LOTS OF NEWS TO TELL!!!

Hey there everyone!! So, I haven't done so well with updating often, but I will try and do better :) There is a lot to tell now. Scott and I have been VERY, VERY busy this past week and a half, two weeks! There have been lots of things going on, crazy emotions, and lots of traveling :) Lets just start from the beginning :)...

First we went to Fairhope. That was 2 weekends ago. They have a big Arts and Crafts Festival there every year that Scott's family really enjoys, so we finally got to check it out! It was AWESOME!! If any of you like arts and crafts, this is the place to check out!! They have a ton of people there and great stuff! We also got to spend time with Scott's family that lives down there and just relax! It was a beautiful weekend. We are wanting to be back for it next year already :)

OH, I forgot to mention that before we left for Fairhope, we got our house on the market!!! Jamie, our realtor, came and took pics before we went out-of-town, and it was put up on the listings to start showing while we were gone. We are excited about it. It was a lot of hard work, but we finally got done what we neede to, and we think the house looks great! Scott did extra hard work! I'm so proud of all he did. I've probably said this before, but you truly never realize how much stuff you have to pack until it's time to move!!! We found so much stuff!! :) Some things we are giving to charity cuz we really don't need them and it's time to let go of some stuff! :)

So, after Fairhope, we picked up our dogs from my parents house on the way back home. We spent the night in B'ham and then the next day headed to Atlanta cuz we were flying out Tuesday to go to Charleston....no, there was not much down time!! :) This trip, the dogs were unable to stay with my parents, so we had to board them for the FIRST time!! It was sooooo very sad for Scott and me!! :) They didn't seem to mind too much until we went back and took a lil' tour of the place and saw them where they were staying....they were not happy! They looked sooo sad!! They did get to stay together, so that was good. We also got to take some of there toys with them. They stayed at The Pampered Pet Resort. It seems like a really nice place. They got to go out and play with other dogs during the day and then we got someone to spend "alone" time with them one day so they felt special :) We were definitely parents leaving our kids for the first time!! hee hee. Now we get to do this all over again at some point with Baby Girl Russell!! Oh geez!! :)

Next, we were off to Charleston for a few days. We were there last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We flew in Tuesday late morning and the fun began that afternoon! :) We met up with our realtor there, Mark, and began the search for houses! How overwhelming that is!! Mark was great. We enjoyed meeting him. We definitely think he's a better fit for us than the other person we had talked with a one point before. Since Scott has gotten in touch with him, he's been very in-tune with looking for what we want, and keeping us updated on what's out there. We knew which neighborhood we wanted to live in from looking the couple of times we were in Charleston for Scott's interviews, so we stuck with that neighborhood.

All afternoon Tuesday we looked at previously owned houses in Hamlin Plantation (that's the name of the community/neighborhood we like). That night we were a little bummed cuz we didn't really see anything that jumped out at us. We saw some things we could "make work", but we didn't want to have to settle for something. I prayed that night after we got back to the hotel, that a direction would be shown to us as far as where we were to go from here. Were we to stick to pre-owned hoses, or could there be something for us in new construciton? So, Wednesday was a new day with new things to check out. The neighborhood we like is also building and doing new construction right now, so Mark took us back to Hamlin, but this time we went and talked with the builders to see what might be available for us. They showed us their site map and what was being built where at this time. Just being there in the sales office place had a whole new vibe for me than the day before! We had been looking on the computer at the floor plans that were available where they were building and had fallen in love with one particular....The Granger. So, of course we asked about it. There was ONE that was currently under construction and available when we were there. We got to check out the model home that was a Granger and then went out to the house under constrution. Just seeing the model home was enough to make us fall even more in love with that floor plan! All they have on the website is a layout of the floorplan which we really liked, then to see it in the house was even better!!

When we went out to the house under construction, and saw the plot it was on, we knew it was PERFECT for us. It backs up to woods and no other construction will be done behind it, and out front they are putting up a minature park literally across the street from the house. That was really appealing! We even got to go through the house under construction. I really felt like this place was suppose to be ours, but was trying not to get too excited about it, cuz it was DEFINITELY NOT ours!! :) So, needless to say, we left Wednesday with a totally different feeling and were really excited.

Thursday, we met up with Mark again just to wrap things up before we left. While we were with him, he mentioned that the builder guy that we had met with on Wednesday had called and left him a message saying that there was "news" on the house we looked at yesterday. That was a little scary! Was it good or bad? Well, he didn't call us back until we were on the way to the airport....and the news was BAD! Someone else was interested and gonna put on offer in on the house. We were both really bummed! Scott was sooooo sad that he didn't even really talk much the rest of the day...not on the way to the airport, on the plane, or back in Atlanta. So, I did the only thing I could do....started praying and asking for direction again. If this was not meant to be for us, then something else was out there. That gave me a peace. If we could still have a shot, I prayed things fell into place for us to let it happen. We had nothing in place to even consider having it be ours....no pre-approval, no money to put down with a contract and our house hadn't sold yet either! (but we did finally close on the townhouse...so there was some hope...)

Anyway, we got home and talked to our agent in B'ham, Jamie, and she looked at all the info and told us that if we really liked the floorplan and liked the lot that we should go for it...so we worked really hard on the offer and prayed really loud and long and.....WE GOT IT!!!! Our offer was just higher enough (and Scott says we are just cooler enough...) that they gave it to us!!!! We are soooo happy! We put up some pictures for you all to see, but it is still early. We will try to update the pictures as we go. Now all we got to do is sell our house, so if anyone reading this wants to move, just drop us a line!!!! Ha, ha...

I guess the lesson we take from this is just to continue to TRUST GOD and have patience!! I saw with patience and time we see that God always knows what is BEST for us!!!!!!!!!!!!! How awesome!

Now we are looking forward to having you all visit OUR new home in Charleston!!!!!!

Here is OUR house being built (that's so cool to say!!!):

Look....I even look pregnant now! hee hee (21 weeks in Downtown Charleston)