Exciting News and Update

At the Stock Show

Several of you know our big news. If not, here it is: We are buying a little farm with an older house on the property that we're going to have completely remodeled!! We are super excited! We were supposed to close the end of December.  Unfortunately, 8 days before closing, our bank told us our contractor did not meet their qualifications and we needed to find someone else. This all came at us around the same time we found out about my mother-in-law. We had been working with the first contractor for almost 2 months. Sadly, they failed to submit all of the paperwork they needed to a month prior, so we didn't find out about them not qualifying until very late. Thankfully, we have found someone new, along with a good attorney, since the first guy has threatened to put a (invalid) lien on the property, we have yet to own. We should be closing on the farm house at the end of this month. Renovations will take 10-12 weeks. Once the renovations begin, we'll decide when to put our current house on the market. Ideally we'll close on this house right after the renovations are done on the farm house. We are looking forward to getting some animals and learning how to raise animals and expand our garden. 

It's been a whirlwind of the start of the year. Right before Christmas, we found out my mother-in-love was not doing well health-wise. We decided we needed to make an emergency trip to see her. Rather than travel on Christmas day, we left a couple of days after and headed home on New Years Day. Thankfully, she's still here but in hospice. Please keep her in your prayers.

Christmas was lovely, except for worrying about my mother-in-law. The kids had a nice day and we really scaled back on the toys they received. They each got something they wanted (a toy), needed (boots), to wear (pjs), and to read (a book about something they are interested in). They also got a toy from each other and something from several extended family members.

New Years Eve was sad. My husband spent most of the day next to his mother whom we thought was probably not going to make it through the night. New Years Day, we drove 14 hours home from visiting there. 

Earlier in the month we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. We don't get to spend as much time alone together but we have a strong relationship and marriage. Being best friends helps tremendously! Not to mention, we have three of the most precious and beautiful kiddos out there! But I think the main thing that keeps us strong is having a close relationship with God. We try and live as Jesus would, are by far perfect, but we try. 

We just celebrated our Princess' turning 3. She had a fun birthday party and is the cutest 3 year old girl ever. We took a family vacation to Disney World at the beginning of December and had a wonderful time!

Homeschooling is going good. It's been a tough year, I"m not going to lie. I've had to really work with my 7 year old and his attitude. I've considered putting him in public school, which I really would prefer not to do. We took December off and are now back at it. Thankfully, he's having a better attitude and I think we'll continue through the end of the year with flying colors. 

Our homeschool groups and co-ops started up back week. I don't know if I ever wrote about us joining a Classical Conversations group last Fall or not. Anyway, we're enjoying the CC community and learning so many facts about history, science, latin, and math! We have a wonderful co-op as well. My husband and I have been teaching 2nd grade this past quarter at church. Blue Rock just had his first basketball game of the year last Saturday. He scored three baskets! Blue Knight is on the go and loves cars and balls! I think that's the brief version of what's going on at our house. We hope you and your family are doing well.