BIG NEWS!

Even though we gave a pretty low offer on the house, THEY ACCEPTED!  The inspector comes Tuesday and provided that it passes we can close shortly after that.  (We're on track for the fastest close ever!  It's only been four days since we first saw it!)

Also big news is that our container has made it to the US!  I'm most excited to have my kitchen things back--so I don't have to raid my sister-in-law's every meal. 

 We went out to the farm on Thursday and picked the garden. We got raspberries and black raspberries too!  I got 4 quarts of beans and today I did 5 quarts of pickles.  (Thanks for letting us raid the garden Gma)! Ana is super excited but very sad she has to wait six weeks to taste one.  Many thanks to mom for the jars and canner.  We'll put it to good use!

Ana's Commentary

Ana talked so much while we were looking at houses that the real estate agent started calling her "chatterbox."  She said things like:

"Why are garages so dirty?  Doesn't anyone ever clean them? (All the garages here are detached--so they're going to be pretty dirty)" 

This house has a basement?  Wow!!!  What's a basement?

This house looks like it will have lots of spiders.  Let's go look.

(to the agent) I'm adopted.  My parents found me at a hospital.

Look at this closet.  Shut me in (so I can see how dark it is). 

I like pickles, but China doesn't like cheese.

These stairs go to an attic
me: No, it goes to the upstairs.
Wow!  What's an upstairs?

I can see that boy's underpants.  Why are his pants so low?
(agent--who by this point was answering lots of questions) It's a cultural thing.
blank stare

I kept saying, "I'm so sorry.  She hasn't lived in America before."

Remind me next time to NOT take my kids house hunting--esp. when you're trying to cram as much possible into two days. By the way, we did put in an offer!  Will let you know what happens

House Hunting

 Well, we looked at six houses today and they ranged from horrifying (filled with black mold), to quirky (see the pink unicorn painted in the kitchen below), to fairly nice.  The nicest one was this one.  It has amazing woodwork downstairs and the outside needs little or no work.  It also has a basement that is as big as the other floors--we would eventually work on finishing it.

 After three hours of house hunting WITH three kids (not a wise decision on our part!!!), we went and had Ethiopian food.  It was yummy!  I couldn't tell if they really enjoyed it since they snarf down anything put before them, but there wasn't much left!

 The injera was just right--thin and not too sour.  I'm sure we'll make another visit soon.

We'll Be Back Soon!

We traveled down to see my family over the fourth of July weekend--pictures to come.  Now we're house hunting!

The BIG news is that Matt has found a job as a science teacher.  So, we're scrambling to find a house so that the kids can start the school year on time.

More soon!

Happy Fourth!

This past Sunday we sang the national anthem and said the pledge of allegience.  I teared up--haven't said it in years.  Although my country isn't perfect I am proud to be an American.  And I am so thankful to have the rich heritage of a Godly nation/family.  I am always struck by the generosity of Americans (on the whole!)  I love that being blessed allows you to bless others.  Happy Fourth America!

Well...

 to stress out Matt and Mike more this snake skin was found hanging in a tree by the pool!

 It's quite long.  Of course my kids touched it and left it out for Uncle Mike to see when he came home.  Ana got to stay up a little late to see his reaction.

The other day on the farm Lexington (niece number 1) and I picked three cups of black raspberries in the neighbor's thicket.  We had quite the adventure climbing over fences and getting through some major thorn bushes.  The result--this lovely pie.  (7 cups of berries in it!!)

I Have Decided...

if I'm going to spend two to three hours styling Mitike's hair each week, I'm going to post it!!

Mitike's hair has really changed over the past year and a half.  It has thickened out a lot, grown several inches, and the curl pattern in parts has changed.  Because her hair is slick and has a loose curl pattern, styles never stay in longer than a week.  So, I'm always on the lookout for faster styles that are protective.  I particularly like this because it only uses one rubber band!  Hopefully it will keep up all the edges and we won't have so much frizz.

My parts could still use some work, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  We'll see how it lasts.  The idea for this style came from Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care.  I think it also would look nice if you started in the center of her head and worked out.  Maybe next time!