Hooray!

We did it- we closed on our house today!

From what everyone was saying, I was expecting the closing process to be really stressful. Really, though, I think it was the most enjoyable part of the house-buying process, well besides picking out the house itself! I think it helped a lot that we had our real estate agents (who happen to be my parents), our mortgage broker (who happens to be a friend of my parents' from church), and a really neat title company officer, all there during closing. The title officer explained everything in terms that we understood, and made the process fun! Weird, right? We actually had FUN signing our closing papers.

Tomorrow, after the seller finishes packing up the last of his belongings, we'll have the carpets shampooed, then we can start moving our stuff in on Saturday! I can't believe we are actually moving into a house! We are so thankful for God's provision throughout this process... and look forward to blessing other people through this amazing gift.

If you want to see more pictures of our house, click on the link to the left that says 'My Love'. Matthew posted a lot of pictures last night. When we get settled in a bit and have a chance to paint, we'll post 'after' pictures for you all.

Elf Yourself!

A little Christmas dance, from me to you!

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blockage

Everytime I've sat down to write something on my blog, it's like I run into a concrete wall. I log in, click on 'Create Post', sit for awhile staring at the blank field then, after my head starts hurting, I close the window. So this is a major breakthrough for me. One paragraph down...

So much is going on around me, yet I can't grasp it, so I sit here half dazed. Matthew and I are still waiting on the mortgage lender to tell us if we own a home. I'm convinced that one never truly feels like they own their house. Even after moving in and painting the walls, I wonder if we will feel it. It seems like the waiting is never ending and like these companies want to make sure they've scared us silly before they actually say yes. "You mean you won't give us your first born as a down payment? Oh, well then, I'm not so sure we can help you."

We went in to the DMV to get our new Oregon drivers' licenses on Friday. I even took extra care to do my hair and put on makeup before going in, trying to avoid the just crawled out of bed, deer in the headlights look I've usually gotten back. We walked in and found out we have to take a written exam to get a license here. Who made it okay for Oregon to have a different set of driving rules? 12 years after going through driver's ed in Minnesota, we now get to 'relearn' how to drive. Because we don't own a home, we weren't even allowed to take the test or get our pictures taken. Bummer. But the guy did say that as long as we don't have an address, we can't get in trouble with the police for not having an Oregon license. The vagabond existence is looking pre-tty good about now.

I'm really sorry to all of you Minnesota friends reading this but I have to say, the weather has been great here. Yeah, it rains sometimes, but it has been in the 50's... a lot! Most of the time I don't even have to wear a jacket. It's only a halfhearted victory over the Minnesota winters, though, knowing my friends are suffering. Hang in there!

Bedtime.

It's the weekend!

Tonight Matthew and I are driving 3 hours to Portland.
Tomorrow we are going to...

and we are going to eat...

Hooray!

I am crazy in love with Spaghetti Factory... and I'm hungry.
If you are in Portland tomorrow, call us- we'll eat OSF together and be merry.