He left the nest!

So my first baby has left the nest.  Sniff, sniff.  Zach got moved into his new place this week.

If he had to move out, this really is the ideal situation for him.  He's renting from people we completely love and trust, the rent if VERY affordable, and it's a really nice place.  I think it will work out great for him.

As for the job situation, it looks like the comic book store he's working at now will be able to put him on full time very soon.  The owner just bought out another store across town and now has 2 stores to run, so he'll need more help.

Now if we could only sell our house!!!

Some things

1.  No house showings over the weekend.  :(  Still trusting God!  We have a realtor tour coming on Wednesday.  Hopefully we'll get some good feedback from that.

2.  Done with homeschooling!!!  Jon and Ben finished up Friday.  We have decided to put them in public school in the fall after the move to Virginia.  So we are really done - at least for now!

3.  Zach is moving out!  He will be moving into our friends' garage apartment on Wednesday.  I'm glad he's doing it now so he'll have a month with us still here to figure things out.

4.  Zach still doesn't have a second job. He's been putting in applications everywhere, but nothing so far.

5.  We are moving 5 weeks from today!!!

6.  House hunting trip is a week from tomorrow!

7.  Jonathan's knee is fine.

8.  Emily can count to 10 all by herself.

Guess that's it for now.  The dryer keeps buzzing at me.

Final Homeschool Band Concert

Zachary and Jonathan had their final homeschool band concert last night.  It was so great!  I'm so proud of them!

 Here they are with their director Mr. Bratcher.  We are really going to miss him.  He has been such an amazing teacher and mentor for my boys.

Happy Mother's Day!

I have so much to be thankful for this Mother's Day:  my first mom who has been with Jesus since I was 8 years old, my second mom who has been there for me since she married my dad when I was 10, a wonderful mother-in-law, and several other women who have mothered me along the way.

I'm so thankful I get to be Mom to these 4 great kids!

And yes, I now have two kids taller than me!

And I'm so very thankful that I am finally Mom to a daughter!

Happy Mother's Day!

Update

Jon

His knee is getting better.  We saw an orthopedist Monday.  He said it is most likely bruised cartilage, no evidence of any tears.  He gave him a brace to wear to make walking easier and some exercises to do.  He should be back to normal in a couple weeks.

Also, Jonathan had an audition at church yesterday to play drums for youth services.  This was already in the works before we found out about the move.  But they let him audition knowing he would only have a few weeks to play.  He did AWESOME!!!  They loved him!  They said yes to youth worship AND they said he is as good as the guys that play for the main services and they might schedule him for one before we move.  What a great experience for him.  We will obviously be looking for a church in Virginia where he will be able to use his talents.

The house

It's only showed twice so far.  I'm a little disappointed in that, but we are having the house painted (started today) and it will look so much better when that's done.  For the painting, we had three estimates done (for some of the outside and most of the inside).  We were in shock a little after the first two bids, but the third one came in $1000 less.  How is that possible?  Obviously we went with them and so far they are doing a great job.

Zach

He still says he's staying here.  He has found a place to live with some friends of ours.  The garage of their house had been turned into quest quarters with a living area, bedroom, and bathroom.  No kitchen, but there is a frige already and he bought a microwave and toaster oven.  He's still looking for another job.  The rent is VERY reasonable, but 20 hours a week at minimum wage won't cut it.  He interviewed at Dion's (a pizza place) this week, but hasn't heard back yet.  He says he's going to try Walmart next.  We'll see....

New house

Greg and I will be going to Virginia at the end of May.  He has work meetings.  I'll be looking at houses!  We've been looking on-line and have found a few possibilities.  I can't wait to actually be there and see where we'll be living and look at more that just pictures.  Hopefully we'll have a contract on our house here by then.  Please pray!

Kid on Crutches

For 18 years we've managed to keep from having a kid on crutches - until now.

Jonathan was playing on a playground with friends Sunday night and fell and scraped up his knee.  I cleaned it up and we were joking about how he always scrapes up his knees.  He even got an infection a couple years ago from a badly scraped knee.  He sat down to watch some TV and 30 minutes called me over.  His knee had swollen up to nearly twice its normal size.

I took him to the doctor Monday morning.  X-rays showed no fractures, thank goodness.  The x-rays were sent to a specialist to look at, but we haven't heard anything back yet.  For now we're taking a wait and see approach.  He's supposed stay off the knee, hence the crutches, for a few days and see how things go.  If it's still swollen and painful by next Monday, we'll probably have to see an orthopedist.  The pain isn't too bad today, but it's still swollen.  We're praying he gets better quickly and won't need anything else like surgery or physical therapy.  Don't really have time for that!  We're moving in 8 weeks!

Piano Recital

Benjamin had his first official piano recital today.  He did so great!  He's been working on this piece since February and there were days he thought he couldn't do it.  But he stuck with it and did such a good job.  I'm so proud of him!

Wanna see?!!!