9th Anniversary (2 days ago)...and more...

I know, you would think I would be all over blogging about our 9th wedding anniversay. I have it written on all the calendars in the house, entered into the calendar in my phone, and entered into my email calendar at home and at work. But to be truthfull, we have had a so much on our plates lately. Getting all the last minute documentation in to the lender for the house, getting pictures to the insurance company, meeting with everyone, on top of making sure we have time with the girls and dinner ready at a reasonable time each night. I have been trying to take loads of belongings to the new house each time I have to go to Paradise. A box here, a box there, it all adds up.

We were supposed to sign the final papers on the new house on the 21st, but to escrow company was unable to get the paperwork to us in time.

We ended up signing the papers yesterday.

SO...Happy Anniversary Baby!!!!!!!!!

More pics from Claire's party

Slow Motion...

Do you ever feel like your are moving in slow motion? Or like you are stuck in quicksand while the world rushes around you? I feel like I am in limbo. We are waiting for the new septic to be put in at the new house. (Most recent update is that it should be in by Friday, permits were supposed to be picked up today.) Once the septic is in, we should be able to close escrow within a week. I want to yell YIPPEE!!, but I feel like I am stuck. Time is dragging when it comes to getting into the place, but moving so quickly when it comes to going to work, getting ready for the Cancer Walk in San Francisco, getting ready for the girls birthdays these next three months. So much to do, and not enough time.

I would really love to get the new bedrooms painted before we move in, but I figure the house is large enough for us to camp out in other rooms while we paint the bedrooms. I still need to get the girls to Home Depot or Lowe's and let them look at paint colors. One of the officers at work has an airless sprayer he is going to lend us to get the painting done faster. No more rolling and brushing! (Thank you Will!)

Cam has been bringing boxes home from work every morning. We have been using them to pack up the rest of the house, and also sharing them with my Mom's neighbor Jerry, also with Jeri's (another co-worker) Mother. I am getting tired of having boxes everywhere in the house, but I have to be patient. It will be a couple of months before all the boxes are gone and everything is put away in the new house. My goal is to have everything set up, wiped down, put away, etc by the holidays. I would LOVE to have everyone over at our new house. A place to gather, to celebrate and to relax, together.

I have SO many projects I want to start right now, but really need to wait until we get into the house and settled. I have dresses I want to sew for Jocelyn; quilts I want to make for two special little girls; jams, jellies and butters I want to make to restock my shelves; photos to take, print, frame and hang; and SO much more...

Updates...

There is a local consignment shop we love to visit. It's called Jeannie's, and you never know what you might find there; original oil paintings, one of a kind furnishings, antique toys and jewelry, I have even purchased a trailer ball and extention for my van at this place. Anyway, this past week my Grandmother found a dining room table, complete with eight chairs and a leaf, that she thought would be a perfect housewarming gift. I went with my Mother and Grandmother to look at it on Tuesday. It will be a wonderful new addition to our new dining room. (Thanks Grandma!) (My old dining room table will be in the laundry room for now, to use for sorting and folding. It is a beautiful old table with claw feet, two drop ends, a leaf and actual gears underneath. It used to belong to a church and was given to me by an old co-worker of my Mom's.) While we are still waiting for the septic to be installed, we do not have permission to move anything into the new house yet. So....we had to store the new table in my Mom's garage. (Thanks Mom!)
We picked up the table and chairs yesterday, playing tetris with the pieces to get them all into the back of my little truck (with the tool box and lumber racks on), and my Mom's car. Gavin was a help in climbing in and around the furniture to place the blankets between and pieces that may rub together during the transport. (Thanks Gavin!)

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It has been a couple of months, but I just came across this photo and thought I would share it. We had a report of a fawn that had been abandoned in a yard in town. The caller advised the fawn had been in the same place since the afternoon before and was possibly injured. It must have been later in the day, or a holiday as we did not have Animal Control on duty and had to send and officer to check out the situation. Per the Department of Fish and Game, if the animal is able to get on its feet, we are to leave it alone. However if the animal is unable to get up and has obvious injuries, officers are to dispatch the animal. What the officer found, was a very dehydrated fawn in need of some help, but no obvious injuries. The fawn was brought back to the police department while we tried to find a rescue center to take it in. After just a few phone calls we were able to located a rescue volunteer right here in town!
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Cam and me ....

Andy...

It has come to my attention that I cannot blog about things of which I do not want my husband to know. (I say this jokingly as I could never hide anything from Cam.) You see, last week while we were working on the new house, trying desperately to finish the flooring by the deadline, Cam received a call from his buddy Andy. It seems Andy keeps up with the blog, and wanted to know Cam's take on my idea of filling the spare rooms with children, and relegating the 'Man Room' to one of the outbuildings. It turns out that Cam does not always keep up with my blogging, and had no idea what Andy was talking about when he began the conversation with 'What's this about you not getting the Man Room?'

Although I love to see Cam keep in touch with old friends, I had to remind him of the deadline. (Andy, we made our deadline, Cam will be calling you to continue the conversation. Oh, and thanks for telling him about your new motorcycle. I received a call at work, and the first words out of Cam's mouth were "I bought a motorcycle.") Thanks Andy...Love ya! :)

Work continues...

Yesterday we were able to start laying the top layer of subfloor in the dining room. Cam and Anthony measured, cut and placed half the flooring in the room, while Gavin scrubbed Briannes room and vacuumed the carpet. I started vacuuming the master bedroom carpet ...... until the power head on my rainbow died.

I was vacuuming away in the master bedroom, picking up the larger pieces by hand, when I noticed something small and gold by the wall. I really thought is was a small piece of gold foil, so I tried to vacuum it up. It would not come up, only moving closer and closer to the wall until I knew there was no way the vacuum was going to pick it up without me moving away from the wall. Then, the power head started to make an unusual sound. I turned off the vacuum to take it apart and clean out the power head. After vacuuming out the inside of the power head, I put it all back together and turned it back on ..... the light on top of the power head came on, but the motor was not turning the brush. Biscuits!! On my way to ask Cam to take a look at the vacuum for me, the gold object caught my eye again, so I picked it up. It was not foil after all. It was a small pin with a small cross and the words 'Let Go Let God'. I smiled to myself as I walked out to the dining room to tell Cam about the vacuum and show him my new treasure.


The pin is now attached to my purse....

Cleaning and destruction.....

We have signed the loan application and are waiting for signed paperwork from the selling bank. While we wait, we have been cleaning and .......... cutting holes in the floor.

For some reason known only to God and the previous residents, the top layer of sub floor was removed and vinyl squares were put down on the remaining 1/2" plywood. Well, if you have ever tried to walk on 1/2" plywood resting on joists, for any length of time, you know that eventually the plywood is going to wear down and break. SO, there were numerous holes all the way through the sub floor, meaning if you had a flashlight, you could look past the insulation under the house, and all the way to the dirt!



Cam and Gavin have been crawling around on the remaining plywood, cutting out the weak and broken areas, and have successfully replaced and braced all necessary areas. Next they will be putting down the 3/4" flooring to bring the house back up to code.

While they are crawling around in the kitchen, dining room and entry way, my Mom and I have been vacuuming and shampooing the carpets. So far the play room, family room, downstairs spare room and living room are done. (Actually the living room will need another going over as the water is still coming up looking like creamed coffee.) When the living room is done, we will move on to the other downstairs bedrooms, then the stairs and the upstairs rooms. Gavin has already scrubbed the hall bathroom downstairs, so we still have the other 2 bathrooms to clean also.

I will put up more pictures as soon as I can get to a computer where I can download them!

The Dream...

After publishing my last post and updating everyone on our current events, I thought I would be able to relax for the rest of the evening. Boy was I wrong. You see, I made statements in that post that bothered me for the rest of the evening. When we move into the new house, we will have two extra bedrooms and two bonus rooms. (One of the bonus rooms is big enough to be a bedroom but does not have a closet, the other bonus room is just big enough for a book case and two bean bags.) The statements that were bothering me were those I made regarding Cam's 'man room' and my craft room. There are already two sheds and a greenhouse on the property, and plenty of room to remodel/update the sheds. I would love to put the hobbies outside in these sheds, including the 'man room' if Cam is agreeable, and use the bedrooms for their intended purpose.

I have wanted to adopt since grade school; international, domestic, fost adopt or any combination there of. Working with Beth really brought this desire back to the forefront for me. So, all evening I was bothered by the fact that I did not express my desire to use the bedrooms to grow our family. It bothered me to the point of not being able to go to sleep last night. I had to write down my thoughts in order to allow my conscious mind to let the issue go and allow me to get some sleep.

During that sleep, I had the most vivid dream I have had in a very long time... I dreamed I was somewhere on the continent of Africa. I was either visiting or working at an orphanage. During the dream, I had the impression there was a civil war going on in the region, and I was assisting with gathering the children to either relocate, or shelter in place. The most vivid part of the dream was watching each child wander out of a small grove of trees, one at a time. A small, handsome boy, wearing only shorts...a beautiful girl, toddling toward me in a worn sun dress... As each child came to me, I wrapped my arms around them, whispering tender words to ease their individual fright, and carried them, one by one, into the building. The dream continued for some time, until I finally woke, with a deeper sense of purpose.

For the past couple of months, I have been praying for guidance. Along with that guidance, I have been praying for the patience and wisdom (that is not really the word I am looking for) to see the path God has chosen for my family and I, and the sense to follow that path without allowing my stubborn independence to distract me from His plan.

For right now I will leave you with this..."Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest, they don't have storerooms or barns, but God feeds them. And you are worth much more than birds." (Luke 12:24). I love reading that line over and over, along with "Don't always think about what you will eat or what you will drink, and don't keep worrying. All the people in the world are trying to get these things, and your Father knows you need them. But seek God's kingdom, and all your other needs will be met as well." (Luke 12:29-31).

Offer accepted!!!

I sit here in shock, trying hard to focus on something, anything. I can't believe we have made it to this point. Let me go back a ways...

Back in May, I found a foreclosure listing for houses in Paradise. On that list, I located a home that sounded absolutely perfect for my family; 6 bedrooms, 2 bonus rooms and .67 acres, plenty of room to live and grow. After contacting our real estate agent, Carol, we went to see the house.

Cam and I were both immediately drawn to this house. Although there is currently no garage on the property, there is definately room for one. We will have enough room for each of the girls to have their own rooms; Brianne wants black walls with white splatter and a black light, Jocelyn wants a 'Hannah Montana' room, and Claire will be happy to be able to play in her own space. Cam can have his 'man room'; somewhere between
and .
I will be able to have my 'craft' room, and someday I will have an outdoor kitchen for my canning (the summers are WAY to hot for canning, but the product is much prettier if the fruit is not frozen.)

Anyway, I am rambling on.... When we decided to seriously look into buying this house, I prayed for guidance. I prayed the Lord would lead me in the direction that would be best for our family. (I also asked for assistance in keeping my eyes open to the path.)We made an offer on the house last Wednesday. On Sunday, while driving to Monterey for a week of vacation, I received a call from my sister Julie. Carol was looking for us with information about the house. I called Carol back just as we were entering Marysville. The Bank (seller) had come back with a counter offer, $10,000 less than their reduced asking price, but still $16,000 more than we had offered. After stopping in the parking lot of Carl's Jr. to talk it over with Cam and my Mom, I called Carol and told her we would take the house. (I was SOOOO nervous I thought I was going to by physically ill!) Being a Sunday, we were unable to reach our lender with the infomation, soooo, first thing Monday morning, I was on the phone againg with Carol, and Ari (our mortage broker). After much discussion, and the shock of the new monthly payment, we decided to make a counter offer on the Bank's counter offer. On Wednesday, we offered $5,000 more than our original offer, $11,000 less than the banks offer. Well, today we recieved a call from Carol...... The Bank accepted our offer!!!!!! It will be a mad dash weekend to get proof of funds statements for Carol so she can be ready to move on the offer first thing Monday morning!!!!! I still cannot believe we have finally made it to this point! Pray for us! More later!

Gotta go faster...

I just got a call from Beth, who wanted to congratulate me on having our offer accepted on the house we are looking to buy... Except the text she received was not from me. :(( We have not put our offer in yet, because my organization needs a major overhaul. I mean, how in the world am I able to get our taxes done, have all the copies of the actual taxes, but not be able to find the W-2's that were used to produce said paperwork? The last bit of paperwork needed by the lender to produce our pre-approval letter in order to make our offer!! It is SO frustrating! So...Cam ordered a new copy of his W-2 on Friday, it came in the mail today, and I will pick up a new copy of my W-2 tomorrow and promptly fax copies of all 2006 and 2007 W-2's to Jill, our lending officer.

I spoke with Carol, our realtor, last Thursday. The house we have our eye on is still on the market... Yeah!!! So, 'To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace'...I wish it would hurry up and get here so I could pick up my copy of my W-2 and fax it all to Jill! Patience, patience, practice patience.


Claire and Cam on the swings at Terry Ashe Park, between fires. She's not even two yet and already quite the swinger!

Shop till they drop!

Have you ever spent so much time in one store that you begin to call the employees by first name? {It would have been worse had the employees called us by first name. I guess 4.5 hours is not enough time to move to a first name basis with customers.} Cam, my Mom and I have been working hard to get our current home into selling condition. In order to do that, we needed supplies. Lots of supplies! So, 4.5 hours in Home Depot and $1300 later, we should have all the supplies we need to finish the house.


Claire fell asleep while sitting atop a five gallon bucket of paint, thanks to Jocelyn who was rubbing Claire's back

Since the Home Depot trip, we have put down new vinyl flooring, tiled above the shower and painted the whole spa room; put down new vinyl flooring in the kitchen, moved the old refrigerator out and the new one in (and repaired to tear in the NEW vinyl floor!), installed a new dishwasher, and hauled numerous boxes and furniture items to storage. We are getting the job done, and getting tired. We still have the vinyl flooring to put down in the hall bathroom, tile above the bathtub, paint all the rooms except the spa room (after getting the pink flowered wall paper, that came with the house, off the wall in the girls bedroom), put down the tile or vinyl in the entryway, shampoo all the carpets and clean the brick above the fireplace. When all of that is done, the inside of the house will be done and ready to stage. Outside, I still have projects also. Before the fires started in Butte County, I was working on putting up a retaining wall along the front of the property. Now, with all the smoke in the air, the 400 gray retaining wall blocks sit patiently in the front yard. Beside the grey blocks are 75 red blocks I will be using to put the front walkway back together. (I got ahead of myself and took apart the old walkway before the supplies arrived and before the second round of fires hit. Since the destruction of the front walk, you have to walk through the fine, red Paradise dirt to get to and from the front deck. Hence the red dust on my black work shoes.) When the smoke finally clears, and the air quality is no longer over 250 (hazardous to all age groups), I will again work on the walk way, then the retaining wall. Until then.....

13 years and counting....

Cam,

I love you more each day.

Stacie



i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

Daddy's Little Helper

For the past 17 months, Cam has been lucky enough to be able to spend the days with the girls while I am at work. They have all grown very close, and I love to watch them interact. While Brianne and Jocelyn are in school, Claire likes to have Daddy's undivided attention. (The dishes can wait, Daddy!) Picture a 37 year old man on the floor with the dolls, cars, coloring books and crayons...oh, and don't forget the bristle blocks! When Jocelyn comes home from school, she gains a shadow, even on the rainiest of days. Claire has become J's shadow, wanting to be everywhere J is, and do everything J is doing. From coloring to make-up, Claire is in. She loves to let J give her makeovers and release the girly-girl in each of them.

Brianne has never really been a girly-girl. As a sophmore in high school, getting ready to go to Prom, she is just recently starting to enjoy dressing up and getting her hair and makeup done. I'll have to post some pictures after Prom next weekend.

From our trip to San Francisco last year. The headphones are for a walking tour through Alcatraz.