4th times a charm?

We put in an offer on another house. This one is a short sale too. I know, I know, we have been burned three times by bank owned and short sale properties but we are trying to get the most house for the money and they offer the most bang for our limited buck.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

Photo Gallery		MLS#: 653620

I like this one the best out of all of them, even though it is not as "move in ready" as the last one. There is blue everywhere; blue paint, blue carpet, blue floor tile, blue countertops, blue back splashes and weird setup for a family room. However, it is in a nicer neighborhood with better schools. The yard is nicely done with a garden shed, it has lots of storage, a pull thru garage to the backyard, plus it has an additional 400 sq ft bonus room.

In the mean time we are renting a little house in north Keizer. It was challenging find a place that would do a month to month lease and allow our two large dogs. We will be moving in two weeks and then promptly leaving for four days of camping. Dave thinks I am CRAZY and I probably am, but whatever, you do what you have to do. This camping trip has been planned for six months and I'll have plenty of time to unpack when we get back.

Your prayers and good thoughts are appreciated.

http://www.johnlscott.com/PropertyDetail.aspx?GroupID=272100899&ListingID=301361218&CMID=-1&Sort=0&RTR=50&LI=3&t=1

Just a few pics to enjoy

Playing in Mommy and Daddy's closet. Yep thats my bra.

Our super awesome seats at the baseball game. 

Fell asleep at dinner.... on my hand

Dave looking like a Alaskan fisherman for guys weekend.

Ruby insisted on wearing a tutu. 

Just cute :)

House update

I thought we would have good news to share but it appears we are back to square one. Last Thursday as we were heading out the door for camping, I got a call from the realtor that the bank approved the short sale. Yeah! Dave and I talked about the details on the drive up. We figured it would all work out quite nicely as we are closing on our current house on August 20th. Woo hoo! We wouldn't be homeless!

However, getting home late Sunday we had a message waiting for us from the realtor explaining that the bank approved it for $30k MORE than we offered. She was contacting the bank first thing in the morning to clarify but ultimately that is too high and we rejected the counter. Ugg!

Guess we are looking at houses this weekend. Wish us luck!

Summers Here!

In true Oregon fashion it's July and summer has arrived. Better late than never, right? We've been playing outside in the sprinklers and pool a lot.

I love watching Claire run

This photo cracks me up!

Fundraisers?

I am sure you noticed I added two new columns to the right giving a timeline and our fundraising goal for our adoption. Yes, that's right we are adopting. We would like Claire to have siblings, but getting and staying pregnant has been such a challenge for us. We are moving forward with an open domestic adoption. We have the paperwork all done and are waiting for our move to do the home study visit; the last piece of the approval process. Hopefully that will done by the end of the summer.

The other hurdle we have to overcome is the money. It is expensive to adopt and we only have half saved. I have items listed on Craigslist (know anyone who is looking for a generator?), cut expenses and am looking at other ways to raise the funds. Car washes? Soda cans? Garage sales? Happy hour? I am open to any and all ideas.

The adoption attorney we have chosen feels its a great time to get on the list as he was saying, as of last month, they only have three heterosexual christian families waiting and didn't see any reason why we wouldn't have a baby by the end of the year. Eeek! I am so excited!

Ideas, questions, thoughts?

Hummingbirds

I love, love, love my hummingbird feeder. At any given time we have two or three, even up to four hummingbirds feeding at it. Dusk is the best time of day to watch. The feeder isn't anything fancy. I purchased it at Wal-Mart for $12. The actual food is a simple water sugar mixture with a 4 to 1 ratio boiled for 5 minutes. They will eat about two cups of food a week.

It is actually quite difficult to take pictures of the hummingbirds. Well, maybe if you don't have a two year old and two large dogs following you around refusing to sit still it might be easy. I popped out the screen of our living room window and sat patiently at dusk with my camera ready. 

Playing with my camera settings

Changing the settings, this was using a different filter

First one

Second one

Third one

It is neat to see the different sizes and the colors are AMAZING. There is one bird that is quite aggressive and doesn't allow the other birds to eat. It is fun to watch as he gets distracted chasing one away another will sneak in for quick bite. 

Hummingbirds are surprisingly loud. One afternoon I was outside getting the feeder to bring it inside to clean and refill and hummingbird buzzed me. It was incredibly loud, I thought for sure it had to be a huge creature but no it was just a tiny hummingbird.  

Dentist take 2

It is amazing what a difference six months can make. Claire had a dentist appointment yesterday and did AMAZING! Sooo much better than last time.