It's "s-NO-w" Fun

Because my life these days is never boring and obviously thrives on drama, we learned that the wonderful blizzard we had yesterday brought snow up into our attic. Boo. When I went in the garage earlier today I heard the dripping. And saw the floor wet. And our boxes wet. And when I looked up and saw this...

I freaked out. Are you serious? We are suppose to close on this house in one week and now the ceiling is beginning to look like it could cave at any moment. At first I thought it was coming from our roof but once I got into the attic, I discovered that snow had actually made its way into the tightest, smallest part and was melting. Those wonderful vents on the eaves on the north side of our house allowed the blowing snow to whip up into them and then settle in the corner of the attic between the roof and the garage. 

And then as it melted, the water traveled down the sheet rock of the garage ceiling and got it nice and wet. 

Yet another reason I highly dislike snow. Unless I'm skiing in it. Sigh. 

So after filling four buckets with snow and half a shop vac container of water, we finally stopped the bleeding. Or melting. Whatever. Our realtor has to pass on this lovely information to the buyers tomorrow and we hope to all heck that they understand and want to go through with the purchase.

I'm going to bed now. 

Good night.  

They Got One Right!!

With all the packing, bubble wrapping and more packing going on at our house I haven't really sat down to watch any local news. By the time I stop for the day, I turn on HGTV or the History channel and go into a t.v. watching coma until my eyelids close for the last time. So imagine my surprise when I wake up to my phone going off at 4:36 a.m. alerting that we were in a blizzard warning. But, I wasn't too concerned because when you live where I do, you quit relying on the weather men to accurately forecast our weather. It's not their fault. We just live in the most bi-polar weather region in the world. I doubted them further when we left church on Sunday and it was 63 degrees and even further when there was no snow falling when I went to bed. (Even though the wind was HOWLING, I figured the moisture line had missed us and we were just getting the wind like always). 

I was wrong and they were right. 

  

 

The wind was blowing so hard and the snow was whipping around everywhere. It was like nothing I ever remember seeing.

While me and the kids enjoyed staying in our p.j.'s and continue to work, other members of the family were content to just stay in bed.

About 3:00 in the afternoon, the sun broke through and I had a couple of kids very ready to go play. The problem was that we were literally snowed in. There was about a foot of snow against the front door and huge snow drifts out the back door. So what's a mom to do but grab a snow shovel and start making paths. I had to go out the back and then walk around the front to get it where we could open the door. 

I was so glad I had grabbed our school stuff before this hit. That way we didn't get even further behind and were able to still get work done. The rest of the city was shut down but we had no excuses. 

Apparently there was a pretty big drift in the back. When walking around to the front I was greeted by this cutie. We had let her out and she had found a perfect viewing spot to watch the kids play. 

Front of the house...before

and AFTER!! Go me!!

Speaking of packing, we are making great progress. We have about 95% of the house packed and neatly organized in the garage. That way, the moving company knows exactly where it goes and it will be much easier unpacking. 

Did I mention that my hubby sent me this picture this morning?

That little bum left yesterday to go skiing with a bunch of men from our church. In Colorado. Right after they had this exact same storm that was now hitting home. Sunshine and fresh powder. Bum. 

No really, I'm very happy he was invited to go on this trip and I hope he has so much fun. 

Moving day is only 7 days away!! I'm praying this snow is outta here by then!! 

Stay warm!

Big Changes Are A-Coming

How on earth is it already February?! Wow. I hate that I haven't posted in awhile but with this lovely cut I got on my hand on Christmas Eve, typing and handwriting tend to make it very sore. Boo-hoo, I know.

Well, let's get caught up. In early January, the husband and I had a serious talk about this move he made and how I was ready to move now instead of waiting until the summer like we had originally thought. Being back home was more emotional than any of us thought and we were really ready to just leave this house behind and be together as a family every day. So he called our adoption agency and asked them if it would delay us getting a referral if we moved. We know that we are so close to getting that call for a little boy and we don't want to jeopardize the timing. Our adoption consultant told us to move NOW. Wha?? She said that we needed to move as soon as possible in order to get settled there and get a current home study done before we had any chance of a court date. Well, alrighty then. I started immediately to get our house "show ready" and a week later, we were ready to start showing it. We originally tried to sell it on our own by holding an open house one weekend and then the next Tuesday we listed with a realtor. By that Friday, we had an full offer and signed the contract to close in early March. AHH!! I headed down the next week to try and find us a house that was perfect for our family AND could close in one month. Success!! After looking at over 20 houses, we decided on an older home with lots of updates and all the room we wanted. And a great backyard. :)

When our consultant told us to move now, we envisioned having our house on the market for about a month, and then moving around May. Well, God has his hands all over this and is going to make it possible for us to move and get a new home study done before any chance of a court date. We haven't even gotten a referral yet! So in here in about two weeks, we will pack up this house that we designed, built and lived in for the last 5 years and do something none of us have ever done. We are going to move to a different city. A great adventure is waiting for us!!! I'm looking forward to the plans God is laying out for us and the challenges that face us in the days ahead. It will be brand new experience but we are doing it together as a family and that will be a blessing.

Check in from time to time because I hope to document this move really well for myself and my family. Plus, if you blink, you may never know the surprises I may have!!