Memorial Day Weekend 2008

So this was a big weekend for us! Instead of visiting just one town and one side of the fam, we split the weekend and included both sides. So, Friday and Saturday we were in Hartline and Sunday and Monday we were in Spokane. It was great to see everyone! Since we got home at 11:45 p.m. on Monday night, I've only had time to work on a few pictures. I will update this post as soon as I get the other pictures done. Should be sometime this week.

Our friends, Todd and Josie just welcomed their first child, Bennett Patrick two months ago. This was my first time meeting little Bennett since he came right after my last visit. He's a charming little fellow and it was wonderful to hang out with the new family, relaxing and taking pictures. Here are some of my favorites...









Aren't they just the sweetest? Thanks for humoring my nutty schedule, Todd and Josie. Hope you like them as much as I do!

Easter Weekend Pictures...

I'm finally posting the pictures I took over Easter weekend 2008. Enjoy the show!!

P.S. I posted the rest of the pictures from WV at the LW Invite a few weekends ago. I added it to the end of the high jump pictures...

House progress...

We had the inspection on Friday evening. Nothing too drastic was discovered (nothing out of the ordinary for an old house, that is). Still we responded to the sellers that we would like them to fix the plumbing under the kitchen, and would like a credit for the remainder of the closing costs ($2800 more), they gave us both! The last hoop to jump through remains with the appraiser...he/she MIGHT find something to prevent the loan going through. We can't figure out how to pray about that...that they find it so the sellers have to fix it, or that they don't so we can keep this process going. So pray as the spirit leads! :)

In the meanwhile, since I know all of you are super curious about what this mystery house looks like, just remember I told you that it's not a looker at all, but it's cozy and home-like. These pictures are for posterity...the house won't look like this for long! :)

WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE!!!

Hi All!

Well, I think I've been a good sister and have told everyone in immediate proximity that we are in the throws of buying a house. Today is the house inspection. It's the last real hurdle before we finalize the offer. To say that this has been Divinely orchestrated can't be more true.

Here's the scoop. We've been actively house hunting for over 2 months and have seen only a couple of houses that we were interested enough to consider. We were in an anxious debate over whether we should make an offer on a house in Mountlake Terrace (Just north of Shoreline) or West Seattle, which is closer to the city, trendy and full of people we know. Simple decision, right? Well, we can't quite afford the trendy part, Dave still works in Shoreline and would have to commute through Seattle and the "safety" rating was considerably lower than MLT. ANYWAY, we were super close to putting a bid on the W. Seattle place when we looked at another in MLT and Edmonds. Mind you, we never thought we could afford a place in Edmonds and our price range is rock bottom for this area...

The Edmonds one really surprised us. I will send pictures after the inspection today, but suffice it to say, this is the one! (you will all be a little shocked when you see how outdated it is). :)

The craziness about the timing and all is that we qualify for a special program right now that only has money in it like once a year (but it's a really good loan if you qualify). Also, because David works at a school, we qualify for a Teacher's loan which helps with the down payment. The entire time we were house hunting, there was no money in the program, we didn't have enough saved up for closing, the houses we found were only ok/temporary, not HOMES (which we accepted b/c of our price range).

This house is bigger than we thought (1400 sf), in a better neighborhood than we thought, they accepted our offer and are paying for almost all of the closing costs, AND THERE IS MONEY IN THE HOUSEKEY PROGRAM as of last Friday! Oh, and did I mention that today we just got our income tax return? And that closing will be on June 25 and our rental agreement is up at the end of June? Yeah, Divine hands were in this thing.

We've been praying like mad through this whole process and it's awesome to see how God works. It's even more smooth than we could have made it ourselves and a lot less stressful! Dad asked the other day if we have any buyers remorse...on such a huge purchase we should, but we are happily signing all of the papers that come our way. :)

Our last "fleece" is the inspection. We're praying for a clear red/green light. We have to notify the sellers next Tuesday of our final answer.

Sorry for such a long post without pictures! I will post some this weekend.

Lastly, CONGRATS MARY ON YOUR GRADUATION! Wish we could be there. You're the only McLachlan kid who has actually gone through their ceremony...makes you more offical than the rest of us. ;)