The papers are signed, there will be a sign on our yard when we return home from Calgary. We listed it a little higher then we had discussed and our realitor is determined we will get more then what we listed. It will start showing Aug. 7 or 8 and take offers on the 13th. We are praying, very specifically that it will sell the day we take offers (or a few days after as the offer gets approved!) The whole selling thing is a little scary because we never sold the one in Brandon so we don't know what to expect when offers come in.

The house looks great I do admit. It has come a long way since the dive it was a year ago. I remember the first time I walked into this house and wondered what the heck we got ourselves into. Do remember, I did not see this house until posession date. We bought it with the promise that we would buy a new one when Steve got full time work at Canada post here. Little did we know a few weeks after we moved in he got full time work, and even since then he has moved up.

The fact we go it cheap and did all the renos ourselves will pay off in the end and we should be able to pull some fast cash out of it. Not bad for a years work.

We are off to Brandon in an hour to drop off the kids and then off to Calgary.

Here are a few pics of the livingroom/dining room and the back yard of the house.

The house is done, well pretty much that is. We just have last minute clean up left. Tomorow I must clean the house and make it 'pretty' because our realitor will be taking pictures when he comes later in the day.

I do admit, the house is looking good now that it is all pulled together but I really don't have much emotional attachment to this one. I am ready to move on.

We are also packing up for Calgary. We will leave here on saturday morning, drop Aidan and Cassidy at Grandma's & Grandpa's in Brandon and leave sunday morning with only Liam. I was anticipating 12 hours of listening to the Wiggles on the DVD player but someone just gave me the bright idea to plug in earphones!

We hope to arrive home sometime on the next saturday. Not sure if we are spending friday night or driving straight home.

As for other news, ever since our family found out about Jamie and Erik's brother's death, my brother felt God telling him to go there and be with them. Being 24 hours away and not haveing much money, God blessed him with a ticket, lodging, transportation while there. We are so happy someone from our family can go and obviously the way God has paved the way makes it evident he should be there. We all wish we could be there.

Please remember them in your prayers as the funeral is tomorow at 11 am. That is 1pm Manitoba time.

and yes, last but not least, here are some camping pics of the kids.

I had planned to blog about camping, swimming and house selling but honestly my heart is too heavy to focus on any of those things right now. Isn't it funny how we worry and stress over such little things in life? We often find it hard to sit back and remember the blessings we have and how thankful we should be for them.
Sunday, as soon as we walked in the door from camping, Steve checked the messages. He told me that my mom had left some strange messages and all she said was something terrible has happened, call as soon as we are home. When she told me, like everyone else I was shocked and my heart ached for the family.
For those who dont know them, my sister and her husband lost there brother Nathan in a car accident last friday. If that news wasn't enough for them to hear, the next day they would find out there sister in law, who was 8 months pregnant and in the accident, gave birth to a baby boy. I am sure there are so many mixed emotions it must be overwhelming. But I think God sent little Caleb Nathan at the perfect time and he will help with the grieving process.
I ask you all to Pray for my sister and her family. Most of my blog readers are hers as well and have already been showering them with blessings and there prayers.
We find it very hard to see Erik & Jamie hurting and being so far away and I am being constantly reminded that even though we can not be with them, we can still be praying for them which is the most important thing.
If you would like to send your words of encouragment and support, feel free to visit my sister Jamie's blog. It is invitation only but I am sure they would love to hear from you.

Jamie, Erik, Micah & Keziah. . .we love you guys and miss you. We really wish we were closer and could be there for you physically. May God wrap his arms around you and give you peace.

This morning, when Aidan woke up, the first thing he said was. "Now I will know two people in heaven, Auntie Martha & Micah's Uncle"

Come to Jesus (performed by Chris Rice)

Weak and wounded sinner

Lost and left to die O,

raise your head, for love is passing by

Come to Jesus

Come to Jesus

Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden's lifted

And carried far away

And precious blood has washed awaythe stain,

so Sing to Jesus

Sing to Jesus

Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby

Don't be afraid to crawl

And remember when you walk

Sometimes we fall...so

Fall on Jesus

Fall on Jesus

Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely

And steep and filled with pain

So if your sky is dark and pours the rain,

then Cry to Jesus

Cry to Jesus

Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over

And music fills the night

And when you can't contain your joy inside,

then Dance for Jesus

Dance for Jesus

Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat

Kiss the world goodbye

Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side,

and Fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus and live!

(To listen to this song, press play on the MP3 player on your top right hand corner.)

We are selling! Or so, we think we are. We had a really good visit from our realitor who was very impressed and also very honest with us. His dollar figures were much higher then we thought, which was good to hear but also we don't want to get our hopes up. So we plan to aim at still getting what we want but if we get more, then we will take it as a blessing.

So. . .now Steve and I are working like mad trying to get things done. Just stupid little time consuming things, then I plan to start packing up some junk and organizing and cleaning. We hope to have the house listed as soon as we are home from Calgary which would be around the first full week of August. The whole house selling thing is alot different from what we remember in Brandon. The market here creates bidding wars which Brandon does not. They show the house for 4 or 5 days, then take offers. The demand is pretty high so it is common for houses to go well above asking price.

We are still off camping this weekend, kind of wish we weren't because of all the work we need to do. . .but we know that it will be fun and the kids have been looking forward to this.

You can all pray that we get things done. As well, that it sells the day we take offers. And of course, that we can find something new that we don't have to spent a crazy amount for. I am excited about looking at homes but not excited about getting attached and then being outbid. We are looking for a newer 1000 - 1200 square ft bung. with a finished basement and good or potential for a good layout. Also a HUGE yard. I won't compromise on this one. I need to be able to run laps in it! We don't want anything old, we have done that and there is too many problems that come with it. Perferably built after 1970 would be nice. I don't want anything huge, because it is more to clean and the more space you have, the more junk you collect.

Last but not least, I will post a few pics since I realized I have not for a while. Just a few random pics from the past week.

one more thing, I think these Skidpants are so cute!!

You can find them on http://www.dittanybaby.com/ I was checking out the site and I love the pictures of the older girls wearing them under skirts. I think they are so adorable. I wanna get a pink polka do pair for Cassidy. Check out Drea's site to enter a contest to win a free pair! Hurry up! Contest ends tomorow!

to sell or not to sell. . .

Last week, we suddenly got this bright idea to finish the little projects we have left to do on the house and sell it. This was a very spur of the moment thing and we had wanted to originally sell it this year anways but decided to stay here a little longer.
We really, really, REALLY want to move. We need something with more space, bigger yard, and I would like to be close to Aidan's school.
We have made no real decisions yet. We just have been working on the things we need to finish. Yesterday I stained the deck and Steve has been finishing little putty and painting jobs. We need to put some corner trim in some places and some other minor things but other then that, the house is pretty much done. Or as done as we plan to do.
We have a realitor coming to the house tonight. Not our orginally realitor as we found out he only helps people buy houses, he doesn't list homes. We actually contacted the realitor who had this house listed last time. We figured he had seen the house when it looked like crap which could be a good advantage. Anyways, we just want to find out what he thinks we could get. If the number he comes up with sounds like what we are thinking, then it may be a go. If not, we may try comfree.ca and sell ourself.
Again, it is all up in the air. There are so many things that are great about this house. I LOVE the layout of the main level. . . . .but we just need a bit more room, especially as the kids get bigger.
The other thing is the yard. Yes, we have green space and have created a nice little private backyard, but it just isn't big enough for me. I want to set up our trampoline again and do some other things that our backyard doesn't allow us to do.
I will keep you all updated on our final decision. We are gone camping this weekend and to Calgary the following weekend so nothing would happen till after then anyways.
As for our Brandon house, we have new renters moving in September 1st. No plans to sell it anytime soon.

Another scorcher of a weekend! We were able to enjoy some water and sunshine on saturday. We headed out to Portage to Splash Island. The kids still talked about going last year for a friends birthday party. As we headed out on saturday morning, we passed though a big thunderstorm and thought our day may be rained out. But when we arrived things cleared up and we had a hot day full of swimming and came home all tired and sunburnt.

The kids sure had a blast swimming and Liam and Cassidy loved the big waterslides. My legs were sore from walking up those stairs a hundred times. Cassidy and Aidan are starting swimming lessons next week so they had alot of practise. Liam on the other hand has no fear what so ever and cried at the top of the HUGE waterslide becaues he couldn't go down byhimself.

Sunday we hung out around the house. Steve took down the kids playstructure to move it over and rebuild it. He added a little play fort with a door underneath which they call there clubhouse.
Our July is pretty jammed pack for the next while. The kids start swimming lessons next week. Then we are planning to go camping again with Steve's side of the family and then the last week of July, Steve, Liam and I will head to Calgary for a week for Steve's training and Aidan and Cassidy are staying at Grandma and Grandpas in Brandon.

I almost forgot, Cassidy wants everyone to see her new friend on her shoes. I found little Sleeping beautys for her CROCS on EBAY the other day, and now she has one on each shoe. Aidan had me searching for CARS now and I ordered him a few for his and Liam's.