Another Setback

So, even though the court date for our house has been set for the past two weeks, when the attorneys got there today they decided they weren't ready to deal with our case. Therefore, no signature is on our paperwork. They have now moved our court date to Sept. 18th. The bank has said they will accept our offer on the house through Sept. 26th, which means we have to close before then. HOPEFULLY the attorneys will have everything in order by the 18th and can sign the piece of paper they need to sign so we can get a house! We were thinking we would be closed by the end of next week, but that won't be happening.

Photos Tab

Just a small post to let you know the "Photos" Tab at the top of my page now redirects to a site I created through Shutterfly for you to view all the photos I upload. Check it periodically to see what new photos I may have uploaded!

Getting Closer!!

So, for those of you who are interested in what is happening with the Newton's house hunting adventure......we are getting closer to closing on a house!! Tomorrow is set to be the court date for the house. Apparently whoever lived in the house died because it is now owned by the city, and they have to sign off on the paperwork. That has been one thing that has taken a long time in this whole process. Well, tomorrow is supposed to be the day!! Then, we have been told we can close very shortly after that!! The only thing that could stop us from being able to close is if the FHA inspection does not go through. So please pray with us that everything goes smoothly with that. It is scheduled to be done either this Friday or early next week. Before we can move in, though, some minor things must be done. The carpet has to be replaced, but since we like paint on the walls we will paint before the new carpet is put in. Ben is going to do a little remodeling also before the new carpet is put in, so even if we close next week we may not get to move in for a few weeks after that, but either way it should be soon!! We have been living in the basement for 3 months now, and we are ready to be able to send the kids to their rooms again! But, when we say we have been in the basement for 3 months, we know that means we are 3 months closer to getting our own house! This has been a good learning experience for our children, though and they know that God will provide for and care for His children even if it is in ways that we didn't expect. I have posted the few pics of the house that I could get off the internet in hopes that everything does work out and we do get this house.

Summer Fun

Well, I am trying out a new blog layout.....let me know what you think. I still need to work on it a bit and tweak some of the tabs to link to the places I want them to link to, but overall I think I like the look of it! It is the middle of August, and I am wondering what happened to the summer?!? We are still living in our pastor's basement, but things are moving forward with us and our home purchase. We were told this week that we can possibly close on or around Sept. 9! WOW! We are definitely getting tired of being so close to each other all the time in the basement, but it is a nice place and we love the people we are staying with. I think they will go through withdrawal when the kids are gone!! We did take a short trip to Texas and dropped the kids off with their Nana and Papa the last week of July. The kids had a blast swimming, playing with their cousins, fishing, bowling, flying on an airplane, and many other things. We were so glad for them to have that opportunity. Because the kids are on year round school, they started back on July 7 and went until July 20, then had 3 weeks off and just started back again this week on Tuesday. Cole turned 10 years old yesterday!! He is getting so big, and he is so smart. His personality is really developing, and he has a great sense of humor! He hasn't totally decided what he wants for his birthday, but he is leaning towards a turtle when we move into our house. He already has a White's Tree Frog and he wants to add a turtle to his pet collection. I am just glad I was able to talk him out of a Ball Python!! He and Jacob have been finding grass snakes like crazy and bringing them home to play with them. It is so funny to have boys, but Annalisa isn't one bit scared of them either! I am glad that they didn't inherit their PeePaw's fear of snakes! In just a few more weeks Annalisa will be 6! She got her ears pierced while we were in Texas and she is super excited about being able to change her earrings on her birthday! Jacob continues to excel in swimming and we are going to look for him a swim team to join once we get settled in our new abode. I will try to post more often once we get out of the basement and in more of a routine like before, but for now I hope you enjoy what I have written!

The Basement

So, for those of you wondering where I have been for the past 2 months.....NO, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, but I did fall into a basement. A couple of posts ago I mentioned that we were having to move out of the house we were renting from my cousin since he and his family were moving back. Since that time we have found and put offers on 2 different houses only to be beaten by other better offers. Besides that, we have found about 5 other houses we wanted to put offers on only to find out that they had "gone under contract" that very morning. Our pastor and his wife have been so gracious as to let our family live in their basement while we try to get a house. We are very grateful that we have a place to live, but we have been in the basement for 6 weeks now, and it is getting very cramped!! We have been praying for God to show us what He has for us since He has closed the doors on all of the houses we have tried to get. We love being in Colorado because we love our church. We have a great group of people that we love working with, and we want to be a part of whatever it is God is doing here. The kids finished school on June 20, and had a two week break, during which my mom, Michael and his family, and Logan all came to visit. We had fun with them in Colorado Springs and here in Aurora. It was a short visit, but it was the first time we had seen them in a year, so we were glad for that. Jacob was thrilled because they watched him at his baseball game. Cole finished up baseball season and his team came in 4th. They played really well at the last two games and Cole has definitely improved after another year of playing. The kids started back to school last week (they are year round), so Cole is now in 5th grade, Jacob in 3rd and Annalisa in 1st! WOW!! What happened to my babies???? I can't believe Cole will be 10 next month! I know now what my mom always meant when she would say "it seems like yesterday when I brought you home from the hospital." SO TRUE!! Where has the time gone?
So, our family is learning sacrifice, sharing, and waiting on the Lord. As we wait, we look at what He IS doing, and we don't get negative about what He ISN'T doing that we THINK He should be doing! Ben always laughs because my life verse is Isaiah 40:31, and boy have we lived that during our 12 1/2 years of marriage!!!