It's Hot!!

- It's been in the 100's today and the high 90's the last week! No end in sight to the hot temps either! We've been spending our days and evenings at different places. We bought a pool from Wal-mart that is big enough for the kids and me to get in. We've been to a splash park up by the church that is a lot of fun. It's at the public park and it's FREE which is even better! Today we were over at the Brust's home and Sandy took the kids swimming. They loved it and we'll need to go back there soon!

- Tonight we took Ethan to the Christian bookstore and bought him his first Bible. He's really excited. His Sunday School teachers wanted all the kids to have Bibles that they could bring and read out of. They are learning the books of the Bible, and he's picking it up pretty quick. We went through the books tonight and talked about what the New Testament and Old Testament were. Tonight before bed Jarod sat with Ethan and had Ethan read the story of the wise and foolish builder. He did a great job reading!

- We watched Jon and Kate tonight. It's so sad to see their marriage fall apart.

- I'm slightly addicted to the Food channel! I love some of their shows and really love the Challenges they have. Anyone else a big fan??

- It's going to be time to get Kaitlyn a big girl bed. She's been in a toddler bed the last 6 months, and she's ready for a big bed. Jarod's mom had the idea of getting her a full size bed so that when we have guests they can sleep in her bed (she would sleep in the boys room with her bubbas). I really like that idea. That way our guests would have an actual bed to sleep in and not just an air mattress. So we're going to keep our eyes open for a full size bed and see if we can get one soon.

One picture...

Well this is the only picture we have of the house right now. Jarod took it when he went over for part of the inspection the other day. He got to meet the homeowners, and they were telling Jarod how much they love this house. They are sad to be leaving it, but they told Jarod that we are going to love living there. I thought that was so nice! Anyway, I just wanted to share a picture of the outside at least.

Camp Sooner

Well I finally got some pictures up from camp! We had a great week. Jarod led worship in the evenings and the rest of the day we spent time together as a family. The kids look forward to swimming in the afternoons. Ethan could swim on his own with floaties and had a great time. I think this summer after swim lessons he'll be a great swimmer.

Sean made huge progress at camp! He has been afraid of getting in the pool for the past 2 summers. He would absolutely refuse and just spend time on the side of the pool. Well the first day at the pool we eventually convinced him he could touch the bottom, so he got in all by himself and ran along the side of the pool! He had so much fun, and it was great to see him overcome his fear!

Kaitlyn is just stinkin cute in her swimsuit! She had fun jumping in the pool to Mommy and Daddy. On Thursday Jarod gave her a noodle under her arms and with that and her floaties, she kicked her way around the pool with Daddy. She was so proud she could swim on her own!

Here are the boys being cute one night!

Kaitlyn and Mommy enjoying a beautiful evening at camp! I think she looks a little like me!

We had a great time with our friends, John and Lori. They are doing a great ministry as camp managers. They are a great family with 2 cute little boys (and one on the way!), and they are a lot of fun to be around. We love you John and Lori and thanks again for a great week!

Woohoo!

This has been a great day! As I said in the last post there were some potential houses that we drove by and liked, so on Thursday we went and looked at 4. The first house we looked at we absolutely loved but tried to keep our options open. None of the other houses worked (either too small of yard or layout didn't work or it was too cramped). So we waited till today to go look at the house we liked again and look at 2 others. We really liked this house from the moment we saw it and figured the other 2 would have to really compete to make us change our minds. They turned out to be alright, but they were not homes we could grow into the next 10 years or more. So we just knew this house was the one! We've been praying for God to lead us to the right house that we can do a lot of ministry in, and we've prayed for us to be in agreement on it. We are thrilled to have this house! It's beautiful on the outside and has a big yard. It has a unique floor plan and a good sized kitchen. It's a house that is in great condition (we don't even need to paint before we move in!) but it is one that we can fix up as we live there and easily keep it current. We made an offer this afternoon and this evening we accepted their counter offer! We will close on it the middle of July (the weekend after vbs!).
On our way to look at houses this morning we got a call from our realtor in KC, and she told us the gentleman who is buying our house got an offer on his (actually multiple offers). He will be closing on his house the end of July, so we will be free from that house!
We finished up our day at a friends birthday party, just hanging out with friends and enjoying the beautiful weather! It was a good day!

Update...

Hey! It's been a busy few days! We have been busy getting things in order and figuring things out. Our house in KC had its inspection this afternoon (though it wasn't complete due to the weather) and did very well. The gentleman will probably be moving in within the next week. His house is on the market now and has already shown 4 times since it went on the market yesterday. So maybe it will sell fast. We were pre approved for a mortgage and have been scoping out houses. We go look at about 5 on Thursday. We drove by them tonight to check out neighborhoods and such and a few of them are beautiful and have potential.
So that's a quick update. I'll let you know how it goes Thursday!

Good news....

We got back from camp yesterday! We had a great time, and I'll post about it later with some pictures hopefully! Jarod and I had decided that when we got back from camp we would start making some decisions about where we are going to live. So we spent the week at camp praying and just enjoying a week without worrying about it. We got a call from our realtor on Wednesday with some good news. A gentleman had looked at our house and was going to make an offer! So after a few phone calls and a little bit of waiting, we have signed the papers to put our house under contract!! It's a different kind of contract in that it is a lease purchase. He has a house in Olathe that he is selling (it will go on the market tomorrow or Monday), and it apparently is really nice and at a good price. Our realtor felt his house would sell fast especially since he is having it professionally staged. He really loved our house and wanted it! So he gave us a couple options and we chose to put it under contract with him- when his house sells, we will close on our house. When that happens he is giving us our full asking price. Until then he is going to "lease" our house for $600 a month until we close on it.
We were so excited b/c we were preparing to pay rent and a mortgage or a double mortgage. Now since our van will be paid off this month and with his lease money, we will come so close to covering our mortgage. We feel good about all this and know this is God's provision for us. The timing is perfect and so is this situation. We are going to go talk to the bank on Monday to see what our options are and if we are going to be able to purchase right now or have to rent. Either way we are excited to have all our stuff in one spot, and we told the kids we will get Ali back! They've been without their kitty since January (due to the lady who lives here being allergic to cats), so they are super excited, too! Thank you to everyone who was praying for this situation! We appreciate it so much and say keep on praying! We'll keep you updated on where we are going to live!