Excellence In Christ

Grazing on our tomatoes like they're the breakfast buffet

HE’s been eating our tomatoes!!  We wondered what animal had been taking large chucks out of them.  One morning I looked out to find this turtle feasting.  I’ve decided that he can have the ones that are hanging low to the ground as long as we can have the ones higher on the vine.  Our tomatoes haven’t done so well this year, so I’m not too hurt by our uninvited turtle guest.  Eat up, good sir, and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Nature in our backyard is what I’ll miss when we move.  Right now I love that our rental house backs to woods and railroad tracks… it adds character.  We enjoy visits by a family of 4 deer, rabbits, armadillos, snakes (okay, we don’t enjoy that so much) and turtles.  Our new home backs to other houses.  We’ll have to start a butterfly garden or something. 

In Christ, Talya

Today we locked in our mortgage interest rate at 4.75%. The lock is good for 60 days and should take us through our August 19 closing. I am happy with the rate and thank the Lord. Regarding locking in, I’ve read that if you can live with a particular rate (even though it might not be the lowest), go ahead and lock in to protect against an unexpected jump upward. In other words, a lower rate would have been nicer, but waiting for a lower rate may not be worth the risk of a rate increase. I’m not one to take much risk in these areas.

I will post new pictures of the house soon. They’ve hung all the drywall. Being able to walk into a walled room makes it easier to visualize what the finished product will look like.:-) One concern I had was the sun exposure, especially on the lower level. Because the children and I are home all day doing school, it is important that a good amount of natural light be present in the house. I don’t like having to turn on lights in broad daylight. Well, today I discovered that the amount of sun in the house will be fine in most areas. The kitchen may be a little dark, but I’ll make it work…. I’ll just cook wearing one of those helmets with an headlight on it.;-)

In Christ, Talya

The house should be completed in 6-8 weeks, Lord willing.  This keeps us on track for a Aug. 19 closing.  As I watch mortgage rates rise before we can lock-in our rate, I say “the sooner the better”.

They’ve completed installing the insulation, we have bath tubs, and the vinyl siding has been hung on two sides.  They are beginning the siding in the front.  The drywall should be hung next week.  A neat little surprise that’s now standard in Mungo (the builder) homes is an iPod hookup in the kitchen that plays through two overhead speakers in the kitchen and kitchen nook entryways.  Since Sean and I have his & hers iPods, we will definitely use that feature.  Now, you’ve all been waiting for pictures, so ….

On June 12

On June 13... the very next day

June 17... Our cypress green siding... we'll have musket brown shutters

Foyer stairs to the upper floor...the green is termite treatment

Master bath garden tub with beginnings of shower to the left

For your viewing pleasure..... my spirited family!:-)

Looking out family room window... don't fall out!!!

I hope you enjoyed the photos.  To our parents/grandparents and other family members, we wish you were here to share this with us first-hand.  We can’t wait for you to come visit!  In Christ, Talya

A lot of progress has been made on the house.  They’ve put on the roof and tar paper.  We also have windows and a front door as of this afternoon!  Yesterday, it looked like some electrical wiring was going on inside and the plumber pulled up as we were leaving. 

On another note, we had our first adoption home visit today.  The home study consultant (she has been contracted to only complete homestudies) was a very nice older woman.  She was easy to talk to, but I still sometimes felt I was trying too hard to have good answers.  I know I just need to be myself and there are no right answers.  She stayed for about 1.5 hours and asked varied questions.  She asked why we wanted to adopt and where we all were from.  Some questions were asked to elaborate on answers I had written in my “autobiography” I submitted.  She asked the children what they thought of adoption and both girls answered that they were excited.  Even Josiah chimed in.  It was a good visit.  She’ll be back to meet Sean tomorrow after he gets off work.  The third and last visit will take place in August after we move so she can check out our house, making sure it’s safe and we have enough room.  I wish we didn’t have to wait so long, but it doesn’t make sense to complete the homestudy based on our current house, only to have to pay to update in a couple months when we move.

Well, here are some photos from today’s visit to the house:

We've got a front door!! Come on in!

Here's a back view

In Christ, Talya