Selling, Building, Moving | Amy Scott's Thoughts

Birthday Party Weekend with a Health & Home Update October 4, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:41 pm

My last post ended with Jeremy’s upcoming appointment with our family doctor. At that appointment, Jeremy asked to get a referral to a new cardiologist. We wanted to get a second opinion since his first cardiologist couldn’t explain the chest pain Jeremy was having and didn’t seem too concerned with figuring it out. To our surprise, we had an appointment with the new cardiologist in just a few days of asking for the referral.

Friday was a busy day. We found out on Thursday that we would be having our appraisal on Friday. I’m glad we had a little more notice this time. Last time they told us on the day of which wasn’t my favorite thing. We already had plans to be gone on Friday morning to go shopping for the boys’ birthday parties so it worked out well for the appraisal to happen at that time. We thought he would be gone by noon and we arrived home at 12:15pm hoping to put the boys’ down for a nap, but the appraiser was still there! We went and dropped food off at Jeremy’s parent’s house and came back home. The appraiser was still there. Then we ran into Napavine to get lunch and arrived back home at 1:15pm. Thankfully, he was gone at that point, but it threw off our nap plans.

Jeremy’s parents spent Friday afternoon with the boys so we could go down to Vancouver for Jeremy’s second opinion appointment. The doctor was saw was young. He is only a year older than me. He listened to Jeremy’s story and symptoms. He agreed to do an echocardiogram. Jeremy had one a few years ago, but those can be subjective, so the doctor wants to look over one with his own eyes. He is also thinking of doing a CT scan on Jeremy’s chest to see something might be causing the feeling Jeremy has. He is also concerned about Jeremy’s heart rhythm and suggested maybe a long term implanted heart monitor instead of the 30 days monitor that Jeremy is currently wearing (he is almost finished with his 30 days and can mail it back this weekend). While Jeremy wasn’t jazzed about the implanted heart monitor idea, we are thankful for another set of eyes looking things over. October will more tests and follow up appointments. His medical appointments will most likely continue into November, but we are hoping that Jeremy can go back to work at that point (after our two weeks in Kirkland for counseling).

More appointments & a new doctor for the health update, we’ve had our appraisal and are awaiting the results for the home update. Now for the fun stuff! This weekend we celebrated the boys’ upcoming birthdays. October is full of birthdays in our family, so we wanted to do a combined party for Owen & Graham. I also wanted to do it early in the month so it wouldn’t conflict with other birthdays. It was fun to celebrate our almost 3 year old and almost 1 year old. Graham wasn’t too interested in opening presents. Owen assumed all the presents were for him which is kind of true. These boys share everything at this point. No toy is off limits to either of them. The boys got tons of new toys. Our days have been spent playing, playing, playing. Graham loved the frosting on his birthday cupcake, but didn’t get too into the cake part. Owen loved his Thomas cake and Thomas themed party. For one of the parties, we played pin the funnel on Thomas and gave out Thomas tattoos. I love themed parties!

This Saturday is Owen’s actual birthday. We will attend a model train show at our local fairgrounds and go to lunch at Owen’s favorite Chinese restaurant for fried rice. I will make brownies with frosting for his birthday cake. Owen loves to blow out birthday candles so he’ll get another chance at that. He’ll also get a few birthday presents from Jeremy and I. It should be a really fun day.

Now we wait to hear back on the results of our appraisal. I’m praying for better numbers than last time. Once we have the appraisal officially behind us, we should be closing in 7-10 business days. Jeremy & his dad cleared out the 3 rooms we will be moving into. My father-in-law, Bill, has knee surgery tomorrow. I feel bad that we will be moving into his house when he is recovering. Hopefully our crazy family doesn’t slow down his recovery process. However, I have been holding a very tentative view of moving. Ideally our new closing date will be around Friday, October 28^th and possibly moving the weekend of the 22^nd. Obviously nothing is set in stone at this moment. I will admit that I’m not quite sure how all the dates will pan out with counseling out of the area, more doctors’ appointments, moving and closing. Things might pile on top of each other bit… I know that God is in control of all these dates and details. I don’t need to know right now. I just need to focus on today and what is immediately ahead of me. The rest will come in time.

Even in this strange season, I have so much to be thankful for. I am blessed by our family and friends who showed up and loved on our boys this weekend. I am thankful for all the time we’ve gotten to spend as a family of four. I’ve loved having Jeremy home and so have the boys. They have no clue what is going on with Jeremy’s health so all they see is the positive of having their dad around all the time. Jeremy and I have always been a great team. We worked together well professionally and now that translates into parenting together. Some women have told me they could never work with their spouse, that they need that time apart during the day. I, however, can spend almost every waking minute with Jeremy and never grow tired of him. I love him so much. I love our life together. That is why figuring out his health is so important to me. I want him to be healthy so our family has decades upon decades with him. He means so much to me and the boys. We couldn’t ask for a better husband and father. While this medical leave and time away from work hasn’t been an easy one for our family, I am grateful for the time we’ve spent together. I will look back on this season and know that we faced it together as a family, full of love, full of hope. There is so much good in the midst of the hard. God is in all of it and we are thankful.

This kid is too cute!

Making hot dogs and smores on the burn pile at the property

Party shopping

The birthday boys

3&1

Party #1

Party #2

Hitting Toy’R’Us for the birthday balloon and a car seat upgrade for Graham

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Some Things Take Time September 25, 2016

Filed under: Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:04 pm

There are no quick fixes in my life right now. Things are taking time. I am starting to feel a little desperate for normal but I know that isn’t going to happen. Not for a while and not in the way I really crave at the moment.

Yesterday was our next planned moving date. A moving date that didn’t pan out (again). Friday will be another closing date that didn’t happen. It all feels so weird. We are living in a house that I could move out of in a few hours notice. We are ready to go. I guess the good thing about all these delays in selling our house is I am officially ready to go. I want to move on. I’m not as sad as I once was. I have disconnected more with Moonlit Lane and I am ready for what’s next. Maybe having our new property cleared might have something to do with that. I can see where my new home will go. We met with Adair this week and picked out all the features and upgrades we want in our new home. I can see the new goal and I am ready to move forward and make it happen.

Our closing date is still TBD. Our appraisal should be done by October 13th, if not sooner. Then we will have 7-10 business days after the appraisal to close. Instead of the middle of the month, it looks like we will move closer to the end of the month. However, I hold all that very tentative. I’ve become a bit of a skeptic.

Another upside of not moving until later in October is we will still be living on Moonlit Lane for Graham’s first birthday (however, his actual birthday will most likely be spent in Kirkland and not at home). I like the idea of Graham spending his whole first year of life here. I don’t know why it means something to me, but it does. I also love that Graham learned into walk in this house. It feels right to me. This is the baby house. The house where we brought our babies home, where we had nurseries and baby first milestones. I look at the plans for our next house and I see our “kid” house and our “teenager” house. I have loved our baby phase, but I am also very excited for the next phases.

Another thing that is taking more time in our life is Jeremy’s medical leave. It has now been extended to the end of October. MRI (the ministry counseling group) wants to do two intensive weeks with us and their first opening is the last two week of October. So now we will come back after period of time. Right now, our focus remains getting Jeremy’s health back to 100%. We are also doing a lot of evaluating and praying. We need God’s direction in our lives as we decide how the future will look for our family. We are hopeful that MRI will be a good opportunity for us to grow and help set us up for success in the future. Jeremy has another doctor’s appointment tomorrow to talk about his chest pain and see if a second opinion would be available. October holds great promise towards healing.

I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind another month in this strange state. I know that this season has purpose. It’s a surprisingly active season as we work towards Jeremy’s health. The month of October will be full. Our boys will have their 3rd & 1st birthdays. We have two parties next weekend to celebrate them. We will hopefully have movement with our house. We will have two very crazy weeks as we figure out how to spend a large chunk of our time in Kirkland meeting with MRI. I know this next month one will be a big for us. Our world has turned upside and it has the potential to keep spinning. We are trusting God to make our path straight as we follow him. I love how God gives you what you need in the moment. The other day the verse of the day on my Bible app was Proverbs 19:20-21, “Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” I couldn’t believe how perfectly this sums up life right now. On a sillier note, on a whim, I clicked on those Facebook links to show me my life quote. The quote it gave me was “There is no reason to look back, when there is so much good in front of you.” Okay, I can be a dweller. I have spent a great deal of time dwelling on the last the month and all that has transpired. There have been lots of questions, doubts and a fair amount of fear. But I am learning to live with the questions. I learning to give my doubts and fear to God. I don’t want to be paralyzed by past. I press forward because I believe there are good days ahead of us. I have great hope in where we will be on the other side of this. The hard part is I can’t race through this season. I can’t instantly acquire the healing we need in this moment, but I believe it is a head of us. I believe there is good in front of us and I want to walk to towards it. God will be with us every step. Even if things take time.

Snug as a bug in a rug

Helping Daddy peel apples

One of many stops by the property to check on clearing

What childhood is made of!

Stopping by Grandpa’s work for a hot dog and ice cream!

Having fun at Adair!

Another visit to the property

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A Week of Meetings September 16, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 5:00 pm

This week has been full of meetings. On Sunday, we got to meet our newest nephew, Colton. He slept through most of the experience which is fine by me. A sleeping baby is a happy baby in my book. He was super cuddly and won our hearts instantly. Owen was the sweetest when it was his turn to hold the baby. He gave him kisses on the top of his head and it melted my heart.

Tuesday, Jeremy and the boys went up to the property with my parents to meet with the man who would be clearing the land and the lady that will be designing the septic. After that, they all went down to the courthouse to put the land officially in our name. We now own 6 acres of property! That is certainly something to celebrate! My parents have been so generous to us. We are excited for this next season of life. Clearing has begun and we can start to envision where our houses will go and what the future will look like. I’m thrilled to see progress being made. The only once piece of news that I haven’t mentioned is our closing on current house has pushed back to the middle of October. Appraisers in our area are super slammed and we can’t get an appraisal in time for our closing date at the end of September. This means our moving date is again TBD. I’m not loving that, but I am grateful that the we are still under contract even if things are moving slowly.

Wednesday was Jeremy’s treadmill. Since this wasn’t his first rodeo with a treadmill, I expected the results to be much the same as before. And they were. The doctor wasn’t too concerned by what he saw. He thinks the meds are working and that is good enough. Unfortunately, the doctor doesn’t have a good explanation for the discomfort Jeremy feels in his chest (he feels it even with the meds). We are seriously considering getting a second opinion to make sure that nothing has been overlooked.

Thursday we drove up to Kirkland to meet with a ministry resource group. We believe that stress is a key factor in the incident that Jeremy had at the end of August. His heart issues combined with stress have created the situation we are in now. The hope is this ministry group will be able to help give Jeremy the skills to deal with the stress in his life. Truthfully, most of stress in our lives comes from ministry, but when you are pastors there are very few people you can be open and honest with about work related stress. Our prayer is that this organization will add another level to Jeremy’s healing. The one downside to this group is they prefer to meet in an intensive week of 4 full days of meeting (usually two weeks of Monday-Thursday, so most likely 8 days total). Since the group is located at a distance and Graham is still nursing, this will make it tricky for me to accompany Jeremy. We will call the scheduler on Monday and talk through what our options are. Right now with a young family, I can’t do the intensive week. We will see what other options we can come up with.

This week has had so many ups and downs for me. Meeting Colton was a high point, for sure. Now that Jeremy has been on his meds for two weeks, he is driving again, which I really appreciate. I hate driving so I’m glad that he is healthy enough to be back behind the wheel. While, I didn’t want Jeremy’s treadmill to show something horribly wrong, I also don’t feel like we got sufficient answers from Jeremy’s current cardiologist. And the ministry group… While I am grateful for this opportunity to work with them, it’s been stressful for me as I try to figure out how we will blend their preferences with our current season of life. At times I find myself mentally chanting “lean not on our own understanding” over and over again. It’s in my nature to figure things out and make sure all the pieces fall into place. However, right now I feel like a lot of things are still up in the air and I need to live that. God is in control. When I trust him, he will make our way straight. It’s a relief to know that I am not responsible for figuring this all out. I’m doing the best I can to do the right thing and that has to be good enough. I know that God will honor our diligence as move forward.

Our Usborne box arrived with all these books! Birthdays and Christmas are going to be good this year!

Meeting Colton

Owen loves his new bed and a new books!

Looking at bugs

Exploring the property and checking out the clearing

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Pending Again! August 16, 2016

Filed under: Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 7:03 pm

After a week of being back on the market, we are pending again! I found out that we received an offer right after last night’s blog post. We counter offered this morning and the buyer accepted! We are officially pending again. I will admit that I am fearful. Things fell apart before so they could again. But I am trusting and believing that this experience will be different. Our new closing date will be September 30th! Be praying for us as this process moves forward. We haven’t heard back yet if this buyer will accept the previous home inspection that just happened a month ago or if they will want a new one. We are also praying for a different appraiser since the appraisal is what made our last contract go south. It’s not a done deal, but we are excited about moving forward and praying for good things.

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Back on the Market August 12, 2016

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:56 pm

On Wednesday, we received news that our buyers were formally backing out of the sale of our home. This was the expected outcome after we arrived at an impasse over closing costs. Almost immediately, our home was back on the market. We even have a showing tomorrow. I don’t want to take a ton of time to discuss this closed door. The main thing I can say is I feel weird. I’m still in my house. We didn’t close today. I don’t feel like I belong here. I spent so much time and energy saying good-bye. I had prepared in every way to leave and then we didn’t… Now it just feels off. Like outgrowing something… I am grateful that we didn’t move just to find out that the house wasn’t sold. I would feel awful imposing on the hospitality of my in-laws while I had a perfect good house sitting empty a few miles away. Overall, this could be for the best. While it means more time, it also means a new appraisal and hopefully a better bottom line in the end.

The rest of the week has been about moving on with life. It keeps going. Wednesday was church. Thursday, my mom and I took the boys to the park. This park happens to be right by the train tracks and Owen was delighted to see three different trains. Last night we went to the storage unit and picked up more kitchen items. I have the strong urge to bake because that is a comfort move of mine, however, it’s too hot at the moment. Once the cooler weather comes in I plan on making a couple different goodies. One being a family favorite of Hello Dollies and the other will probably be something pumpkin because pumpkin also sounds like comfort to me.

During nap times, I’ve been able to make good progress on my new book, Present Over Perfect. I love Shauna Niequist. She is one of my favorite authors. This books affirms so many decisions I’ve made. I am all about the smaller life these days. I’m trying to be intentional with my time and influence. I love being home with my boys and making my family a priority. I love serving the kiddos at Bethel and I enjoy being a part of my local MOPS group. I might not run in big circles these days, but I love the small circles I am in. I know that I am encouraging others and pointing them to Jesus. This book empowers a healthy lifestyle, healthy boundaries and a healthy priorities. It encourages stillness and shows the power of small things. It’s a good read for sure. I am also equally excited to start How to Survive a Shipwreck by Jonathan Martin. I know the title seems a bit dramatic, but I can relate the shipwreck feeling. In life there will be failure and disappointment. I’m hoping for some practical encouragement from my next read.

Jeremy spend a good part of today making the outside of the house presentable. We did some more grocery shopping. We needed to restock some key pantry items. Tomorrow I will clean the inside of the house thoroughly and pray that this showing could be the one! How awesome would it be to only have one showing back on the market before we got another offer? While that seems unlikely, I can dream. This whole process has brought out two sides of me. One is always hopeful, thinking the best is right around the corner. The other is very pessimistic and “woe is me.” It’s strange to flip flop between hope and discouragement. Especially so many times throughout the day. More than trusting in my own emotions, which are all over the place, I am trusting in God. My mom sent me a quote from Corrie Ten Boom that says, “God doesn’t have problems, he has plans.” I am reminded that my house situation isn’t a problem. It’s an opportunity. God isn’t freaking out because my house didn’t sell, so I guess I shouldn’t either.

Owen saw that I was reading my Bible. He ran and got his and read it next to me.

Owen had a toe injury this week. He didn’t want to look at the offending cut so we covered it with a towel.

Graham is loving his hand-me-down walker from Uncle Nathan & Aunt Beckie. This kid loves to go!

Playing in the park with Grandma

How did he get so big?

Watching a train from the bridge

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The Day We Didn’t Move August 9, 2016

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 4:50 pm

We didn’t move yesterday. Things are too up in the air. The renegotiating process with our buyers doesn’t look favorable and we didn’t want to move to just have the deal fall apart a day or two later. Our buyers are meeting with their agent tomorrow. Since I don’t have the ability to read minds or see the future, I have no clue what the outcome will be. However, I won’t be surprised if we have to walk away from this contract. If that is the case then we will put our home back on the market and start at the beginning again.

I didn’t think this would happen. The closer it got to closing and the move, I thought we were in the clear. We had been warned that things could fall apart at the very end, but I just didn’t think it would. On Saturday as I was talking things through with Jeremy, I realized that things were going south. I realized we couldn’t move on Monday if we weren’t sure about the sale of our home. The last thing I would want is for our home to sit vacant while we still owned it. Now there is a chance that we might have to make a mad dash to move before Friday, but I’ll be honest and say that I doubt it.

I’m disappointed. I worked my butt off to make sure we were ready to move on Monday. The only thing left to pack up was our food. I have our house down to the bare minimum. If we end up relisting our house, we’ll have to go get boxes out of storage and unpack a few things so we can actually cook in our house. Jeremy got a few boxes for me yesterday, but I think a few more are going to be necessary.

So, what did we do instead of move? We had a family day. We went down to the Vancouver/Portland area. We ate some comfort food (for me, mac & cheese). We tried to go see waterfalls on the historic highway, but the whole of Oregon was there so we only saw one smaller waterfall to avoid the crowds. We did some shopping since we needed food. I’ve been eating everything down to nothing so we had less to move. It was a weird day. While I loved having family time, it wasn’t quite the distraction I had hoped for. My mind kept thinking through “what ifs.” If I wasn’t thinking through the future, I kept thinking about how I should be moving… how I would have been moving that day. We ended the day with dinner at Jeremy’s brother’s house. Owen got some play time with Nolan. It was a nice way to finish the day. What an unexpected day.

In other news, the baby shower on Sunday for my sister in law went well. The weather was rainy which was a bit of a bummer since I had planned a summer BBQ. The rain stalled enough for the kiddos to go out and play a bit. It was a fun day spent with family and celebrating baby number 4. I can’t wait to meet my new niece or nephew next month!

Saturday was moving my sister into her home. It was fun to explore her new home and watch her start to settle in. After many, many moves, I’m hoping that April and Andrew have many happy years in this home. The septic had to be replaced on their new home. The workers were filling the dirt around the septic when we got there. Owen sat on the back porch and intently watched the digger at work. This boy loves his diggers and moving trucks. It was a great day for Owen. I think it was a good day for April and Andrew as well.

That’s the update for now. When I realized I would be home on Tuesday, I placed an order on Amazon for two books that I’ve been wanting for a while. I used my mother’s day gift card and they arrived today. During nap time today, I took an hour to sit in silence and read. It was good soul care. I don’t get a ton of time to read these days, but these books are a priority to me. They offer hope and encouragement. They are an investment into something I love. That’s also why I’m blogging. Words are how I process life. By reading them, by writing them. Words help me through it all. Jesus does too. I’m not really sure I believe that everything happens for a reason but I do believe that you can gain something from every experience. The twists and turns of my story have not caught Jesus off guard. God knows. He is in this. I am okay. I might be unsure, but I am okay.

We love U-Haul

Auntie’s house is so cool

Celebrating my sweet sister in law and her soon to arrive new addition!

On our way to adventure

Graham was less than impressed with the waterfall

Throwing rocks in and looking over the edge

Good times at Ikea

Playing Jeeps with Nolan

Books are my love language!

Highlighting my way through Present Over Perfect

Cutest engineer ever! Owen scored some new pajamas yesterday.

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Highlights from Camping August 5, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 11:42 am

I have about 15 minutes of free time. Graham is down for a nap and Jeremy & Owen are on their way home from a morning of running errands together. At the point of my last post, I wasn’t in a very good place. Buggies freak me out and I felt like my house was crawling with them… After a day of intense laundry, treating the house & Owen for lice, and bug bombing to kill the fleas, I feel a bit better about things. I wasn’t expecting the extra work, but Jeremy was super helpful and together we conquered the bugs and took off for camping.

This was Graham’s first camping trip and Owen’s second. Owen loves camping. He does great. He runs around in the dirt, eats the camp food, sleeps pretty well in a tent on an air mattress. This year he even got the concept of sleeping in a sleeping bag. Graham on the other hand… He did not do so well at camping. He decided that sleeping wasn’t going to happen in the Pack’n’Play which made for a very long and loud night the first night. I deeply apologize to the whole campground. Graham took one nap on Nana’s lap and the rest were induced by driving around in the van and letting him sleep in his car seat. He also has a top tooth coming in so he spent most of his awake hours extremely fussy. On the bright side, he took about three steps on his own from Papa to Daddy. Doesn’t he know that he is only 9.5 months old? Slow down, kid!

Both boys got covered in dirt (which I totally expected). Owen loved having time to play with his cousins. Nana took the kids on many “hikes” around the neighboring empty campsites. I enjoyed my favorite camp foods (smores, pizza pockets and pop tarts). This was our first time camping at Millersylvania State Park. It’s on Deep Lake so the kids got to go swimming and fishing. Jeremy bought a small boat on clearance and enjoyed giving the kids rides. One of the nicest features of our campground was how close it was to home. The second night we stayed until bedtime and then took our crew home to sleep in their own beds. We just didn’t want to deal with another night of screaming. We took off early the next morning and made it back to camp in time for breakfast. I think it was the wisest choice for our family.

While this trip had some hiccups thanks to Graham, overall, it was a fantastic time to catch up with family and enjoy some time outside. I am excited for next year because I think it will be a home run experience for our family once Graham is older. Now I’m home conquering mountains of laundry and pulling all the details together for my sister-in-law’s baby shower. We got the food shopping done, the games are ready to go. This weekend will be a big one with moving my sister tomorrow and the shower on Sunday. I think I am as prepared as possible. The house is mostly packed up. Jeremy took another load to the storage unit this morning with Owen. I think we might have one more small load to take later today. Other than that, we are ready to move on Monday. Which reminds me, the appraisal shook things up for us. It came in lower than we expected. We are renegotiating with the buyers. I’m really praying that things don’t fall apart at this point since we are set to move in just a few days. I know that God is in control and nothing surprises him. He is in all these details. I just need to take a deep breath and trust that he’s got this. Again, I feel unsteady, but I know that he is my rock and anchor. These metaphors have taken on even deeper meaning for me this year as I have looked for sure footing and only found it in my Savior. May all this crazy be for God’s glory! Amen!

Found the campsite. About to set up.

I couldn’t be more thankful for this man. He is there for me through all of these ups and downs and puts up with all my crazy emotions!

Sleeping on the boppy which was laid across my stomach. The things we do to keep little ones asleep.

First time fishing. He lasted about 4 minutes before he wanted to go throw rocks in the lake instead.

A little dirt never slowed Graham down!

Pizza pockets cooked over a fire! My favorite camp food ever!

Such a beautiful sight!

Handsome little swimmer

He caught a fish!

Hanging at the lake while the group was swimming.

Enjoying the new boat

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Chuckling at Change (well, sort of)… July 28, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Recollections,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 11:58 am

I randomly think through this last year and chuckle (or breath into a paper bag) about all the changes 2016 has brought. I actually sat down made a list yesterday afternoon while Owen napped.

2016 started off with me eating a dairy/soy free diet in order to figure out Graham’s tummy issues
We sold our car and bought a minivan
We changed phone carriers
I reached a new decade (aka turned 30)
Listed our house to sell
Got rid of satellite TV (this has totally changed the way we watch TV, which I will admit we do every day)
Gave Toby away
Said good-bye to April as my Wednesday night helper after 3 years of teaching together.
I’ve packed up my household belongs and I’m staring at blank walls and empty cabinets.
Anticipated changes right around the corner
- Moving in with my in-laws
- Selling my home
- Start building a new house

All of these changes have happened during the “baby phase.” Not only have we adapted to being a family of four and keeping a squirmy little human alive, I have lived through all these changes with postpartum hormones, adjusting to a new post-baby body, and interrupted sleep (every single night, sometimes multiple times a night). No wonder I’ve lost more hair after having Graham than I did with Owen. I’m not pulling it out, but thanks to postpartum hormones and stress, I thought I might go bald this year. I laugh about it all… sometimes…

Stability has been in short supply. For those that know me, you know that I am the queen of routine and predictability. This year has shattered that comfort zone for me. The only way I have gotten through all of this with Jesus. I don’t seek out change. In fact, all of the decisions above big and small were made with a lot of thought and prayer. As strange as it sounds, the change that has been happening in my extended family has affected me as well. We moved my parents twice in the last month. This changes the home that we visit with the boys. My sister is about to move out of state. While she will still close enough to visit, I will no longer see her on a weekly basis. She has been my partner in crime for the last three years on Wednesday nights. In seems like in a lot of ways, the whole world has turned upside down and shifted. While I know that isn’t entirely true, it feels true.

I’m doing my best to embrace an adventurous spirit. While I don’t love change, I have my eyes wide open wondering what God has next. I don’t assume anymore that things are always going to be the way they always have been. The next few months are just mid-story when it comes to selling our house and building a new home. We are finishing a chapter, but we are still in the middle of it. These days have been exhausting physically, mentally and emotionally. I often feel empty at the end of the day, like I’ve given it my all. I’m spent. Daily I thank Jesus that I am not walking through all of this alone. I know that he is there with me. As I pack every box. As I pray over what builder to use. As I correct a cranky toddler. As I soothe a crying baby. Jesus is right there. It’s comforting. While I crave stability and “normal”, I know that I have my hope anchored in the rock. Life might a whirlwind, but I know that I have a firm foundation through it all. I’m thankful that Jesus is my constant through this crazy journey!

Graham taking his Sunday morning nap in my arms

Showing me his Percy tattoo. He wouldn’t the lady put it on him on Friday for the Day Out with Thomas

Trying to get photos of these two together is always a crazy adventure!

Reading books on the new alphabet rug

April’s last Wednesday night

April’s Last Wednesday Night

April’s Last Wednesday Night

April’s Last Wednesday Night

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A Day Out with Thomas July 24, 2016

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 2:45 pm

This last week has moved at a remarkable pace. We are flying through our days and they are filled to the brim with activity. I left off last week saying that we would tour a Lexar home plan on Wednesday. My plan was to bake on Wednesday morning and put off my normal house cleaning until Thursday. Jeremy sent me text on Wednesday morning saying at the appraiser called and wanted to appraise the house that day. I went from having a relaxed day to cleaning the house at break neck speeds. I had barely enough time to clean the house, take a shower and get out the door. Insane! The hour drive to see the Lexar home felt like an eternity to me because it was a Wednesday and I knew that we had to make the same drive home in order to get to church on time. It was a jammed packed day. I wish I could say that I didn’t like the house, but I did. The house we saw had some upgrades that we really liked. However, with Lexar raising their prices recently, our budget really has no wiggle room for upgrades. The house we toured was really well decorated. The lady who owns it makes her own decor and furniture. She is the kind of person Pinterest was made for. It was nice to see the house set up so well and so functionally. Jeremy and I could definitely see how the home would work for us. My favorite spaces were the master bedroom and the playroom. The tour gave us lots to think about. (And in case you are wondering, we haven’t heard anything back about the appraisal…)

Before I can jump into the happy Thomas the Train update, I want to briefly touch on Thursday’s big news. Thursday, Toby left our family for a new adventure. It had been in the works to take Toby to a local humane society since the beginning of July, but due to some policies it got put off until this last week. It was a hard thing to do. When we first tried to rehome Toby in January, it was sudden and while we agreed it was the right thing to do, it left me an emotional wreck. I sobbed and had the closest thing in my life to a legitimate panic attack. It might have been the postpartum hormones, but I think it was the surprise and pace of the decision mixed with a whole lot of guilt and feeling like a failure. I was nervous about how our second attempt at giving him away would go. With everything else that I have on my plate right now, I didn’t want to have a mental breakdown over the dog. I think that having a lot of time to process the decision was good for me. Having most of the month of July to think about it and say good-bye was helpful for me. Toby’s last month with us was filled with lots of walks, treats and love. He is a sweet dog, but just not good with kids. Now he has a chance to find a family that better fits his needs. While I have not sobbed like last time, Toby is still in my thoughts throughout the day. I wonder how he is doing. I think about how he would have been a part of our day. There is a void – for good or for bad. I do miss him. I think that moving in two weeks will help since we’ll be in a new location and no longer in the home that we brought Toby home to. It’s been rough, but good in a lot of ways. Just another big change for our family. We’ve had a few lately…

On to the happy stuff! On Friday, we took off up north for a Day Out with Thomas! As we were walking up to the train station, Thomas was pulling in from his first ride of the day. Owen was thrilled to see him. The funny thing about Owen is he takes everything in and processes it quietly. His eyes were huge and he had fun, but he is barely smiling in any of the pictures. The day wasn’t great for photo opportunities, but the experience itself was worth it. We went around the site and collected coloring pages, temporary tattoos and played at the Thomas train tables they had set up. We climb up inside engines they had on display. They had all the songs from the show playing around the railway. It was a fun atmosphere. The ride itself was scenic and everyone we passed waved at us. Owen had a fun time waving back. Once our ride was over, we got in line to take our picture with Thomas. Because he had to depart for his next ride, the photo opportunity stopped right as we got to the front of the line. We got some pictures with Thomas in the background. They aren’t Christmas card worthy, but they are funny. Owen wouldn’t take his eyes off of Thomas so all you see is the back of his head in the photos. Graham on the other hand is crying because he is cranky and needs a nap. It made for a humorous photo. We left the railway feeling pretty good about our fun adventure with Thomas. Our ride home was also an adventure. An accident on the freeway had southbound I-5 crazy backed up. It was faster for us to take an extremely scenic route home and avoid the freeway all together.

I got home on Friday with just enough time to get a little dinner and then take off for my MOPS leadership retreat. I was exhausted from the big day with Thomas, but I mustered the strength. All I really wanted was my pajamas. My MOPS meetings on Friday and Saturday went well and I am excited for all we have planned for next year. Now that August is almost here, I am going to need to start working on our publications. June/July are sirt if a short break for me when it comes to publications, but I’m about to jump right back into it. After the retreat was over, I came home and packed some boxes while the boys napped. Jeremy worked on fixing a few things that came up in the home inspection. Once the boys were up, we dropped them off with Nana and Papa and took off for Olympia to talk with Adair homes. Now that Lexar has raised their prices, we need to seriously look into other options to make sure we are making the best choice financially. The meeting with Adair went well and gave Jeremy and I lots to discuss at dinner.

Today the house is looking bare as I take down the artwork on the walls and wrap it up. I’m currently out of bubble wrap, so I’m pausing to complete this blog. Jeremy is out digging up pipes to fix our septic with his father. We are moving toward closing and doing our best to be as prepared as possible for this big move and transition. Please be praying for us! We appreciate it!

Triple stacker! Silly boys!

Oh the things that happen at church. Luckily it looks like no big deal now.

Toby’s last walk with the family. Such a hard decision even though it was a good one. Despite all the crazy he brought to our lives, I do miss him. Just not the pee on my floor.. And the barking…

Playing in the yard is what being a kid in summertime is all about!

Our epic photo with Thomas! What do you think? Christmas cards?

Enjoying our time at the railway

Such a good time at the Day Out with Thomas

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Who would have thought? July 20, 2016

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Recollections,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 9:00 am

If you would have asked me about what I thought 2016 would like on January 1st, I would have never imagined any of this. Our world continues to move forward in surprising ways. I can tell that God is in all of this because it’s not something I saw coming. Our counter off to the home inspection was accepted. We will move on August 8th and close on August 12th (as long as the appraisal goes well). I find myself with only a few weeks left in my house. Monday, I packed up dozens of boxes and tried to determined what we needed in our kitchen and what could go. Jeremy and Owen took two truck loads out to the storage unit. We are making progress. Packing is now a daily pastime. I am so grateful to have Jeremy home from camp. It felt like life paused for a week and now we are back to moving full steam ahead. We switched the boys’ dressers so Graham can use the long dresser has a changing table. We will sell our changing table so it’s one less things to store. I’ve been sorting through our things and consolidating. I’m trying to be strategic when it comes to what stuff will move with us and what will go to storage. The nice thing about having a project like this is I feel productive at the end of the day. Keeping my kids alive is a lot of work, but at the end of the day, I don’t always feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. Packing makes me feel like I’m doing something. It’s been good.

The week without Jeremy finished well. We went had dinner with my parents on Thursday and went down to Longview to hang with my sister on Friday. We took Owen to the park and he has a blast. We did a little shopping, got more “panda rice” and milkshakes at Burgerville. The boys were so excited when Jeremy came home. Graham crawled around the house trying to keep up with Jeremy. Every time he reached Jeremy, he would pull himself up and lift his arms up to be held. It was super sweet. Owen gave Jeremy numerous hugs and told him that he missed him. These boys love their Daddy! It’s great to have the family back together.

Our weekend was filled with family time. We drove over the mountains for my niece’s 4th birthday party on Saturday and then we had a family BBQ with relatives visiting from South Dakota on Sunday. Like I mentioned early, Monday was a big day of packing and taking loads to the storage unit. We also walked the property with a local contractor and ran errands up in Olympia. Jeremy hasn’t had any down time to recover from kid’s camp. While the boys napped, I worked on a MOPS project. I walked into our bedroom to find Jeremy laying on the bed with his eyes closed. My hubby never lays down, so this was a big deal. Poor guy just can’t rest with the pace we’ve set.

Yesterday, I went into the church to make a sign for our MOPS play date and then we went to the park to play. Owen had a great time going down the slide and watching for trains with his friends. As we were leaving the park, Owen yelled “Good-bye everybody!” It was sweet to see him connecting with his buddies.

Today, we have our rescheduled home tour with Lexar. I am excited to see if the plan we like is the “one”. If we don’t love this plan then it might be back to the drawing board for us. Lexar has raised their prices, so we might look into other builders. We aren’t sure yet. Things with the property are moving forward. We will need to nail down the details soon. We don’t want anything to hold us up once we have the green light to build.

That’s life in a nutshell. It’s wonderful to see the process move forward. Each steps brings us closer to the next. I’m excited that once we move, we will close. Once we close, we will have the finances to start building. This new home and all that it entails is an adventurous new chapter for our family. I have loved our current home and I am sad in way for this chapter to end. So many sweet and wonderful memories. I am equally thrilled though by the new memories we are going to make moving forward. God is in all the changes. He has our family in his hands. I am thankful, excited and looking forward to the future.