Interesting news...

My next door neighbor came over and visited for awhile They are moving to Arkansas this February. I was asking her about moving to another state. Our town is really depressed. We are rethinking a lot of things and realizing moving away may be a real possibility.

The plant my dh works for is closing as I mentioned but they are offering jobs to these families if they move to Texas where they have built a new plant. We really didn't think it was realistic to move away like that but since praying have realized this may be the very avenue that the Lord would use to get us out of a dead end kind of situation not only for my dh 's job but for the future of our family. We really want so much for the kids NOT to have to go through the kind of ups and downs we have. It would be great to give them more job / career (as teens) opportunities and a church family to be involved with.

I often worry about their teen years ~ I know far off but really we are in a situation of if we don't make plans now for a move they will have so little opportunity in the social sense. I want them to have godly friends and we have yet to find any christian families to associate with. So we really limit their friends. It's okay for now when they are young but when they are older I want them to have more experience then just our home life.
Anyway this would be hard My dh would have to go on ahead and work for who knows how long ???? Before we would be able to sell the house and have enough money to rent a new place so far away. He would have to find some guys from the local ConAgra plant that would want to go out there together share an apartment etc... to keep costs down.

We are the kind of couple that do almost everything together so being apart from each other for months at a time will be a big challenge.

I felt like crying buckets just thinking about it. But we wouldn't be the first family do go through this as your families have all experienced some level of this.

I have to look at the cost of moving/ leaving a lot behind and get info on selling our house I doubt I will try until Spring but I will have a lot of getting ready.

Mike is getting info about exact city location of this plant and what wages are being offered etc... Then if it looks good ask around to find some guys to go out there with. We have a big passenger van so he actually could drive others and their belongings out there and return with them for visits after several months.

All just brain storming Who knows what the final plan will be??? I just need to keep praying.

Anyone know of a moving service that they would recommend to go to for rates???

Jacinda and family.

Jacinda,
Wow! That's a lot to think about! When this move came up (as just a possibility) back in July, we decided to look into it slowly before making any decisions. Really it was only a couple of weeks before we decided to go for it. Now here we are two months later, still trying to sell our house. A lot has happened in two months, but there's a lot more still to deal with. Moving is tough, and I have teenagers which I think makes it easier in some ways (probably harder in others, though, with them not wanting to leave friends, etc).

As for movers, we're using Global Van Lines. We were told that they handle a lot of the military moves. I think their rates are pretty good, and at least our local agent here has been great to deal with. We're packing ourselves and just having them load, move, and unload for us. It's a lot cheaper that way (but a lot more work, too). When we were military the movers did everything for us. I had no idea how much work they saved us until we moved ourselves for the first time (when we came here 9 years ago). But that was a local area move. This is our first cross-country move doing our own packing. Tons of work!! But worth the savings for us.

As for me, things have improved today. Still no showings, but we did get some good news. The other day my husband was told what his raise would be (promotion, plus transfer). It was okay. Today his boss told him he'd made a mistake and gave him the corrected amount. Much better!! So that was great news, and made other things a little easier to deal with.

For my son things didn't go so well. His car wouldn't start today when he went out to go to work. I tried to jump start it, but it still wouldn't start. I took him to work, then later we took my husband's van out to him so he can drive home tonight (I don't want to go pick him up at 11 PM!) The car had to be towed and they can't even look at it until Monday. He is not happy right now! Hopefully it will be a cheap fix, but I'm also hoping this will make him reconsider staying here on his own and want to go to Texas with us. If this happened after we left, he'd be on his own to handle it.

Still lots to deal with here, but at least my mood has improved.

Lori, Thanks for the thoughtful tips.

We have thought for years about moving out of state but because our situation general stuff like lack of savings living expenses debt/ income ratio small children and just the experiences of moving practically every year of our marriage lol
We got to the point where we thought the Lord had decided NO and the ideas were more us than Him.

Now it seems that this current job closing and offering a job elsewhere maybe an avenue to fill a lot of our needs.

We would initially loose a lot in the sense that a lot of our belongings although not top quality items are fairly new but probably not worth the expense of moving so far away.
So we would try to sell like an estate sale a lot of furniture and household goods. But as I mentioned NW Ohio is so very depressed ~ you can't even get people to buy decent things at a garage sale LOL I had 4 sales since moving here and sold very little. I've given away more than I've made any return on

I have a huge library that I would have to scale down This will be very hard for me.

We also put probably $10,000 plus into our house just in the first year of living here so I really have to research the market here I know a lot of families are moving elsewhere and lots of homes are going onto the market.
I'm gonna contact our relator next week to get his input. If he says he doesn't think we could sell for at least what we have invested here than I will know we probably should not even think on this any farther. If he says something like Yes I think you could sell for that but it will take some time to do so ( a year ) than I think we would still consider this option. Thanks for listening to me mesh this out.

By the way tell your son that as a young lady I had no support from my family and it was very very hard the Lord provided ( mainly through christian friendships/ contacts and built my faith but again it is not an easy route so he should really think his decision through well.

Sure hope and pray you will not have to be away from each other for too long Maybe just enough to make you REALLY refresh your appreciation for each other. Just thinking of being separated causes me to want to put more into our relationships NOW while we are here together.
It's funny my little boy 6 has said things lately about being separated by him growing up and moving away and me getting old and going to heaven etc ... And I've answered him very adamantly please let's try to make the most of this day then!!!

Gosh, these stories make me feel really grateful that my hubby's office is about 4 blocks away and he only travels a few times a year and then for only 3 days at a time.
I'm spoiled and o so blessed.
I am lifting these difficult family situations up in prayer.
Blessings,
Christine

Hi

I am so excited we started staining our bay window new since May and just now staining seat and frame after a little marker scare

It's looking beautiful and I'm planning to paint some today too.

If we never move I'll be pretty happy with my place

I also started preparing the wood work in the kitchen to be refinished.

I'll be calling the relator today to see if we already put too much money into this place to more ?//?? I estimated $14,000 with the new windows.

Don't hate me for getting all excited about possible move I talk to dh more yesterday and he says you realize the plant in TX isn't even built yet right!
No I didn't realize.... It wouldn't be until Sept of next year before he could take that job. He did mention some people are transferring to Milton, PA I don't know anything about that area.

Well I'll be glad to see how you all are. Later .
My server is so bad lately I'm really thinking of finding a new one. Time Warner bought Adelphia and I wonder if they made some change to service because it is VERY unreliable now.

Well, I'm bummed again. The people who saw our house yesterday don't want to buy it. They said they liked it, but they saw another one they liked better, newer, with a pool, for about the same money. I have NO idea where that would be! We've done the comparisons and I'm not finding anything comparable to ours that's newer without paying a lot more. But maybe they don't need so much space, and if they are looking at smaller houses then they could well find a newer one for the same price. Anyway, for now we keep waiting for the right buyer to come along.

My husband's going-away luncheon was today. I couldn't go because our girls had orthodontist appointments that I'd already had to reschedule once due to illness. Our son was going to go in my place, but he got lost, spent 45 minutes driving around, and never could find the restaurant. He finally gave up and came home. But my husband called afterwards to tell me that 45 people came in his honor, which I think is pretty cool! I wish someone from our family could have been there, but it's nice that he had that many friends and co-workers show up.

The girls are doing school work this afternoon. We spent the morning at the orthodontist and got home just in time for lunch. But this afternoon we're actually getting a little bit of work done. My husband should be home from work by 3:30, then he and I have an appontment to go to. So school will be short today, but at least it's getting done.

Our weather is great today, too. Nice and cool with a breeze blowing. After 91 degrees yesterday, this feels wonderful!

Lori,
How wonderful that your husband was shown such love and suport from his co-workers. I wish you and your family could have gone.
I don't know what to tell you abour your house. I can't figure out why it's not selling, I think it's lovely!

ladies / I'm thinking of you have still had probs with server. I think will be resolved soon.

Cinda, just jump right back in when your server lets you!

I've been a regular grouch lately. I don't really know why but I've been rather hard to live with. I've had to pray, ask forgiveness from the Lord and my family...

The leaves are falling and we've begun the annual month-long yard raking routine. We usually make a big maze of leaves and that ends in a really big pile of leaves. You walk through the maze and then jump into the pile... I guess this is why it's a month-long routine! LOL!

Oh, what a day! Three of my kids had to be out the door early this morning, and none of them made their beds or cleaned their rooms before they left! They can't seem to understand that our house must be clean every time we leave it, because we never know when the realtors will call and want to show it. We didn't get any calls today (I guess that's good, under the circumstances) so when I got back home I was able to get their rooms cleaned. Thankfully my youngest cleaned her room, and she is here with me today, so she helped me get everything done. Now we're ready for a showing -- but they still haven't called.

We lowered the price on our house one more time to make it more competitive. Several others in our neighborhood did the same, so we really felt like we had to. I'm really praying that does the trick and helps us find a buyer.

Our weather has been cooler lately, in the upper-40's to mid-50's at night and only a high around 75 today. I'm not sure how long that's supposed to last, but it sure feels great after 95+ temps all summer.

My husband leaves for San Antonio Saturday morning. He's off work tomorrow so I probably won't be on here much, if at all. I hope you all have a great weekend.

A real quick note !!!

WE are good been getting a lot done around our place anD acTUally having company over !!!
Started a little group of kids and moms coming over to learn about safety rules and manners etc...

I really hope we can keep it up.

I'll have to tell you all more later.

STAY encouraged.

ttyl

We had another house showing this afternoon. I got a call at 2:45 that they wanted to come at 3:30. We weren't even at home (had the phones forwarded) so we really had to hurry to get home, get things ready, and get out on time. We drove around the neighborhood for an hour waiting for them, and they finally showed up at 4:40. They were in the house about 15 minutes. So now we wait some more to see if this is the one.

Lori, any news?

Cinda, you're amazing!! How did it go?

We never got any feedback from the showing on Thursday, so I'm guessing that means they are not interested.

My husband left this morning for San Antonio. It was a tearful good-bye for everyone, but we got thru it. I think the weekend will be the hardest. Once we get into next week and fall into a new routine, we'll be okay. He should get to my sister's house on Monday and start his new job on Wednesday, so then time will pass faster for him, too.

Today it's rainy outside. Probably not a good day for anyone to go house hunting, but it is a good day to stay home and clean! My son is gone all day at a church event and then he works tonight, so the girls and I will probably stay home. Tonight we may go shopping, if the weather clears up.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Everyone is so quiet lately! I hope that means you're busy doing lots of great things!

My husband made it safely to San Antonio today. He didn't have any problems on the way, so that's a blessing. I've talked to him a couple of times today but we'll call him later so the kids can all talk to him.

We're trying to settle in to our new routine without Dad. Not fun, but it's working okay. I'm working hard to get caught up on school plans (which had fallen WAY behind with all the house stuff we had to deal with). We don't have any kind of a schedule, but the girls are trying to get caught up on some of their work. I just want to keep it all very low-stress. We have too much to deal with right now to stress out over school work. It will just have to get caught up on next semester.

Hi Lori ai just wanted to encourage you that you are doing a great job with your kids
When I was a young lady my family had a lot of stress we moved a lot etc.... Homeschooling your kids and giving them the freedom to take things at the pace they can handle during these times is so important maybe more important than you realize.

I remember coming back to class many many times after MISSING days and feeling so behind and embarrassed because the other kids wouldn't understand that my family needed me and that is why I was out. Also I had teachers pick on me because of this. I really loved learning but all the extra stuff eventually turned me off of school and led to some depression.

Just a little flash back from the past LOL

Quiver How are you the grumpy mood gone???

I'm ok but busy Hope you have good things going on.
I have a lot of half finishe dthings to attend to but really rolling along ( mostly)

Hope to write back saying that
the livingroom is painted and resituated

The upstairs is decluttered and vacuumed well and locks put on all closets so my work doesn't get messed up lol

About the safety group

We got books from the library and I have a set of pooh bear books on manners. So we will hit all the special safety areas and move on to manners in all settings.
I have stuff about fire safety and was planning to buy a ladder for upstairs but forgot to look for one!!!
I have really been working on safety in public places as my kids seem to feel comfortable wandering off and doing their own thing I have some real stories of frustration in that area LOL

We were at a big Lowe's and Meijers and did much better with teaching the kids to stay with us hold hands in parking lot and all that.

One lady seems to be less interested in bring in her kids so I will just make dates with the other and invite the less interested one to join us each week.

quote:

Originally posted by cindahomaker:
Quiver How are you the grumpy mood gone???

LOL! Yes, I guess my grumpy/pity party mood has left the building.

Husband has been in Chicago lately and I'm ready for him to be home for a few days. He's coming home Friday!! He's going to Vancouver sometime soon, I think before Thanksgiving.

Well, I was looking at where we are in our school as opposed to where I wanted us to be...
So far, 10d, & 8s are right on target, if not a little ahead.
14s is ahead in science & history but an entire chapter behind in Algebra.
12d is behind in everything.
(I seem to always have one that hides in the shuffle.)
Thankfully, I can concentrate on 12d for a few days and get her back on track.
Isn't homeschool beautiful???