Thanks Quiver,
I did post something but under prayer requests the other day.
Really going well. Still tenderness and bruising to deal with but that is it.

Enjoying some extra napping and laid back time.

And feel better in that because I've taken it slow with my food intake I'm giving my body a break from heavy foods to digest. So needless to say holiday foods don't appeal to me right now. Oh well. I'll probably feel like making something special around New Year thankful my dh is fine with that, he's already suggesting what to make

Thanks so much for your love and prayers

and I really enjoyed those pictures you shared I'd like to spend some time getting our posted.

Merry Christmas!!!

That's a great picture!!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was quiet, just the six of us, but it was very nice. Most years the girls are up before dawn, but this year everyone "slept in" until after 7 AM. I guess that's one of the perks of having teenagers -- they value sleep!!

Today we're cleaning the house and painting in our son's roon. We still have a couple of "maybes" on the house, but our realtor and others have suggested that we paint some of the rooms. We had planned to start on Friday or Saturday, but other things came up and we couldn't, so that's the project for today, and probably tomorrow, and maybe the next day. My husband's actually doing most of the painting and I'm getting the rest of the house cleaned up after our Christmas "break". I don't think either of us will have any trouble staying busy today!

Hi Lori,

Glad you've got your dh there with you.....

I'm enjoying mine too.

I love feeling more like a team and you never feel as much connected as when you can work right a long side one another. Dh is doing some of the small projects that I need completed to have better organization. And will be installing a new kitchen sink/ faucet this week.

I am getting on a tighter schedule with the kids schooling. I figure this is my big chance to have his help to keep the kids on track enough to ingrain some discipline in them.

Please pray for the boys to be excited about school seat work that we've shied away from since baby has come along.

I'm still having some discomfort from the oral surgery but I know it is very minimal and will probably be gone by weeks end.

Thanks for sharing. btw I love painting it's fun to me! Have fun.

Lori-
Forgive me for what may be unwanted advice, but if I am correct you all have been trying to sell your home for quite sometime. I AM NOT a realtor, but I have recently just gone through a VERY trying experience of selling our home-which sold last April. We showed, showed, showed, improved, showed, and let me tell you--we did it all over again-for 6 months with a realtor. THEN I got the bright idea (forgive me for calling it bright since it was my idea-BUT...) I didn't renew our contract-felt really bad for the gal who had spent that time marketing our home-BUT spent about 2 weeks interviewing realtors to see and hear WHAT they could do to move our home for us into a SOLD status with a closing just around the corner. THE real problem with our first attempt was that we were over priced-for our area. I mean-appraised value -and a buyers market. I don't know your particulars there is south FL but it may be worth looking into. WE got an appraisal independant of our realtor. THOSE dog-gone appraisals aren't based on paint and cosmetics that SO MANY of the realtors we interview suggested-it is simply construction, sq footage, market, AND mechanicals. Like I said, don't know your situation, and you may have alot of time-we didn't-hope this helps. ALSO you may want to post interior pics on your website-when I was shopping from out of state-they were important to me. BEST wishes-hope I helped-never to harm. I guess I hate to see you laboring so hard when in reality it may NOT make any difference if there if fresh paint. It could just take your energy and money. ALMOST for got the rest of the story-after interviewing-hired a gal, and in less than 2 weeks we had a contract and were closed in 3. NO painting/new flooring/ or ANYTHING else!! ALL the best to you, Lori,cheryl

Cheryl,
Thanks for your input. I really do appreciate it. You are right, our house has been on the market for just over 4 months. Our current realtor has until Feb. 18 until his contract expires. This has definitely been a learning experience for us!! We were given some bad (in my opinion) advice early on, and our house was overpriced initially. In fairness to him, it was priced fairly competitively for our area compared to the others on the market but what we hadn't taken into account was that the others on the market were not selling! We listed our house on August 18 and originally planned to move mid-October. We had a few showings in September and October, but no offers. We lowered the price (several times now) and got an offer the end of November, but they couldn't get financing so the deal fell through. Their offer was very low compared to our asking price, but not necessarily low compared to what houses are going for now. We lowered the price again just before Thanksgiving, but really I didn't expect it to matter. Who buys a house around the holidays? I didn't expect to even get any showings until February. But surprise, surprise!! Since Thanksgiving we have had 10 showings, and at least two of them seem promising. We had one on Dec. 23, and two yesterday. Still no offer, but we're hopeful. So one lesson we have learned is that in this market (very much a buyer's market) we cannot overprice and hope to sell. We've also learned that no matter how good the price, we cannot compete with the new construction. If someone wants a newer home, ours is just not going to work for them no matter how good a deal it is. Our house is 30 years old, as are most of them in our neighborhood. To me, that's a good thing, since it's been well maintained. But many, many people want NEW houses. I can't blame them. That's what we're buying in Texas. So I understand where they're coming from. I just have to realize that and get over it, and not stress when someone passes us by for a newer home.

My husband is finishing up painting in our son's room today. We've pretty much decided to stop there for this week, enjoy the rest of his time here with us, and see what happens. If he goes back to Texas (Jan. 2) and we still don't have an offer, the girls and I might continue with the painting. But since we are still having showings and people are showing an interest, I've decided that our family time this week is more important than painting the house.

Just FYI, if our house does not sell before Feb. 18, we will not be renewing the contract with our current realtor. My husband has already spoken to someone else that we feel would do a better job for us in the current market. That's another lesson we've learned -- some realtors are better suited to a buyers' market than others. Our current one is not. I'm sure he's great in a better market, but just not aggressive enough to get the job done when things are slow.

Thanks again, Cheryl, for your input. Oh, I meant to say that we do have photos and a virtual tour posted on-line. Several people who have come see our house found it that way first. If you follow the link in my signature, it will take you to our realtor's web site where you can see the pictures (if you're interested).

SOOOOOOOOOOOOo happy for you all! Like I said before in the prayer forum-CONGRATS!!!! and
Happy Moving!
blessings, cheryl

You'll never guess what I did today -- I packed boxes!! I woke up at 4 AM and couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up at 4:30 and looked for something to do. I didn't want to wake anyone, so I started making a list of what each of us needed to do today. Then I had breakfast, and by that time my son got up and left for work (he had to be in by 6 AM). After he left I got showered and dressed, and by then hubby was up, so we both got to work. I woke the girls at 8:00 because we were told "the inspector" would be here at 9:00. I was expecting one person. Instead, SIX people showed up and spent two hours going thru my house! There was the termite inspector, another inspector, two appraisers, the buyer and his realtor. What a madhouse! The strangest part was all these people were going thru my house and none of them even seemed to care that we were here. As each of the inspectors finished their job they went to the buyer and gave him their report. Of course he's paying them so that's what they should have done. It was just a very strange experience! We did get to meet and talk with the buyer, though, and he seems like a really nice guy. My hubby talked to him at length about all the renovations we've had done to the house and told him all sorts of things he thought would be helpful (like which light switch operates which light, who to call for warranty work on anything, how to operate the pool equipment, etc).

Once they all finally left we all had lunch, then got busy packing. I didn't count, but we must have packed 100 boxes today. They are piled everywhere, all over the house. It's like an obstacle course. We aren't finished, but we made very good progress. I think we'll be able to finish by the end of the weekend so we'll have a couple of days of down time before the movers come.

My son has decided to stay with friends for a week or so and then fly out to Texas mid-January. He wants to give his two weeks' notice at work, and I think really he's just having a hard time letting go. Hopefully the extra time will help him deal with everything.

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice holiday break. If I'm not on-line much before then, have a Happy New Year!!

Lori Just wanted to say PTL and congrats on the sale of your home. I somehow missed what was going on until now. So very happy for you all!!!

Congradulations! It must be such a relief.

Well, we're still packing but it's coming along a lot faster than I thought. I had visions of us frantically throwing things in boxes at midnight on Tuesday before the moving truck pulled up Wednesday morning We're actually almost finished, though. The kids are supposed to finish up their bedrooms today before they leave for their New Years celebrations tonight. The girls are all going to a spend-the-night at our church and our son is going to one at his church, so hubby and I will be childless tonight! Whatever isn't done by this evening we will finish up tomorrow or Tuesday. It's looking like we might actually get to take tomorrow off and just do the last minute stuff on Tuesday. If so that would be really nice. My feet and back are ready for a rest!

I want to thank all of you again for your prayers. Please keep them going, that we will get thru this week with no disasters, and that we'll have a safe trip out to Texas. We're taking the laptop with us so we'll be able to get on-line when we stop for the night, so I'll try to check in when I can.

I forgot to tell you all about the excitement I had this morning. I couldn't sleep so I got up around 4:30 AM. I went out to the laundry room, where our cats sleep, and found the door to the garage was wide open! At first it scared me because I thought someone had tried to break in, but then I realized it was just the cats trying to break out! One was sitting in the laundry room looking confused, two were just outside the door in the garage, but the fourth was no where to be found. So I got the three back inside, then went out to look for #4. It only took me a minute to find him, but getting to him was another story! He was as high up and as far away from me as he could possibly get, with 100 boxes piled between us. After about 20 minutes of coaxing (and threatening) I finally got him down close enough to grab him and put him back in the house. Needless to say, this was not a fun way to start my morning!

You would think he would have learned his lesson, but not this cat! Later in the afternoon my hubby went outside to find cat #4 sunning himself on the driveway. He was just laying there as if he owned the world! All of our cats are inside cats and are never supposed to be outside, but this one thinks he can do whatever he wants (and most of the time he is right)

LOL Lori!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Oh man, I'm wiped out!
We went to a homechurch fellowship last night and had a massive Nerf gun fight! The combat roll of my husband's about did me in...
We prayed in the new year and then didn't get home until after 2am!!!!! It was wonderful but I'm tired today. My children are wanting to see me with that Nerf gun again. (Oh, my aching shoulder!)

I just wanted to check in before I'm off line for a few days. Our movers will be here in the morning, then we leave Friday morning. We should get to my sister's house on Sunday (the 7th) so I'll be back on-line again sometime after that. We've worked very hard this week and every muscle in my body is aching!! (and I'm sure it wasn't nearly as fun as a Nerf gun fight ) It's so nice to be one step closer to our new house, though!

Lori I am so thriled for you! I pray you and your sweet family will have a wonderful year of peace and settled-ness. God has brought you to this new place and He has met every need along the way. How exciting to see what He has in store for you!
We will miss you these few days. I will pray fervently that the move goes smoothly and that soon everything will be back in place.
God bless,
Christine

We're on our way! We drove for 10 hrs yesterday and stopped in Milton, FL, for the night. It was about 475 miles all together. Today we'll go almost as far, about 400 miles, and stop just over the Texas border. Sunday we'll get to my sister's house. The girls are doing great, the pets are doing okay. We had some chaos the last day but nothing major. Thursday morning the movers came back to get the rest of our stuff. They were only there about 2 hrs. Around 9 AM I called my doctor to try to get something straightened out (I'll spare you the details) and got someone who was not cooperative. His basic answer was "You're on the list to be called back and we'll get to you when we can". That would be fine if we weren't leaving the state the next morning! I had to leave at 9:30 to take my youngest to the orthodontist, but while I was gone hubby got on the phone and got it all straightened out. By the time I finished at her appt everything with my doc was settled. But that meant a trip to the base (30 minutes) to pick up my meds and copies of my medical records -- 2 hrs out of my day I hadn't planned on. Okay, so that got done. Around 4 PM hubby found a crack in the windshield of our rental van. Thankfully the company was great about it and brought us a replacement van by 6 PM, so we had time to repack before it got too dark. There was more that happened that day, but this laptop is not cooperating so I'll share that later.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'll check in again after we get to San Antonio.

Praying for Lori - on the road!
Quiver your family is beautiful!

Everybody ready to go back to reality with school, etc?

Christine

We made it safely to San Antonio! The laptop died along the way so we're all sharing my sister's computer, which makes computer time pretty limited. Today we got the laundry partly caught up, unpacked everyone's clothes (those we brought with us and those we had shipped ahead), and went out for a while to get a few groceries. We also got information on a church near here that we'll probably visit this weekend. They have a Saturday night service that we're planning to attend, which is more casual and not so huge. On Sunday they have two services, each of which have about 3500 people attending! That's a bit overwhelming for us, coming from a church of 200. We're taking the rest of this week off from school to finish unpacking and get settled in a bit. My son will be here on Monday (the 15th) and then we plan to start back to school on the 16th. My sister is letting us use her dining room as our school room, so it will be nice to have all the school stuff all in one place. Everyone is settling in pretty well. My oldest daughter is having a hard time. I think she'll do better once we get into a routine, but right now it's hard for her. Hubby starts back to work tomorrow so the girls & I will be on our own all day. Maybe I'll get brave and venture out for a while so we can do some shopping (or maybe I'll be a chicken and stay home

Christine, do I need to just re-register to change my name? Or is there a way to change "Lori in FL" to "Lori in TX"?

Yay Lori! I'm so glad you've arrived. You must be thrilled.

I think you'll have to re-register as Lori in TX. Sorry, But don't rush - we know who you are!

Bless you!

Christine

Oh man! I had more trouble with this MacBook! It quit recognizing the battery; got that fixed. Then the power cord started smoking!!!! Apple has sent replacement parts but I'm thinking I want a replacement computer! We bought this laptop in June and have had several issues with it!

On to other things!

Lori no longer in FL but now TX!! YOU SOLD YOUR HOUSE AND MOVED?????????
PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!
I am so very happy for you and your husband. (great big sigh of relief)

Husband is getting ready for travel again. He'll be gone for three weeks this time with maybe a night layover here between cities. Lori, he'll be in San Antonio next week. Wave to him for me! lol.

We have the sickies running through the family right now. So far, 5 of the children and husband have been sick. The baby has a fever today and everyone seems to have lost their voice.

I also feel like the world's worst mom today. I know I'm tired but I was really, reeeeealy mean to 14s this morning and just lost it with him. I had to ask his forgiveness and everything. I hate it when I act like a jerk.

Thankfully, 14s is forgiving and so is the Lord. Now I need to forgive myself.