{{Our Home}}

This is sort of an "After" post to the first one I did about our new rental house in Sammamish, WA.  It's ever evolving.  We got possession of this house on July 18th and over the last three months, it's turned into our home.  It's comfortable. It's where we relax.  Thinking back on this summer, I am amazed at everything God has orchestrated.  This house alone was wonderful in how it all came together.  We moved in 16 days before Merritt was born.  We were 95% unpacked and settled thanks to Jana.  God's love for me and knowing the desire of my heart brought Jana and her husband Aaron into our lives, I'm sure.  She is a good friend and we've only been here for four months.  How amazing is that?  

I love our life here.  I miss our friends & family back home desperately, but I love our life here.  I had no idea how things would turn out but all I've done is sit back and watch God work.  No I'm not referring to Microsoft.  I'm referring to situations only God could have handled!  

So onto pictures -- Disclaimer: this is real life, no fancy pretty pics!  Quite a few things were purchased at Ikea recently when Jessie, Shawna and Rachel otherwise known as "the girls" came to visit.  

Our bedroom.

Merritt and Ensley

Recently I moved Brighton and Ensley's clothes to our closet.  Our bedroom is sort of the central hub of the second level.  It makes a lot of sense to have their clothes in our closet for now.

Our bathroom.

The playroom.  Also called the loft.

The living room.

The dining room.

The kitchen, then onto the family room.

The family room.

 

So there you have it.  I'm sure I'll be adding more photos later!   

Scenic drives

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The drive to our new place is so pretty. It's longer than I had been originally hoping for but the view and the easy going traffic makes it so nice.

Our New Townhome

We moved to a three bedroom town home yesterday. So those are pics of our new place, uncensored. I don't even care. I'm not unpacking and putting stuff away. :) All of our housing needs have been more than met through this process. I just found out that our things from permanent storage can be delivered to our new rental on July 18th! We thought it would be another week after that before it could happen. We also found a rental that's being rented for the first time. I fell in love right away. The owner has already moved so the house is empty and we can move in July 18th! Our lease starts August 1st but he doesn't want to charge us for anytime prior to August 1st! God has gone before us this whole time. I knew it would happen but it's been amazing to watch.

The pictures aren't in good order but I just want to say that the two full flights of stairs to the bedrooms are one reason why I am so thankful we'll be moving to our new rental in 9 days!

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Puddle Jumpers

Per Shawna's suggestion for a great kids floaty, I went to Target today and bought a couple Puddle Jumpers for the kids. It worked really well! I can see them being really handy if I venture to take two toddlers and a baby to a pool. ;)

Tot Time Cafe

This morning we met up with our new friends (who we've played with five times now in the 10 days we've been here!) at Tot Time Cafe. Someone needs to open one in Topeka or Lawrence. There was a snack bar which featured kids snacks and lunch foods as well coffee (which was very tasty) and adult type foods. The play area was surrounded by a half wall which had a bar counter with stools around the outside so that moms can sit with coffee and talk but still keep a watchful eye. The place was big enough without being huge and didn't feel crowded to me even though there were quite a few kids. In the back corner there was a little boutique selling all sorts of homemade items. I ended up buying a binki clip for Ensley since she's been dropping or throwing hers in the car and then asks for it while I'm driving. I am not handing her a new one while driving any more with this new traffic. You pay for the amount of time you're there so I ended up paying for "all day play" for two kids which is a lower rate than one child at $15 total. Lots of stuff to do and relaxing because I could be near but not right with them. There was a little corner with chalk board walls and a picnic table too. Lots of fun! We were there for almost three hours. Definitely going back.

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All loaded up.

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We are all loaded into our rental van. This week has actually been really relaxing for me and the kids. Fun evenings with swimming and VBS. Days of easy napping, fun meal times and playing. Jer has done all the work supervising the packing, moving, and cleaning up our house.

So now we are loaded up and actually leaving! (exciting and scary!!) Our van is comfortable and has a DVD player. Which is just awesome. The first stop is Lincoln, NE to stay the night with my sister in law, Melodi. Really looking forward to that!

Ensley is sitting forward for the first time so both kids can watch shows. :)

The first step

Our trip sort of officially started in my mind on Friday. A week before we left Topeka. The Jeep was loaded onto a trailer to start it's cross country trip to Seattle. Our house is sold but if we backed out now we could just kick out our renter living in our first house and move in, right? The Jeep leaving meant, in my mind, that we had to follow.