It's the last Monday I will post while living in our house

The final countdown has begun until the Martens 5 move out of their beloved home of 11 years. We had the first little breakdown yesterday when we realized it was our "last Sunday" in the house. Today is the last Monday, tomorrow the last Tuesday......
We have so much left to pack, yet so much that has to wait until we are good and ready to not use it again for a couple days. So many things that you just don't think about having to pack, like the swim towels, and piano books, and the blender....
Every day this week we have to pack and move items. Every night this week we have something scheduled where we have to be physically present.
And then there are the Olympics to watch. This family is officially addicted. We watch all things Olympics and are loving it. I am thrilled at how invested the girls are in the games. They are learning about new sports they didn't even know existed, like women's handball and synchronized diving, and loved watching the uber serious(but really hard to take serious) table tennis, a.k.a. PING PONG.
I have yet to be able to stay awake late enough to hear the silky smooth man-ish voice of Mary Carillo on the late night coverage. But each night I try.....
This week is a big deal for The Martens 5.
We moved in on August 9, 2001 and we move out August 4, 2012.
Never in a million years would Andy and I have guessed we would live in this house for almost ELEVEN years. Turns out that was just the right amount of time.
I hope in 6 months I am blogging about "my last Monday post while living in the duplex"

Rain

Did anyone else stay up late last night and sit outside in the rain?
Anyone?
No? Just us?
huh.
Your loss.
We sure are going to miss this house.

Trying to avoid the obvious post about moving....

The girls attended Theatre Camp at NKCHS the last two weeks and performed in Winnie the Pooh. Kate got the lead role of Pooh and Tess was the Rabbit. So proud of how confident Kate became when she was given the challenge of memorizing multiple lines and several vocal solos! Tess being cast as the Rabbit was spot on for her personality. She also had to memorize multiple lines and did great. She didn't stay "in costume" for her picture because she had a basketball game to get to!

Outside of the theatre at NKCHS I saw this project created by some art students. They were tiny strips of fabric with the saying "I live in a world that needs......" and students filled in the blank. Most were all insightful, thoughtful words revolving around helping others. I was thrilled to see this one. This world DOES need Jesus. Amen.

We had one final sleep over this weekend before we move. Kate had two friends and Jane got to have her first ever sleep over with a friend. Tess's friends are coming a different night, they were all too busy for a spontaneous invitation! It was a great time. So thankful for parents that trust me with their children and for Andy, who took over when he got home the next morning, so I could get to work on time....a little more tired than usual...but on time.

This is my blog so I get to post whatever I want.

Reality Check

I love this question. Gut punch, right? Our Samantha sent it to me on the morning we had our first meeting with the architect to build our home. She didn't know that was a big day for us, but had seen it and decided to share. This house building dream reality is both scary and fun. Some days I am in near panic about how we will ever be able to afford this. Other days I am giddy with excitement at the idea of having a house we have only been able to dream about until now. Don't get me wrong. We are not building a palace, and many may not consider our dream house anything close to their dream house. But we LOVE it.  

We have passed our inspection, hope to pass our new and improved radon free air test, finished the appraisal and signed the lease for the duplex. Things are happening quickly but feel slow in the day to day process. Not a lot of packing has happened yet, I think we still have this overhead worry that something will go wrong....not that we anticipate it, but that is exactly why we have the worry. The UNKNOWNS. scary.

Praying makes things better.

Always.

And Guess What?! We have a stupid showing tomorrow night...our realtor says we should do it even though our house is pending a sale.

I know, be thankful that people can still look just in case the above mentioned "wrong" happens.

pictures

Why I love my job.....

Liberty Youth Chorus
Tess will start participating with this group in September. This was their camp performance at Gano Chapel on William Jewell Campus. Gave me tears to hear these young kids so invested in music and singing as a group.

Happy 4th Birthday Jane Gracen!

Never has a girl wanted to be four so badly as this little big girl! We waited and waited for the day to arrive and spent the entire weekend celebrating. On Saturday she woke to presents waiting for her in the middle of her room, then we went to pick up her bestie, Marlee, for a day of fun. We went to see the movie Brave, came home and played, then went to the cupcake shop in town. That evening she fell asleep at 6pm and didn't wake until the next morning. On Sunday we had a family birthday party after church and a family/friend swimming party that evening.

I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast.

This girl is the sunshine to our universe. So thankful for her dancing, singing, naughty, silly, funny, cuddly, happy, momma's girl, and did I mention naughty(?)self.  

Old News/New News

1. we sold the house. we have started packing. it is fun seeing items we haven't seen in a while (especially for the girls) but at the same time we are realizing we have a lot of stuff.
2. It is a requirement to have homes tested for a sneaky little gas called RADON before selling them. The testing device is a Ghostbuster-ish type box with a blinking red light. It sits in a room in the house and measures the levels of radon every minute, for 48hours. Our house flunked. No dangerous levels, but our readings did fall into the "action recommended" category. Crappola. Now we have to pay someone to come put a fan and vent system from the basement of our house to the roof. Not expensive, but not a planned expense either. They come tomorrow to install the system and then re-test the levels for another 48 hours. Had no idea we have been living with this radioactive gas in our home for the last 11 years. We decided now whenever a kid is acting out or something strange happens we will blame it on the radon. Turns out the soil our house chose to be built on has radioactive rocks in it and yours might also...you don't know until you test for it. Lesson learned. This is just a small radioactive pebble in our road to a bigger house.
3. We have hopefully found a place to live for the next 6 months (or potentially longer if needed). Some friends of ours are moving into their newly built home and will move out of a duplex here in Kearney. Ironically, at Easter time, when they were just moved in to the duplex, we talked about how cool it would be if we could have it after they were done. huh. It is only two bedrooms but they are big rooms. The rent is reasonable and most importantly, the place is clean. They have worked extra hard to make it clean for an allergy-sensitive child, so we have decided to sacrifice space for safe and clean. It will be a big adjustment and the girls are apprehensive about the down-size. Quite frankly, we are too. Praying that 6 months is all we need, but if a longer amount of time happens, praying that God will continue to provide for our needs.
4. We met with the architect today. I was nervous that he would talk over our heads and make us feel silly and poor. I still feel poor, but he was wonderful. It was nice that all the minor changes we wanted to make made sense to him. Might not be a dream house to anyone else but us, but we love it.
5. Jane turns 4 on Saturday and is asking to know "how many dark times" before it is her birthday. Every day we count down the nights to the big day.
6. Tess played in her second competitive league basketball game last week. She did great. Not superstar of the team great, but she didn't look totally lost and didn't shoot at the wrong basket. Watching her made me nervous until I realized these were all 10 year old girls just trying to learn a sport. Some were better than others, some seemed right on the same learning track as Tess. I am so thankful for her coaches and team that have welcomed her and continue to teach her how to play basketball. Most importantly, she is having fun. Prayers answered.
7. I have no doctor to work for until July 17th. Yipee! I will still be busy, but not seeing patients, which is like a mini-vacation for me too!
8. The SIL and BIL are getting their condo on the housing market soon (this week?). Praying they have success and can find a new home for our niece to roam around in....whenever she decides to walk!
9. We seriously picked the busiest month of the summer to try and move. The girls have somewhere to be every day starting on the 9th. Let me re-state that. Tess and Kate have somewhere to be, poor Jane just gets hauled to everything and gets to participate in nothing.
10. Happy 4th of July! Stay safe and please don't spend all your hard earned money on fireworks.