family photos

We tried to get a few family photos done one morning ("tried" being operative). We did get a few! Here are my 3 favorite people in the world...

aren't they cute?

this was my favorite family photo failure: in response to, "Isaac, look at the camera!" :) Gotta love it!

Yet more Thanksgiving...

the kids got some much needed R&R on the back porch while we prepared delicious victuals for their gastrointestinal enjoyment

Mamie (Claudia's mom) gets a few smiles out of Baby Evan

the kids are ready to dig in to some goodness

so is Vance, as a matter of fact!

More Thanksgiving...

awww, cousins....aren't they the cutest?

Cousin Seth, enjoying the shared childhood passion: the Oliver tractor

out joyriding with Papa

all the Whitaker cousins!

Home for Thanksgiving

We got to spend Thanksgiving in NC, and we had a rockin good time! We got lots of cute pictures with all the photo ops available....

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Lke.....

September!

Well, it doesn't feel like Christmas yet, but at least we're enjoying what FL has to offer :)

Milk Bubbles

almost enough to make you wish you were a kid again, isn't it?

Even Claire's catching on...

HIllsborough County Fair

Tonight we made it to the Hillsborough County Fair. We had no idea what to expect, but it was Can Day, so we got in free. It felt like a county fair in it's infancy: a dozen rides, a small midway, a few livestock tents, but not much buzz going on. It worked out just fine for us, though, because the sparse crowd made it easy to keep track of the kids.

Almost immediately after I told Isaac that we were going to the fair, he asked if he could ride on the merry-go-round. Apparently that was his overriding memory from the MN State Fair last year: riding the carousel with Caleb. He got his wish, and he was trembling with excitement and adrenaline. He was too worked up to even smile the first time. But as soon as he got off, he was shouting the praises of his beloved ride.

Vance initiated Isaac in that most important of excitements: his first roller coaster ride. (You can see his little hand waving between the antennae). He was less nervous about the (little) roller coaster than he was the merry-go-round.

Claire was too short to ride, but she had fun watching! This was one of the rare smiles, though...most of the time she had a look of complete and fixed concentration on her face. No smiles, no expressions, just focus. While we were in the livestock tent, Isaac was ecstatically petting a cooperative cow, and I asked Claire if she wanted to pet it too. "Nope," was her emphatic response. No question there. She was NOT getting out of her stroller to touch any of the foreign objects surrounding her. It makes me realize how different Isaac and Claire are. At this age, you couldn't have kept Isaac in the stroller for love or money.

Lucky for the little guy, we had enough tickets for one last carousel ride! What a night!

Autumn Festival

On Saturday we went to a nearby Autumn Festival with our friends the Huttons. We almost didn't make it, since we were hurrying up on putting an offer on the house, but we managed to throw together a couple of quick costumes and make it in time for most of the fun. Claire, as most people were able to recognize (amazingly!) was our little movie star.

Isaac started out as a fireman, but switched over to being a pirate after he got a facepaint mustache and goatee and balloon sword. Such is the fickleness of man. :)

Claire had such a great time! She's more of a scaredy cat than Isaac, and she was happy to sit in her stroller sucking on a lollipop for about half the time. She screamed when I tried to get her to play the fishing game! But oddly enough, she was an angel with the facepainting, and it was her willingness to do it that got Isaac in the chair afterwards. That little competitive edge can come in handy, sometimes :).

They had some great moon bounces, even some for laser tags and zip lines...pretty fun for older kids. Isaac mostly jumped in the more tame moon bounces, but he did really enjoy the big slides. It was fun to go with friends, and the kids got more than their required amount of candy for the season. We had a great time!

Just Kidding: it IS our house (we think)!

The housing saga continues, but is hopefully nearing its' end. On Saturday, I was blown away to see that the first house we had offered on (and had been accepted, then dropped), went back on the market. We offered again, and this time they signed the contract and got back to us before the deadline. The inspection is tomorrow, and the appraisal is on Thursday, so Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we're on our way to home ownership!

It's one of those things where hindsight really enables you to see God's wisdom. We were excited about the house in the first place, and I remember saying to Vance, "I'm not worried about it falling through. I feel like this is our house." That made it more disappointing when the sellers jilted us. But not getting what we wanted (and thought we were on our way to having) did force us to check our hearts a little more, and be reminded that God's goodness isn't dependent on whether or not we get our preferred housing arrangement. More than ever, we are reminded that we aren't entitled to this house (or any other), but that it is just a gift. (And you experienced homeowners are now saying, Just wait till you see that first expensive repair bill! :)

Vance prayed that if we were supposed to have that house, that the other offer would fall through. I never thought it would, but it did. And the second time around, we're even more grateful.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today my sweet mother would have been 50 years old. I'm sure, if she had ever attained such advanced age, no one would have ever believed she was that old. People look at my wedding pictures and ask where my mother is--and then say they thought Mom was my sister. Hopefully she passed on some of those good genes...

I know that time is supposed to heal all wounds, but I can't imagine that I will ever miss her less. I know it was a privelige to live in her home and be called her daughter, and I'm grateful for all the happy memories I have of her. One day, Lord willing, we'll make more together.

For now, I just roll over and over in my mind the little conversations and pictures I have in my mind. Like hearing the sound of her heels in the kitchen after church when I was little, and wanting so much to be beautiful and elegant and grown up, just like her. Seeing her come into the kitchen and reach into the cabinet for her favorite snack--a spoonful of peanut butter with chocolate chips on top (try it!). Coming home from school and seeing her talking with Tinea and Penelope every Tuesday. Watching her in the kitchen--always in the kitchen--making whatever her guests liked best. She kept a list of everyone's favorites and dislikes on the back of the address cards of her friends (No onions, etc. :). Seeing her little doodles of grapes and curlicues when she'd been in another long phone conversation with someone who needed counsel. Coming downstairs on Valentine's Day to a plate of cookies, just for me. Seeing her standing on the step to kiss Dad. Painting the dining room with her, watching her agonize over paint colors, and laughing at her thwarted perfectionist tendencies as she struggled to cut in such a dark red. Admiring her when she succeeded :). Hearing her laugh until the tears came when all her family was in town for the holidays. Standing next to her as we prayed for friends. Seeing her Bible, covered with notes. Changing sheets for back-to-back guests. Never complaining. Always serving above and beyond. Always giving wise counsel based on Scripture, not just her opinion.

If God grants me another 19 years, I hope I may be a little more like her; as faithful a friend, as constant in prayer, as loving a wife and mother. And I pray that her granddaughters, who will not know her this side of heaven, will grow to be like her just the same. I can't wait to see you again, Mom.

Isaac's Honey Hole

Like Papa, like father, like son...

Isaac caught 4 good-sized brim all by himself last Saturday! (well, Daddy did help him cast, but that was it).

Claire was too skittish to touch the fish, but she wasn't afraid of the worms (like mama, like daughter :)

We're loving the cooler weather, and having Daddy back from out of town!

Strike Two (or, A Bizarre Tale)

another photo of a house we won't be living in...

All right, everyone, I have a funny story to tell you (if I can keep it from being confusing). On Thursday the above house went on the market (while Vance was in Colorado for the week). I saw it on Friday with the kids. I liked it--didn't love it like the other one--but it was a good house that met our list. Big yard, great climbing trees, open layout, new kitchen with granite countertops. It showed great, and I knew it wasn't likely to make it to the weekend without an offer. Vance was supposed to fly in Saturday, so we planned to look at it on Sunday before lunch. His flight was delayed, so we didn't see it until Sunday evening. He really liked the house.

But, as I suspected, there was another offer on the table. The sellers were waiting, however, for our offer, since we had told them we were serious. Our realtor said, "you need to give them your highest and best offer." We had learned our lesson from last time, so we agreed. It was hard to come up with a number, because I was still uneasy about the comps. It's pretty much one of the nicest houses in the neighborhood, and I was concerned about pricing ourselves out of the neighborhood. Ultimately, however, we gave them an offer slightly above their asking price. Deadline: today at noon.

So when my realtor calls me today, she gives me the crazy scoop. There were 3 showings on the house, and 3 offers. The first offer was about $12,000 lower than ours, and they wanted their closing costs covered as well. They were apparently concerned about the appraisal as well, so they put a big paragraph about being able to get out if it didn't appraise. The second offer had a similar clause. So did ours.

Apparently, this freaked out the owners so much that, afraid of the house not appraising at the list value, they took the lower offer. How crazy is that?!

I had to laugh. The first time we had an accepted offer which was unethically dumped. This second time we offered a bid too high for the seller's taste. Third time's the charm, right?

This time has been a lot easier than the first...I wasn't as attatched to the house, and it was so ludicrous that I couldn't really take it hard. Obviously, God has something else in mind. And I think it has something to do with us not worshipping the house we'd like to live in :)

back to the drawing board...

Sorry I've left everyone hanging about the housing stuff...Vance and I went out of town for a conference for a couple of days, so we're just now getting back into the swing of things.

We didn't get the house. It's a long story, as you can imagine, but the very unethical realtor we were dealing with, after refusing to sign our paperwork, considered two identical offers, and chose the other one.

It's been really disappointing. That was the only house that we saw that we had liked, and we really liked it. It had so many of the little details that I had wanted but hadn't even put on our "wish list" that we'd given to the realtor. It seemed so perfect for us. But it's not going to be ours. In a way, it almost makes me feel better that the door was slammed so hard in our face--it makes me realize so clearly that God is saying no. If we had just put an offer in and had been outbid, I could have agonized over whether we should have offered more, etc. But we had done everything "right", and our offer was accepted...until it wasn't.

In the midst of my disappointment, though, God has really been so merciful. We went to a small group leaders conference with our church (no, we're not small group leaders at our new church, but like one of our fnew riends here said, they sometimes open up the conference to people who are really, well...troubled :). It was exactly what we both needed: to get away from the stress of new work/new city/new schedule/epic house fail and just focus on Christ, and the joy that it is to live for him alone. In that frame of reference, I was able to remember again that it is a joy to experience little disappointments like this because it means that God is after my heart, teaching and shaping me to be more like him. In this case, I think he's working on my patience, perserverance, and chronic whinyness (hmm, sounds like what I'm teaching my kids too! Go figure :)

So anyway, we're bummed. Especially when we have to slog through more listings of houses that aren't very appealing. And at the same time, we're happy to experience a little disappointment if it means we can become a little more like Christ.

Now if I can only remember that when I walk through the 23,490,824th house that I don't like :)

Maybe not our house?

So, there's more drama than anticipated on the housing front. Apparently the realtor (who is the son of the owner) dragged his feet in getting his parents to sign the offer that they had accepted long enough to get another offer in. Vance doesn't want me to go on a tirade about him--and I am trying not to judge him too much as well--but it seems that he has been unjust (and at minimum, very unprofessional).

At any rate, we have now offered them what the other prospective buyers have, and hopefully (!) the realtor will let his parents take it from here. It goes without saying that it's been disappointing and maddening to be back in the middle on what we thought (and what should have been) a done deal.

It has, however, reminded me to hold all this with an open hand. This house, if it is to be ours, will be so because God allows it. If not, because he has not. It's been a good reminder, too, that everything that we have is his, and he has the right to do with it as he chooses. We know that he only works good for his own, but it's easy to assume that it's all ours. Health? Mine. Money? Mine. Children? Mine. Career? Mine. But no, we just steward it. And if he sends us another way than we'd planned, it's his anyway.

Right now, I believe that, and I feel very at peace with this particular house. But you can pray for us that we would continue to have that trust in God, despite our roller coaster of emotions.

Our New House

Well, we got an important phone call last night--the sellers accepted our counteroffer! Praise God--we were both kind of expecting a long game of hardball after their first counteroffer. But it looks like, pending inspection, this place will be ours November 19th!

This house really feels like a gift from the Lord--which of course it is--in that it has so many of the things we wanted in a house (and were not seeing in any of the other houses we looked at), and yet is priced well below our limit. I love that it's an older house with some character, and yet it has a split bedroom plan. I love that our guest bedroom has a full bath, so that those of you who don't want to wander around our house in your PJs looking for the shower don't have to. I love that there's lots of shade and space in the backyard. And I am uber excited about the citrus trees out back!

Come have a look....these pictures are the stock photos, so they're not all that good, but I'll update you once we've given the house a facelift :)

Worst things first--this is the part of the house that needs to be overhauled: the 70s bathrooms with the olive green toilet and tub. But, it does have a linen closet and good bones.

This is the view from the front door, looking back to the lanai. The house is all hardwood flooring, except for tile in the kitchen and baths. There's a little sitting room area just back and to the left, which I'll turn into the music/reading area.

The reason why you'll want to come and visit us. Picture yourself here, on a chaise lounge, with a good book, telling me to get you some sweet tea (and HURRY UP IF YOU WANT A GOOD TIP!), while you decide whether you'd like to go pick an orange or a grapefruit for breakfast. Are you logging into Travelocity right now? Good :)

Cabinet space is a bit lacking in the kitchen, but the cabinets are hardwood, and the countertops are corian, which is nice. I'm going to put an island in the middle and eject the kitchen table back to the dining room (and opt for barstools at the counter instead). I think that should solve my space issues. But look, there's a ceiling fan in the kitchen! It's the little things, right? :)

It's hard to get a good feel for the house with these, but we'll of course update you after we change everything! For now, we're just grateful that the search is over and that God has been so kind to us.

We're offering....

Well, we just put an offer on this beauty right here....we'll know by tomorrow morning if they're willing to take our offer. I won't put too many details yet, since I'm trying not to get my heart set on this house any more than it already is. But it looks to be a great deal, and I have not seen anything even close to what I liked in all the other houses here. I'll tell you more if they accept!

Where'd he get that from?

Not gonna lie...today was a hard day, made harder perhaps because there have been a lot of hard days lately. Lots of emotionally fragile people in the Whitaker household of late. I think I am finally getting it in my head that this is the kind of stuff that Paul tells us we need to perservere through--"let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." (gal.6:9). Good thing there isn't any actual "eject" button for mothers, so we don't cheat ourselves out of our harvest!

I've also had a line from Stuart Townend's song in my head: "The fields of hope in which I sow // will be harvested in heaven." I need to be reminded that my work is not just to deal with whiny kids all day--confiscating water bottles-turned-bone-of-contention, dealing with truant nappers, and peeling small people off my legs periodically--but to point them in their need (and myself in my need) to Jesus, for their eternal joy.

That's not to say that there weren't little joyful moments in my day. Like Isaac, coming up to me while I was making dinner, and saying, "Mom! I'm going to go, get on my tricycle, get some money, and go have some FUN!"

If only it were that easy :).

from the mouths of babes...

We're hearing a lot of chatter around this house lately. Some of it has been unwelcome, like Claire's recent (but abating) habit of squealing and screaming when she's in the car. We're working on that one.... But there's been a lot of other fun things coming out of her mouth, too, and we're enjoying all the baby talk! Oddly enough, she often will pronounce primarily the second half of a word, which, combined with the fact that she commonly uses the plural, can make understanding her quite an adventure!

She says:

Yessss
Min - vitamin
nKet - blanket
I Duck - Isaac
Daddys - Daddy
Waters - milk
Muck -milk
Up - down
Down - up (or vice versa :)
Heyabedabe - helicopter
Suck - truck
Dactor - tractors and trucks

And the list goes on and on... It's pretty fun to hear her these days!

In other family news, we're starting in on the process of buying a house. It's a little intimidating, as I'm sure most of you know. Mostly I don't want to accidentally buy more house than we can afford...I've found myself running numbers a lot in my head, and I'm learning that I need to stop doing that. We've talked, run the numbers together, and now I think I need to let Vance and the mortgage banker do the rest. Numbers aren't really my forte, and they stress me out.

Which means I am going to focus on the more fun part--finding a house that meets our needs. Apparently most Floridians have pretty different priorities than we do when it comes down to building houses. That narrows the search down some, which is kind of nice, considering how much inventory is out there. It seems like most people want huuuge one-story houses in thickly-populated developments on little to no land. People also seem to favor new construction over trees. Thankfully, there are some options out there for those of us who need (especially in this heat!) some shade and space for the kids to run around in.

I don't think we'll be buying the arts and crafts home of my dreams here in Florida, (nor the farmhouse of my dreams), but I'm okay with that. I just have to keep reminding myself that we're buying our first house, not our dream house. But boy did we get spoiled in Minneapolis with so much great architecture! :)

The biggest struggle in all this is to think and plan and search enough to be wise without letting "A House" become an idol, and the focus of my days. It's easy for it to get that way with me, because I'm excited about having a home of my own, a place to settle down. But I can't let all of those items on my wish list rob me of my gratefulness for all that God has provided.