Quick Update

We went to the house last night because we won't be able to make it this weekend. The lights are all up now-- it was really exciting to see everything coming together. We are leaving this evening to go to Lynchburg to see Vicky (and many of our other friends) graduate! We are really excited to spend some time with the Lynchburg crew. I will update with pictures of the house and graduation on Saturday night!

Lighting

Hello-- no pictures this week, but just wanted to give a quick update. On Friday, we went to Lowe's and bought all the lights for the house! We dropped them off at the house yesterday and they should all be installed sometime this week. I will definitely have pictures of the lights actually in place next week.

We had a really great weekend. Friday evening, I went to Mom's to get yardsale stuff ready. Then Friday night we did the Lowe's thing, which was fun but exhausting. Saturday morning, we had a yardsale at Mom's. We only made a little over $30, but it was fun just hanging out with Mom, Ashley, and Zoe. After we finally called it quits at the yardsale, we went home and had a nap to prepare ourselves for the evening. The youth group had a "Study Break Luau" from 5:00 to around 8:30, which was a blast. Sunday, we went to church, then the whole family went to Massaki for Mother's Day. We then went to the house to drop off the lights, and we were able to have the rest of the day free at home. We got some schoolwork done and just enjoyed being lazy. It was a very busy weekend, but one of the best in a long time. Only 4 weeks of school left now. We are excited for the summer to get here and to get moved into our new house!

Paint

We just got back from our weekly trip to the house. There was a paint contractor's truck in the driveway, so we had our suspicions about what they did new this week! Walls and trim are now painted and most of the doors up. Anthony was also able to see into one of the bathroom windows and they have the bathtub fixtures on too. They did have the doors locked, :( , so we couldn't get it, but we were able to push up on of the windows that has an extension cord running out of it so I could get a good picture of the paint. The picture is of the master bedroom.



Very exciting progress. Tomorrow, it will only be 6 weeks till our closing date. Please pray for us financially as we make this huge change in our lives. Can't wait to see what is next!

Zoe Girl!

I finally got a few pictures of Zoe together for everyone to see her. This first one is from Saturday when Mom, Ashley, Seth, and Zoe came over just to hang out for a while. Zoe loves Anthony's guitars. Last time they were here, Anthony's acoustic guitar was sitting on top of its case, and she always wants to play with it. Well about a week or so after they left, I found hardened pieces of cheese in the guitar that the Zoester had left as a gift! Haha, it was funny (to me anyways) but we try to keep that one put away now. But anyways, this time, his bass guitar was sitting on top of the case, and she went to play it, and of course it didn't make much noise so she said "it's broken". So I plugged it up to the amp for her and she had a little jam session in our office.




Then, Tuesday evening, Seth, Ashley, and Zoe came over for dinner. Well, we ate, then Ashley, Zoe, and I went outside for a while. Then we came back in and Zoe got back up to the table to eat some food she had left on her plate. As kids are prone to do, she spilled her grape kool-aid all over the floor and the chair. She got soaked, so her clothes had to come off, but after seeing Mommy and Aunt Tara clean up with the Swiffer, she had to help of course.



What an innocent face!!



Seeing her on Sundays is one of the highlights of my week. She is so much fun and such a joy to have in our lives. I can't imagine life without her, and am so grateful to God for giving her to our family. She has helped all of us through some rough times and dark days, and I know that she was sent "for such a time as this".

Updates

As always, we made our weekly trip out to the house to check the progress. We also had to stop by the model home, and make paint color, carpet, and vinyl selections. We made those decisions without too much trouble, and I can't wait to post the pictures when they get all that done!

Updates done this week included the sidewalk from the driveway to the house and the porch.




They also have the hardwood floors installed in the living room and hallway. Obviously, they aren't done with them yet, but it was really exciting to see our money at work! :)



They also had doors put on in the rooms.



And just a picture from the driveway. It's coming together nicely and we are extremely excited about it! Everything is in place with the mortgage, we just have to wait till the house is 90% completed for NFCU to do the appraisal, so everything is kind of on hold till then. Thanks for praying. We'll keep you updated!

Selection Time

Yesterday (Friday) we went to The Contractor Yard to make some choices. Here is the formica we picked for the countertops. It is called Colorado Slate:



We also picked out cabinets. The color is similar to what we have now, except they have an arch at the top, instead of just the typical "box" outline. We also chose nickel knobs for the cabinets, and burgandy shutters. It was fun and not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.

Tonight, we went to the house to make our weekly check and we now have drywall! I think they really got a lot done this week and we were pleased with the progress. Here are some pictures:

This is the view of the living room and dining room from the front door. That doorway on the left is to the master bedroom.


This is the bedroom on the front side of the house with the awesome window!


And this is the view to the left of the house. There will be another house next door eventually, but it is still a beautiful area. Everytime we drive out there, I mention to Anthony how beautiful the whole area is and how much I love it.



We are still waiting to hear back from Navy Federal. Anthony is going to call on Monday and see what is going on. The contract requires that we have the loan in place by April 30. It makes me a little nervous that we haven't heard back from them, but I assume they would have contacted us by now had there been a problem. So pray that everything regarding the loan gets wrapped up this week and we get what we need to keep this ball rolling!

We Have an Address!

Hello all. Just wanted to post a quick update. Today we were notified by Bobby-Anne that we now have an address:

** Greystone Lane ** Numbers removed to protect the innocent. ;)
Waynesboro, VA
22980

Now, don't go sending us mail there yet..... not till June. :)

Also, we are going to go sometime this week and pick out cabinets, formica, knobs, and shutter colors from The Contractor Yard in Verona. While I'm excited, I know I'll get stressed out when we are actually there picking the stuff. So I think I'll see if my mom can come along for some motherly advice. Any suggestions are welcome! I plan on taking plenty of pictures so check back this weekend for that! Please continue to pray that everything will go smoothly as we are quickly moving towards being homeowners!