the last while

We've been so busy, but I'm finally sitting down to update. It's been such a whirlwind, between mortgage paperwork, church stuff and visiting. So this will probably be more of a ramble than anything else.

Well, to start with, all the conditions are off our house, so now we are just waiting to move in and sign the last papers. Our possession date is June 26th! The current owner is such a great man. He let us come yesterday and plant the veggie garden and then he even took us out for lunch. Then we went back to the house and he asked if we wanted all his furniture, cheap like borscht. We thought it would be nice to buy his spare room bed and the swing outside. He offered us about half the furniture in his house for $300. And then he kept adding things as we went. So we've just acquired a lot of furniture. Anyone need anything?

Things are humming along at church. We have at least 1 new family come every Sunday. Until recently, no one ever came back. It's very cool to see that people are coming back and in general everyone is very excited about where we're headed. God is creating a wave and we're trying our best to ride it. Which makes for busy weeks and crazy weekends, but we love the pace here and are energized by it all.

The kids are warming up to everyone at church and it's so great to see them relax and be themselves. Nadia has many little friends all over the city and Colin is less clingy and even enjoys the toddler room at church. Even now, Nadia has a friend over and they are decorating for her dolls birthday. They are very cute.

I haven't been taking many pictures lately, so this 1 will have to do. Nadia is into having picnics, with real food. And Colin loves food, so they play nicely together.

purple potty

We've been in Edmonton for about 3 weeks and we've been looking for a house to purchase. We've seen about 10 houses, and finally found 1 that has great location, solid structure and everything we were looking for...well, almost everything.

On Tuesday Tim's parents came for a visit from SK, and we hung out in the morning. There were a few houses we wanted to see but thought they've been on the market for a while so we probably don't need to see them right away. But we asked if Harv and Sharon wanted to see a few houses in the afternoon. I was shocked when they both just about jumped out of their seats with excitement. We saw 2 that day. The next morning we made an offer on 1 and by noon the owner had accepted our offer. It kind of happened about that quick. And we had to really laugh when the owner insisted that we have the shuffle board that was downstairs. So Tuesday we made the offer, Wednesday, today, we had the home inspection, and tomorrow we will send the last of the mortgage documents away. I can't even believe how fast God has worked this out.

So, you're probably wondering about the house. It's a 1972, 1200 square foot bungalow with a fully finished basement that includes a spare room and bathroom. The upstairs has 3 bedrooms, an ensuite off the master bedroom and vaulted ceilings in the living and dining room. Also, Tim gets his 2 car garage, I get perennial flower beds, a veggie garden and we all get to live across from a small grassy park. It all sounds perfect....accept the purple potty. When Nadia saw it she yelled out with laughter, "A purple potty, I want this bedroom!"

So we're really excited and scrambling to get the last things finished up. Although the house is mint 70's, and I do mean mint...we will have a lot of fun renovating. Tim's already planned out the new kitchen with the Ikea kitchen planner.

getting sorted in Edmonton

Nadia has been wanting a princess fish tank, so Tim and I decided that once we were mostly settled we would surprise her with one. So we told her that we needed to go to the mall, but it was a surprise why. I thought she was going to burst...she's a need to know kind of girl. We went to the pet store and looked around. When we got close to the tanks we asked her if she would like to pick out her very own fish tank. She was in disbelief at first. Once she established that we were serious. The jumping for joy started. It was a lot of fun. Oh...and she named them cherry and cotton candy.

Nadia loves to set up the ipod player in her room so that she can dance with her fish. I asked if they dance with her and she said they only came out once. She's such a mom.

Colin's first time watching a movie on the ipod. He's very absorbed.

If I lay down on the sofa, Colin is always 1 second behind and he has to be under the blanket too.

Nadia's night cap! She even went to sleep with it on.

Nadia's lego version of Daddy.

We have moved so many times and have always bought 'get us by' kind of furniture. So I guess Tim had it with the desk, because it was put in storage, never to be reconstructed in our home again. I don't blame him, it's done. But in the mean time, I have no place for the desktop. Finally I got tired of just using the laptop in the evening and set up the desktop on a box. So here is my desk. I noticed later that it says "This box is designed for multiple uses"! I am hunting for a desk though, because sitting on the floor is just not as comfy as a desk and chair.

found my cable...

I finally found my camera cable...so now I can download and post pictures. These are still from before we moved, but I wanted to post them. Here is the rock pathway I put into our yard last summer. And I was happy when it actually did it's job in the spring. Rocks instead of mud in that area. ...or a plank which was there. I collected all those rocks from around our yard.

Nadia's friend Keziah!

My little workers. They both wanted to clean. For some reason they think my Norwex clothes are so cool and special.
Moving day! It was so relaxing that I was anxious. I've never had every single thing packed and ready before the guys showed up. This was by far the best move we've done. They were taking a supper break here. I made hamburgers for them, but we ran out of propane on the seconds, thankfully our neighbours let me use their BBQ to finish.

In our basement suite in Edmonton. Somehow our kitchen table chairs went into the storage garage and Tim couldn't even dig them out they were so buried. So the kids sat on the floor, Nadia used a stool as a table, and we sat on the sofas for the first few day. Then we took the opportunity to get new kitchen chairs. Now we finally have 4 matching chairs, which will also match the dining room set. I can't even believe we finally have some really great furniture.

Setting up Nadia's bed. Colin just adores Tim.

playing around under the "table"

we've landed

This has been a crazy week or so. Last Saturday Mom & Dad Sawatzky took the kids for a few days so that we could finish packing and load the truck. I can't believe that we got a 26 foot truck and filled it to the brim. (Thanks to Mom & Dad who gave us most of their reno tools...) We had tons of help loading and cleaning and we're off to Martensville Monday night. It was so good to see the kids again, even if they were sound asleep.

The next morning we were off to Edmonton. Tim drove the massive truck and I drove our car with the kids. I'm not a long distance driver, especially with kids in the back. So I prayed about that a lot. God was very good and kept me awake via music and podcasts. And the kids were super awesome. Colin napped before lunch and Nadia even napped after lunch. We even nearly made it without any movies. I think Nadia watched a veggie movie or 2 just before we found our new place in Edmonton. I praise God for that too.

Our cell phone wasn't ringing during the drive, so the next day I called our real estate agent to see how the previous days showing went. Before I could ask, he told me he had an offer. It was a little less than we were hoping for, but the only condition was financing. The buyers had no house to sell and they didn't want a house inspection. We had 4 hours to accept or reject the offer. Seeing we are in a tight market in Birch Hills, with about 10 other houses in our price range in a town of 1000. We decided to take it and have it off our plate. It still doesn't feel real. Maybe it will feel more real when we get the call that the condition is off. But, none the less, we praise God for selling it.

God has worked everything out for us. It's all been at the very last minute, but the outcome has been better than we prayed for. I am continually amazed at how God provides for us in mighty ways. I also have to tell you that our new landlords are amazing people who have literally bent over backwards to help us. I am so grateful for them and for this place.

(pictures will come soon...)