We're back!

Well here I am!  Its been about a month since I have blogged, and it feels good to be back. Honestly, its just another step to getting back to normal after a big transition for us over the last two months.  So we are here, and settled for the most part.  Life is moving at a very past pace and we are trying to keep up.  


But with my husband home, it is a HUGE help.  We all have loved having him around each day.  But I will say, it is tricky learning how to do that all day, every day!  I am so used to going about my day without having any other adult around.  You know, no one to run things by or coordinate plans with or make you think twice about what you do when.  I'm just kind of being used to being the queen of the castle during the day.  So it takes some getting used to!


We are almost fully unpacked, except for the boxes that only I can do, and my husband would really like for me to get to them ASAP, sincerely a week ago!  So we are unpacked mostly, but that does not mean decorated.  And that is the part that drives me crazy!  I had everything in its place at the last house, and now, well, not everything fits.  Window treatments are off, colors are off, space is off.  So I have to refigure, replan, rebuy/remake things.  That is the part that overwhelms me because I want it done like yesterday, and it just takes time.  I hate that!


But we will get there!  I know that.  Probably the best part about our lived right now is just the massive amount of family time we have.  We have never had so much time together!  But our outings, game nights, wii nights, and wrestling nights have all been such a treasure.  With no grandparents around, we are learning to really enjoy time with our kids.  I think I need to learn this lesson so much more than Ed.


Anyway, we have a shortage of pictures recently, but I will leave you with this.  Ed had a Daddy Day with all the kids today.  He took each one out to do something special with him.  He took Haleigh out to breakfast, Caleb on an adventure to the lake, and Micah to play his first round of golf with his new clubs.  Here they are before they left...

And it Begins...

The First of Many Lasts

I am finally updating our blog!  Sorry to all my faithful family members and friends who have probably given up on me.  Life has just been too much recently.  I've been busy cleaning house over and over again for our showings.  The good news is we have had a lot of traffic in our house.  But that has been a lot of work for me.  Our house has now been on the market for 37 days, and we waiting for the Lord to bring us our buyer.  


Last week we picked out our house in NC, so things are moving along.  We are excited for our new adventure God has for us in NC, but are focusing now on closing out relationships here.  We had our last Bible Study at CBS this week.  We have so loved that while we have been here, and we will miss it.  We also had our last regular youth group this week.  There will be many lasts coming up, and we will take them one by one.  


God has been teaching us a lot through this process.  We are so grateful for this time, and what he is doing in our lives.  

"Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act."  Psalm 37:5

Thursday Thoughts

I'm sitting here in my bed with my computer, bible, journal, and phone.  To be honest it has been a great afternoon...just what I needed.  Today is my birthday, and as always I have felt so loved.  But what I really needed today was some alone time.  Some time to get my head on straight, get a few things to check off my to do list, but mostly time to read and pray.  I feel refreshed, after all isn't that what your birthday is about?

Our house is officially on the market.  What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been, hence the lack of blog activity.  We had a showing this morning.  Could this be my very special birthday gift?  Who knows, but right now I am trusting the Lord to provide us with a sweet family to buy our house so they will love and enjoy this home as much as we have!  It's been fun to pray for a buyer with our kids.  The know we have to wait for the Lord to bring the buyer to our home.  

This weekend Haleigh and I trek up to MD and then to PA for a girls' weekend, and I am so giddy!  I need some time away, and so look forward to being with my mom and sister.  Sunday is my cousins' bridal shower, so we are going up Sat to spend some extra time with them.  I could not be more excited for her and the guy she is marrying.  We absolutely love him and they are so so cute together.  

Well I better go get ready for my hot date tonight.  My man is taking me to one of our favorites restaurants here The Boathouse.  It will probably be our last time here, and I will enjoy every last bite!  Their crab hush puppies are to die for!  

Have a good weekend!

A Whole Lotta Sass

It's been a long day...a long week actually.  We first met with our realtor last Thursday and it has been an intense couple of days.  It started with the news that we had to sell our home for A LOT less than what we thought.  Then that we needed to get the house on the market last weekend.  Those two pieces of information were enough to send me over the edge.  I have barely hung on this week, literally clinging to every bit of truth and wisdom I could get.  And honestly, cause we just need to be real here, most of it came from others.


Today we finalized all the paper work and it will officially be on the market in 24 hours-ish.  So all that said, I've learned a lot about real estate this week.  So I thought I'd give you...Katie's List of Things to Know About Real Estate.


(And let me just preface this with I'm tired and there will be a whole lotta MacPherson cynicism and sarcasm.)  


1.  If only we let our houses look as good as they do when they are on the market.


2.  Now is NOT the time to SELL.  The bottom line is our house has depreciated and thankfully not under what we still owe.  But we are not going make barely anything on this sale and we have put so much into it.  It's really frustrating knowing your so-called investment was not really a worthy investment after all.  Everything right now is about the buyer.  You're just so at their mercy and its a horrible feeling.  


3.  The market is NOT getting better.  Yes things are selling, but the prices are horrible.  see #1 - It's a BUYERS market.


4.  When staging a house, make it look as if no kids exist.


5.  When staging a house, in addition to #3 make it look as if no one exists.


6.  When people ask to help, let them help.  You can't do it alone.


7.  The only thing that would make it easier is if those kids mentioned in #3 didn't really exist.  Let me clarify...I want them to exist, just not in the current home that is currently on the market.  Following the terrors around picking up every single thing they displace is, well, tiring.


8.  I hate comps.  They killed us.  That one blasted house that sold two months ago is going to hurt us.  Gotta love the comps.


9.  And speaking of comps...did you know the only thing that matters is your square footage, beds, and baths.  That's it!  Don't bother with the remodeling, redecorating, redesigning.  Thanks HGTV!  Everything you taught me, DOES. NOT. APPLY.