I didn't pray for patience!

I promise I didn't do something dumb and go praying for patience... but apparently I needed to learn to be more patient, ha-ha. We are still waiting and learning and trusting that God's timing is perfect. "Our" house is just sitting there, across the street, lonely and waiting for us. Yet I am finding contentment. We have a beautiful home to live in for the time being and we are so blessed. I just miss some of my stuff and having a place, other than a box, to put it. I will reluctantly post a picture of the house. I say reluctantly because I am not convinced that it will really happen. The challenge is not to get too possessive of the house but also enjoy the excitement of the purchase. We are just waiting for the final loan approval and then we set the closing date. Please continue to pray that God's will would be done!

We have an accepted offer!

We finally have found a house and have an accepted offer! Praise God! We are excited about this house but are trying to keep our emotions in check. God may still close the door and we really are okay with that, if it doesn't fit His plan for our family. How we found this place is a neat story that I will share with you when I have some pictures to share. Thank you for praying.... keep praying!

Still searching

So, no we didn't hear back on Monday and sadly, we are still waiting. Four more offers came in over the weekend and on Monday they wanted all of our highest offers. We put in a second offer and they still have yet to decide. Last we heard, we were in second place but we have moved on, since we don't have the luxury of sitting around for 4 weeks waiting for rejection, haha. We are putting an offer in on a different property today. It is a very nice home and we would be getting it for a really good price. The owner's daughter and husband are somewhat interested, so we will again have to wait and see what they decide. I promise I will let you know when we get an accepted offer!

John has been out leading activities at camp quite a bit lately and really enjoying it. It does help that the temps. have been in the 60's and 70's the last few weeks. They have been climbing at Devil's Lake and using the high ropes course. The ropes course is still running well and a big hit with the groups.

An Update

Thank you for praying for Ethan at the Dentist! He did great and we set up a future appointment to remove the stubborn baby tooth. Praise God, 4 days before his appointment, he knocked the tooth loose! So we were able to cancel the dreaded extraction.

On the "home" front, praise God, we got approved for a loan and started to search for the perfect home. That search has turned into the search for the house that will not fall down and we can get an offer in on before someone outbids us, haha! We have had many disappointments along the way, as anyone who ventures to ask, "how is it going?" can tell you. Sorry to those who have had to sit and listen to our housing saga! Also, a week and a half before Grandma Jean's house was supposed to close, we were mostly packed up and ready to move when the offer fell through. John was leaving a day later to Isreal and we had to decide what to do. We ended up staying here and trying to stay mostly packed, eating off of paper plates and plasticware. Grandma's stuff is all sold and gone for the most part and the house is once again on the market.

Yesterday, we put another offer in on a house that we are praying will go through. We should hopefully find out on Monday. Maybe we can avoid a move to my parents before we find a home to buy! One less move in our future would be nice.

At Expeditions, the ropes course is done. We had a group of guinea pigs .... ahem.. I mean, men... go through the course just today. No one died! Really though, John said it so cool to witness the very first group and see it run so smoothly after all the months of building it.

Please Pray

If you would, Pray for Ethan today. I take him to the dentist today and he DOES NOT do well with them. He had a pretty traumatic experience with a dentist about a year and a half ago and there is a lot of anxiety today. He had doctor pull a tooth without anything to numb it. I have never heard him scream like that before and that is saying a lot because Ethan can scream! They may need to pull another tooth today or in the near future so please pray!

Habitat Build

John and the other men from camp have taken a break from the ropes course build to help out a family from our church. The Holmes family of 9, is receiving a Habitat for Humanity home this spring and John gets to help. This week they are framing the house and I have a couple pictures to share with you. Hopefully I will have more in a few days.

Ropes Course

Work continues on the ropes course. This is not work for anyone who struggles with heights. I don't think the pictures capture how high up they really are. You will have to stop by and visit to feel the full effect and understand the magnitude of the project.

This shack is where the course starts. You would climb onto the roof and choose the easier course or the harder course.

The harder route

Off this platform there will be a zip line and a giant swing

John is on the pole in the center and Tbird is in the forefront.

View from above

They hoisted that big log up there on the left and John is on the right end of the log

John is still on the right side of the horizontal log

John working on securing the log

Higgins