellers of the home we want to buy in Muscatine. This morning our realtor let us know that our offer is officially accepted! Talk about a HUGE relief. We were so excited this weekend to know that the sellers had accepted the offer but it's been a big weight on our shoulders as we've been waiting to get the final approval from their relocation company. We can breathe a little easier now and look forward to enjoying our new home. The inspection on our house up here was done Tuesday morning and although we are waiting for the written report to be made official, there is one problem that came up which we are going to need to get fixed. There is an issue with a spot in the siding on the back of the house. It's a bit stressful to know there is something we need to fix, but the realtors are being very proactive and the buyers definitely still want to buy the house - we are waiting to hear when a contractor will be over to check out the issue, recommend a solution and give us an amount. Because it's "spring" here I don't know if the issue can be fixed before the closing date or not, but if it does not get fixed before closing we are hopeful that the FHA loan approval person will allow us to just give the buyers money to put into escrow to pay for the repairs once the weather cooperates and the contractor has the opportunity to fix it. So we are asking for prayers that everything will just go smoothly with having everything up to par for the closing to go through. It's hard to sit here and wait for those papers to be signed - so that we can REALLY move. But we've been trusting God to work out the details all along and He knew there was something that would need to be fixed even if we didn't know it, so it will all fall into place. Right now the closing date is May 12th, but we may be able to move it up a couple of weeks, so as soon as we know for sure, I'll be sure to post it!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Good News!
WE HAVE A PURCHASE AGREEMENT IN PLACE TO GET OUR HOUSE SOLD!
Can you tell we are a little excited?!? Someone saw the house on Wednesday afternoon and had an offer to us by Thursday afternoon. We proposed a counter offer Thursday night and it was accepted by Friday morning! All the papers have been signed to make the offer official and now we pray the inspection goes well this week. We aren't expecting any problems but would appreciate continued prayer that the process goes smoothly so we can truly get moved.
Right now our closing date in ND is set for "on or before May 12". I am hopeful that on both the selling and buying end for us we can move that date up some, but either way it's good to have a date in sight.
We also made an offer on a house we all fell in love with in Muscatine. We were able to get all the necessary paperwork to them last night and are hoping to hear something today. The house we want to buy is owned by someone who is being relocated to another state, so a relocation company may need to be involved in the process. That should not be a big deal, it just means that a few more people may need to see all the paperwork steps, which could add a few days to getting our offer finalized. We are praying hard that this is the house we can buy and are very excited!
God's timing has been perfect - just like we knew it would be. Some days it was hard to see past the fact that we just weren't all together, but then we would get a fresh start the next day and it was easier to remain hopeful. Now we are eagerly anticipating getting to move and get started on our new life in a new community. The girls are looking forward to finishing up the school year in Muscatine as well as being excited about the big "moving away slumber party" I promised them they could have with their friends. So once we have a firm closing date set and the date set for the movers to come, we'll have to start planning a slumber party!
Now that things are getting a little more exciting around here, I'll probably have a few more regular posts than usual. At least until we get moved.... then i'll just be busy getting unpacked!
Thanks to all of you who have been praying about this moving process. One major hurdle has been jumped and now everything else can start falling into place as well. God has taken care of us and timed all of this for us in ways that have been surprising. It's been a good process to go through for all of us I think and we are thankful for this time of waiting. That being said, I am SO happy to get to live with my husband again!!!!
Can you tell we are a little excited?!? Someone saw the house on Wednesday afternoon and had an offer to us by Thursday afternoon. We proposed a counter offer Thursday night and it was accepted by Friday morning! All the papers have been signed to make the offer official and now we pray the inspection goes well this week. We aren't expecting any problems but would appreciate continued prayer that the process goes smoothly so we can truly get moved.
Right now our closing date in ND is set for "on or before May 12". I am hopeful that on both the selling and buying end for us we can move that date up some, but either way it's good to have a date in sight.
We also made an offer on a house we all fell in love with in Muscatine. We were able to get all the necessary paperwork to them last night and are hoping to hear something today. The house we want to buy is owned by someone who is being relocated to another state, so a relocation company may need to be involved in the process. That should not be a big deal, it just means that a few more people may need to see all the paperwork steps, which could add a few days to getting our offer finalized. We are praying hard that this is the house we can buy and are very excited!
God's timing has been perfect - just like we knew it would be. Some days it was hard to see past the fact that we just weren't all together, but then we would get a fresh start the next day and it was easier to remain hopeful. Now we are eagerly anticipating getting to move and get started on our new life in a new community. The girls are looking forward to finishing up the school year in Muscatine as well as being excited about the big "moving away slumber party" I promised them they could have with their friends. So once we have a firm closing date set and the date set for the movers to come, we'll have to start planning a slumber party!
Now that things are getting a little more exciting around here, I'll probably have a few more regular posts than usual. At least until we get moved.... then i'll just be busy getting unpacked!
Thanks to all of you who have been praying about this moving process. One major hurdle has been jumped and now everything else can start falling into place as well. God has taken care of us and timed all of this for us in ways that have been surprising. It's been a good process to go through for all of us I think and we are thankful for this time of waiting. That being said, I am SO happy to get to live with my husband again!!!!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Just Waiting...
There really hasn't been anything new to post on here for awhile. We are all just trying to patiently wait to sell the house so we can get moved. Some days it's easier than other days to be patient, but overall we're doing just fine.
Jon came up for a surprise visit over Valentine's day weekend and it was a wonderful break from the hum-drum pattern we've fallen into. Being all together again has made us all that much more ready to be living under the same roof. We're trying to work with our realtor to find a couple more things we can do to encourage a buyer to make an offer, but there just isn't anything else that we can do to get the house sold. We have done everything we can possibly do - now we just have to wait. Not an easy thing to do, but maybe if spring ever comes and we can stay above zero degrees outside it will make it easier to wait.
Jon came up for a surprise visit over Valentine's day weekend and it was a wonderful break from the hum-drum pattern we've fallen into. Being all together again has made us all that much more ready to be living under the same roof. We're trying to work with our realtor to find a couple more things we can do to encourage a buyer to make an offer, but there just isn't anything else that we can do to get the house sold. We have done everything we can possibly do - now we just have to wait. Not an easy thing to do, but maybe if spring ever comes and we can stay above zero degrees outside it will make it easier to wait.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Last Part - Poetry Cafe
I realize that I forgot to post the last part of Emmy's class Poetry Cafe video! After they all read their individual poems they took a break and we got to sit with them and look through their poetry books. Then the class all got together up on the stage and read one last poem together. They were all pretty proud of themselves!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
4th Grade Chorus Program - February 2011
Bria had her 4th grade winter chorus program tonight. Sorry for the choppy video - we were clear in the back and Emmy was sitting on my lap the whole time!
How Can I Keep From Singing?
Bring Me Chocolate (some of the video was missed - dead battery on flip camcorder)
Kookaburra
Pass It Along
Sing For America (Bria featured in small group)
Mad!
How Can I Keep From Singing?
Bring Me Chocolate (some of the video was missed - dead battery on flip camcorder)
Kookaburra
Pass It Along
Sing For America (Bria featured in small group)
Mad!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Snowpiles at Church
The girls love going across the street to the church's snowpiles. They are great for climbing on and massively huge. Plus, we can bring Bailey over with us and she runs up and down and up and down and chases snowballs the whole time.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
From "Streams in the Desert"
"This is the blessed life - not anxious to see far in front, nor careful about the next step,
not eager to choose the path, nor weighted with the heavy responsibilities of the future,
but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time."
not eager to choose the path, nor weighted with the heavy responsibilities of the future,
but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time."
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
LONG Christmas Break
After almost 2 full weeks in Iowa, we are back in Grand Forks again!
We really enjoyed all the time we spent in Iowa - especially the time with Jon! We loved seeing our families too....... :)
The girls and I drove down to Harlan on Wednesday, Dec. 22nd in order to beat the snow forecasted for our drive on Thursday. Thursday during the day we got to enjoy some downtime before my dear dear dear friend Erin stopped over with her girls to say hi! It had been way too long since we'd seen them and it was so good to catch up! The girls hit it off immediately and ran downstairs to play while Erin and I crashed on the couch to catch up for awhile.
Then for a surprise, Jon showed up Thursday night! Snow had been forecasted for all day Friday and we were afraid he wouldn't make it over to Harlan until the 25th, so he used his last day of vacation and came over on the 23rd instead - it was a great surprise for the girls!
Friday the 24th we relaxed and just enjoyed the day and ate WAY too much food. It was fun to hang out and help Mom get ready for Christmas on Saturday.
On the 25th the Melbys and the Culvers showed up for the day and all the cousins had a great time playing together. On the 26th we drove up to Alcester for the day to have the Holthe CHristmas and hang out before driving back to Harlan late that night.
Monday we drove over to Muscatine to spend the week with Jon. We stopped at the Coralville Mall and the girls spent some of their Christmas money. Jon had Tuesday off as well and we just enjoyed a quiet day relaxing. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (half-day) Jon had to work, so the girls and I did some more exploring and house hunting around town. Our realtor showed us 3 houses Wednesday night and I saw 1 house on my own Thursday night. The girls loved Weed Park and can't wait to go swimming there this summer. They also had a great time feeding the ducks and geese at the pond.
Before picking Jon up from work on Friday we went down to the riverfront and explored a bit in the fog - it made for some great pictures! The girls are excited to explore the trails along the river this summer.
Friday night was dinner out to a chinese buffet - probably won't eat there again, but one interesting menu item was the whole octopus! and NO, I did NOT try it!
Saturday we all drove back to Harlan with the plan being the girls and I would drive back to Grand Forks on Sunday and Jon would drive back to Muscatine. Since I-29 didn't open up until late Sunday morning we decided road conditions weren't worth risking and spent the whole day in Harlan. It was nice to relax one more day and then we drove back up here on Monday. The girls didn't mind skipping a day of school but we were all glad to sleep in our beds again last night!
So now we settle in and try to re-adjust to life without Jon up here. Sad for all of us, but we are confident that our house should sell soon. I have Jon on a mission to go see 15 - 20 more houses in the next couple of weeks and we've seen a couple that might work already. So hopefully as soon as we find the right house ours will sell and we can still get moved soon!
Here are a bunch of random pictures from Christmas break....
Kelli, Emmy and Bria...... Erin, Schyler and Nevah
Girls with Great Grandma Wiuff
Oz
Tabbi & Emmy
Emmy and Kelli
Megan with Emmy and Bria
Bria & Tre
Bria with her penguin
Emmy and "Protector"
Oz enjoying his presents with Megan and Greg
Grandpa and Gramasaurus Hansen
Tabbi with Emmy and Oz
Emmy excited about Toy Story Operation with Uncle Richard and Sarah
Bria with her remote control butterfly and Sarah, and Grandma and Grandpa Holthe
Girls with their DQ Blizzard maker - can't wait to try it this weekend!
Mississippi River - December 31, 2010
Girls by the Mississippi River
Bria's favorite goose
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