Unexpected Changes

Some of you have already heard this story, but here are pictures....

From Fall '08

We recently experienced some rather unexpected changes. The Sunday after Thanksgiving we returned home to CA after 3 wonderful weeks in Portland to find a piece of paper stapled to the outside of our rental home. Much to our surprise it was a forclosure notice (apparently our landlord does not see it necessary to take our rent & pay her mortgage). We called our property manager on Monday morning & she informed us that we had two weeks to get out of our home before the house went up for auction. So I spent Monday morning driving all over the area looking at the only two rentals she had in the area. The first was great & very similar to the home we were currently renting, although it would cost us an additional $100/mo in rent. The other one was REALLY small, in a bad part of town & you could see daylight through the front door (i.e. it was EXTREALY poorly insulated) - and it was only $50 less per month than we were currently paying. We were pretty discouraged...I have a 3 1/2 yr old & a one month old & how can I move while Ryan is working full time?!!! But you know, God is good & he knows what we can handle!!! The property manager felt so bad about our situation that she contacted the owner of the nice home & was able to talk them down on their rent so that it would match what we are currently paying...praise the Lord!!!

Our new home

From Fall '08

From Fall '08

So obviously for the past two weeks we have been moving. Every evening after work Ryan & I will load our two cars full to the max with stuff & transport it over to the new home. During the day I pack things up & try to keep two small children happy. On Wednesday I thought I had hit the wall....I had moved nearly everything over & I didn't think I could unpack another box. Then my wonderful husband informed me that he was going to take the day off so that he could stay home & help me unpack the house...isn't he wonderful!!! So now I am sitting in our new home, which is closer to town but feels like it's more out in the country, with not a single box around & it actually feels like home.

It's not what I really wanted to do for two weeks before Christmas, but it's where we are. Hopefully we can stay in this home for a while. On Sunday Ryan & I decided that we were going to boycott moving & decided to drive to the next town over (45 min drive) to pick up a Christmas tree. Before all this chaos happened Ryan had intended on doing & Christmas tree & celebrating it all with Micah...but then we didn't figure it was going to work out. But by Sunday we had had enough & decided that Micah needed to understand the "Reason for the Season" more than just noticing Christmas lights on other people's homes. So now our home smells like pine & we love it!!!

Decorating the tree with Daddy

From Fall '08

Admiring their work

From Fall '08

We hope to head back up to Portland for Christmas & hopefully when we return we won't have another surprise like this :-)

p.s. I know this isn't a good picture...but before we moved here I didn't even know there was such a thing as an "albino deer" but apparently we have one that lives in the neighborhood & was on our property yesterday

From Fall '08