It must be our favorite thing to do

The past few weeks have found us spending increasing time at Lowes. A few of our trips have been for seed and top soil to fill in some brown spots of grass. However, the kids and I have also spent many hours in the paint and lighting departments dreaming of customizing our own home. Lord willing that dream will come true in a few short weeks.

First they looked at the paint samples, then they made a game out of them :o)

We have been in escrow for a little over a week, but because we love and respect our landlords, who are also dear friends, and because they were out of town for the past 10 days, we have kept it somewhat quiet until we could tell them in person. Now that they know (and because they are awesome they are super excited for us!) we can shout it out!

Before we talk about the new house, I thought it might be interesting to recap our past. For a recap in pictures, look to right and click {house} under the labels header.

December 1999: Daniel and I got married and moved into an adorable rental house in Twin Peaks, CA. It had 56 stairs from the driveway to the front door. It was cute until I was pregnant, in the winter. Then the 56 stairs just got scary.


February 2001: We bought our first house! 1070 sq. feet including the apartment downstairs we rented out (miss you Donna and Kris!), and we loved it more and more each year as we transformed a mountain cabin into our home. Plus, we had the greatest neighbors! All of our kids came home to this house, and 3 wonderful people lived with us in it at various times. It holds countless memories.


October 2006: We moved in with Daniel's family so we could put the house on the market. Let's be real, 1070 sq. feet, 6 people (his sister lived in the apartment), and a dog are not a great combination for showing a house to potential buyers.


December 2006: We moved to Valencia with my family to finish Daniel's last year of seminary. My parents graciously allowed us to take over the back of the house in exchange for some projects around the house, and Daniel was able to go to seminary full time.

January 2008: Riverside Apartment! We loved that little place and our family grew so close in our tiny space. There was nowhere to hide.

July 2008: Riverside House! In so many ways this was a dream house--a pool and a great kitchen led to countless meetings and parties at our house. We learned the joy of our home being open to others all the time and ministering to anyone who came through our doors.

November 2009: We made an unexpected move to the mountains, where Daniel was helping a church run a youth group. We listed our Riverside house and, thank the Lord, it sold in 5 days.

January 2010: Back to Valencia, to wait on the Lord for where we were to serve next.


June 2010: We moved to the desert and to our incredible church home. 11 months later and we are still so stinking thankful to be here. We love our rental house, but the deals are too good to pass up, so...


May 2011(?): We hope to move into our new home, and we hope to stay for many, many years.

This will make 8 moves in 4.5 years. It must be our favorite thing to do!
What we are most excited about:
The neighborhood. Every time we have driven through the community there are people out and about, and tons of kids everywhere!
The location: Nearby some wonderful friends, close to the church (6 miles), and with a mountain veiw.
The layout: A bedroom and bath in the front, with 3 more in the back. Perfect for having guests or live-ins.
The size: Bigger than anything we have lived in, we are actually concerned we won't be able to fill it  up! It's truly perfect for our family of growing kids as well as for small groups and parties.

Here's a preview of one of my favorite rooms:

I see cooking parties in my future

Not every room is in as good of shape (and the back yard is a literal blank slate), so we will have a good amount of work to do. That said, getting to put all our construction skills to use sounds wonderful; now hurry up and close!