Whirlwind Weekend

Oh. My. Goodness. What a weekend, and it's not finished yet! :) I'm so very tired, but it's all wonderful so how can I complain?

I'm really, very tired and need to go to bed. This has been the busiest weekend I think we've ever had. The list of duties/engagements/obligations staggers my mind, but we've just about met all of them and hopefully can have a quiet Sunday with only some church, school work, cleaning, packing, and moving, plus one kid working. :) Yeah, a much easier "light" day for us at last! ;) He He, sometimes I crack myself up! :)

I'm having some serious low back & hip pain (thinking arthritis???) & fighting some bug or something and not winning too, but before I crash, I had to post photos for anyone who might be wanting to see. Please remember these are "before" photos. There's a little work to be done on the inside of the house (new flooring, plumbing repairs, roofing, etc.) so in a couple weeks I'll post the finished photos and then photos from after the move too. I CAN'T WAIT to move in!!!

The kitchen looking towards the where the table will go.

The whole kitchen

I promised my pop- no pictures of toilets- hope this doesn't count. ;) Here is the downstairs bathroom.

The living room- the floor in the downstairs is all being replaced (except the laundry room)

Matthew & Barbara helped me vacuum and shampoo the upstairs carpets tonight. (Poor Robert will be disappointed that we didn't wait for him; he had to work tonight.) These floors only had a few stains so we thought we'd try to do this and maybe down the road we can find the funds to replace these floors with something better.

The boys' room. The two upstairs bedrooms are identical except that this one has two closets & the other one is pink and has one closet & one small door into the crawlspace up there.

The view out my kitchen window into the backyard- that is Sedgefield Elementary behind us.

If you want to see more photos, you can go here to see them on my facebook page.

Finally Home Buyers :)

It's late; I'm totally sick with some serious stomach pain- what's up with that??? I'm pooped; it's been a WONDERFUL, but long & hectic day.

Just popping in to say that we finally got a closing, and we are now the proud "buyers," as Rob says of our 1st home!!! THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barbara has the big Presidential Scholars weekend at HPU this weekend, and that started tonight and goes all day tomorrow. So it's been a crazy day and will be even more so tomorrow. I'll write more tomorrow or Sunday and have pictures to share too from the house & HPU.

Thanks for the prayers!!! Good night!

Today is the day!

Update: So it didn't happen today. We got to the lawyer's office and the bank has messed things up. We are now waiting on them to send new paperwork and fix their mistake. We hope they'll have it figured out before we go back on Friday. Good thing I prepared for the rest of the week just in case. Rob & I were quite disappointed, but it's all okay. One way or another we'll get the house- just another practice session in patience. So, on Friday we will hopefully sign all the forms, meet the realtor, and get into our new home. Just in time to start our crazy busy weekend... :) Life is good.

In just a little while, I will be a homeowner. That's a big deal to most people, I know. But for us, it's an even bigger deal. It's a dream I laid down a long time ago as "oh that will happen someday when the kids are grown and we've had a few years to save- maybe before retirement or when grandkids start coming." It's not that I said "that will never happen," I just didn't think it would happen anytime soon so I decided to quit worrying about it or feeling bad about it. Believe me it really used to bother me, but that's another blog entry or as I like to say "that's a whole 'nother Oprah!" I've been learning to accept what is and move on; I'm not saying I've got it mastered, just learning it. :) Remember, I'm in God's "special" class; I believe I might even have an IEP up there in heaven somewhere in God's files. ;) And yes, I am sure I will arrive in heaven on a little yellow bus, but ours will be the happiest one to pull in to those gates. :)

But I digress. :) Then, just like God, once I gave up on something(s) I wanted & kept really focusing on what's truly important in life, well He drops that very thing into our laps and makes the impossible become a possibility. Maybe that was the lesson in it all- hmmm, that song & scripture says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. Hallelujah, hallelujah." (Okay so be glad you can't "hear my blog" right now because you'd so hear me humming that tune.) :)

So today, after 20 years, 6 months and 5 days of marriage, my love & I will become 1st time homeowners. A BIG deal to us, our kids, and our family back home who has stood by us in all kinds of adversity and never quit believing in us. We wouldn't be signing some papers shortly if it weren't for God and for that family that's put up with us all along the way.

So please, whoever you are, if you're reading this, celebrate with us. The Thomas family has just bought a house somewhere in NC, and if you listen really closely, you might hear us shouting through tears of joy this afternoon and probably for a while. And you might even hear shouts of praise & joy and cheers all the way from Illinois too. And though these worldly concerns are hardly worthy of notice up in heaven, I'm just know that my heavenly Father will be looking down this afternoon to see two of His kids signing some papers and being more thankful than they could ever express to Him in human words for this big earthly gift He's blessed us with.

Thank You Father for this gift. You knew we always wanted it, and we are so appreciative of it. We will appreciate it more for having waited, and worked, and dreamed, and hoped, and waited some more for it. It was worth it all, and I am ever so grateful. I hope we make You proud through all of this.

With all my love for Him and for you,
Rebekah :)

P.S. Do you think I'll look silly crying while I sign the papers today? I'll try my best, but if I do, oh well! "I yam what I yam." ;)

Today's Numbers

I'm not a numbers kind of gal, but today's numbers are:

44- the # of hours until we close on our first home - but who's counting??? :)
35 - the difference in my weight from December's dr.'s appointment to today's appointment for quick physical check with a nurse- of course the scale isn't the same scale, but still I had to have lost some serious poundage in such a short time!!! :) THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
19 - the # of progress reports I need to complete tonight

Signing off for tonight, a happy & tired, Beka Boo

A Fresh Head of Hair

It's Sunday night, and I sure am tired, but as my Momma used to say, "It's a good kind of tired!" :) It's been another full day of working in my classroom and packing here at home, and I still have more to do before I lay my head down tonight. Tomorrow we have our insurance physicals with a nurse for the life insurance policy on the house. I have a big, long list of things to get done in the next two days. Closing is coming. :)

Here's a picture for my Momma. I really do hate photos of me, but I promised her I'd put one up so she could see my super-short & dyed hair. It is seriously really short; the boys thought Rob had cut it for me with the clippers. ;) You should have seen Robert's face and heard that conversation as he tried to dig his way out of that. :) I teased him pretty good for it. So, here's a short & no white haired Rebekah. :) I don't wear my glasses much at home, so you'll have to excuse the wide-eyed, glassy-eyed me. I'm sleep-deprived, what can I say? :)