This weekend, we had the wonderful blessing of a visit by our good friends from college, Chris and Cheryl, and their 2-year-old son, Nicholas.  These are the kind of friends who you just click with so well that even if you haven't communicated for several months, when you get together, it's like no time has passed.  We all still enjoy each other's humor, still find plenty to talk about, and still have a lot in common, even though we're quite different in many ways as well.  Chris and Jeff were roommates in college, and Cheryl and I, though not roommates, lived in the same house next door to them.  We were all friends before any of us were dating.  We were all a part of each other's weddings.  We have such a nice time together that when a weekend visit like this ends, we're left wishing we lived closer once again.

 

On Saturday, we all piled into our minivan (a tight squeeze with four adults and three carseats!) and took a tour of the city, Jeff's school, and our new house.  The wife of the couple selling the house was home, and was kind enough to let us show Chris and Cheryl around our new place.  We also enjoyed getting our picture with the "sold" sign outside the house.  Saturday evening we took a walk by the riverfront, and Sunday after church enjoyed a meal at O'Charley's.  The weekend was over far too quickly.

 

Sunday night after church, we went to the Dairy Queen with friends and afterwards, Ella asked if she could have her picture taken with the big ice cream cone outside.

 

Lucy's Milestones Update:  This week, Lucy got her 10th tooth, sang "Jesus Loves Me" all the way through by herself, and counted from 1-9!  She is 19 1/2 months old.  Here is a video taken last week while we were eating spaghetti for dinner one night.  Lucy was in a singing mood, so I tried to capture some on tape.  She can now do "Jesus Loves Me" and "Twinkle, Twinkle" by herslef all the way through, but you won't see it on this clip. 

 

 

This past week was a roller coaster!  As I wrote last week, we expected to be closing on our first house on Monday, but by the time we went to bed Sunday night, we had still not heard anything from our lender or realtor.  Then Lucy was sick all day on Monday, though she seemed to feel better on Tuesday.  Well, that wasn't the end.  Wednesday afternoon, she got sick again and threw up 3 more times.  (Twice in the van!)  And Thursday was even worse, still throwing up, fever was back, lethargy was back, and we couldn't get her to keep anything down, not even pedialyte.  Meanwhile, we were on the phone numerous times over those four days with our realtor and lender, finding about all kinds of hangups and hoops we had to jump through.  "Fax this, e-mail this, bring this by the office, call this person, etc."  FINALLY, Friday arrived and things started to turn around.

 

Though we were uneasy about Lucy's condition, we went ahead with plans to go visit Jeff's family for the weekend, still not knowing anything about when we might close on the house.  As we were driving, we got a call from our realtor saying everything was finally in order and we had a closing time set for Monday at 2!  Lucy made the trip without getting sick.  We were still very cautious about what we gave her to eat and drink, but she appeared to be better, just weak.  Throughout the weekend, she slowly regained her strength and by Sunday was completely back to normal.

 

We had a fun weekend.  On Saturday, Jeff and I got to have a "daytime date."  We did some shopping, went out to eat at an Italian restaurant, and saw "Kung Fu Panda."  (the lunch and movie were Jeff's request for a Father's Day gift).  Saturday evening, we had a cookout and then went swimming at the city pool.  Ella really seemed to enjoy it more this year, despite a rocky start.  The first thing she did when we got there was climb the stairs to the water slide, and just after she sat down, a little boy pushed her down the slide.  She cried for a bit, but quickly got over it and had a wonderful time swimming, sliding, splashing, swinging on the tire swing, and going in the deep end with Mommy and Daddy.  Lucy didn't enjoy it as much.  She had her moments where she was okay and smiling, but most of the time just whined "No" and wanted out.  Maybe she'll like it more next time.

 

Sunday, we attended church with Jeff's family and Jeff sang a beautiful song called "Jealous Love" about a father modeling a Godly life for his children that they might come to know and love Christ some day.  It was perfectly timed for the holiday.  Church was a fun experience for Ella this time, too.  She moved up to a new Sunday School, now that she is 4, plus she got to come in to the sanctuary for the service and go down front for the chidlren's message.  You could tell she felt like big stuff.

 

After lunch, we celebrated Father's Day by eating out at Cody's and opening gifts.  Later that afternoon, we drove to meet my family at a Cracker Barrel to celebrate with my dad.  We stayed that night with my parents and drove back home Monday morning, just in time to have lunch, get a cashier's check, and make it to the closing!  Everything went smoothly, we signed a gazillion papers, made plans for possession, and left with a smile!  The best part was finding that our mortgage payment will be exactly what we've been paying this year for rent! (and that includes taxes and insurance!)  This is a full $31 less than we were quoted!  God has been so good to us throughout this whole process.  He has clearly confirmed this purchase for us and we are completely at peace.

 

NOW... the sellers have 14 days to vacate, so we will gain possession on June 30th.  We'll have 3 weeks with possession of both houses before our lease ends on July 21.  Most likely, our moving date will be Friday, July 18.  I've already started packing...3 boxes done! It's a small start, but we're on our way!

On Saturday, June 7, Jeff and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary!  (That's right, 11 days after Ella turned 4! )  My parents came over to watch the girls for the day so we could go out.  We started by going to a morning showing (cheap!) of the new Indiana Jones movie, and then ate lunch at Biaggi's.  After that, we went home long enough to change clothes and then went to a beautiful wedding (on a beautiful day!).  It was really fun to attend a wedding on our anniversary.  We couldn't help but remember and reminisce about all that had happened five years earlier.  Of course, we both agreed our wedding was the most perfect we had ever attended, but this one was nice, too.  The reception was held at the country club, which sits on top of a big hill overlooking the golf course and the downtown in the distance.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The meal was wonderful, too.  What a wonderful thing to be able to go to a romantic ceremony and have a fancy meal for free to celebrate our day!  Thanks, John and Jaclyn, for that nice anniversary gift!

 

Other events pictured:

Ella enjoyed playing in the pool and sprinklers one day this week.  It has been so hot already this summer!  The water was really cold, and Lucy let us know in no uncertain terms that she was not interested in touching it.

 

I began teaching Ella piano this week.  We've decided to have her lessons in the evening after Lucy goes to bed.  That's why she's wearing her jammies.  She really likes it and is understanding well so far, but she has a shy streak when it comes to performing.  I'm not sure if we'll ever get her to give a recital some day!  She clams up as soon as anyone else is around.  (For all the pianists reading this, ignore her hand position in the picture!  This was taken before we started and she quickly learned the correct way to play!)

 

The last picture was taken yesterday.  I went in to get Lucy from her bed yesterday to find she had thrown up (a lot!) in her crib.  She ended up doing that 6 times altogether until about 12:15.  She also had a 102 degree fever.  It was so sad to see her feeling puny like that.  Jeff and I took turns holding her most of the day as she drifted in and out of sleep.  By last night, she was keeping liquid down, so I gave her some crackers and applesauce for dinner.  Other than a very full, smelly diaper this morning, she now seems to be getting back to normal.  Seems to have been a 24-hour thing, thankfully.  Now we just pray that none of the rest of us get it!

 

House update:  Yesterday was supposed to have been closing, but it didn't happen.  Our lender tells us we are still waiting for one of the government agencies to sign off.  He thinks it will be within the next couple of days.

How sweet it is to be in the company of people who know and love you.  We had such a wonderful time visiting our friends and church family in Louisville this weekend.  Since moving last summer, we have yet to find a portrait studio I really like here, so that has given us a good excuse to go back to Louisville twice!  We went in November for our Christmas pictures (right after Lucy turned 1) and made a second visit now that Ella is 4.  You just can't beat Portrait Innovations when it comes to quality and quantity of pictures for the price.

 

We drove over Friday afternoon and spent the evening with a friend and former co-worker of Jeff's and her family (Spencer and Jenny).  They were gracious to offer us a meal at short notice and we enjoyed spending time with them, seeing how much their kids, Easton and Camille, had grown, and meeting their new little baby, Claire.

 

We left their house in time to drive over to our friends' house (Dave and Becky) and get the kids to bed.  Their oldest child, Isaac, is only 3 1/2 months older than Ella and they have been friends all their lives.  They personalities compliment each other so well.  They can play for hours without bickering and fighting!  Their daughter, Gracie, turned 3 on the Sunday we were there.  It was fun to share in all the excitement of her birthday.  They also have a 10-month old, Owen, who didn't seem to make it in my pictures. :(  You may remember seeing them all in previous posts when they visited us.  We really appreciated their hospitality and we're grateful for their friendship.

 

So the kids had a blast playing together most of the day Saturday.  The weather this weekend was just perfect and they spent a good deal of time outside.  Were were gone from their house long enough to have their pictures taken, eat lunch, and drive around a bit, but other than that we spent the day at their house.  Our good friends, Timm and Manju, came over in the evening for a cookout.  They are preparing to move to Maryland soon, so we really enjoyed being able to spend a little time with them and catch up on their lives before they go.  We are hoping they will make it to our place for a visit before moving.

 

On Sunday, we enjoyed the fellowship of our church family at Cedar Creek.  The comments we heard most often were, "Ella has gotten so tall!  And her hair is so long!  I can't believe she is 4 already," and "Lucy looks just like Ella.  I saw her and thought it was Ella for a minute before I realized that couldn't be right!"  These people, of course, knew Ella much longer than Lucy.  It was fun to be around people who knew her as a baby and could see the resemblance to Lucy.  Our church family now never knew Ella then, so they don't see it.  We enjoyed hearing their new pastor preach and learning of all the exciting things God is doing in the church.

 

Update on our house:  We have made it through all the procedures to this point and we plan to close on Monday!  Please keep us in your prayers that all will go smoothly with the transition and the move.  We give God all the glory for bringing this plan into being and we thank Him for his kindness to us!