Our Realtor Says It's a GO!!!

WE'RE GETTING A NEW HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!

Our realtor says now that we have a contract on it, the only thing that will keep us from getting it will be if they find something major wrong with it in the inspection and the sellers won't fix it. I don't see that happening. It's been redone fairly recently.

Let me tell you about this gorgeous house! (I've been told that, in other areas of the country it would go for AT LEAST $100,000 more than what we're getting it for!)

It is 2000 sq ft. 3 bedroom, 2 bath. HUGE master with huge walk-in closet! The beautiful fridge you see there in the pic comes with it as does that piano in the entry! The entry and living room have original wood floor (very good condition) The kitchen, dining area and bathroom have linoleum and the bedrooms are carpeted. Nice big fenced in back yard. Big storage shed. It is perfect for us! I know this is the house God has been keeping for us! I am more than excited about it. We hope to close on it around mid-July. I'm praising the Lord and jumping for joy!!!!

Open for Business!!!

Our etsy shop is open! Come see!!!

Stone House Merchant

Up and Running!!!

My fictional blog is up and running! I'm really excited about it! I love writing and I love dreaming. This is a mixture of the two. I am very much liking my "alter-ego"!
Everybody....meet CLAIRE.

Make Believe World

I'm thinking of starting a fictional blog. I have a few ideas in mind. It will be the diary of a girl who's life is in the process of changing dramatically. I've also thought of using the idea for a book instead of a blog. Maybe I should do it as a blog first and see if it builds any interest. I don't know...what do you think?

Home

What does home mean to you? Of course, the first things that come to mind are family and love and security...things like that. But I mean the details. The little everyday things that make you happy. That make you feel like you are where you belong. I urge you to make a list, like I'm doing here. It's easier to put things into focus when you get them down on paper (or on a blog). Don't be shy. Join me in my quest for the "perfect for me" home!
Here is what home means to me......

Waking up to soft, warm sheets and a good cup of coffee.......the smiling, giggling faces if my children.........the warm embrace of my husband..........the smell of bacon sizzling on the stove............fluffy pink slippers and a cracking fire in the winter and bare feet and air conditioning in the summer...........sitting on the porch with a glass of iced tea, watching my children run themselves wild in the yard..........good friends, good food and good conversation.............God in every room, every nook and cranny...........the sound of laughter and song wherever I go............much loved art and books filling every room.........wonder in my childrens eyes and cookies and spiced tea at Christmas............studying bugs and other cultures..........learning our ABC's...........a hot bath in candle light...........creating and finding beauty wherever I can...........water fights and a cool breeze on hot summer days..........barbeques and lemonade..........catching fireflies..........a soft chair and a funny movie..........sleeping babies in my arms...........and someone to hold me as I fall asleep..........

That's not all of course...I don't have the kind of time it would take to type it all. Now it's your turn. And after you make your list...go and make it happen!

God Bless you and your household!!!

Goings On

I've been a procrastinator this week. I haven't got much done outside of working on our business. But today after I get off of here, I have GOT to get to work! I have dishes to do, laundry to put away, toys to pick up...I could go on and on. Plus, I still need to do my Bible study. I've procrastinated on that this week too. I am very easily distracted. That's what happens. I start doing something, then I think of something else. It happens over and over. By the end of the day, I've started many projects but not finished any of them. So it looks like I've done nothing. And my sweet hubby is so good about it. Praise the Lord for good men!
I'm hoping he gets off work in time to go look at that house tonight. I'm really looking forward to seeing it in person. I just hope I haven't built it up too much in my mind and get dissapointed when I see it. I've been dreaming about it alot. Going over and over in my mind what it would be like to live there. That's just me. I can't help it. I'm a dreamer.
Oh, and I'm starting a new job on Saturday! I will be working just a few hours a weekend at a coffee bar/vegetarian restaurant called Isadora's Wonderful Things. It is also a bead shop. But they are closing that part out to expand the restaurant.
We have been going there since it was just a little bead shop in a fixed-up shed behind the owner's house. Then they moved to a shop on Main Street where the owner's daughter joined up and opened a coffee shop inside. It's where we learned to bead...and developed a strong addiction to coffee. Hehe! Eventually, the daughter and her husband took over the shop. The mother got married and retired. The coffee shop slowly expanded to serve food. Incredibly delicious food! It wasn't always all vegetarian. But she knows how to make vegetables taste awesome! Hehe. I worked there the summer after I had Noah and loved it! But that was 6 years ago! Alot has changed since then. I am definitely going to need a refresher course! Hehe!
Anyway, that's what is going on around here. How have you been?

Our Business!

Hubby and I have had a business for a long time. But it was just a few shows here and there. Well, within the next week or so, we will be opening a shop on Etsy! Not only that, but we have FINALLY settled on a name. Stone House Merchant. And I've started a blog for it.....
Check it out if you'd like.....
I've only made one post to it so far. But I'm very excited about the whole thing!
We came up with the name because of the house we were supposed to go look at yesterday. It's a stone house. We just happened to be talking about moving and the business and the name just fell together.
We didn't get to go look at it yesterday because Hubby had to work late. It's a very busy week. They're doing work at the University of Arkansas. It's a very big job!
But hopefully by the time the weekend is over, we will know whether or not we're going to try for the house.

Looking at another house....

We're going tonight after hubby gets home from work. I have high hopes for this one! We were wanting a newer one. But new homes just have no character. And the area this one is in is gorgeous! Probably the prettiest country we have around here. It's got a brand new roof and a fenced yard. It's 2000 sq ft which is huge to us considering our house now is only 1200 sq ft. I'm just hoping it's in good shape and that if it is we can get it. Anyone who feels like tossing a prayer up, please do. It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

POWER LAB!!!

Power Lab is our vacation Bible school. Today was the last day of five. It was a blast! I was a crew leader. I was in charge of 3 kids for 3 hours every night of Power Lab. They did pretty good. Although, my one boy was a bit of a handful. But all in all it was a very good experience. One that I am very glad is over. Only because it wore me out! They got the crew leaders into it almost as much as the kids. We sang. We danced. We made crafts and did experiments. We even walked on water!!!
The walking on water was part of the Bible Blast class. It's where the Bible comes alive! The "water" was a mixture of water and corn starch. The concoction was about 4 inches thick but only the top inch was liquid. The bottom 3 inches was this ooey gooey stuff. We were talking about when Peter walked on the water and was fine until he took his eyes off Jesus. Our mission was to go fast over the "water" and not take our eyes off Jesus. If we did we'd start to sink. And that stuff was so sticky, that once you started to sink, you had to have help getting unstuck!
Then there was the Wacky Crafts where we made a goo in a beaker, key chains, bracelets and signed our names to soccer balls to send to South Africa. Cinema Science where we watched a cute little film and talked about what it had to do with the days "power point". And Hyperspeed games, where we made REALLY big bubbles, learned to work together(got really wet!), and saw what happened when you put mentos into a bottle of diet coke. YIKES!
Now I mentioned "Power Points". Power points are our theme for the day. These were our 5 power points and the friends that helped us remember them.



This is Fizz. He is bubbling over with thankfulness.
Power point: Jesus gives us the power to be thankful! A-HA!!!
(we had to say a-ha everytime someone said the power point...it was fun!)
Bible verse for the day: "Always be thankful" Colossians 3:15









This is Sparki. She is a lightbulb. She reminds us to show Jesus' light to the world.
Power point: Jesus gives us the power to help others! A-HA!!!
Daily Bible Verse: "When God's people are in need, be ready to help them." Romans 12:13








This is Dewd. He's a brave little DEWD(rop).
Power point: Jesus gives us the power to be brave! A-HA!!!
Daily Bible Verse: "I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me." Psalm 23:4









This is Max. He's a battery. He gives long life to electronics. Like Jesus does for us!
Power point: Jesus gives us the power to live forever! A-HA!!!
Daily Bible Verse: "Since I live, you also will live." John 14:19









This is Electra. She's a lightening bolt. She goes all over the place, showing God's power!
Power Point: Jesus gives us the power to tell others about God! A-HA!!!
Daily Bible Verse: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone." Mark 16:15

So after all of it, after 15 hours of being in charge of 3 kids that aren't mine and getting MY kids to bed 2 hours late for 4 nights strait which makes for cranky babies, I STILL can't wait until next year! It was AWESOME!!!!

If you're interested click here for Power Lab's website.

Tagged!!!

I've been tagged by Karla from Loving Life in Oklahoma . So here it is!

The Rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about you in your blog post.
4. Tag six people in your post.
5. Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

1. I moved over 30 times before I was 20. Then I got married and we've lived in this same spot for over 7 years.

2. If I had the opportunity, I would move to Ireland in a heartbeat.

3. I want another child...or 7.....

4. My mom was adopted and when I was younger, I almost had myself convinced she was the child of Marilyn Monroe and JFK. And that a conspiracy was formed around the fact that she had his child.

5. When I was 19, my best friend and I started training to be professional wrestlers. No! Seriously! It's how I met hubby. :)

6. I once had a cat named Mouse.

I'm breaking the rules a bit as I don't know enough people online to tag. So if you read this....TAG! YOU'RE IT!!!

There's more to it....

This is an amendment to yesterday's post. You could probably tell I was leaning toward staying here in this house. But I'm back on the other side of the fence now. We do want a business. That much is true. But I failed to mention my domestic side. I want a nice home and a bigger family. I want a home I can be comfortable in and be proud to call my own. I want a home big enough to entertain in. And a big yard that my kids can run a muck in. In a neighborhood that I don't have to worry about our tires getting slashed for no reason (again) I know what we should do. But I'm impatient and I worry about money. So yesterday's post was from my selfish side. If I didn't have children it would be fine to stay here. But there is so much that my kids need that we don't have here and I know they want a new house.

I also forgot to mention the 3rd choice in all of this. Hunky Hubby commutes an hour and a half everyday to and then from Arkansas. His company pays for the gas for his company vehicle. They want us to move to Arkansas. We're not sure if we should. But this company has been more than kind to us. They pay our insurance. Which would be $100 a week otherwise. Last year after Hubby left that job for a job that would have at least quadrupled his pay, they welcomed him back with open arms when the other job wasn't working out. And on top of that, they gave him a raise from what he'd been making before and started everything strait up like he had never been gone. He could never find another company like this. And he actually LIKES what he does. Also, it's been said that when another shop is opened in Arkansas, the current AR boss will take that over and he wants Hubby to take over and be in charge of this one. That's a nice promotion! Not to mention, how great it is that he's thought of so highly in this company. So, if you would pray for guidance for us, I would be so grateful! Thank you!!!

What to do?

We have a decision to make. Stay in this house or move. I've always wanted to move. Until just recently I didn't even want to think about staying in this house. It needs a good amount of work and there's not much of a yard. Well the yard would be alot better if we had the huge tree stump ground out. It's a cute cottage style house. So, fixed up it would be very cute! Also, the payment is less than we could find anywhere. So that would leave us money to fix it up as well as money to expand our business. But it would be work. If we got a new house, it wouldn't need all the work and we'd get one with a bigger yard. But we'd have a house payment at least twice as high as what we do now. We keep bouncing back and forth on what we want to do. My biggest problem with moving is that we wouldn't be able to put much money towards our business. And eventually we'd like to be able to support ourselves on just that. So Hubby could work from home. We could get there faster if we stayed here. But do we want a newer home? Sheesh! I hate that we're both so indecisive!

You've Been Tagged!

Candy, from Keeping the Home, tagged all her readers for this little survey. So here it is and if you read it and have your own blog, consider yourself tagged!

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Okay, that would be June of 1998. Well I was luckily getting ready to start my senior year of high school. I had some mental problems and as a result I had dropped out mid-junior year. But thankfully I had enough credits that I was able to go back as a senior. Praise the Lord for pulling me out of that!

2. What are 5 things on your to-do list for today?
1)laundry
2)dishes
3)clean the bathroom (AAAAAAAHHH!!!)
4) find us crazy outfits and do our hair all wacky for VBS.
5) Go to VBS!

3. What are 3 of your favorite snacks?
1) Doritos
2)chocolate
3)popcorn with parmesan cheese all over it!

4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Pay off all debts, give LOTS to the church, start a missions department at our church and go on some, buy a house for when I wasn't away, live on the rest.

5. What states have you lived in?
Missouri and Kansas

My Brother's Coming!!!

They're almost here! My brother and his sweet-as-sugar fiance are visiting from Gulf Shores, AL! I haven't seen them since Christmas and that is the only time I've met her. I'm so glad my brother found her! He actually found her in highschool (or maybe junior high). But neither one of them were brave enough to tell the other of their feelings. But last August (I think it was) they talked on the phone. He went to visit her. Not long after, he came back for his things and they've lived there happily ever since! They're getting married in October. The baby is due in August.

Her name is to be Wren Taylor. I think the name Wren is beautiful. And if you knew my brother, you wouldn't think it was wierd at all. They're beach hippies, for lack of a better word. But my brother looks like a mountain man. He's sucha goober. But he's one of the most creative and artistic people I know. He's also a genius. Well I don't think it's been tested but I wouldn't be suprised. And she is just so sweet! And she makes him so happy. They are perfect for eachother!

We are having a baby shower for her on Saturday. I can't wait to spoil my little neice! I get to go down there once she is born. It will be my first time to see the beach in person. They basically live right across the street from it.

I'm just so excited I get to see them!!!!