It's official!

We're closing on our house Monday morning 9:30AM!

Our Christmas events began Wednesday as we drove on I-5 North which had spots of ice still on the road. We hopped off and took Hwy 99 the rest of the way to I-205 almost at Hwy 212. We were doing great in the Rodeo until the bottom of the culd-e-sac of Randy's parents and just couldn't make it up. Scott, Randy's dad, tried to tow us with the quad, then the work truck. The rope broke and Randy's not exactly sure what happened but it was either the transmission or the clutch. We had to wait till the roads were plowed more and after Christmas to get it towed. Friday we had the Rodeo towed. Our insurance only covers 15 miles and it was 14.8 to the mechanic's! How cool is that? Also, the mechanic said it sounds more like the clutch than the transmission! It was a day of great news and that's when we found out we'd be signing papers Monday! Answers to all of our prayers. God always provides, just not always in our time frame, but that way we HAVE to give Him credit.

Christmas Eve we went to Randy's grandma's place in Gresham to celebrate, VOGL style, that included gifts from Rite Aid, drinking, laughing, laughing, and more laughing. Stephanie wore shoes that were nicknamed "hooker shoes" and I got nicknamed "bitch." The guilty party will remain anonymous. :) It was a blast. Stephanie made an amazing lasagna. It was smaller than the Randall/Hageman/Borek shindigs but was fun and special in its own unique way.

Christmas Day...SANTA CAME!!! But the best gift was money for a WASHER and DRYER!!! Couldn't come at a more perfect time, when we have to use money to fix the Rodeo. God is definitely in all the little things!!! We attempted to go see a movie at the theater in Sandy but they were full so we decided we'd attempt Friday. Christmas day, Vickie made a delicious prime rib dinner with home made rolls and asparagus and twice baked potatoes!! Derek and Kim-Derek was Randy's best man and Kim ran with Leisha in a Half Marathon-came over to join the family for dinner. After dinner everyone proceeded to play the Wii, which as you can imagine was HILARIOUS! Did I also mention, Christmas Day we drove out to see Scott and Vickie's new property in Gresham and the guys pushed a TON of people out of the snow, ditches, etc. Leisha got to use her Spanish to interpret for one individual who only spoke Spanish and was stuck.

Friday we went to the theater again to watch "Marley and Me" which is a great movie but SOOOO SAD!

Snow and freezing rain...

Yesterday and Saturday there was a ton of freezing rain leaving everything already on the ground, couple inches of snow, really icy and thick. All church events for the weekend were cancelled. Randy and I got all our Christmas shopping done though using his 4 wheel drive Rodeo. We were bored yesterday late afternoon and thought we'd rent a movie, only problem is we have our DVD player and monitor packed. Randy's computer's DVD player is broken and my laptop doesn't have a DVD player. So next best thing, we'll go see a movie a the cheaper theater down the street. We pulled up, parked, and turned off the car only to witness the transformer for that block and a ton of others nearby BLOW...TWICE!!! Ok, no movie, we went to Costco and got gas, then drove by our "house" to make sure no branches has broke off and damaged the roof or anything. We found out that a coworker of mine lives literally 4 doors down from our house!

Today we were hoping to sign papers but this morning at about 5AM the roads were fine, a little icy but drive-able, then about 6-9AM it snowed like crazy dropping at least 5 inches!!! No one worked today at the mortgage place so no further progress on papers has occurred. We're praying and hoping we can SIGN TOMORROW!!!

Thanks for all our thoughts and prayers.

Closing after Christmas

So before our broker told us we didn't need a clear P/D (Pest and Dry Rot) and we didn't need an appraisal. Well, now he's telling us we need both so Randy's been working hard to make sure everyone got out there yesterday to do their thing. Our inspector signed off on the P/D and all the papers got in today. Our realtor told us she'd be surprised if we closed before Christmas. SO PLEASE PRAY WE CLOSE THIS COMING WEEK!!! Everything is in boxes, even our food and we only have our apartment till the 8th of January. Here are some specific requests:

-Pray we are able to sign papers MONDAY and get keys no later than WEDNESDAY
-Pray the broker pays for the appraisal, as our realtor's office paid for the re-inspection for the clear P/D report
-Pray we are able to move, paint, and get settled before January 5th when Leisha starts work and school again
-Pray there are no more complications or road blocks

-Thank God that we can trust Him in all things to work for our good
-Thank God that He's led us this far and He won't leave us hear

We need to close!

So we were scheduled to close Monday or Tuesday at the latest this week; however, the weather has impeded the process from going very quick. The papers on our end are done just waiting for everything to arrive at Escrow. Ideally we'll be able to close tomorrow or Friday but otherwise it gets really hard with the holidays. Please pray that everything comes together in the next 24 Hours so we can close and move.

Everything is in boxes, including most of our food and clothes so... :-D

We want to be PARENTS

It's not what you think...Look at these faces...how could anyone resist wanting a puppy? Not just any puppy, a LAB! Oh my goodness, we're obsessing just a tad but as long as we close on our house our next big investment is a kid. A PUPPY kid...little pitter patter of little paws. We thought we wanted a yellow lab until we started looking at pictures and they're all so cute so it will have to be whatever the litter is...THAT will be our baby!

Thanksgiving...

We went to Depot Bay, Oregon near Lincoln City with Leisha's extended family. It was a ton of fun. Not only did we eat way too much food but we got to be with a bunch of family we don't see very often. We played games, watched, movies, went running, went shopping, etc. Both of us enjoyed just being lazy for 4 days!

For Thanksgiving dinner, Leisha was in charge of a salad...only problem was the jello didn't set so it was like a cold, strawberry, banana, and nut SOUP! Oooops...Luckily when she made dinner for everyone on Saturday it was Spaghetti, garlic bread, and a GREEN salad so it was hard to mess up. Speaking of Saturday...

THE DUCKS SLAUGHTERED the BEAVERS!!! We weren't going to watch the game but thought we'd go with some of the family to the casino to watch kick-off. Ended up being an amazing game and stayed till the end!!! It was a GREAT day!