Life in the fast lane

With things constantly changing at the new house and the impending move, packing for our trip to Ethiopia, writing invitations and finalizing (and scaling back!) plans for Vivi's 2nd birthday celebration, and also preparing for actually bringing the kids home, life is just a blur right now! We are constantly being reminded of God's sense of humor and the way He always has a plan, even when we don't.

So, first things first, the house. I think I already wrote that we picked all the colors and styles of everything, and are almost sure of our paint color choices. All of that has to be decided asap, and for sure before we leave. Last week the contractor was still saying it would be done by the end of April easy, but as we reach the middle of the month and are FAR from a livable house, we are starting to doubt him. But we will be gone at the end of the month anyway so it's not like we are going to move in then. Part of the holdup is the way that we bought the house (a downside to foreclosures), through the 203k program. Before our contractor can do anything, he has to have a 203k consultant verify that the work is completed to FHA standards by doing an inspection, then he has to go to BoA to process the draw request and mail a check so the contractor can buy the stuff. It's an annoying process that can make things go slow, but spending the better part of the last 3 years in some part of the adoption process has really helped us learn patience!

They did start working on the gas and water lines, there is a big hole in the basement floor and a big pile of dirt next to it. I was surprised to see that the floor of a basement consists of maybe 3 inches of concrete, and then the dirt below. I'm not sure what I thought it would be, I guess I'd just never thought about it.

We also have done a decent amount of work ourselves in the yard. The back half of the yard has been left to grow wild for who knows how long, and is pretty crazy looking. We've been attacking the forests of pricker bushes, some of which look like small trees and poke through work gloves! This evening, Eric,  my dad and I tackled some of those bigger ones with loppers and a shovel, and made a lot of progress. Living down the street from my parents is going to be so nice, we were able to run down to their house and get all the tools we needed. There was also a brief project in which the guys decided to move the plastic play house from dad's house to our house. After a few trials and errors, they ended up walking it down the street balanced on 2x4s on top of the wheel barrow.Of course I got a picture ;)

This is becoming a long post, so check back later for part 2!