Oregon One

Well, I have spent the last week in Ashland, OR. I got off to a rocky start, but the week has been fun, and I have learned a few things for the better. I will admit that I was a bit of a baby upon arrival because I do not enjoy sight seeing or vacationing alone. I like to talk even when there is nothing to talk about so when there are things to share I like for people to be with me. A mixture of pray, Wes' wisdom, and boredom quickly shook me out this. I meet some friendly people at a spa, and I spent the whole morning with them. They told me about the fun things to do in Ashland and in Oregon in general, and I shared the South with them. I am amazed at how intrigued people are with the South. They are interested in the drawl, the heat, the bugs, everything. I find this interesting because while I like to travel, I like it for the things that I get to see, the things that there are to do, not necessarily for the people who inhabit the places. But as southerns, we are a people that others are quite interested in. I feel special being from the South, and I wouldn't change anything about it. This makes me happy.

While a lot of time was spent in the small if not cramped hotel room, Wes and I celebrated America's birthday with a wonderful day of parade's, festivals, concerts, and fireworks. I am most excited that today is his last day of school and tomorrow we are headed out to Oregon's coast and to the Redwood Forest.

"This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it."

Until next time. . ..... . . XOXOXOXOXO

Summer time

It feels like a lot of things are happening and nothing at all is happening at once. Have you had that feeling?

I mean I am having a great summer relaxing by the pool and hanging out with my friends and family, but I am also working most everyday and making lots of progress there. Plus, I am doing lots of things around the house. Maybe I am just a little crazy! LOL :)

This past weekend, I had a wonderful time with my mom, dad, Angela, and Clint. We ate a great breakfast at the Beau Rivage. Crab legs for breakfast is the best thing ever! Then we saw Wes off to Oregon and shopped until we melted in the heat. Then, we cooled down by the pool. We really missed Jess and Paul.

My dad installed a cat door for Lille and Ivey to use while I am gone to Oregon next week. Training them to use it is not as easy as I thought it might be. Lillie will go through the door without my assitance but hates using it. Ivey refuses to go through the door unless I hold the flap up for her. I am trying a new tatic starting tonight. I moved their food into the garage. If they want to eat, they will have to go through the cat door. If they want to return to the wonderful A/C, they will have to go through the cat door. Hopefully, this will work. I have 3 days to practice with them before I leave.

I have had a great day and 1/2 with my friend, Chris Word. He and I did lots of fun stuff, and I am so glad he came to visit.

Until next time. . .

XOXOXOX

And another trip to Lowes. . .

It seems that everyday Wes and I have a reason to go to Lowe's. The reason mostly revolves around purchasing rocks! Yes, rocks. I had this bright idea to create 2 flower beds in the front of our house and instead of using mulch, I wanted to use rocks. It does look good, but it takes a billion rocks, and we never estimate correctly. Plus our trucks will only hold so many bags of rocks at one time. We are almost finished, but of course, we are headed back to Lowe's to purchase more rocks and some sprinklers for our front yard! I don't think I will make anymore rock beds for the rest of my life.

Here they are, the long awaited pictures.

rock flower beds

front profile

Kitchen

Pool

Florida Room

Dining Room with Lillie:)

Master Bedroom

Office

Living room

more pool

Until next time. . . . .

XOXOXOXO

And we're off. . .

Wes and I enjoyed a weekend in Kosciusko were we attended my 10 year class reunion. It was so great to see old friends and catch up. I was really impressed with the turn out. The whole night was fantastic. We also had a great time with my parents, Angela, and Clint. We went to a family reunion sort of event Sunday.

Today, Wes and I both went into work at our new jobs. I am a little overwhelmed, and Wes is feeling his way around as an assistant, again. Please pray for us as we begin these new paths. It is going to be one adventure.

My computer is in the shop and has to have a new screen installed; therefore, I have not been able to upload any pictures of the new house. I should get my computer back in a couple days, and I promise to post the pics, then.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer.

Until next time. . . . . . XOXOXOXO

WOW!

I know everyone is asking, what is going on? Why haven't we heard from you? Well, it took a week for the CableOne guy to come out and connect our Internet and TV. We tried to borrow Internet from our neighbor's wireless, whenever we could. But, the connection was sporadic.

So, we left our home in Hattiesburg, Friday, a week ago. It was frantic and hetic getting out by Friday night, but with the help of Chris Word and my parents we made it happen. Then having my parents spend the weekend with us in Gulfport made things even better. We got so much work done that I did not have to spend every waking hour last week unpacking. Thanks guys. We are so thankful that God blessed us with you.

None the less, I still had lots to do last week, and I am still working down the list this week. Things are coming together. Originally, I had planned on going in to Anniston to work this week, but I am glad I decided to wait. Tomorrow, Wes and I are going into Hattiesburg to finish up some last minute business and to complete our work at Purvis and turn the keys over to the new director. That is a big thing. Pray for the Pruvis band community that they will be accepting of the new director. Pray for the new director, Nicole Allen, that she will have the knowledge and patience to make this change with the band.

So far, I love living on the coast! Owning a swimming pool is GREAT! I have been in the pool almost everyday, no matter what, I make time for that! Today, I edged all of the existing hedges. This took me all morning and wore me slap out. Plus, I got stung by a red wasp! Wes and I also went to Lowe's and bought so many plants to landscape our yard. We also bought some pool side funiture. YAY! I have to do this. . . . Wes is AWESOME; he owns a bronco, and we were able to fit all the funiture in it at once. Thanks, baby! Lillie and Ivey are adjusting well to the new place. I am thinking of letting them go outside more often later this week. I let them out for a few minutes last week while I was in the pool. Ivey is quite adventurous and tried to jump the fence, while Lillie is a true scardy cat. She heard one strange noise, ran inside, and hid under the bed. Too funny!

Until next time. . . . . XOXOXOXOXO

What God did for us

Well, I am still holding my breath, but we did sign the papers selling our house yesterday at 4pm. We are going to remain in the house for 6 more days. During that time we are responsible for anything that goes wrong or right. So, please hold your breath for us also. :)

As you all know selling this house has been one crazy ride. I was thinking yesterday, and Wes and I talked about it last night and the entire process was filled with everyday miracles. The types of miracles most people don't realize are happening unless they are seeking God first. So while many of you know the story, I want to recap the way this wonderful web was woven for the good of all and glory of God.

We received a contract on our house after 6 days of being on the market for $86, 000. This was a young couple who was going to have a baby. (remember our house is 99 yrs. old and needs lots of TLC all the time.) An inspector came to assess our house and told this couple that our house had lots of problems and was beyond repair. The couple backed out of buying the house to my tearful dismay. Wes and I believe that this was a miracle because honestly, from our understanding the couple did not have much money. Buying an older home comes with risks that involve spending money. Second, we then had to come up with a plan to save about $5000.00 dollars or we would not be able to buy the house in Gulfport.

Fortunatley, the inspector was wrong and house only needed a few (at the time) plumbing repairs. We had these done. We went out to eat dinner with a friend of Wes's from his fraternity that was also trying to sell their house. He said we are praying that God is preparing someone for our house. I was like OMG, that is the pray I should be praying. So, I started. 10 days later, we had another offer. PRAISE GOD! Because of the money we had saved earlier, we were able to sell the house at a much lower cost. We had another inspection, but this time we were better prepared and things went, well. The buyers only requested a few repairs. Those included replacing some rotted boards and some other bathroom adjustments. Then we found out to replace the boards involved removing our entire bathtub and basically remodeling the entire bathroom. We were told that this was going to cost $5000 or more. Enter God. I tearfully called Wes at work and he found an old yellow pages and found this guy (who is not in the current yellow pages btw) named Mitch Moore. Mitch came over and gave us an estimate of $1634 to replace all the tile, a new bathtub, the plumbing, paint, replace the rotted wood, and rotted beams. PRAISE GOD! We had him do the work, and he did an excellent job and was very amiable during the entire process.
So, then we had the appraisal. The appraisal came back at $80, 000 which was (if you remember from above) $6000 less than our original first offer. So, if that offer had remained we would not have been prepared to buy the house in Gulfport because we would not have planned to save our money in that way. PRAISE GOD!
Next, was the termite inspector who discovered a few more leaks. God has been quite determined that we would learn to trust him more during this process. Again, a call to Mitch Moore repaired the leaks and saved us a little money.

From this point, we only had 24 hours left before the closing. I began to breath a little easier and was not feeling sick to my stomach at all yesterday until the text from my realtor that said, "We have a big problem." The problem was that the termite inspector put in the report that the house had had a prior infestation. BTW, not while we lived here. The loan company wanted an official letter stating that this infestation had not cause any structural damage. The inspector was refusing to write the letter because he did not want to put his job on the line. It appeared that we were going to have to pay yet another person to come out and crawl under our house and inspect the structure. Enter God who used a lady named Wanda Touchstone to convince the home inspector to write the letter. PRAISE GOD! The letter was sent to the underwriter at the loan company at 1:20pm. We were suppose the close the deal remember at 4:00pm. So, at 3:30 when I still had not heard anything, I felt that it wasn't going to happen, and we would be back at square one. Yet, I continued to pray and beg. At 3:35pm, I got a text from the realtor saying the letter was accepted and we were clear to close. I tearfully PRAISED GOD!

Miracles still happen, today. Look around you and see what God is doing for you, rejoice in what God did for us, and please continue to pray for us.

FREE Commercial!

If you are in the Hattiesburg area and need some work done, contact Mitch Moore Contracting, 601-408-0728

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again. . .

WOW! What a busy week. The career center has the been a hopping place this week at Hattiesburg High School. The library closed for end of the year inventory, the computer lab techs get to school late, and their printers don't work. So, all of the students are coming in here to do the work they waited until the last minute to do. It is wearing me out, so many students, so much noise, so few computers. . . I have actually started counting down the days; 7 more to go. 

So, we are so close to closing on both of our homes, but it has not been without much drama this week. The lender needed a copy of our Gulfport contracts to clear us for closing. Gulfport was being difficult about giving these to us, so I had to drive to Gulfport after school on Monday to pick up our academic contracts. Then, I had to bring them home, get Wes to sign his, and take them back to Gulfport, Tuesday, after school at which time, I picked up Wes's supplemental contract. 

In the meantime, we found out that the inspection to inspect the work we had done was scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9:30am. So, Monday night, Wes and I had some cleaning and toilet repair to do. We discovered that our toilet was running constantly so we decided to put our handy skills to the test and replace its insides. This actually worked out great. We worked together, and we got it done in an hours time. We both felt successful because most of our handy man projects don't go that well. We also discovered another small dripping leak underneath our bathtub on Monday. To no ones surprise, the inspector doing the re-inspection on Tuesday, said, hey, there is still a leak. So, it's return of the plumbers. One plumber came, but was too "big" according to the contractor to fit under the house, but he did; however, diagnose the problem which someone hopefully repaired, today. The good news is that the buyer is still going to buy the house, and we are going to close on Friday @ 4pm. No more inspections, no more plumbers, no more worries. HAHAHAHAHA... don't fool yourself. Just last night while I was cleaning the dinner dishes, the kitchen sink just stopped draining. Well, we were looking and thinking and kinda of tapping on the pipes, when Wes took a jab at it with the flash light and the pipe came loose and a water/drano mixture sprayed into our kitchen at 11:00pm. I am chuckling just typing this ludicrous story. We found the clog, removed it, put the pipes back in place, tightened them down, and off to bed we went. Who knows what adventures the final days in our house hold, but heres hoping they are completely uneventful. :)

So, Dawn's and Josh's wedding was fantastic. Big Cedar Lodge was so nice and peaceful. It was a great getaway for Wes and I even though it was very short. Of course, Wes is still fishing it up, and unbelievably, we pulled over on the side of the road on our way to Branson beside a lake. He dropped his hook in the water and out came a fish. He was so excited. He threw the fish back in, and we hit the road. He fished a lot and I mean a lot at Big Cedar, but didn't catch a thing. :( I got to spend a lot of time with Dawn over the weekend, and I was so excited. I love hanging out with her. We enjoyed seeing Wes's mom, Ron, and grandmother, too. Of course, I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures. But, there was a photographer and maybe those photos will be posted on Dawn and Josh's website, and I will copy some from there to share with you all here. 

Until next time. . . 

XOXOXOXOXO