Waiting...

No updates in a while, life has been crazy!  We put our house on the market the first week in May, preparing for our move back to Colorado.  Within two days we had three interested buyers and two really solid offers.  We negotiated on the first offer following the inspection and couldn't agree on the amount to be credited back at closing, so the buyers walked away.  The second offer was great!  We had the second inspection and the buyers found that our house had old lead paint.  They freaked out.  Mind you, our house is 100 years old and we could have about guaranteed that there would be lead paint.  Most houses in town have some old lead paint on them somewhere.  Ours is under at least two other coats of non-lead paint.  But they rescinded their offer.  So, after a month of negotiations we were back on the market.  Things seem bleak at this point - we are planning to hit the road for Colorado a month from today.  But we are just trying to be patient and faithful and trusting that things will work out the way they need to.  Not necessarily the way we think would have been best, but the way they need to.  There's great beauty in looking back and seeing how our plans usually aren't the best, but God's always are :)

Our hope was that our house would be sold well before our baby got here, but that hasn't proven to be the case.  But, since our baby seems to be taking his sweet time, there's still hope!  My due date was yesterday, the 19th.  So, we're dying with excitement waiting to meet our new baby, and also so desperately hoping to sell our house.

That's it for now.  Hopefully my next post will be with pictures of our sweet little boy!

Catching up (again)...

I've clearly gotten a bit behind on pictures and I will add them eventually, but I thought I'd just jump ahead to the present, in the interest of saving my sanity.  We have just a few things going on right now (more on that later), so rather than waiting forever, here's the latest!

Saturdays.

Our little family of three will soon be a family of four, and I find myself really treasuring these moments before everything changes.  Saturday mornings (when we don't have all kinds of plans) are the best.  This morning was beautiful - warmer, breezy and sunny.  We headed into town for a little breakfast at Starbucks, got some books at the library, then went to Elizabeth Park to just soak up some of the amazingly lush things that suddenly emerge here after a long, cold winter.

Our breakfast at Starbucks.

Miss Lilly trying to get every last crumb of her blueberry muffin.

My favorites.

Scattering seeds at the Park, an acceptable activity somewhere other than our yard :)

Though I look like I'm due any day now, we've got five-ish weeks to go!  Can't wait to meet this little guy!

Me and Mikey.

Mike found a really cool old door.  I think Lilly was contemplating munching on some lead paint.

Our little entertainer.

My little buddy.

The top of a beautiful gazebo.

A view of the rose gardens.

There was a wedding going on and I was trying to explain who everyone was to Lilly.  She told me she didn't want to be a groom someday and I said good.  How about you be the bride? :)

Circus

We found a great deal on some last-minute tickets to the Ringling Brothers circus and decided Lilly might like it.  So, after she didn't sleep at all during her nap (a very rare occurrence), we headed off to the XL Center.  

I've never encountered a sweet-tooth like Lilly's.  We rarely indulge it, but we thought it might be fun for her to finally try some cotton candy.  We quickly discovered that the cotton candy cost $12 a bag.  Instead we settled for some ice cream.  They suck you in with the cheap tickets, then try to rob you blind with the cotton candy :)

Before the show, checking out the tigers with Dad.

Not exactly a fan of the "animal" smell.

Watching the elephant paint a picture.

I think she's got a future.

Due to the aforementioned lack of sleep, Lilly wasn't exactly a happy camper at the circus.  We left at intermission, meaning that I missed my favorite - the elephants.  We did at least get to check one out up-close!

Happy 3rd Birthday Lilly!

We had a great day today, celebrating all that is Lilly :)  We have tons of pictures and some video and I'll try to get them posted soon.

I can't believe that we've had three years together - what a gift, what a challenge.  We've loved every minute of life with our little fireball.

Happy Birthday Lil!

So Proud.

After all the turmoil of the last few years (job changes, moves, questions, cancelled moves) Mike has finally landed in the place he is supposed to be - in full-time ministry.  We thought it was going to happen last year.  We thought we were going to be heading down to Austin.  We had our house in CT on the market and were getting all geared up to become Texans.  And then things started to unravel.  And at the same time things opened up at our church here.

And now, finally, after six long years of trying to figure it all out, Mike gets to be in full-time ministry.  On January 25th our pastor announced that Mike would be joining the staff at Calvary Fellowship.  I was so overwhelmed and happy that I cried while Mike was up on stage.  Only he and I (and God) know what it has taken to get to this point.  And we are so grateful for it.  So I cried tears of joy and gratitude.

The announcement itself wasn't that big a deal, but it meant so much to us.  Of course, Lilly threw up right before church that morning, but we wouldn't be swayed.  She and I hung out in the back of the church so we could be there to celebrate that moment as a family.  The two pictures I took are both fuzzy but I knew that Mike would die of embarrassment if he saw me taking pictures, so I had to be quick and stealth :)

So, Mike left his amazing job at Travelers and headed into the great unknown.  And I have never seen him so happy and so perfectly suited for something.  And I am so thrilled that God loves us so much.

Boy or Girl?

At the doctor's office, waiting to go back for our ultrasound to see our baby and find out if it's a boy or a girl!  We didn't find out with Lilly, so this was a whole new thing for us.

After Lilly wriggled all around the room and spilled her whole bag of Goldfish on the floor, we found out that our baby is a boy!  Mike and Lilly checking out his pictures!

Our celebratory dinner at Ichiro afterwards

Then on to Babies R Us to check out some boy things.  Lilly and I decided to test the gliders.  Heavenly!

Discussing the various chair features. We finally agreed we liked the one Lilly was in the best :)