One For The Record Books

We listed our MI house last Tuesday, and by Wednesday afternoon we had a full price offer.  Beating our previous record of 3 days for our Vermont house.  Is that amazing or what?  Definitely a God thing.

Things are progressing well with the NC house, still on schedule to close mid September.  We only lost a few shingles in the hurricane.   All homes in the hurricane affected area, that are under contract, need to have an "after the hurricane" appraisal.  Ours had already been done, so hopefully the second one will not slow things down.

Sunday morning I said goodbye to my colleagues at work, it was tough.  I made some great friends in a short amount of time.  I will miss them all.

We are all getting pretty excited about our new house, and our new life in NC.  The prospect of new friends, new activities, and family togetherness is helping us through this transition.

A winner and a hurricane

...the winner is house #3!  

We could close as soon as September 19th.  I wish I was feeling more excited, but I'm just not.  I know that difficult times lay ahead.  I'm trying to be strong and stay positive for the kids sake.  I'm afraid I lost it a little today while getting the house ready to be photographed.  The kids were gone, and the reality of what lays ahead hit me hard.   The grieving process has begun.

Oreo cookies are easing the pain, just a little.

Our home here in Michigan went on the market today.  It's more than a little sad to see the sign in the yard.

.....the hurricane is Irene, and could be a direct hit.

Our new home is right about where that arrow is pointing, smack dab in the middle of the "high" hurricane threat level.  Forecasters are saying it could make landfall in NC sometime Saturday.  Let's hope she sputters out somewhere over the ocean.  While we will be safe here in MI, we will be thinking about our new friends (well, one new friend, our realtor Bill) and about our new house.  I wonder if "as is" includes hurricane damage?

Soon I'll have to write about Bill, our realtor.  We'd never met him before, and our relocation company randomly connected us with him.  His son just "happens" to have a chromosomal anomaly...

House Hunters, NC style

We arrived in North Carolina on Monday, the girls came along on this trip.

Just give them a pool, and they are happy!

We looked at houses all day Tuesday and Wednesday.  It was fun and overwhelming, so many things to think about.  Just like house hunters it came down to 3 houses.

The super cute (love, love, love, the vertical siding!) 1.5 story home.  This house is so cute inside, has a nice kitchen, screened in back porch and nice yard.  Also, has a huge home school space upstairs.  It's the most expensive of the 3 and the farthest away from work for Jim.  But, by far, the girls and my favorite!

This one is a more traditional 2 story.  It was moving day for this family, and they were very gracious to let us tromp through on such a busy day.  This house is the smallest (even though it looks like the biggest!  The 1.5 story homes are deceiving from the front) and didn't have a great homeschool space.   It did however, have a huge yard that was totally fenced in.  A great plus for Ben.   This house is also in my favorite neighborhood.

And finally, number 3.  It's the biggest and least expensive of the 3, it's actually a foreclosure, and could be a great bargain.  It's very nice inside, fresh paint and new carpet.  It has a great kitchen (size-wise), and a huge pantry, also a screened in porch in back and a nice patio.  It's on a big lot (no fence) in a smaller country sub.  Upstairs is a great homeschool space and a big rec room for the kids.  Did I mention none of the houses here have basements?  

So which one did we choose?  Stay tuned and feel free to offer your opinion!

Yes, It's True....

....we're moving :(

Jim has accepted a position in North Carolina.  He is beaming from ear to ear, so excited about this job!  

While this is a wonderful opportunity for our family, the thought of moving away again is not so thrilling.  

Homesickness brought us back once before, will it happen again?  

Time will tell.

We are hopefully a little more prepared this time.  We know it will be hard, we know once the excitement wears off, the homesick feelings will set in.  We know we need to give it a little more time than we did in the past.

We need to have a plan.  We are going to sit down and map out the coming year, when do we get come back for visits?   When are visitors coming to see us?  I want to have on the calendar so we all have things to look forward to.

We are more "connected" this time.  Between e-mail, this blog, texting, phone calls, and Skype, staying in contact with family will be easier than ever.  Will it help?  I hope so.

So, we are rallying the troops, asking for your support and prayers as we embark on this misadventure.  Also asking for prayers for our family members not taking the news so well.   

Know any great Carolinas' homeschool blogs?  Please send them my way.

Top reasons we already like North Carolina (Thanks to my friend Sarah for pointing some of these out):

1.  Average snow fall 7.5 inches (we've already had 1 request for our shovels-gladly taking bids)

2.  College is cheaper for higher ranked schools, awesome!

3. Lower cost of living, yay!

4.  Boiled peanuts?  We'll see about this one.

5. Mountains one day, Ocean the next.

6.  Tax free weekends.  Cool!


7. Duke University Down Syndrome Clinic

8.  I get to be home full time with my kids, priceless.

Hopefully the list will continue to grow.

Happy Birthday Ben!

On July 19th, Ben turned 3.  We celebrated a few days later, and I'm just now getting a chance to post the pics.  Between working, job hunting, and planning for the new school year, it's been a little busy.  In the last few weeks we've been to Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina, and Kentucky.  Trying. So. Hard.  Still waiting.  But better to post later, rather than never, right?

Happy boy on his special day.  Blue stains to be explained in the next photo.

Sno-cones!

Cheap entertainment.  Blue dye no. 5.  Must be a party at the Brown's!

Birthday boy worked up a thirst getting dirty in the sandbox, wrong tub big guy!

Presents?  I could learn to like those!

Blowing out the candles.

Shoving a whole cupcake in at once.  Cookie monster style.

More blue dye.

Yum, that was good.

Happy Birthday to our little man.  Looking forward to celebrating many, many more together.