tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32247725491675539572023-10-30T06:27:37.011-07:00Confident Until CompletionConfident in Christ. Confident in love of family. Confident learning as we go. Phil 1:6Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.comBlogger385125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-34243486813710705612014-07-17T21:15:00.000-07:002014-07-17T21:28:59.366-07:00Introducing John Sawyer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Well, friends, life has happened. It has snuck up on me, overwhelmed me, and engulfed me in blessings. I am not sure how I went so long without blogging. I know that not one person is left reading my blog, but I started thinking about how many things I recorded with Micah. I miss the record keeping. I miss the memories I recorded. I look back at pictures, but to know the story behind the pictures is an awesome treat. <a href="http://casaconfident.blogspot.com/2013/06/sometimes-life-is-devastating.html" target="_blank">I was overwhelmed last year in sadness for the loss of our baby</a>, but yet also excited at the promise of a new baby. Instead of blogging every moment? I soaked it all in. Now, I'm ready to reflect on last year and talk about it all. It's time to move on. Without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to son number two, John Sawyer Cook.</div>
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There are two things I said I'd never do.</div>
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#1 I would never "middle name" my child.</div>
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#2 I would never name my son after his father since he needed his own identity. </div>
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::Ahem::</div>
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<i>Never say never.</i></div>
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The story behind the name is pretty simple, so I guess I'll start there.</div>
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I teach so you have to realize that. Naming a child is hard because I want to have a name I've never taught. That's tough. So this name needed to be unusual, not used a lot, easy to pronounce, not remind me of a "bad kid" from my class and simple to spell.</div>
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During our first year of marriage this show came out. You may have heard of it. It's called <i>Lost.</i> Christopher & I were newly married, and didn't really share similar television tastes. Suddenly, here was this show that we both loved. We watched it for our "date night" each week. It was our thing for six years, and there was this character that we loved/hated named Sawyer. Yes! I know! We got the name from a tv show. As we joked around over the years, we kept saying that our second son would be named Sawyer. Haha, isn't that funny to use that name from our fave tv show? Not thinking it would actually happen. <a href="http://casaconfident.blogspot.com/2013/06/sometimes-life-is-devastating.html" target="_blank">Then I got pregnant with our miscarried blessing</a>, and the name we picked out for that baby (if it was a boy) was Stephen from a sermon that Bro. Danny had recently preached. It just didn't feel right to me to consider the name Stephen any longer. I have no idea if that baby was a boy or girl, but Stephen was off the list. So Sawyer came up again. And again. I mentioned other S names (I was on an S kick), but every single time we came back to Sawyer. I am also an English buff who loves to read, and I liked the character Tom Sawyer in Huck Finn. So there ya go.</div>
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As we continued to talk, we realized we wanted Sawyer to have a name that also had some significance other than a tv show. Since Micah was a Biblical name, we wanted another Biblical name. My husband's name is John Christopher, and I have two grandfathers named John and an uncle named John. It became apparent that using John was a great idea. I liked Sawyer John, but Christopher liked John Sawyer. After going back and forth and back and forth, I gave in and let him be John Sawyer (with the condition that he was called Sawyer--no double names).</div>
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So that's how Sawyer got his name. Now that you know the name story, let's take a look at some picture from that day & first week. All of these are my iPhone pics from the day, and I plan to upload and do proper documentation from pictures that Christopher took with the fancypants camera. Just be warned because they are not top quality. =)</div>
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Sawyer came into our lives on a cold April afternoon. In fact, he was born April 22, 2014, at 12:44 weighing seven pounds, seven ounces. That's right. He was born on 4/22/14 at 12:44. That'a a lot of fours and twos. He was twenty inches long, and much, much smaller than his brother Micah. </div>
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But let's start at the beginning. This was my last picture pregnant as I left for the hospital Tuesday morning after working the previous day. I am crazy like that!</div>
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Now that I don't feel like a blimp, I was kind of cute preggo.</div>
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The day started out with lots of waiting. I was having a scheduled c-section, but you still have to wait.</div>
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When he came into the world, he was perfect. I spent so much time just staring at him and soaking it all in.</div>
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Right away, I was drawn in my his bright blue eyes.</div>
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His hair? A nice strawberry blonde, reddish color like his Mommy! The boys definitely have their Mommy's coloring.</div>
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I'll save the birth story for another post, but needless to say we are so in love with this little guy!!</div>
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Lots of people came to visit him, and Micah just adored him as soon as they met.</div>
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Micah's been an awesome helper and very eager to spend time with his "Baby Sawyer." In this picture, he's introducing Bear to his brother.</div>
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He wanted to put the paci in the baby's mouth.</div>
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This picture pretty much sums up our family. Micah (still sucking his two fingers) and Bear loving on the brand new baby. He loves to hold him. It's one of his favorite things to do.</div>
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He's just perfect. We love him so and are thankful to the Lord for his blessings.</div>
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Micah with the baby at the house. </div>
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Our first family dinner as a family unit of four.</div>
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Micah holding Sawyer in our bed.</div>
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He's so serious about his duties as a big brother.</div>
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This is probably one of my fave pictures taken so far.</div>
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Stay tuned! I have more pictures to share in this great catch up the blog!</div>
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Welcome John Sawyer into our lives. We love you very, very much! I thank the Lord every day that He saw fit to make us your parents.</div>
Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-90100600823922430802013-09-30T18:55:00.002-07:002013-09-30T18:55:42.511-07:00Big news so it is time to get back to the blog.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One minute, <a href="http://casaconfident.blogspot.com/2013/06/sometimes-life-is-devastating.html" target="_blank">you are writing this post at the beginning of summer </a>completely overwhelmed with grief at the loss of your little baby. It's a surreal feeling, and you aren't really sure quite how to act, what to say, and faith seems to fail you.</div>
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So...you go quiet. I went quiet for a long, long time.</div>
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I needed some peace. I needed some time alone with my husband, my son, and my thoughts.</div>
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A lot happened in since then. A whole lot. Sometimes life takes you by surprise, and well...imagine our SHOCK to discover I was pregnant in August! Yes, utter shock! Naturally, I have kept extremely quiet about this new life event unsure how on earth one person gets pregnant not once but twice in such a short amount of time. That, in itself, is a miracle, but suddenly we are at 12-14 weeks. It is becoming apparent (as my belly sticks out and the morning sickness won't evade me) maybe (?) this baby will be a part of our world this April.</div>
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There is so much to catch up on, and I'm sure I have all but one reader left. I'll be ready to announce on Facebook after one final doctor appointment next week. Please pray for us! I'm a nervous wreck, but the Lord has a plan. And obviously, I do not understand his timing (although I'm very thankful).</div>
<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-45294962143184209142013-06-14T15:28:00.000-07:002013-06-14T15:28:24.482-07:00Trying to move on by keeping busy.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Despite everything that has happened over this week, we're trying to "move on" by keeping busy. It's been a very long, emotional week since finding out about the baby last Friday. Micah has been enjoying a gift from his KayKay & Papa. This is his water table, and he absolutely loves it.</div>
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What summer is complete without drinking from the water hose?</div>
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He's live in the water hose if I let him, but we would have a very large water bill.</div>
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We've started the process of "making over" the front of the house. Plans this summer include replacement of the rotten wood followed by a new paint job.</div>
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My mom came over one Saturday to help with a major lawn project. At the time, I thought I'd be hosting my monthly bunko at our house. Unfortunately, the miscarriage kind of changed those plans.</div>
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A little video of our little guy outside helping us do some yard work.</div>
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He would stay outside all day and all night if we let him.</div>
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A shot of the flower beds in progress.</div>
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Daddy's little helper!</div>
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What day outside is complete without your very own toilet? #cuetheredneckjokes</div>
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KayKay was a great help with the yard and the flower beds. She's got some amazing flower knowledge!</div>
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Micah also enjoyed pretending to carry his lawn supplies around in his wagon like Daddy (who was using a wheelbarrow). </div>
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Christopher was making fun of me the other night because I was folding laundry in the living room floor. "You know you have a laundry room now, right?"</div>
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We've tried some potty training. For like two days. I need to be more consistent because he did pretty well.</div>
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A video of Micah playing at my parents' house.</div>
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Since Mother's Day included my dad going to the hospital, we "redid" Mother's Day on Sunday night.</div>
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Micah has spent a lot of time at the local parks this summer. We took a two-mile walk to this park one evening. He loved it!</div>
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And what summer is complete without some tv watching? He's addicted to The Lorax, so I try to limit the amount of time he watches it. Hope you are having a happy summer!</div>
Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-80374928086417680982013-06-10T19:18:00.000-07:002013-06-11T18:28:48.516-07:00Sometimes life is devastating. An unexpected event that has rocked my world.<i>Edit: So I posted this. Lost my nerve. Took it down. I'm still not sure that I want to post this, so I ask that you just keep mean thoughts or comments to yourself as I try to get through the loss of my child. Thank you.</i><br />
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Today I am in mourning for the loss of a child that I'm never going to be able to meet this side of heaven. I've gone quiet on the blog for many reasons, but one main reason is the pregnancy situation which came up in April. I found out I was pregnant in about mid April. We were ecstatic, and it took all I could do not to shout from the rooftops that Micah was going to be a proud big brother. Last time around, I kept thing so quiet. We didn't tell family or friends. This time, I didn't exactly tell everybody in the world, but I couldn't keep completely quiet. There was no Facebook announcement or anything However, I did ask some friends to pray for us because we had an ultrasound back in May that was just off. I don't know how else to describe it. It was just off. Maybe this is because mothers have these gut feelings about their babies.<br />
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In early May/late April, I headed to the doctor for an ultrasound. I thought I was about six weeks along, so I should have been able to see something. I've only been pregnant one other time, and I could tell immediately where my baby was on the ultrasound screen. This time? I saw my "womb" with nothing in it. I was alone at the appointment, and it was all I could do to hold back the tears. This was meant to just be the first check up, and it was honestly my "annual" appointment. The fact that I was pregnant very quickly changed the atmosphere of the doctor visit, and I was saddened that C couldn't be there. I was quickly reassured by both the doctor and the ultrasound tech that "your dates could be wrong. Let's schedule an appointment for a month from now so that we can be SURE to see something. You're very early. Sometimes we can't see anything this early."<br />
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So for a month, we waited. With each passing day, I began to feel more and more pregnant. Morning sickness followed me. I began to gain some weight. My clothes were getting tighter. I just felt pregnant. This relieved me, and I stopped thinking about this impending doctor appointment.<br />
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As June 7th approached this week, I was a bundle of nerves. I went to my aerobics classes as usual. Tuesday or Wednesday night, I had some extremely painful lower cramps after leaving dinner at a friend's house. I would be lying if I said that didn't scare me. I was scared to death, but cautiously optimistic since I felt SO PREGNANT. Thankfully, my doctor has been honest with me since the start of this process. She did hint that something was a bit off about our ultrasound, yet she didn't scare me enough that I didn't think I'd have my baby.<br />
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So here we are at the doc's office late Friday afternoon, and this time Christopher is with me. We are both excited about seeing the baby, and finally are taken back to ultrasound. That's when we realized something was very wrong. I don't have to be a medical professional to read the tech's non-facial expressions. She was quick to say that the doctor needed to look at our results and would be talking to us about the scan.<br />
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<b><i>I knew I had lost my baby at that moment. Or, I knew I was in the process of losing my baby.</i></b><br />
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I'm devastated.<br />
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Words can't describe how heavy my heart is at this moment and how I'm grieving for the loss of this child. A baby conceived but who didn't develop far enough for us to hear the heart beating. It seems like a cruel joke that my body continued to march on, fully thinking it was pregnant, but when in reality I lost the baby a while ago.<br />
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Per my beliefs, a baby is a baby at conception. Which even though I never got to hold, touch, feel, or hear his/her heartbeat, I believe my baby is in Heaven. For whatever reason, the Lord decided to go ahead and call him/her home. I'm not sure how much more I'm going to blog about this. I don't really want to talk about it, but yet...I think my baby deserves mentioning on my blog. This happened, and I loved that baby as much as I love Micah. I'm taking a Facebook break for a while. The pictures of my friends' ultrasounds and pregnancy announcements are too much for me. The pictures of newborns seem to taunt me. I know I shouldn't feel that way, but my emotions are still very, very raw. I'm still in the process of the actual miscarriage, so I know that dealing with this loss will take time.<br />
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Will you pray for me? I'm hurting so very much. I need prayer.Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-25255185801681283242013-06-05T12:40:00.000-07:002013-06-05T12:40:02.854-07:00Looks like we've got some catching up to do.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Welcome back, my friends. I know I somehow took a blog hiatus without meaning to, but here we are. Time to return to capturing our memories for a lifetime. So where have we been? What have we been up to?</div>
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Let me tell you, moving will take it out of you. I'm not even quite sure how people move all over the place every few years. Eight years worth of junk in one house is enough for me to start purging. I've still got even more to purge, but I'm hoping to get through it this summer while I'm off.</div>
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Micah has enjoyed a whole lot of play time at the new house. His favorite thing to do is play in water. One day, I made a redneck "water table" out of a hose and the wheel barrow. He had a blast!</div>
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He enjoys doing his chores or pretending to be just like Daddy.</div>
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This son of ours is ALL boy! He idolizes his Daddy, follows him everywhere, and wants to do everything his Daddy does.</div>
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We started semi-decorating the new house. It's a long work in progress. We paid some piano movers in April to move the piano out of our old home (which closed April 26th--PRAISE THE LORD!) into the new one. Here is its new home in our "music room" (formal living room) at the new house.</div>
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We have two huge sliding doors in our den (which will eventually be French doors when we save up the money), so I can't put blinds on them. They are the only access to our backyard. I want to have privacy at night, so I settled for these curtains from Target which I can open and close easily.</div>
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I'm going with some bright colors until we paint the house. Here's the teal curtains in our new kitchen.</div>
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This is the crazy awesome teal shelf I found randomly that is also in our kitchen.</div>
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Sometime way, way back in April or early May, we met up with our friends Kate & Ashley to go to Touch-a-Truck in our little town. Love this little town we moved, too! So much to do, and it is all sooooo close to our house.</div>
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Micah loved driving all the trucks.</div>
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He had a big day!</div>
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In the ambulance.</div>
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Running through the FedEx Ground truck (rarely will you go to any event in the Memphis area where FedEx is not present).</div>
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Kate & Micah. This is the only picture I got of them together.</div>
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The dump truck was a huge favorite of our little guy!</div>
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Of course, what boy's dream of trucks is complete without the police car?</div>
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In May, Mother's Day came and went by very quickly. We did not go to church that morning because of traveling down to Mississippi to see the in-laws. So C took me to a local mom-and-pop bagel shop for Mother's Day brunch before we headed south to see his family. They have the best coffee in the city of Memphis, I promise you! Unfortunately, this was the ONLY picture I took of Mother's Day, and I'm not even in it! Our Mother's Day was horrible, actually. It included a. trip to the ER for my dad with a nose bleed that wouldn't stop b. two cars dying (that we own) c. Micah having an allergic reaction to medication d. three dr visits for our son who had a staph infection and e. my husband's uncle dying. All of these things happened within 24 hours. Somehow, we made it through.</div>
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<i>Worst Mother's Day weekend ever. </i>Another reason why I haven't blogged. Life just took over.</div>
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The week after Mother's Day, I was off for about four days taking care of our son while C took care of his family after his mom's brother died. Micah almost went to the hospital because he rapidly developed a very dangerous staph infection. We went to the doctor two times in two days because it was so bad.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSctNRiz0-s/Ua-Nc_nctkI/AAAAAAAAJqw/QiJbxN7F5Ws/s1600/IMG_1606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSctNRiz0-s/Ua-Nc_nctkI/AAAAAAAAJqw/QiJbxN7F5Ws/s400/IMG_1606.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
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He was absolutely pitiful! The staph that invaded his poor little body was swift and antibiotic resistant. It's also very common and lives on our skin. The doctor assured us that there was nothing we could have done. It is just waiting to get into a vulnerable system or through an open cut. Let me tell you, there aren't much scarier words than, "I'm sorry Mrs. C, but if this doesn't clear up quickly, we have to admit your son to the hospital so he can receive IV antibiotics." </div>
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Apparently, the only antibiotic that could kill this staph was one our little baby is highly, highly allergic to! We had no idea! I received a call from my mom after dropping him off to go to work one morning. She said, "Leah, get here now. Micah's face is swelling up, he's turning red, and he's splotchy." Sure enough, allergy attack. Meanwhile, my poor husband and his family are dealing with a sudden death in the family, my father is in and out of the hospital about his nose bleeds, my brother had a seizure, and our cars died. </div>
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<i>God is faithful, but some weeks are way harder than others!</i></div>
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After about two weeks of a keeping a close eye on him, we were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. Sadly, Micah missed his last week of school, his program, and everything going on at Faith. He was just too contagious and too sick the last week of school. Thankfully, we seem to be on the mend, and we can get out in public again.</div>
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So there ya go. School is now out, and we are moving forward with the month of June! More posts to come.</div>
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<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-71156502419148131932013-04-10T08:36:00.002-07:002013-04-10T08:36:56.084-07:00Life is just as it should be.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sometimes I feel like my blog is a bit on life support. I enjoy writing. I love it, actually. However, we have been so consumed with living life that I haven't taken the time to write about life. Kind of ironic. I keep pushing forward trying to stay caught up, but the move has left me a bit out of sorts about blogging. We finally found our computer (let's be honest, it wasn't lost...but I just got it set up) and moved the desk over to the house since it was used as staging at our old house. Finally, I have some internet access that isn't an iPad in the evening. It's not easy to blog on an iPad. I guess I could, but Siri usually messes up my words.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-92HnwyXMGlQ/UWV6w4T88jI/AAAAAAAAJlw/xjlUncMK-AI/s1600/micahswiffer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-92HnwyXMGlQ/UWV6w4T88jI/AAAAAAAAJlw/xjlUncMK-AI/s400/micahswiffer.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
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<i>Micah cleaning with Mommy one night last week.</i></div>
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Here's a confession. We didn't do Easter. Like, at all. I haven't even given him his Easter basket yet. Part of it was because I was in the hospital with an infected toe (see below). Part of it was because my son was super sick. We went to the grandparents' houses, but Micah never did see his Easter outfit. I'm determined to try this Sunday to dress us all up and take our fake Easter pics.<br />
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<i>Nothing says Easter fun like stubbing your toe, getting a staph infection, and ending up at the emergency room as the staph decides to move up your foot!</i></div>
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<i>We have been enjoying some great "date nights" in front of our fire pit out back after Micah's asleep. </i></div>
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Then there is teaching. I'm slowly taking my classroom back from my student teacher. It's been a very long year. I have grown a lot professionally by taking on a student teacher, but it has been interesting. There have been a lot of moments of butting heads and disorganization. I am ready to have my room back, and that is all I will say lest she stumble upon my blog. Basically, I think it just came down to two different teaching styles and personalities. Ours just don't mesh. Sometimes that happens, and I wish her the best. I'm ready to be teaching with just my kids again, though! It's been frustrating.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jgbQocbt-0Y/UWV-KyP0ssI/AAAAAAAAJmM/OLd_1CRzNNc/s1600/photo%255B2%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jgbQocbt-0Y/UWV-KyP0ssI/AAAAAAAAJmM/OLd_1CRzNNc/s400/photo%255B2%255D.JPG" width="298" /></a></div>
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<i>Thankfully, I have a comedy show just around the corner when I get home from work! Micah hates to be wet (from the water hose) so he "stripped" down in the backyard the other night.</i></div>
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There is also a lot of unrest in my job. Not my job, per say, but our profession. (I mean, I guess it could be my job, but at this point...it isn't.) The first person was "let go" yesterday in a series of people who are losing their jobs for this coming fall. It was absolutely the saddest thing ever. I don't even know what else to say about that. More layoffs are coming due to a budget shortage and cuts coming from a newly merged district. Prayers are going up for my fellow members of the educational profession in the Memphis area. It's tough out there! Until then, I'm just heartbroken over everything going on.<br />
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<i>Sometimes it is just easier to let your child play naked in their own backyard. Nothing completes a diaper ensemble quite like tennis shoes.</i></div>
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Overall, nothing is really wrong in my own personal life. I keep reading about my friend <a href="http://goteamgray.com/updates/" target="_blank">Will</a>, and I can't find any reason to complain. There is absolutely no reason. I am alive. I walk each day as a new day. I'm healthy. I am optimistic about the future, and I'm so excited to see what God has planned for our lives. <a href="http://casaconfident.blogspot.com/2013/03/my-jesus-my-savior-my-god-hes-god-of.html" target="_blank">He's written our story so much better</a> than I could have ever planned it myself!! I know not to take each day for granted. So amongst the teaching, job unrest, problems with my student teacher, and a crazy schedule...I am at rest. I'm at peace. I am thankful to a Father who has given me more than I could ever deserve.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7pO3WAVNcyY/UWWBISq8wKI/AAAAAAAAJms/YT_w41c7NSY/s1600/photo%5B6%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7pO3WAVNcyY/UWWBISq8wKI/AAAAAAAAJms/YT_w41c7NSY/s400/photo%5B6%5D.JPG" width="298" /></a></div>
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That night over a week ago, I lay in the hospital bed above thinking about so many things. About life. About my friend Will. About the choices that God puts in front of us. About the many different ways my life could have gone this far but hasn't. I did a lot of deep thinking. The reality was this: my life is moving forward. It's not perfect. It is full of trials. However, I am so thankful that I am alive and walking around. I'm not even going to let a staph infected toe with a hospital visit get me down! Bottom line--the toe healed. I'm fine now.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dO7xysq6w6E/UWWA1MGpItI/AAAAAAAAJmk/fLm5aiGW6G0/s1600/photo%5B5%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dO7xysq6w6E/UWWA1MGpItI/AAAAAAAAJmk/fLm5aiGW6G0/s400/photo%5B5%5D.JPG" width="298" /></a></div>
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What more could a gal want anyway? I have my family, my husband, and this cutie diapered bootie to come home to every day. Life is just as it should be.</div>
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<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-84578103149743626662013-03-31T07:41:00.001-07:002013-04-01T08:24:46.826-07:00My Jesus. My Savior. My God. He's a God of details.My heart is bursting with thanksgiving today, and I just can't keep it to myself. It's the week of Easter, and I feel it is so important to reflect about the goodness of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know a lot of people do not believe in God, but my question is always <i>how can you not believe in God?</i> I figured it might be a good time to reflect on God's grace, goodness, and mercy with Easter coming on Sunday. I'm going to go back in time a bit and show you some of the details that are simply amazing to my family. This blog is a bit random because I have so many thoughts in my head. I do apologize if I don't follow things clearly.<br />
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<li>2006--We make a decision for my husband to return to school and rely mostly on my income.</li>
<li>2008--I receive a position at a simply wonderful school that I take out of the blue.</li>
<li>2009--I go back to school for my master's degree. I find out that I am pregnant with Micah.</li>
<li>2010--I have Micah, and I pray fervently to stay home with my son. My husband has now been without full time employment for four long years. By the grace of God, I am able to stay home for almost a year with our son. I graduate from Arkansas State University with my Masters in Educational Theory and Practice.</li>
<li>Early 2011--A check shows up in the mail covering the rest of my time off for the remainder of the 2010-2011 school year. It blows us away, but it covers three months of my salary. I stay home with Micah very happily until August 2011.</li>
<li>2011--I return to work heavy hearted, but I am aware that the Lord has a plan for our life. I'm exactly where I am meant to be, and we feel confident (though not always happy) with my decision to work. We continue to pray for God's blessings financially as we seek to pay off our debt.</li>
<li>2012--My husband received a letter in the mail the week of Easter stating his loans were PAID IN FULL. This leaves us (basically) debt free except for our house. A month later? My husband is given his first full time job in almost five years. We are shocked by both blessings. Suddenly, we have an income where there has been none for five years. We also have no loans to pay. It was crazy ridiculous.</li>
<li>Late in 2012, we feel God is calling us to move. However, we are still living in our current home. Stepping out on faith (and most people thinking we are totally crazy), we begin to look for a home that will fit our longterm needs. Our desires were: schools, proximity to our jobs, proximity to family, bigger house, smaller payment then we currently have for any future possibilities that a change occurs with one of our jobs.</li>
<li>We know all that is crazy. There is no way to upgrade your house with a smaller payment than your 2005 purchase. Impossible. Well...four houses later...we found "the house" and the wheels are set in motion.</li>
<li>2013--We close (narrowly) on our new house. We had a specific loan under specific circumstances that we were looking at obtaining due to the mortgage payment and down payment. Do you know how close we came to losing that loan? $85. Thankfully, the $85 showed up in an unexpected way!! It sounds crazy because we qualified for many other loans, but if we had any other loan...many things would go UP in our monthly finances. Our entire goal was to have our expenses go DOWN. This is in case one day I could possibly stay home with Micah or in case something happens to C's job. We are very frugal people, and we just like to live on what we make or less. </li>
<li>January 2013--We attend a meeting about a mission trip to South Dakota. I desperately want to go on this trip. In many ways, my heart is still out in the western United States. I spent a couple of summers in Montana, I took a mission trip to Arizona, and I grew up with my parents traveling out west ministering to the people out there. C tells me, "We can't go if we have two houses. The deadline is March 31st. We will pray that God will sell our house by March 31st. If he does, we will go." We start to pray that prayer.</li>
<li>March 2013--We closed on our new home, and we started the major undertaking to list our current home. I'm a nervous wreck about the possibility of TWO mortgage payments, but C is steady as a rock. "God has brought us this far, He's going to sell our house quickly." </li>
<li>March 2013--Home is listed & contract on it within six days. The contract is presented on March 28th--just days before the mission trip deadline.</li>
<li>April 2013 (Lord willing)--We hope to close on our former home four days before our payment on our new home is due.</li>
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God is a God of details.<br />
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Two things I noticed about the last two years--</div>
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1. This time last year we received a letter in the mail stating that C's loans had been paid in full. This happened on the Thursday of Holy Week, the day before Good Friday.</div>
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2. This year, we received word on Thursday of Holy Week, the day before Good Friday, that our house was under contract.</div>
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God is a God of details.<br />
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While pondering all these things throughout this Holy Week, I had some other things going on. One of my friends from <a href="http://www.uu.edu/" target="_blank">college</a>, <a href="http://goteamgray.com/" target="_blank">Will Gray</a>, is very near death in a hospital in LA, California, suffering from cancer that has simply overtaken his body. I have been going back and forth between "Why?" and "Why not?" I'm not really sure why God chooses to do the things He does in this life. Why am I so blessed, but someone else was born an orphan?<br />
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I am praying fervently that Will is not going to die, and I have hope that the Great Physician can heal him. After all, look at all the wonderful things the Lord has done in my own life? I couldn't not have fathomed the blessings He has given me!! Who's to say He won't heal Will?</div>
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I posed this question to my husband as I cried over Will one night this week, and C replied, "I think you have it all wrong. It hurts when we lose someone. However, maybe they are the one truly blessed? God has chosen them to come home first. We are still stuck in a world full of sin. We feel like we are blessed because of our good health, but maybe...just maybe...the person with the worst circumstance in our eyes has the best circumstance of all."</div>
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This Easter, I'm sitting at home because I also ended up in the ER last night with a staph infection. I'm home this morning, but I'm well aware of how many different, difficult situations are going on in the world. I know that I am saved. I know my friend Will is saved. I know Jesus has done incredible things for my family. While I ponder these questions and thoughts this morning, I am still thankful that Jesus died and rose again for me. I'm not quite sure what everything means in this life, but I'm thankful for knowing I am His.<br />
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Happy Easter.<br />
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Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-13327680595464971582013-03-28T07:02:00.005-07:002013-03-28T07:02:56.131-07:00It's an Instagram kind of life. Updates via Instagram.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You look up, and suddenly realize that a week has flown by again! It's gone in an instant. For today's post, I figured I'd just share some Instagram moments from the last week.</div>
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Micah after school one day enjoying his personal recliner, milk, and some <i>Curious George.</i></div>
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It's really hard to see, but to the right of that bird feeder? We saw a bunny rabbit hopping over at my mom's house on Friday night! I have never seen a bunny in the wild. Yes, I am very city-fied.</div>
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We have spent a good bit of time staging our old home in prep for its first weekend on the market. I snapped a few pictures on my phone to show the fruits of our labor. It's been a long two weeks with two houses, but we have had two showings in three days. That encourages me greatly! Let's just hope this house sells quickly.</div>
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My former master bedroom staged for real estate pictures.</div>
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My former living room staged for real estate pictures.<br />
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Here is a PicStitch of our house prepped and ready for sale.</div>
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Speaking of which, we've had three showings in about four days. We got an offer on it today, and we're currently praying through it. We sent a counter back, and we are praying for a response quickly. If so, we'll be closing on this house April 29th.</div>
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Every day, I look back and think, "He looks huge!!" I just thought I'd take a picture of it as I thought it.</div>
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Micah has been very sick again this week with more fever, snotty nose, wheezing, sinus junk. We spent Saturday morning at the doctor's office.</div>
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How big does my boy look here? I promise you, if he weren't holding his bear, I would say he's going on 19.</div>
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My drive to work has been awesome since moving to our new house. I have a ten minute commute (I KNOW!) and my hubs has a 20 minute commute (down from 45+). Our church commute? Wednesday nights it is bumper to bumper then entire measly ten miles. It took me 30 minutes! Oh, well. Not everything in life can be easy.</div>
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Saturday morning after getting the all clear--ahem--from the doctor, we headed to our connection class family Easter meal and egg hunt. Micah was still not acting like himself, but assured he wasn't contagious and it was allergies--we forged on. This year it was really fun to watch him actually understand how to hunt eggs. Here he is finding his first egg with Jaxson.</div>
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Micah & his friend Finn. They are birthday buddies--as in, they are only a couple of weeks apart in age. I met Finn's mama while I was off for a year with Micah.</div>
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Micah loved the sewer for some reason! Haha!</div>
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The Easter egg hunt took place at a really nice mansion like place in East Memphis that a class member had some connections to through her dad. It was an awesome location!</div>
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This is Micah and his little friend Ellie. They are very close in age, and they have a lot of fun playing together! =) This was the best shot that I could get of the two of them together.</div>
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As I suspected, even though we were sent home with "allergies" on Saturday, Micah faded fast at the Easter egg hunt. We decided to go ahead home early, and sure enough...I ended up home with a very sick, feverish child on Tuesday. We watched way, way too much television, spent some time playing in his very bare playroom (to be furnished at some point), and played some in his room. I set up his tent, which he calls his "howse" in the playroom. </div>
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He loved watching the iPad in his howse for a while. He now asked to go in the playroom to see his "howse" all the time. Just imagine his surprise when I open up the rest of his Christmas toys that I have squirreled away. We didn't have any room for all the crazy amounts of toys he received between his birthday and Christmas, and this playroom will be full soon enough.</div>
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Because of the layout of our lot, the best view of the pool is from the side of the house! Haha! The playroom has a fun view of our wooded pool lot.</div>
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Well, that is our week. I've been in deep prayer about a friend of mine from college who is currently fighting for his life against cancer. His name is Will, and he is an incredibly talented musician that I had the chance to spent lots of time with in college. At any rate, will you pray for my friend Will? You can find more about his story <a href="http://www.goteamgray.com/">here. </a></div>
Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-72168470237519271312013-03-25T07:13:00.000-07:002013-03-25T07:13:21.913-07:00Love your neighbors as yourself has never been quite so literal.I figured that this could be a post all by itself, but I have to tell you...our neighbors? What a first week in our house it was! So push up a chair, sit a spell, and listen to an entirely funny story if you have the time. I promise you, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. I wanted to record it so that it's a funny story for over the years of our first week in the house. Check back later this week for a post with some pics covering our weekend.<br />
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We moved into our new home in an established neighborhood outside of Memphis almost three weekends ago. It's an older neighborhood full of trees, varying one and two-story homes, and quiet coves. We were charmed by the walkability of the area to shops, grocery stores, and parks. In two minutes, I can be just about anywhere by car, and most of the shops are about a 2 mile walk from our house. (Sound crazy? Remember, I'm a runner so I don't mind a 1-2 mile walk for some ice cream.) We also fell in love with the respective location to our jobs. It is an older part of town, and it is known for having older people living here. However, younger folks are slowly coming in and revitalizing the neighborhood and renovating the houses back to their former glory. The schools in this area are top notch, so that was a big draw for us.<br />
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At any rate, on the second night we were living in the house, a car pulled up in the cove with an older couple who rolled down their window. In all likelihood, they were trying to be nice, introduce themselves, and welcome us to the neighborhood. However, they went about it in an interesting manner.<br />
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Old couple: Welcome to the neighborhood!<br />
Us: Why thanks!<br />
Old couple: So, are you renting or buying this house?<br />
Us: Um...we bought it.<br />
Old couple: Thank goodness! We are so tired of renters!<br />
Us: Nope, nope, we bought it.<br />
Old couple: Well, welcome to the neighborhood!<br />
Us: Thanks. So more oddities were exchanged between the two of us which also included, but was not limited to:<br />
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Old couple: I'm so glad you got them to do something about that rotten attic window. I've called Mr. F for years as I watched it rot away.<br />
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What I thought, but didn't say:<br />
<i>Seriously? You called a landlord on a rotten window that you didn't own?</i><br />
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Old couple: When you were negotiating, why didn't you have them do anything about all the rotten wood on the outside of the house. I hope you are going to do something about that.<br />
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What I thought, but didn't say:<br />
<i>Seriously? Who are you people, and why are you bugging me about my house?</i><br />
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That was Day 1 of neighbor visits. Day 2 of neighbor visits brought "the neighborhood watchdog" (as quoted by the first couple from the day before) by our home. This is where it gets a bit more bizzarre. "Mildred" (as we will lovingly call her) actually lives two house down from us. However, when I first met Mildred, she was coming out from behind my next door neighbor's backyard into our driveway. <i>Did you read that? She was coming out from behind the backyard of someone else's house.</i> I, of course, thought that she was our next door neighbor. I mean, she was coming <i>out from behind the backyard of our next door neighbor's house!</i> It's totally normal for the neighbor two doors down to appear from the backyard in your driveway from a house that isn't theirs.<br />
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Was I out in my garage? Oh, nope. I was actually with my mother-in-law backing down the driveway in my car trying to leave.<br />
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Apparently, she was on an agenda because she flagged us down. Not just a little wave, but Mildred flagged us down and followed us down the driveway until I got out of the car.<br />
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First, she went on to introduce herself, and she gave us some phone numbers of all the neighbors. (Ok, that's really nice of her. It is.) Then she proceeded to tell me that my recycling can was full of garbage. The city of ______ does not accept garbage in a recycling can. Also, trash day is on Thursdays, and she'd be glad to come help me with my trash. Also, there is a major drainage issue with our driveway that we will probably have to address. She's actually cleaned out the French drain on more than one occasion, but it was up to us now. Also, welcome to the neighborhood! Dealing with Mr. F (the landlord) was quite the task. We are so glad to be rid of him.<br />
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<i>I realize she is trying to be nice, but why do you know what is in my recycling can? Also, why did you come around the neighbor's backyard that isn't even yours to accost me in my driveway as I'm leaving?</i><br />
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Now, if you are still with me and reading this story...bless you. I'm telling you, it gets better. Am I the only one who thinks this is all slightly strange and/or borderline rude??<br />
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Day three of neighbor visits came as our actual next door neighbor (who we'll lovingly call Soldierette) came to the house. She sure did know how to make an entrance because Soldierette didn't wait for us to be out in our yard. No, sir. She came over the day after trash day in the evening, and she rang the doorbell multiple times. Not once, but multiple times.<br />
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When I finally opened up the door (because I'm pretty sure if I don't answer the first time it isn't an invitation to keep reringing my bell), I was greeted with a sour expression.<br />
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Me (holding the door partially open and partially closed so as not to invite her inside): Hello.<br />
Soldierette: Hello. Welcome to the neighborhood. My name is Soldierette, and I live next door.<br />
Me: Nice to meet you!<br />
Soldierette: I'm not really sure if you noticed, but yesterday? Your garbage can was on my grass.<br />
Me: Oh.<br />
Soldierette: In fact, I don't really want to be <b><i><u>that</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> neighbor, but I must tell you that </span><u>technically</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> you were on my property line.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me: Oh. I see.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Soldierette: It has taken me ten years to get the grass to come in, so I really can't have you ruining it.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me: Oh, well, you know...the other side of our driveway is quite a hill, so I wanted our garbage can somewhere flat.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Soldierette: Sometimes the claw from the truck digs up my grass. I want you to put your can on the other side next time.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me: Well, you know, I haven't made any firm decisions on where to place my trashcans, but I will take that under consideration.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Soldierette: Also, did you buy this house?</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me: Yes, we did.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Soldierette: You realize there is still a for sale sign in the front yard.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me: Well, ma'am, I don't really have much to do with the removal of another company's sign. (I'm starting to get really irritated by this point.)</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Soldierette: Oh, I just figured you knew. Also?</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me (with an edge in my voice I'm sure): Yes?</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Soldierette: There is a drainage problem between our driveways.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me: I'm aware.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Soldierette: You'll probably need to fix it.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me: Thank you. We will work on things as we see fit. Thanks for making me aware.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Soldierette: I also want you to know that the renters left their trash cans out where we could all see them. As you know, no one likes to look at another person's garbage. Perhaps you can keep it in the garage?</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me: We have a baby which means diapers. I highly doubt I'll keep the garbage in the garage. We'll make that decision about our trash cans later when we are actually unpacked. Thanks for your opinion, though.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Soldierette: Ok, well...nice to meet you then.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Me: Nice to meet you, too.</span></i></b><br />
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The nerve. Can you believe that? Anyway, it was funny and annoying at the same time.<br />
<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-18293549356008555562013-03-19T07:31:00.000-07:002013-03-20T07:12:40.082-07:00We've moved! Spring break & other updates.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Moving Day, March 9, 2013</div>
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It's now official! We have moved into our new house, and that is why I've been absent in blogland for a while. We spent our entire spring break doing not fun things like moving boxes, unpacking, and prepping our old house to go on the market this Wednesday. We're hopeful it will sell fast, but I'm just not sure. You never know how the real estate market will work. Please pray and think happy, selling thoughts! We signed a contract with a real estate agent yesterday for six months to sell our home. The thought of waiting six months for this house to sell kind of makes my stomach turn, but I know it is all in God's hands.</div>
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We officially moved in on Saturday, March 9th after closing on Thursday, March 7th. Mr. C began packing up the house and moving some boxes that Friday, March 8. We rented a U-Haul for two days over the weekend of March 9-10. It basically killed us trying to get everything done that weekend, but Mr. C wasn't given any time off that he requested (the entire week of my spring break). He got one day off work, so we had to crank it out. Thankfully, we had several friends (George & Stephanie, Gene) and our parents help us. Our sisters both took turns taking care of Micah so he got a lot of cousin time.</div>
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I posted this on Instagram, but I have highly enjoyed spending the evenings out by the pool after Micah went to bed this week. It's almost like having your own fountain or water feature. It is so peaceful! I'm hoping for some nice quiet times pool side. We have a lot of work to do to make it really nice, but the potential is why we bought the place. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kmD_KZXxuU0/UUdKiyvxr4I/AAAAAAAAJi4/8Gcfj4IK2PY/s1600/tvlunchmicah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kmD_KZXxuU0/UUdKiyvxr4I/AAAAAAAAJi4/8Gcfj4IK2PY/s400/tvlunchmicah.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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In addition to several friends helping us move this past week, we have spent most of our spare time in the middle of the week fixing up our old home. There was a lot of painting to do and simple fixes. We basically had to take shifts with Micah while one of us worked on the house. Usually, C slept in the morning, and I worked until Micah's nap time. Graciously several friends kept Micah throughout the week since my mom (aka main childcare) was out of town on business. We're so thankful to Kristy & Beth for taking time to watch our Little Man. Beth took some pictures of Ellie & Micah eating lunch.</div>
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This was my favorite picture of Micah & Ellie. Beth said it looked like they were on a bad teenage date. One on the cell phone while the girl chatted away. =)</div>
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They even had some craft time! So thankful for our sweet friends from our Sunday school class. I'm not sure we could have done much this week without help from friends and family.</div>
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Micah enjoyed the tv when the internet guy finally came so we could have some Netflix. </div>
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I enjoyed some coffee every morning from my little table overlooking the wooded view of our small backyard. I'm lov.ov.ov.ing having the trees around! Other things we are getting used to? </div>
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The constant train whistle in the background at various times.</div>
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The fridge that is stuck in our garage since we can't fit it inside our older home. (Still not sure what we're doing about that.)</div>
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The laundry taking forever to dry since it vents out through the roof of the house instead of directly outside.</div>
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Crazy, old lady neighbors (story to be told on another post).</div>
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Pool maintenance & our lack of knowledge anything pool related.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rMMWkEgjqkk/UUdDv88qcwI/AAAAAAAAJhw/V2C1tmlgJAw/s1600/Micahsclosets.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rMMWkEgjqkk/UUdDv88qcwI/AAAAAAAAJhw/V2C1tmlgJAw/s320/Micahsclosets.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I spent a whole lot of time unpacking at the house. Here's a sneak peek of Micah's <i><u>two</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> closets in his bedroom! One is the "toy closet" and the other is the "clothing closet". Let's just say, Mama is in heaven. Hope he doesn't end up with a sister one day because I'm sure she's going to commandeer this room from him.</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-82PDtnwND94/UUdDwms-97I/AAAAAAAAJh4/2EQ9vkgcwiU/s1600/micahstairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-82PDtnwND94/UUdDwms-97I/AAAAAAAAJh4/2EQ9vkgcwiU/s320/micahstairs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Micah also enjoyed trying to get down the stairs. We have him tripled gated into the upstairs (baby gate on his door, baby gate at the top of the stairs, and baby gate at the bottom of the stairs). It is a crazy amount of baby gates!</div>
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A humongous thank you to my mother-in-law, Renee, my Mama, my sister-in-law ,Courtney, and my sister, Keren, for helping me so much during this process! Each lady has countlessly watched Micah while I got things done alone. We've moved before, but I tell you! Moving with a toddler is a feat in itself. They helped do laundry, clean, pack, unpack, stage my house, move boxes, cook meals, and countless other things. I'm so thankful for them!! Bless my sweet Mom's heart, because she got back from a business trip only to spend her entire weekend helping me stage, prep, and paint my other house. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life!! Love y'all!</div>
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<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-75283149741676333172013-03-04T17:37:00.001-08:002013-03-04T17:37:54.749-08:00Today.I wrote this last Tuesday when I was at my wits end about everything going on right now. I figured I could still post it even if it is--oh, almost the next Tuesday!<br />
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Today (Tuesday) I stayed home from school because I have basically worried myself into a frenzy. I made myself sick. At least, I think I made myself sick, although I could have a very well timed stomach virus that coincided accidentally with everything going on in our lives.<br />
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Today (Tuesday) I am frustrated. I am on my knees waiting for God's every last move. There have been a lot of ups and downs in this house process. I'm just ready for it to be over! This time next week, we'll be preparing to close on our house and move. We got to a point where I was getting comfortable thinking all things are a done deal. My husband said today, "Maybe God is just trying to show us that he's still God. Down to the last minute. Down to the final penny. Down to the very moment of closing. God is a God of details. He still wants us on our knees praying every second even when we feel this is sovereignly ordained by Him."<br />
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What words of wisdom! I love my hubby so much!<br />
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Today I am tired. I am tired because we have so much on our plates right now. There are days that being a working mom is just exhausting. It's so hard to balance work, home, quiet times, husband, and schedules. It's just hard. Some days I love it; other days I hate it. Today is a mixed day.<br />
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Today I look forward with anticipation to the future. I have no idea what it will look like. There is so much ahead of us (potentially) that could go wrong or could go right. We just have to trust God.<br />
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Today (Friday), we have some details on the house that have completely worked themselves out only to be given another list of things to "prove" or "show" or "provide" to the bank. I'm telling you! It's a process buying a house! I'm excited to go look at the house again this afternoon as we do a walk through of work that has been completed.<br />
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Today (the real today--as in, Monday), I'm overwhelmed by the amount of packing that needs to be done. I'm not really sure how it will all get accomplished, but somehow. It will.<br />
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Today I realized there is a fine line between being someone's child's teacher and them being your loan agent. Let's just say one of my parents (of my children in my class) is getting our loan for us. He's been great, but through this process...he's started to see how easily I stress out. I'm not sure I ever want anyone else (other than C & family) to see that side of me. I told him today, "Now you see how I can keep 21 kids on track." He laughed. He probably now thinks I'm officially crazy. He's very nice, though. He even went to one of our banks for us to finish off some documents that I'm having trouble trying to pick up since I work at a late school. Maybe it does pay to teach someone's kid?<br />
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In three days, I'll have the keys to our house. A whole lot of moving later, and a week off from work will finally feel like freedom to me. We started this process so long ago. I'm just ready to be done. =)Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-36909242987221497732013-02-25T18:37:00.000-08:002013-02-25T18:37:00.684-08:00Baptists & bullets.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8-_mdcGGaw0/USwaWFq4lpI/AAAAAAAAJfM/DvFnajqdDEg/s1600/guns1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8-_mdcGGaw0/USwaWFq4lpI/AAAAAAAAJfM/DvFnajqdDEg/s400/guns1.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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In between buying a house, we had to have a little time to blow off some steam. Our Connection Class (Sunday school class) decided to partake of Date Night at our local gun range this past Friday night. How funny is that? Sound crazy? Yes, it does. I've never even shot a gun in my life. It was great fun, though! For under $36 two people could shoot, eat dinner, and have 100 rounds of ammo per person. Let me tell you a secret--the French Dip at the gun range? Best I've ever had! It was an awesome meal. I know you think I'm making it up, but it is true.</div>
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Here's some members from our class from left to right:</div>
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Archie & Brandi, Kristy & Gene, Michael & Kim, us, Brian & April</div>
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We needed some fun because this house? It's going to drive me insane.</div>
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(Literally, I'm going to go insane.)</div>
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(Did I mention, that I'm going to go insane?)<br />(Did you know that as they comb through your bank statements you get to explain everything in ridiculous detail like you never thought possible?)</div>
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(Did you also know that you want to poke your eye out over the toothpaste that you bought?)</div>
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(Ok, it isn't really that bad, but I'm just sick to death of everything coming with this house. At some point, I'm ready to be done.)</div>
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(To next Friday, when we are in a house.)</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YLdLLpmDF6I/USwaWIBxbJI/AAAAAAAAJfQ/y9OX6jNSwzg/s1600/guns2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YLdLLpmDF6I/USwaWIBxbJI/AAAAAAAAJfQ/y9OX6jNSwzg/s640/guns2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anyway, we did have a fun time stepping out of our normal box and doing something completely abnormal for us. Here's a picture of the girls: Brandi, Kristy, Kim, me, & April. I stole this off of Facebook. Thanks, Kristy!</div>
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My sister watched Micah while we loaded our ammo on date night. Thanks, Aunt KerKer! I'm sure he had a wonderful time! </div>
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Mr. C taking aim. It was really cold in there, and we had the whole place to ourselves. How fun is that? </div>
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My turn!! Don't I look like I could hurt you? I had no idea what I was doing, and we borrowed our friends' gun. </div>
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I will say, I have become very interested in guns. Call it the Obama Factor. I'm not sure why, but now that you are telling me I can't have a gun...I want to learn. (Ok, that's not really how things are going, but you get my point.)</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O0_3BgBS-YI/USwapU3IwSI/AAAAAAAAJgA/Yl8DPQNmai0/s1600/IMG_1468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O0_3BgBS-YI/USwapU3IwSI/AAAAAAAAJgA/Yl8DPQNmai0/s400/IMG_1468.jpg" width="298" /> </a></div>
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Of course, we had to pose for our date night photo op complete with head gear and all. </div>
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And just because everything looks better through Instagram.</div>
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Figured I'd throw these shots in, too.</div>
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At any rate, I know that this busy time in our lives is a phase, and we will pass through it soon. I'm hoping that I'll be dancing a jig in my very own new house by next Friday. Until then, I'm going to keep jumping through mortgage hoops and bank hoops and red tape and seller/buyer negotiations and inspection hoops and somehow find some time to pack.</div>
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I have no idea how this will happen. Or if I will survive. I think I will survive.</div>
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Until then, I'll keep yelling at my mother. </div>
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Except, I didn't yell <i>at</i> my mother. However, I was so frustrated today that I did yell <i>at</i> her regarding my frustrations of so many things going on right now. I also yelled <i>at</i> or <i>around</i> my father, too.</div>
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Isn't it nice to know that you have family who lets you yell <i>at</i> or <i>around</i> them without being the least bit offended? Have you ever been that frustrated?</div>
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Nope? Just me?</div>
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At any rate, if I don't see you in the blog world, I'll see you sooner rather than later. =) </div>
<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-7046505334358715782013-02-19T10:43:00.002-08:002013-02-19T10:43:34.741-08:00Think fence. Another house update.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5wobNfQuR0w/USOkx3RWJXI/AAAAAAAAJco/gfEa2pVxEEs/s1600/den+to+back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5wobNfQuR0w/USOkx3RWJXI/AAAAAAAAJco/gfEa2pVxEEs/s400/den+to+back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Are you ready? This is what I call "House Tour 2013" at the new Casa Confident.</div>
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I'm just going to be honest. I'm not going to blog very much until we move. I know that you 23 big readers of mine are on the edge of your seat, and this possibly saddens you. However, I am about to lose my mind with all that is going on. Every weekend is spent meeting the agent or an inspector or bank loan person. It's a bit overwhelming, there is no time to breathe, and we are about to be juggling two houses. I'm sure you can relate. Plus work. Plus pack. Plus raise a child. Plus go to church. </div>
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Anyway, I'll just hush and start the home tour. My realtor took these pictures for me with her camera the other day while we had the inspection. They are in some random order, so I do apologize.</div>
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Above, you'll see our new den/family room area. Nice and updated complete with laminate flooring and old school built-ins. I love the built ins. I hate the wood burning stove, but we can fix that over time. You'll see the double doors? Those lead out to the backyard and the pool.</div>
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This is another view of the den/family room looking towards the front of the house. If you go to the left, you are in the entryway.</div>
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Bad picture of the kitchen, but you can see it has been moderately updated with nice, crisp painted cabinets.</div>
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This is the (very) tiny half bath downstairs, but it does have Corian countertops which is an improvement from the upstairs bathrooms.</div>
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This is my favorite space in the whole house. I love the updates and the character! You're looking at the dining room which leads into a formal living room. The formal living room will be my music room. I plan to take up teaching piano lessons again in the front of the house.</div>
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This is the "music room" leading into the formal dining room.</div>
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Yet another view of the kitchen. The kitchen is HUGE by all the standards of all the homes we viewed. Most of the homes had galley kitchens. We were so excited to see this wonderful kitchen! Add a granite countertop and a nicer backsplash--it will sizzle one day for minimum investment.</div>
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At some point in time, I'd love to knock that wall down to have an open entry into the den for better flow. Or perhaps a half wall with a bar area for when people come over? The door to the left leads into the laundry room/half bath.</div>
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There's my "pantry" of cabinets. I'm going to miss my actual closet pantry, but this probably has more space. I'm also super excited about the double ovens and drawers for my pots and pans instead of cabinets!</div>
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This is the formal entry after you step in the front door. It looks into the "music room" and the dining room.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dJfwWfa8StA/USOk0nVSORI/AAAAAAAAJdU/bbEZwbBXnKE/s1600/laundry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dJfwWfa8StA/USOk0nVSORI/AAAAAAAAJdU/bbEZwbBXnKE/s400/laundry.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Oh, I'm so excited to have an actual laundry room!! This is a special treat for me because of the laundry closet that I now have. The door you see on the left goes into the half bath. The shelf you see on the top right hand side is actually above your head (if you were taking the picture). It's a wall that is completely empty. There is currently one shelf. I have plans to put in a wall of shelves to become our "pantry" since we don't currently have one.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oJux4MfA-2o/USOk1YZ2eTI/AAAAAAAAJdg/yYJU3ifAdqM/s1600/master+bath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oJux4MfA-2o/USOk1YZ2eTI/AAAAAAAAJdg/yYJU3ifAdqM/s400/master+bath.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This would be our master bathroom. Not very impressive, but we're ok with that. We're just happy to have TWO sinks! As my husband said, we can knock that wall down later to make it more open. At some point, we'd love to add a soaker or jacuzi tub. A girl can dream, but I know it won't be for a really, really long time! Ha!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6me7X6WnXno/USOk2BJNnLI/AAAAAAAAJdk/SNYYpOaMEoo/s1600/master+bedroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6me7X6WnXno/USOk2BJNnLI/AAAAAAAAJdk/SNYYpOaMEoo/s400/master+bedroom.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's the master bedroom located on the back of the house. Praise the Lord for a master on the back of the house! It's upstairs, but I'm excited about that, too. Especially since our house was almost broken into while I was sleeping in my bed. I'm excited about being upstairs.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jS9NO7pP9fc/USOk1q29GVI/AAAAAAAAJds/BiR3SemCJFk/s1600/living+to+dining.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jS9NO7pP9fc/USOk1q29GVI/AAAAAAAAJds/BiR3SemCJFk/s400/living+to+dining.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Another view of the music room and dining room. I like how it is a very open floor plan for being built in the 80s.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ekQdBtNh2Y/USOk0GUTpAI/AAAAAAAAJdw/Nymvoi_K5KQ/s1600/kitchen+to+stove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ekQdBtNh2Y/USOk0GUTpAI/AAAAAAAAJdw/Nymvoi_K5KQ/s400/kitchen+to+stove.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is the best picture to show you the actual size of the kitchen except my husband is in the way and so is the inspector. At any rate, you can see, there is a lot of room for gathering around while I cook. What am I saying? While Mr. C cooks! Haha!</div>
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Anyway, there have been many different roadblocks as we have moved towards buying another home. We have prayed specifically for wide open doors to walk through for the house the Lord had for us. Basically, everything on this house (after three prior homes) has been wide open! I can't even begin to describe all the perfect details the Lord has worked out. At any rate, one of our last hurdles is the actual repairs on the home inspection. We're praying that they will fix the fence. It need some major repair that would cost us a lot. So if you are praying for us this week, pray specifically that the fence will be repaired! =)</div>
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Hope you are having a great week!</div>
Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-25000516098657999612013-02-09T08:07:00.001-08:002013-02-09T08:07:44.810-08:00Our life is just plain crazy right now!I realize I need to take some more actual pictures of Micah, our family, and what we are doing. But honestly? What we are doing is living! We are so busy, and I can't seem to keep up with it all let alone take a picture.<br />
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One of the main reasons for this is that we are in "house world" right now. Those of you who have ever bought a house--much less possibly buying a second house while you list your first house after buying the second house--realize how incredibly insane it can be. We're dealing with two realtors, the owners of the house, trying to get our house ready, our mortgage broker, an appraiser, a pool inspector, and an inspector. I'm quite possibly going to lose my mind. So I'm in denial today and spending part of my Saturday morning letting Micah watch Mickey Mouse while I write a blog post.<br />
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We meet with our mortgage guy today at Perkins. How funny is that? He's actually a parent of mine from my school. I currently teach his precious son in my class. He's been an awesome mortgage guy, and it probably doesn't hurt that they love their second grade son's teacher (that'd be me). You get some special VIP treatment then. Who says that being a teacher doesn't pay off? Haha!<br />
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This week was also conference week. Yes, I said week. It was supposed to be just conference night. But if you are like me, you end up having so many conferences that they are spread out over the course of three mornings before school, a planning period, and then the actual conference night itself. I'm exhausted. The house is falling apart, and I'm actually liking the fact that we will be listing our house after we actually move out. That means:<br />
1. I don't have to deal with cleaning it constantly while working and keeping up with a toddler.<br />
2. I don't have to worry about our dogs annoying anyone or trying to hide the fact we have dogs.<br />
3. People won't wake my husband every time they want to see the house during the day randomly.<br />
4. I already have a place to live.<br />
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Yesterday was inservice day, and I ended up in the ER all day. Not because I was actually in the ER, but a fellow colleague went to lunch with us and almost had a heart attack. It was quite eventful calling your principal and telling her a car load of teachers were headed to the ER after a crazy lunch! You can imagine, I didn't mind missing all the meetings, but it was quite scary! (As far as I know, she's ok but her potassium levels just dropped dramatically.)<br />
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So there you go. Our week. Without pictures. I'll try to do better and actually take some this weekend. =)Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-54954009837049963662013-02-04T16:21:00.003-08:002013-02-04T16:21:44.711-08:00House hunting is not near as fun as they make it look on House Hunters.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, the great house search continues, and it has been a bit comical. We did put a third offer in on a third house, but the owners were extremely stubborn. I can understand that, but don't tell me you are "motivated" to sell your house when you aren't. They would only budge five thousand dollars, offered to sell us their fridge (that was sitting in their empty home--mind you) instead of include it in the house, and would not pay closing costs. Needless to say, when we got the counter offer, we walked away. Amazing what happens when you walk away in this market, they always call your right back! (Well, two out of the two offers we walked away from have called us back. "Oh! Our bottom line is x amount. If you can do x amount, we'll be ready to deal with you guys."</div>
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Um, no. Come to find out these people have actually listed their house three other times at ridiculously high prices. Apparently, they aren't really willing to sell it for what it is worth since no one else apparently has bought it the three other times either.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Squ9kI1Pcfo/UQ6GkJfdnoI/AAAAAAAAJas/9IUj4AnJiQQ/s1600/house1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Squ9kI1Pcfo/UQ6GkJfdnoI/AAAAAAAAJas/9IUj4AnJiQQ/s640/house1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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That's when we moved onto this house above. It's the most beautiful home we have seen. How cute is that lot and this house? It's actually dropped into our price range! It's not on a main street! (So many in our price range are on main streets.) It's immaculate on the inside of the house! Oh, it is so pretty, but the hubs was not thrilled with the lot. See that hill? He dreads hills after living on a hill for so many years. In fact, we saw it on Thursday. I knew it had the potential to be "the house" for us to call our longterm home. It's actually my favorite of all the houses so far. It's true that something better will come around. Anyway, I couldn't talk C into it because of the yard. (It is on the small side with a pool.) Still, we went back out on Saturday looking at houses, and I put it on the list again. I told the realtor, "If I can just get him to look at it one more time, then maybe..."</div>
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See, I know my husband.</div>
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It has to be his decision.</div>
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If it isn't his decision, I'll live with some major fights about it later.</div>
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Eight years of marriage will teach you this.</div>
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So instead of coaxing him into it or nagging him, I just said, "Let's go see it one more time."</div>
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"Why? I don't like the yard."</div>
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"I know," I said, "But it was the nicest house of all."</div>
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"Ugh! Leah, gosh. We just saw it, but if you want to waste her time to see it again. Let's go see it."</div>
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I started smiling because after we came in, he looked around again, and his "light switch" (as I call it) went on. He said, "Let's do this! Let's make an offer."</div>
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So. We did. Again. House #4.</div>
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What I love about this house is the kitchen. It's actually a big space. So many kitchens we have seen in these older homes have been nightmares and galley kitchens. I have a galley kitchen, but you'd think you could upgrade and get one if you move up in a house? Not so if you are buying a home in an older part of town. We have seen some great modern floor plans and kitchens in the new parts of town. Our problem is proximity to our jobs & church. Our church is nowhere near our jobs, but we don't want to leave it. Our jobs are nowhere near our house. We spend so much money in gas each month, it is ridiculous. That being said, we're trying to find a house in good condition with modern amenities in our very limited price range.</div>
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I'm trying (again) not to get attached to this house. I'm really excited about this one, though. It is my absolute favorite one. Don't you love the built-ins next to the fireplace? You don't get that kind of charm in a new house. =)</div>
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This is the formal dining room and formal living room. Basically, it will be my "piano" room with hope of starting up a piano teaching business again in the near future.</div>
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Love the wood floors, the details on the walls, and the awesome chandelier!</div>
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This is upstairs, and it would be Micah's playroom.</div>
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And here it is. The reason we almost didn't even make an offer on this house. A pool. I'm still not exactly sure what we think about the pool, although it is in working order complete with a two-year old liner. Our plan is to ultimately save up enough to have the pool filled in over the course of the next few years so we don't have to deal with it.</div>
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I'm hesitant to even post another blog on another house we've looked at. It's all part of our journey, and I want to remember it.We found out at noon today that they countered us the EXACT NUMBER we said we needed and prayed for. Our mortgage isn't really going to change much, so we are basically making a lateral move. Hopefully, we'll have ours listed by the end of February so we can get it sold as soon as possible. Pray for God's will to be done. Everything seems to be a "go" on every end. We just have to go through inspection & appraisal. If all works out, we'll be new owners by mid-March.</div>
Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-70034090103910140802013-01-30T18:16:00.001-08:002013-01-30T18:16:13.527-08:00Two for the price of none?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, my friends. It has been a day! Whew! We officially lost two houses today, and I'm still not sure what exactly happened. I'm numb, and I'm upset. I'll be ok, but I'm kind of ready to decide and move. It's all about God, and not about me so I guess I have to get over it.</div>
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I started an online Bible study <i>Jonah: Navigating Life's Interruptions</i> through my blog/Twitter friend, Rikki. I think I really need this Bible study right now, but I wasn't really expecting it to fit into my life quite so quickly!</div>
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Let's go back to House #1, shall we? When we last left off, the flood plain had come back not in our favor. So we walked away. Except the owners basically came begging us to by her anyway. There are lots of details involved, and we started to dream. Again. For a second. A tiny millisecond. Then by Tuesday they were talking about raising the foundation two inches, and I went...What? Are you guys crazy? I'm not buying a house that they are trying to jack up the slab.</div>
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Yes, I meant that literally and figuratively.</div>
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Fast forward to what else was going on in the background. We went Monday afternoon to look at House #2 since talk of jacking up foundations was running a bit rampant. We saw this house months ago when we found House #1. Only now, House #2 had been drastically reduced. Let's just say, she was a steal. However, she was sitting on a main four lane road. So, we went to see her on Monday (still waiting on additional answers from House #1) to reconsider our opinions of four lane roads, and the price was just right. We looked into all kind of things about House #2 and made the decision yesterday to go forward despite the busy street. Today, we were set to present an offer, and my real estate agent was all in "go" mode when she called me at 10 AM. We are three hours late, a deal has already been signed.</div>
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So somehow in the past twenty-four hours we have lost not one but two houses.</div>
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I have cried just a bit today. I'm not going to lie.</div>
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Tomorrow we are going to see two more houses. I'm going to keep praying for obvious answers from the Lord. It's pretty clear that he is closing lots of doors left and right. Hopefully, the correct door will come along soon. We also saw this house on Sunday, and it is on our list. Currently, we're researching more information regarding it. Maybe that is part of our problem? Too much research not enough jumping? However, if you knew all that we know about bad house deals now--you'd probably be slow, too.</div>
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In addition, my day included one screaming (literally) child, one child who cried for thirty minutes, two stray dogs who tried to attack me at school, one child who we almost left in the room because he was hiding behind a chair, and a partridge in a pear tree.</div>
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Excuse me while I go lie down.</div>
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Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-39348407359766302222013-01-28T09:43:00.001-08:002013-01-28T09:43:27.356-08:00When God saves you by two inches.You may remember that we have put a contract on another house back in November. Yes, I said November. Yes, I am well aware that it is now almost February. This house came upon us as we've been looking for a slightly larger home closer to our jobs. I'm spending five plus hours in the car each week driving to and from work. That doesn't even include the nights I have to stay at work for PTA meetings, Parent Teacher Conferences, etc. I can't even come home on those nights. I work at a late school which means most days I don't get home until 5:00 or 5:15. Micah goes to bed around 7 PM, so you do the math of how much time I'm getting with my baby. It's quite depressing, actually.<br />
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The lovely house that came on the market is in an ideal location for my husband & I, and it is also located one mile from my parents. I think I'll let you see why that is just another awesome reason to live there. The price was right, and the payment per month was right in the range we're in now. Thanks to low interest rates, we were going to have plenty of living space without upping our budget one bit. Add the cost savings in gas alone, and we're talking mega savings in our budget.<br />
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Anyway, the story is really, really long, but the house is in a flood plain. In fact, most of the street is in the flood plain, but over the years many house have been taken out of the flood plain. In order to do this process, you hire a surveyor (paid for by the seller) and then mail the results off to petition FEMA to have the house removed from the flood plain. The surveyor was cautiously optimistic that it would work out, but he warned us that working with FEMA could be a long process.<br />
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<b><i><u>BOY WAS IT EVER!</u></i></b><br />
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However, we received the results from FEMA this week. We were shocked to find out that the house is not in the flood plain. The land is not in the flood plain. Instead, the front corner of the garage is two inches into the flood plain. Therefore, the whole house needs flood insurance to the tune of a whole lot of money each year!!!<br />
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At first, I was devastated. I wanted this house. I had attached myself to this house, and I had started thinking about it. I prayed every night (as did Mr. C) for clarity and a clear answer from the Lord. I do not want anything that the Lord does not want me to have. I don't want to get ahead of him and muddle life with my below average human intelligence and view of this life.<br />
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At work on Friday, my friend said, "Leah, looks like God saved you by two inches! That's such a God thing to do, isn't it? Sometimes he speaks loudly & sometimes he speaks boldly & sometimes he speaks by two inches."<br />
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It hit me like a ton of bricks. How many times in my life (looking back) have I seen how the Lord saved me by a metaphorical two inches? I can honestly think of several situations where this has happened to me, and I am just so thankful for those two inches!! Has God ever saved you by two inches?Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-17605378327629772692013-01-22T20:25:00.000-08:002013-01-22T20:25:32.089-08:00A little of this. A little of that. A whole lot of random.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I tell you that since I have discovered coffee, my life has changed in a drastic way. I enjoy it so very much, and I'm sad to say I've missed out on it all these years. Many mornings, you might just find me curled up with my coffee and my Strawberry Shortcake pajamas.</div>
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Ok, this picture was taken on a Saturday since on a Monday, I'm probably rushing out the door with my coffee in one hand dragging a toddler with the other. And sometimes, just sometimes...you might find my coffee in a Central BBQ cup since that is where the coffee should go instead of a mug.</div>
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(Even though my best friend Sara bought me coffee mugs for Christmas, and I use them. I do. But somehow, it still will end up in a Central BBQ plastic cup. What's wrong with me?)</div>
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So how are you guys out in bloggy land? I'm sure I've lost more of you again with my crazy posting schedule or lack of pictures. However, if your life is like my life....your kitchen probably stays looking like this?</div>
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Actually, these pictures were taken to prove to my WONDERFUL husband that he does tend to leave his ingredients all over my countertops. He's the cook in the family which is the most wonderful thing ever because I never have to cook. Yes, ladies. I'm that lucky girl who met that guy who actually likes to cook. So I clean. That's the deal. However, we've had a talk about how depressing it is to have a clean kitchen but come home to this despite how I'll do the dishes.</div>
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Dishes does not equal...well, this. </div>
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So we laughed about it, and I told him I'd take a picture to prove it.</div>
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We've had a random week around here. I have tons of completely unrelated pictures to document the randomness. You have been warned. As if pictures of coffee cups in plastic reusable barbecue joint cups and pictures of countertops are not enough to get this post going!</div>
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I found some more TV on Netflix to watch. I'm always laughing because I refuse to pay for cable. Instead, we pay $8 a month, and I'm forced to find new shows on Netflix to watch. It's a fun game.</div>
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Thanks to Netflix, I've watched <i>Sons of Anarchy</i>, <i>Parenthood, How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement, </i> and <i>Oddities.</i> Now I'm onto <i>Gossip Girl.</i></div>
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I took Micah to the doctor's office for his two-year check up. It's so hard for me to believe that he's already two-years old! Let me just say that trying to get a picture of him was difficult.</div>
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First, he wanted to wash his hands.</div>
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His other favorite past time was digging through my purse.</div>
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He finally looked at me, so at least I can remember what two-year-old Micah looks like!</div>
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Then he took my phone to take some pictures. Here's his first masterpiece. I call it Step Stool.</div>
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He's so busy! He loved crawling all over the table while we waited for his doctor.</div>
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I can't even remember why he made this face! </div>
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What a little monkey! He's so full of drama and personality these days. This was his, "No tamera, Mommy!" (No camera, Mommy!) </div>
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At some point along the way, he took this photo. I have no idea what it is, but it is kind of cool!</div>
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We spent this weekend vegging out, enjoying our extra day off, spending time with friends, and tackling our ever growing to do list on the house. We are <b><i><u>still</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> (yes, still) waiting on news about the house we put an offer on back in November. Many hoops later, we still have no definitive answer. I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to become very frustrated over the "yes" or "no" of this whole house debacle. Since we may (or may not) be renting out our current house or we may (or may not) be listing our current house...we have a lot of freshening up to do.</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">It's hard to get stuff done around here when somebody (Mr. C) is always asleep and the other somebody (me) is at work during the day. Thankfully, we both had Monday off together, and we were all awake! I'd like to say that we thoughtfully pondered MLK, but honestly...I was in house mode. I forgot all about the Inauguration and the MLK day part. I'm a bad teacher, but we accomplished a lot including installing locks on our doors, caulking the bathtubs, and painting around the house.</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Micah decided he wanted to "help" us paint. So as I taped off our front door, he taped off the entertainment center door. </span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">I only got as far as priming the door with two coats, but I'm hoping to paint it a lovely navy blue at some point this week. </span></i></b></div>
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See? It's actually looking better already even if it is just a primer. I can't wait to see it when it's done.</div>
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Also on the list? New kitchen countertops (for buyers not renters depending on the house situation), painting indoor trim around the house, painting the other two doors (garage and back), and working on the gutters in the backyard. Doesn't that sound like something you want to do?</div>
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So that's where we're at over the last week or so. Add in some sickness, a broken down car, keys left behind, computers left at home, and you've got our crazy life. I knew this post would be random, but man! I'm all over the place. Hope you are doing well!</div>
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<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-20254672443485177522013-01-17T03:37:00.000-08:002013-01-17T03:37:15.310-08:00Inclement weather day.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's been quite the week around here including an inclement weather day. I'd call it a snow day, but let's face it...not much happened much to my chagrin.</div>
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Now there is a word you don't use that often. Chagrin: a feeling of annoyance caused by disappointment or a disconcerting event.</div>
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Anywho. Back to the inclement weather day. The local Memphis weathermen were going on and on about this "weather event" that would cause mass chaos similar to the ice storm from the 90s! Beware! Beeeewaaaarrrre!</div>
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<i>:Insert ridiculous laughter:</i></div>
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All those silly weathermen do is get my hopes up that I will be off of work while simultaneously winding up every child in the city convincing them <b><i><u>there will be snow and no school</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">. Only, it is almost always a big fat hoax. Bless their hearts.</span></i></b></div>
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We did get out a half day on Tuesday, but that was it. I was thankful for my half day, and I had a doctor's appointment for Micah today anyway. So off to work I went for a half day today followed by </div>
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an afternoon with Dr. O. I could get used to working part-time. Is there anyway to be a part-time teacher?? Heh.Heh.</div>
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I'm not really sure what to think of this week in general. I'm still getting used to my student teacher being in my room every day. She was there only two days last semester. I'm so thankful for her help because this year has been rough on the teachers. Changes are coming swift and crazy in the education world. I love having an "assistant" to help me with all my stuff. What I'm worried about is the transitioning from her "assistant" role to being the "teacher" full time in a few weeks while I assist her. Eek! I have a way, way hard time giving up complete control of my classroom. I'm working through it.</div>
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I'm also working on my content word. It's a very hard word, isn't it? On the accountability front, I have limited my eating out staying content to eat what was in our fridge. Even if that meant hotdogs for dinner tonight. I've resisted the urge to buy any of the new cute clothes on my favorite internet boutique--Hazel & Olive. I'm also trying to retrain my thoughts from some negative ridiculousness to happyland. This is so hard for me! Why do I think about the negative all the time? It is <i>not</i> Christlike at all! This week I've been struggling with working again. Ok, I go back and forth on this topic, as you have seen on the blog, but there are days I think being a SAHM would be easier. I know it isn't easier. No grass is ever greener. That's just common sense and the truth. So I'm continuing to pray myself into contentment, but that is why I chose the word.</div>
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Have a great rest of your week!</div>
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<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-34579360455929402952013-01-10T20:21:00.001-08:002013-01-10T20:21:47.524-08:00The post where I feel like I should blog.I haven't updated too much since the massive overload of Christmas pictures last week, but I kind of feel like I should blog.<br />
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Life has been one hectic to do list this week, and I hate weeks that feel like that. It started out with a Lysa TerKeurst event at a local church on Monday evening. I went with some girlfriends from my Sunday school class, and I highly enjoyed her topic from the book she wrote called <i>Unglued.</i> I feel I live a bit too much of my life in that emotional state, so I bought the book. Now I'm reading it. It's been really great so far.<br />
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The majority of the week has been awesome, but today just was not the most fantastic day. I cut open my finger in the cafeteria (sounds worse than it is). One of the students in my class cried pretty much the whole entire day. (Don't worry, I got in touch with her mom. I didn't just let a seven year old sit there and cry all day. Mom wanted her to stay. Tough love.) We had a faculty meeting where we discussed emergency procedures should someone try to shoot up the place. <u><i><b>Then a school shooting happened again</b></i></u>. Seriously?!? What is wrong with this world! (I mean, I know it is the lack of Jesus and all...but my goodness!) I got the results of a student survey back. That's a whole other topic for another day. I've been adjusting (and mostly loving) to life with my student teacher who is there full time this semester. (Can you say--I finally can go to the bathroom for 3 minutes without worrying if Johnny is hitting Susie? It's heaven to have help & another adult in my room!)<br />
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Tonight I took M over to my sister's house to play with Ebin while I went out to dinner with some gal pals. It seems as if I've had a lot of gal time this week doesn't it? Yeah, it isn't usually this way...but it all fell on the same week. I'm kind of tired. Glad tomorrow is Friday. <br />
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We also still know nothing on the house. The longer this draws out, the more I'm praying for a definite "NO" from the Lord or "YES" from the Lord. Give us a clear sign. Hopefully, this door will either be opened or shut by next Friday. How was your week?Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-37861037041896752242013-01-05T11:05:00.001-08:002013-01-05T20:46:34.784-08:002013 New Year's Word. Contentment.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In trying to decide upon a New Year's resolution, I thought I'd lean more towards the use of one word. I don't want to make a list of things I will accomplish. That can be very overwhelming to me. I mean, I want to accomplish most of those things that everyone does each year:</div>
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1. More time with Jesus.</div>
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2. More time reading.</div>
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3. Get healthy.</div>
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4. Continue to run more.</div>
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In fact, last year I made some resolutions to take care of my health. I started running. I'd say I did a pretty good job of resolution-ing.<br />
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However, this quote above struck me. "Make it simple, but significant." </div>
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Lots of my friends are writing about a word they would like to focus on, and I really love that idea. What would be the one word that could make a significant impact on my life if I focused on it instead of a list?? So while trying to think of a word that could also tie into my spirituality and relationship with Jesus as well as my health goals, I thought of "contentment" or just "content."</div>
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Why contentment? Well, honestly? I struggle with contentment. I mean, I look over at what others have a whole lot. It may be their "stay at home" mom status that I sometimes envy. It may be that new car they just added when we're driving cars from the 90s. How about a hundred vacations a year they take? Or maybe I'm unhappy with the circumstances of our marriage arrangement. (That would be scheduling issues with our jobs not our actual marriage. I get so jealous of people who can have all this fun on the weekend while my husband sleeps it away out of his lack of sleep from most of the week.) All of this envy is ridiculous. I need to learn some contentment pronto!</div>
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Here's a Bible verse to back up my choice of word for this year.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span></div>
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Philippians 4:11-12</i></span></span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>New American Standard Bible (NASB)</i></span></div>
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<span class="text Phil-4-11" id="en-NASB-29454"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>11 </i></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Not that I speak </i></span><sup class="footnote" style="font-size: 0.65em; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top;" value="[<a href="#fen-NASB-29454a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>[</i></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A11-12&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29454a" style="color: #651300; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top;" title="See footnote a"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>a</i></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>]</i></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>from want, for I have learned to be </i></span><sup class="footnote" style="font-size: 0.65em; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top;" value="[<a href="#fen-NASB-29454b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>[</i></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A11-12&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29454b" style="color: #651300; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top;" title="See footnote b"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>b</i></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>]</i></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NASB-29454A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup>content in whatever circumstances I am.</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i> </i></span><span class="text Phil-4-12" id="en-NASB-29455"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>12 </i></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NASB-29455B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup>hungry, both of having abundance and <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NASB-29455C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup>suffering need.</i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What I like most about this translation is the, "I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity."</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That strikes me because we have had BOTH in our short marriage of eight years. Honestly, we've had some feast and famine financially, so I understand that language. It touches me. The verses continue with "in any and every circumstance." WOW. Can I really say that I am content in any AND every circumstance?</span></span></div>
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Not only is a resolution around the word contentment a resolution, but it should be a lifestyle. Christ died for me. He knows exactly what He is given me. It is extremely sinful to doubt this in any form or fashion. Life doesn't revolve around me, my circumstances, or how I feel about the little things in life.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fBaC_vjb-QM/UOh0mZ1S4OI/AAAAAAAAJSo/1ls4f-FP0mo/s1600/contentment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fBaC_vjb-QM/UOh0mZ1S4OI/AAAAAAAAJSo/1ls4f-FP0mo/s400/contentment.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I don't think I can say that. This year I've become obsessed with these blogs about less, getting rid of stuff, purging, and cleaning out. I also know that I don't want Micah raised thinking the world revolves around him. However, do I demonstrate this? Sometimes I act like the world revolves around me! (See the definitely NOT Biblical quote, but still a hilarious statement above. It also has a massive typo on the "I'm", but I'll get over it.)</div>
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Contentment is not in my life. It just isn't. Not the way I want it to be. I'm worried about my weight, my looks, my house, my clothes, my job, etc. I have to force myself to say something I'm thankful for every day. I'm just being brutally honest here. My blessings are bountiful, but I don't take time to look at that big picture. I get too obsessed over something like how I look in a certain dress to being CONTENT that I'm even alive to wear the dress. Is that crazy? Yes, it is. However, I know myself, and I lean on the pessimist side of life. So instead of making a long list of 5 million things I want to change about myself this year.</div>
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I decided to start with one word. Content. I want to be content about everything. My clothes. My job. My family. My circumstances. My house. My health. My family's health. I want to intentionally focus on contentment and stop WHINING about things that don't go my way. That's just my natural personality and tendency. I often veil it in sarcasm, but let's be honest. Sarcasm is just an excuse to say what you really feel deep in your heart, but call it a joke. My heart check up is not exactly where I know it should be so I'm confessing my sin. Then I'm making it a new goal to be obedient to Christ's command to be content in ANY AND EVERY circumstance.</div>
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Happy New Year! Here's to a year of CONTENTMENT in 2013!</div>
Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-36808227254113165282013-01-04T01:00:00.000-08:002013-01-04T01:00:06.303-08:00New Year's Eve & New Year's Day.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3K3TSEE39N8/UOOTTUkSajI/AAAAAAAAJQk/_MsDBnoL0YQ/s1600/IMG_1423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3K3TSEE39N8/UOOTTUkSajI/AAAAAAAAJQk/_MsDBnoL0YQ/s400/IMG_1423.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div>
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New Year's Eve came, and we <u><i>always</i></u> go out somewhere. I don't care where we go, but it is our engage-a-versary so we must do something to mark the day. Yes, Mr. C proposed on New Year's Eve nine years ago stating, "I don't want to start another year without you as my wife." How sweet! I can't believe it has been nine years since that magical night. =)</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SC-fmJcUcqM/UOOTUdm8C_I/AAAAAAAAJQs/rfLwFzwzu8s/s1600/IMG_1424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SC-fmJcUcqM/UOOTUdm8C_I/AAAAAAAAJQs/rfLwFzwzu8s/s400/IMG_1424.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div>
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I got a new dress (like I do every year), and we headed out for a date night without Micah. We rarely get to do this (again--our crazy schedules), so it was much needed. The past several years our date night is just hanging out with friends at a party thrown by George & Stephanie in east Memphis. We did the same low key thing this year, but it was still fun to have a night without worrying about Little Man. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xoL4d1C3gqI/UOOTVqorTlI/AAAAAAAAJQ0/63H7oJPKWsw/s1600/IMG_1425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xoL4d1C3gqI/UOOTVqorTlI/AAAAAAAAJQ0/63H7oJPKWsw/s400/IMG_1425.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div>
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The weather was horrible, and we saw LOTS of wrecks on our way home around 1 AM. </div>
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New Year's morning, my sweetie got up and cooked some breakfast for me! My favorite--cinnamon French toast! =) </div>
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We then decided to head to the gym together for a morning date. We're strange, but we work out at a cheap gym. There is no childcare, so we never get to workout together anymore due to our schedules. This was a fun little splurge for us. </div>
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I got in almost three miles on the elliptical, and it felt so great to be back at the gym again. Afterwards, we went to go get Micah so I could enjoy the rest of my final day off hanging out with him.</div>
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Here's our PicStitch NYE/NYD nutshell. </div>
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Happy New Year's Day! Ready or not, 2013...here we go!</div>
<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-19846842157549259292013-01-03T01:00:00.000-08:002013-01-03T01:00:00.804-08:00An almost white Christmas.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X-8UjAQON2Y/UOOQfxrt_9I/AAAAAAAAJN4/Hoy-M7is1Ik/s1600/DSC_0117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X-8UjAQON2Y/UOOQfxrt_9I/AAAAAAAAJN4/Hoy-M7is1Ik/s400/DSC_0117.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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So we had a snow day immediately following Christmas, and somebody had a FIT about wearing all this clothing to go outside.</div>
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The day after Christmas and the after Christmas tornado had hit our
home. I was in deep cleaning mode before returning to work, and it had
snowed! I knew I would forever regret not taking Micah out for a "white
Christmas" (even if it was the day after) shot. I gave in, bundled him
up, and we headed outside to see his reaction to the white stuff while
his Daddy was at work. Here are the pictures from the "good camera" I took of him in the snow.</div>
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Moving onto the cell phone pictures of him in the snow...</div>
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I'm not really sure what I expected, but he kind of just stood there looking at me saying, "What's that? What's that?"</div>
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Finally, he decided to venture up and down the hill in the snow, but I didn't have gloves for him. So our stay outside was very, very brief!</div>
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You have to love a cell phone pick of myself to show that I was, indeed, there with him outside. </div>
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Love PicStitch. Do you have that app? So fun to upload and make a collage of photos right on my phone. </div>
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I spent the rest of the day turning Micah's nursery into his "big boy room" instead. We're not quite ready to let him sleep sans crib, but I did bring all his toys from the living room into his bedroom. As you can see, I got rid of a lot of baby stuff that was still hanging around. </div>
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I brought in his toy organizer from the living room and filled it with all his new goodies. </div>
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We added his new kitchen underneath his woodland creatures quilt. I moved his rocking chair back to make some much needed floor space. </div>
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I finally (sniff sniff) emptied all his baby baskets to fill up his bookcase (my bookcase from childhood) with all his favorite books. </div>
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I moved his dresser/changing table from one side of the room to the other. I ended up covering up his tree, but I had to have a new arrangement so his toy storage could fit. </div>
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I always feel so much better when I finally get an area cleaned up! </div>
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My favorite idea? Toy storage in his dresser drawers! </div>
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I arranged his clothing so it mostly fits in his closet so I could use the dresser like a toy chest. This keeps unsightly trucks up out of the floor and our sight when they aren't being used.</div>
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<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-67976665459305285382013-01-02T01:00:00.000-08:002013-01-02T01:00:07.080-08:00Christmas Day. Christmas #3.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Christmas Day is quite the busy, busy day for us. We start our morning off at home with Micah followed by a jaunt down to Mississippi to see Mr. C's family. Afterwards, we climb back into the Pilot to head to my parent's house in Memphis. I'm really crossing my fingers about this house. If we get it, then we'll be a mile from my parents. Yes, a mile. Which means all these hours in the car for holiday visits here and there and driving Micah to my mom's each and every morning before work--whew. It will be nice to say good-bye to those days!</div>
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We arrived at my parents' house around 5:30 pm on Christmas day. C had to work the next day (which this shift was at like 8 PM), so he actually slept through Christmas with my family. That's part of the reason why we get together on Christmas Eve with them. We enjoyed some more family fun and fellowship. Above is the Christmas tree with all the gifts.</div>
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Jason & my mom opening presents. </div>
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Daddy with my brother Dale. </div>
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This is the necklace we bought for my mom for Christmas. It has both the kids' names on it. </div>
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Ebin had a stomach flu, so he threw up a lot and spent most of the night like this. </div>
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The beautiful Christmas tree </div>
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While Ebin spent most of the night sick, Micah spent most of the night running around like crazy after his breathing treatment! </div>
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Wow! He has just gotten so, so, so big! </div>
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Mommy trying to get some of that crazy mad energy out! Tickle Monster had to come pay a visit. </div>
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Ebin was just pitiful. </div>
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This photo might gross a few of you out, but my mom was taking pictures and caught him mid-vomit. Poor baby! </div>
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KayKay opened some lovely Waterford crystal from Daddy. He was very proud of his gift! </div>
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C finally woke up so that he could go to work, so we made him jump in the family photo.</div>
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D Family Christmas 2012</div>
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C, me, Micah, Papa, Dale, KayKay, Jason, and Keren with Ebin in the floor</div>
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I'm very sad and mad at myself for (again!) not taking a picture of Sara & me or Sara & Micah, but she was home the entire week of Christmas. We spent a lot of time hanging out just talking after Micah went to bed many nights. Per our Christmas tradition, she came to my parents' house (she has done this since we could drive) to spend the late evening hours with my family. I did take a whole TWO pictures of the intense spiritual/life discussion that was happening in the living room between my dad and her. It's always funny when these two get together because she's a professor at University of Virginia, and my dad is also a professor. Their minds are a bit above mine, but C had left for work so I just enjoyed listening to the smarty pants debate theology. </div>
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Every so often, I would throw in a comment or two. Haha! Love you, Sara! </div>
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And since I didn't take any pictures of this holiday season, I thought I would steal the picture from her twin sister's facebook page. Sara lives in Virginia, and Beth lives in Texas. Of course, I live in Tennessee. We are rarely (if ever) all in the same place at the same time. However, I thought this was an awesome picture of my best girls. (Beth on the left, Sara on the right). </div>
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I guess you could say we almost had FOUR Christmases if you include the Christmas portion spent with Sara at my parents' house. Love these girls! Love the holidays! Alas, it is almost back to work and the real world this week. </div>
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Hope you had a wonderful Christmas like we did! </div>
<br />Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224772549167553957.post-24784415665260942882013-01-01T11:28:00.001-08:002013-01-01T11:28:40.408-08:00Mississippi Christmas 2012.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After a small family Christmas morning in Memphis, we headed south to Mississippi to spend the majority of the day with Micah's Grandmommy & PawPaw, his aunt & uncle, and all the cousins. I have a wonderful extended "in law" side of the family, but they are not big fans of their pictures being on the internet. So to respect their wishes, I'm going to post some pictures we took of our three on the blog instead. =)</div>
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Micah did continue to rock the Christmas pajamas now into day number 2 at his Grandmommy's house. I was going to change him when we arrived, but his Grandmommy just thought they were the cutest things ever. So she asked me to keep him dressed in them for the day, and I obliged. </div>
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Micah certainly was spoiled this year by both sets of grandparents! He's going to really enjoy his wagon from them this spring when we head to the zoo. </div>
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His cousin N was trying to jump in on the action. </div>
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Micah also got a Cozy Coupe (yet to be assembled) from his Aunt C & Uncle C and the cousins. He's going to have a big ole time outdoors once it warms up this spring!</div>
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We opened gifts from C's family, and as always...they did way too much! We so enjoy spending time with them, and we hope everyone enjoyed the gifts we had also picked out for them. I got a couple of tears from them, so I know I did good this year. We spent the rest of the afternoon eating appetizers for lunch, hanging out, letting the kids play, and talking. After a while, we loaded up the car to head back to Memphis for my side of the family's Christmas. Yes, three Christmases in one day! We are crazy like that. It was a very happy Christmas with the Confident family in Mississippi.</div>
Mrs. Confidenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474904924120814486noreply@blogger.com0