…is fun. And crazy. And fun again. Of course, I understand that much of the ‘fun’ right now is the excitement of buying a home and anticipating paint and decoration details as well as having a Christmas vacation with my boys and Jeanette’s kids as well. And much of that will dissipate in the next month. But right now, it’s a blast!

Mark managed to get a visit from Pukey the Clown and his little dog Ralph this week–exactly two days after Brendan’s experience. I went out early on Tuesday to take advantage of after-Christmas-clearance sales (didn’t find much, though) and called back home to have Mark grab the ice-cream cake from the car and pitch it in the freezer before I ran to the grocery for dinner-items. That’s when I got the ill-news-report. Oddly enough, though, Mark didn’t have what Brendan had–Mark’s was worse in that it didn’t go away as quickly as B’s, but also in that he had a fever with it and it has *wiped him out*. He is utterly worn out and still not feeling 100%. I have not gotten it, although I did have a pretty bad night on Christmas Eve after I was in bed. But maybe that was it for me, as I have an extreme aversion to barfing and will do anything and everything to avoid the experience altogether.

We also had the house inspected yesterday and it passed with great fanfare. There were a few things that the inspector advised us to take care of (an outdated and old fuse box), but which has survived well for 25 years and likely will not be a problem in the first few months of occupancy. The one thing he did find that we are asking the owner to fix is the leak from the master-bath shower–it leaks in to the laundry room. Not a bad leak, but still more than what we want to deal with. So we made an addendum to the contract that indicated our desire to have that fixed prior to closing. So hopefully this will be done.

I also took the kids to see “Charlotte’s Web” today. Oh. my. word. What a great movie–and one that was very well done! Much better than the animated version in the 70s, although I was a bit underwhelmed with Oprah’s acting (I know, sacrilege in today’s society) and thought that Julia Roberts was a bit ‘scriptish’ at parts–it seemed like she was reading the script as opposed to living the lines and character. But those parts aside, Walden Media did a fantastic job with it. High quality, excellent CGI, and altogether a worthwhile experience. Even with the high-priced matinee ticket prices. $5.75 for a kids’ matinee ticket was a bit over-the-top to my mind. And we ended up bypassing the soda counter when I saw a $3 price-tag on the *small* drinks. Yikes! I took the kids to McDonald’s afterwards for a sundae and a coke, and still ended up spending less than half of what I would have on drinks alone at the theatre.

So things are gearing up to be wild for a few weeks (leading up to the closing and shortly thereafter) and then steaming back down to a simmer thereafter. Tomorrow is a date-night for Mark and me, and I think we’ll be driving around and doing romantic things like looking at kitchen appliances and making returns. That, and I want to take a gander at what is available for fabric for curtains–I want to consider paint colours and fabric patterns as I plot out the new home.

Well, almost.

It’s nearly midnight on Christmas Eve, and I’m tired. But I’m happy and contented–and there’s so much rattling around in my noggin that the headache that is trying to bug me isn’t even that bad.

More than anything, I wanted to wish others a merry Christmas and that they would know the joy that a Baby’s birth more than 2000 years ago can bring.

We spent today west of Dexter–we drove to church and then on to my aunt’s home (between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo). It was the first family Christmas I’d had in more than 12 years; we used to have traditions on Christmas Eve for the families to get together and laugh (playing ‘galump!’), eat (Grandpa’s oyster stew was tradition), and unwrap a few small gifts. So we didn’t play ‘galump!’, but we did have traditional food and a lot of laughter. And the kids unwrapped a few gifts as well. I made my mom’s cheesecake (modified a bit, thanks to Alton Brown) and Carla made my mom’s au gratin potatoes. Carla definitely got the short end of the stick, as I despise peeling and cutting potatoes, and that dish is wicked hard to prepare and takes ridiculously long to bake. The cheesecake wasn’t nearly that hard. :::dodging bullet:::

The true bummer of the day was Brendan getting sick. My poor little boogie was off his game today, but we attributed it to the mass of bodies (19 in all) and being in a warm house during a time of transition. Nope. He got Joe’s little stomach bug and proceeded to barf on the floor of my aunt’s covered patio. Poor little guy felt bad, but then it broke my heart when he apologized and told me he didn’t mean to throw up. Nobody ‘means to’ barf…it just happens. Which is what I told him. So we changed him in to clothes for Carla’s oldest (the only other boy who wasn’t younger than Brendan), rolled things up and cinched them up as much as possible, and tucked him in the car with towels and an old paint bucket in case he should throw up on the way home. Gratefully, he didn’t–he slept almost the whole way back. And he kept a little bit of Vernor’s on his tummy that whole time, although I don’t think I’ve ever driven back so quickly and kept one constant eye on the rearview mirror quite so much.

When we drove back in to Dexter, the streets of the Village were lined with white luminaries–every business and home in the Village had them out and lit. It was truly beautiful–as if the small town was celebrating the Holiday in one voice. What an amazing show and how gorgeous it was.

So on that note, I’m headed to bed. The kielbasa I had for dinner is coming back for a repeat performance, and while it was good the first time, the second time isn’t quite so enjoyable. So it’s a Tums for me and sliding between the sheets.

No matter what Christmas Day brings, I hope you have joy. For truly, that Little Baby changed the world, and joy is one of the lasting gifts He gives us.

Merry Christmas!

We found a house.

After a marathon day of house-hunting with the always-magnificent Adolph Maier, we realized that Dexter was where we were supposed to be. So although we’d found a cool house in Ann Arbor, we were more comfortable with Dexter and kept our hunt to this area. We looked at a very large home (in a “planned community”) with a very small lot, but there was *something* that kept me uneasy about that house. Maybe it was the size. Maybe it was the toothy-grin that the salesman flashed at me and the ‘lines’ he handed us about living there (*he* didn’t live there, but somehow knew it was a great place to raise kids). Regardless, I was at deep unease about buying that house.

So we continued to look and two days ago went back to one that we’d seen on Wednesday. It’s a cute home (tri-level) on an acre of land. Mark was intimidated by the acre, but I promised him that with a riding mower that goes 6mph, I’d take care of it while he was at work. The up-side to this house is that there are so many improvements made to the house in the last few years: vinyl siding, new roof, new furnace, new water softener, new cabinets, newer carpeting, ceramic tile in the kitchen, etc. So the “bones and guts” of the house are strong and good. And if those things are good, then the things that need replacing can be focused on without worrying that the structure itself will fall down around our ankles.

So that said, we’ll need a new dishwasher and washer/dryer pretty quickly. And we’ll have to put on an iron filtration system (it’s on a well with heavy iron levels, as shown by the dishwasher). Eventually, a new fridge will enter the home, as will a garbage disposal. We do want to replace the carpeting in the lower level before moving furniture in, so we’re going to Lowe’s today to check out what they have. The padding down there is really good–at least 8# pad and very springy. But the awful red carpet must go. It makes the lower level feel cave-ish. The one thing that is a downfall is the above-ground pool in the backyard. But we’ll have it removed and have a great garden plot at the same time, I think.

Oh, and we did sign a purchase agreement and had one round of negotiations on the house–so pending an acceptable inspection next Wednesday, we’re good to go to closing. And we’re good to hit Sherwin Williams today, too. Might as well get our paint colours picked out and our minds thinking about what paint goes where!

So here’s a picture of the house in question… it’s got charm and character, and for whatever reason, just screams “This is the Talbert’s house!” to me. There’s a lot of landscaping work to do, but it will be done in stages and I’ll have the opportunity to plan what *I* want and where it goes as the winter months drone on. And of course, a Japanese Maple is one of the central-points to my design!

I heard something yesterday that made me think a bit more about my life. It went something like this: At the end of everyone’s life, there is an opportunity to say, ‘I’m glad I did…’ or ‘I wish I had…’. Which really made me reflect for a bit. I want to be able to say “I’m glad I did…” when I’m facing the end of my life on this earth. No matter what it is, I want to invest in people and relationships and not have regrets of “I woulda/shoulda /coulda” in regards to others and the choices I made.

To that extent, I am *really glad* we drove out to see my aunt and uncle. My uncle’s mom died and although I only have vague memories of Mrs. Berch, I wanted to go out to support my uncle. They live out in Oregon and I hadn’t seen him in nearly 18 years or so, but I had seen my aunt about 2 years ago when she was in Indianapolis. The surprise my uncle had at our visit aside, I am really glad we drove the hour+ to be there. We reconnected and spent time talking, and more than anything, it reminded me the importance of family. My aunt had protested in email saying that it was “too far to drive,” but our perspective was that if we were in KY, it would have been too far to drive. Now that we’re in MI, it was only slightly over an hour from Dexter to just north of Mt. Clemens, and it was not too far to drive. Not when people and relationships are involved.

~~~~~~~

Mark and I are walking away from a house we put an offer on–it went back and forth over several days and although there’s a small difference separating us, it’s more than we as buyers want to deal with. I have really strong feelings toward the house–I like it a lot and I am disappointed. But we need to consider other homes and widen our options a bit more in regards to where we will live. Maybe our walking away will wake the sellers up and that house is meant to be ours. Maybe not. But I need to consider the best thing for my family and budget, and where the sellers are right now isn’t working for us and our income. Ah well…it will all work out for the best, but at the moment, we’re back at square-one again.

…was the question my dear friend Elizabeth posed to me last night. In the time that we “kibbutzed” together, we really enjoyed it. The shared responsibilities, the freedom we had individually to run out without the kids while the other watched them, the camaraderie. So Elizabeth’s idea was to have us move back in her house and she’d even give us more space–kick the kids out of the playroom. After all, they have a trampoline, right? And trampolining in the wet winter weather could be called ‘water aerobics,’ no?

Of course the fact that she and her family are relocating to Istanbul in the next several months didn’t seem to matter, and when I brought it up, the response was a bit nonchalant.

The fact is that I *do* have moments of “ohmyword…what have we DONE?” Elizabeth says I need to go with that feeling and drive back down I-75 when it comes. And then there are moments of complete peace and excitement. Fortunately, we *know* we made the right decision and the peaceful moments outweigh the few panicked ones I’ve had. :::phew!:::

And in that vein, we put an offer in on a house today. We toured it in October and liked it, and we toured it again today–this time with the eyes of people who might one day live there. And we liked what we saw enough to make an offer. As of this writing, we haven’t heard anything back, but the seller’s agent was incommunicado today, so we’ll probably hear a yea or nay tomorrow. Or maybe a counter-offer. But at this moment, we’re completely peaceful about our offer and the potential of buying that house, and that tells us what we need to know. So I’ll post when we know something and when we have a contract and the house has made it through inspection, I’ll put photos up in my Flickr account. Until then, though, mystery must prevail.

So sorry, Elizabeth…we’re not coming back down for a few months. And then only to visit. So get ready for some house-guests, babe!

So Sunday was good great. And Sunday was hard. We had an outpouring of love like we didn’t expect and like we’ve not had before. It’s interesting that Max said that our family was 10% of the original group that planted Generations–we were 3 of 30. That got me to thinking that timing-wise, we were the first family to sign up and the first family to be sent out–sort of like we are Generations’ “tithe” on the congregation. Interesting concept to ponder, I think. And if you’re familiar with the passage from Malachi that talks about what God will do for those who tithe, it’s interesting to consider how Generations might prosper and benefit from commissioning us and sending us out.

And after the tears were over, we went back and stuffed the car full of the stuff we need to live on here in Dexter…at least while we’re making a basement in to an apartment. Then we went to lunch and had more tears with final goodbyes to the Surbrooks and Leonards. Dang, I’m gonna miss those guys!

And then we were off. Well, most people who know us say we’ve always been “off,” but that’s another post, eh? The drive was longer than we felt it should be (although the actual time and distance were normal–5.5 hours, 332 miles), but most of that was because we were tired and drained.

Monday found me still weepy and a combination of maudlin and excited–to the point where I just wanted to cry from happiness and sadness. It’s a strange place to be emotionally. I read email and saw a note from my dear friend Erica, which is where the title of this post came from. One of her sons (Jacob) was pondering our departure at dinnertime on Sunday and when informed that we were moving to Michigan, thought for a few moments. He then piped up with, “Do they even know how to *speak* Michigan?”

I laughed until I cried with that one and as Erica said, we’ll get a lot of mileage out of that one in days to come.

…of tears, of happiness and joy, and of jumping off this cliff, so to speak.

Apparently, sleeping well isn’t something my body does when there are big days and changes up ahead. I woke up insanely early today (about 4:00am) and despite having crawled in at nearly 11:30pm last night, I wasn’t that tired. I convinced myself to get a few more moments of snoozing in, as we *do* have a bit of a drive today, but then I woke back up around 5:15am or so. And I’ve been up ever since.

I’m folding laundry, finishing some Christmas cards up, and pondering. And doing piddly things like changing addresses on my eBay account and leaving some online-groups that are specific to this area. Small things, but honestly, there’s nothing like small changes to make this oh-so-real.

We’ve been staying with dear friends while we have waited for this day–friends who have opened their hearts and home and I *know* when we have lunch together this afternoon, we’re going to cry like babies. Even though none of these goodbyes are “forever-goodbyes,” it’s still hard.

Case in point: we had dinner with our neighbors (well, former-neighbors, now) the other night. It was fun and we played hearts (shot the moon once, thankyouverymuch Dan!) and the kids watched a movie. When it was time to leave, our friends’ little boy (Jake, age 3) did what we all wanted to do and ended up doing–crying. He was so sad about Brendan leaving and who would be his friend now…and of course, that just set Ambera and me off–it’s not like we’ll never see them again, but when you share much of your life as neighbors, it’s hard to think about not being neighbors and starting a new adventure without them close by. Brendan held it together (shockingly so) until we got in the car, and the next morning he said, “This is way harder than I thought it would be, Mama.” Yes son, it is.

Even now, as I think about saying goodbye at church, I well up. We’ve worked with these people for a few years and been friends with most of them for much longer than that. And again, we’ll be back to visit and many of them will come up to see us. But it’s the break in the weekly joint-experiences that is hard.

And yet as I type this and blow my schnozz simultaneously, I realize that this adventure we’re on the verge of also has us excited beyond belief. Although we don’t know how it will look right now, we know Who does. And since He’s the One Who asked us to do this, we know that all things have already been provided and that our path will be straight.

Back to getting things together to pack in the car…maybe if I stay busy, I can stay ahead of the tears that want to come.

Nah…probably just wishful thinking.