Thank you, H2!

As if H2 hasn't had enough to think about, she's already been looking ahead to Mother's Day! Knowing that May will be CRAZY as they close on their house and move, she decided to make me an early gift. She redesigned my blog, and didn't she do a great job? While I have seemingly unlimited patience in some areas, web design isn't one of them. So, thank you, H2, for a job well done!

Going, going, gone

So just how do you, in a "depressed" housing market, put your house on the market and ON THE VERY SAME DAY receive not one but TWO full price offers? Some trick, to be sure...H & S are reeling from this development, but I'm sure H2 is not complaining that she only had to really clean the house once in order to sell it. When we got out of the Air Force, it took....are you ready for this?..... SEVENTY-FIVE (75)...yes, you read that right... 75 showings before we had a buyer. I put a little tick on the calendar each time we showed it, and at the end, it really was the 75th showing that finally came with an offer. And nobody ever said anything about the market at that time being depressed, or difficult, or whatever. H2 said that if this deal (they accepted offer #1) really does go through, they'll close in May and she and the boys will move to Nebraska, where they'll stay until they have the funds to leave for the UK.

The boys have been 2 1/2 hours away for the last 2 years...interesting that Nebraska feels no closer than England about now. :(

H(B)B, H2!

Lots of memories surrounding the birth of H2, 29 years ago...we were in the military, and after the birth of her sister two years prior (following a marathon labor/C-section), we were scheduled for a repeat C-section two weeks before my due date. Baby #2 was to be born on March 27. When I went in for that last check-up on the 26th, they did an x-ray and, though it was not conclusive, decided to give baby one more week in the oven. It took me a while to adjust to that change, having cemented March 27 in my brain, and that last week felt absolutely interminable.

We checked into the hospital the night before "birth" day, and after making sure that Nana and H1 were settled, P came to the hospital to be with me. We had already picked out names, and having had a "revelation" (or maybe heartburn?) P decided that the boy name we had picked out was inadequate and was convinced his new choice was far superior. I remember asking him, "are you HIGH??" The sentiment was nice, but the flow (too many "sh" sounds between the first and last name) was not going to work. Trying to sell me on the sentiment was not working, we were getting nowhere, and I finally said, "well, I'll show you...I'll have a girl."

So I did.

I believe things have changed through the years and the medical care offered by the military has improved. Thank God. In preparation for the surgery, I was strapped to a skinny metal table, arms out at 90 degrees, and STARK NAKED. I think I was just too young to assert myself, because there is NO WAY I would stand for that today. There was an airman counting instruments and a nurse scrubbing my mountainous belly, and I was shivering from the cold. Mercifully, I did get to go to sleep, and woke up to the news that we had another daughter, perfectly formed, having all of her fingers and toes, looking like her sister (only smaller).

H2 was the easiest baby of our three, content to lie on a blanket looking around, just happy to be alive, and it didn't take any time at all before we couldn't remember not having her around. Once, I had put her on the floor on a blanket with some toys, and stepped out of the room to answer the phone. When I returned SHE WAS GONE and I nearly panicked. I called out her name, quickly scanned the room, and found she had rolled under her crib, out of sight.

Her first word was "some", and when combined with a pointed finger was all the communication needed for what she wanted to eat. She loved to ride in the front pack and was a snuggler. We took lots of walks with her in the pack and H1 in the stroller to meet friends here or there.

Through the years, she has faced life with determination and the willingness to work hard to accomplish her goals. She has not let disappointment get the better of her, but has let the hard times accomplish good and has witnessed firsthand the greatness of our God.

Thank you, God, for blessing us with this dear daughter. Thank you for entrusting her to us, and for the joy she has brought.

Happy birthday, honey!

One more thing...

As I posted (below) and was reminded of today's date, it has a great amount of significance in our family, being the moment in time 29 years ago today that H2 was born. I will post some memories of that day and of what she means to us once I'm feeling a little better.

Yuh you, H2!

The end of a streak

I think I must have brought this upon myself somehow, maybe a little too proudful in several announcements throughout the winter that I had been exposed repeatedly to numerous bugs but had caught nary a one. Maybe the pride before the fall thing...

Must be my turn, cause I got a doozy. Don't think it's the influenza that S had (my most recent exposure) since I don't have a temp, but I feel bad enough without one, thank you very much.

Back to bed...

A little irony goes a long way

Is it just me or does it seem more than a little ironic that our government would engineer a bail-out (with money I'm pretty sure they don't have) to homeowners who bought houses they couldn't afford? I've said it before...there is no sense in putting yourself in unreasonable debt all for the sake of the "American Dream." Making house payments that are meaningless to the principal had to make somebody stop, raise and eyebrow and say, "huh?"...didn't it? Besides, anybody who owns a house will testify they are a LOT of work and more often than not, an unsuspecting money pit.

I would have hoped that when the partisan lawmakers got together over something important enough to shake hands over, it would be something of more substance...more beneficial to our country as a whole. Instead, they are furthering the notion that you can spend money you don't have and if you wail loud enough, Big Brother will ride in on a white horse and save the day.

Huh?

Decision made!

So here it is - the vacation plan is now complete! Check out this link for a look at the "cabin" we're renting on Lake Cumberland. I use the word "cabin" rather loosely, because we'll hardly be roughing it. A call to the resort confirmed that there is plenty of water in the lake, so we went ahead and booked.

This discussion has resurrected a funny memory...after we graduated from seminary, we were on our "wanderings" for a few months while we were looking for a church. We had purchased a tent trailer for $400 and were sort of living in it temporarily. One day (and I don't even remember what state we were in), we plotted where we thought we might wind up by nightfall, and found a reservoir that looked inviting. It was about an hour off the beaten path, but the road atlas certainly talked it up, so we decided to go for it. The road to the reservoir was really more the "beaten path" itself, and after jostling our innards for at LEAST an hour (that felt much longer), we pulled up to the edge of the lake, got out of the car and gasped. No, not at the beauty, but at what USED to be a lake, but was now a huge, dried up crater at the end of an incredibly bumpy road. Hot, exhausted, crabby, and hungry, we pulled out the peanut butter, made some sandwiches and climbed back in the station wagon for the return trip back to the freeway via the Chisholm Trail.

You can see why we're not that anxious for history to repeat itself. But the nice lady assured me there is plenty of water to go around. I guess we'll just take her word for it.

While in Kentucky, we're looking forward to seeing Mammoth Cave again (that's another vacation story from hell...we must be gluttons for punishment), the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, and taking a train ride...and oh yeah, LOTS of relaxing in the "cabin".