A couple more people went through the house yesterday and our real estate agent is planning an open house for the week we go to Mexico. It would surely be nice if the place sells before we move to Texas. It is something about which I should not worry, but do. I went to Wednesday night bible study last night at Jeff and Crissy’s house. The study was on Revelations 13. It was pretty fascinating. Lorena, Kelly, and Christian went to gospel meeting.
Year: 2005 Page 2 of 12
It is time to start hunting for an apartment in earnest. I have decided to try not to move into the apartment until we get back from Mexico. I also need to get a P.O. box set up close by here so that we can receive mail at one place even if we move around a little. I very much miss my family and it is driving me nuts that they are not around. I only have to survive about two and a half more weeks before they get here. They went to dinner last night with Jon Wright, Brooke Bracy, Tony, Martha, Joe Layman, and Dellis Waldo. It sounds like they had a good time.
Rigo is in Dallas for a week to train a bunch of people on the work he is doing at his job for ACS in Mexico. I drove down to meet him at his hotel and have dinner with him last night. His wife Minita had made a memories CD of photos with music that we watched when we ate dinner. It was very, very nice and made me realize how fast time flies. He gave us a copy of the disk that I will send on to Lorena. Rigo will be here for a week and then will possibly go on to work in Pittsburgh for a couple of days.
Lorena and the kids stayed with Dad and Mom in their apartment over the weekend. It sounds like they enjoyed themselves very much. Rubix and Kiwi the twin cat sisters went along for the ride, too. They are getting a little bit more used to traveling now.
We have decided to start looking for an apartment. I think we are going to leave our stuff in the house in Oregon until either the house sells or we find a place to buy. When we are ready to go, Lauro and Conchita will come up to Dallas to watch the kids while Lorena will fly back to coordinate the move. It will be a little bit of a pain, but we will get through it. I went to meeting yesterday and met a lot of nice people. Some of them, I already knew. Tommy Hockersmith, our elder, worked with a couple of companies with whom I had worked, Byron Stephens went to meeting with me in El Paso, Dennis Swanson is the brother of my friend Kim Swanson (now something else).
We have put a backup offer on a house we wanted in Richardson. I do not think there is a very good chance that we will get it. We should find out late Monday. If we do not get the house, I am going to go ahead and get an apartment, have Lorena come up here after our holiday and then let her pick out the house she wants. I looked at a bunch of houses in Sachse, Texas that look like they might be just perfect. It is a little further out, but I liked them a lot. After looking, I went to a chinese food restaurant in Sachse called the House of Fortune to buy some take out. It was so good, that might be reason enough to buy our house close by.
There is only an outside chance now that we will get the house we wanted. The man who has an offer on the house has to get his loan approved and some residency stuff (he is an alien) before he the deal will go through, so it looks like I need to keep looking. The whole family was disappointed, but there is still a little bit of hope. There are lots of nice houses here in Dallas. I am sure we will find one. Sometime next week when we know for sure that we will not get the house, I will go rent an apartment and get ready for everyone to come out in mid December. Then, Lorena can take over some of the task of finding us a house.
We should find out today whether we have a chance to get our new house. I left my telephone at home and so I will not be calling anyone until much later. Hey Kelly! That was a great post you left yesterday. You need to keep it up.
Dad told us about a really nice house in Richardson. I didn’t know what to except, you never know with Dad.(: But when we checked it out I found the house to my liking, or to put it a little more strongly, to my loving. Actually I think I liked the neighborhood even more than the house. (not that it’s bad or anything) They have a poker club, a garden club, a playgroup and more! The neighbors maintain a large, really nice, pool for the hot months and there is a park with a playground, pond, green, and bridge. They have a ton of year round events so as to not keep the neigborhood boring since there are so many kids. They include a fall festival, an independence day parade(I am soooo jealous) an “eggstravagansa” for easter and the little kids, and a big yard sale.
The house itself: large, really nice kitchen, really nice bedrooms(Christian’s turn to pick first) and a really nice back yard. I would describe it in more detail but there are others who want to move to Dallas too.(; I hope that Dad and Mom will be able to buy it, if not it isn’t the only good house in Texas. (But it sure seems that way!)
I looked at an absolutely great house on Sunday afternoon with my real estate agent Roya. She is really doing a super job for us. The house has a Sub Zero refrigerator, a spectacular view of Breckinridge Park in Richardson, a wide open kitchen and family room with a gas fireplace, four bedrooms, etc. There are home owner association fees each year, but they go to support a swimming pool and play areas. It is close to shopping. We are going to make an offer on the house today. I will put photos up as soon as I get the chance.
I went to both Sunday morning meeting and afternoon gospel meeting in Spanish in Mesquite, Texas yesterday morning. I met some very nice people. A bunch of us got together and went to Luby’s cafeteria for lunch between meetings. After gospel meeting, I met my real estate agent at a couple of houses we are considering. One of them was absolutely fabulous, but I am going to quit looking until we have our current house in Albany, Oregon sold. On Saturday, all I did was lay around, read books, wash clothes, and eat. It is really hard not to be with Lorena, Kelly, and Christian. We must have talked on the phone at least twenty times during the weekend.
Kelly and Christian continue to do well in their homeschool although they are on a limited program right now. It is a lot of work for Lorena to keep the house neat so that visiting, potential purchasers will see the house in its best light. The days here have been pretty eventful, too. There is a lot to do at work and lot to do in getting ready to get the family out here. We are hoping we can get the house sold, but do not know when that will happen, so it is pretty hard to plan. I think I am going to get an apartment and drive the family out to Texas in early December no matter whether we sell the house or not. It is not good for us to be apart.
I am working again. I started my job yesterday at August Technology in Plano, Texas. It mostly consisted of filling out forms and getting my computer set up. My new boss and the lead programmer in our facility took me to lunch at an excellent Mexican food place. Meanwhile, we had three prospective buyers visit our house back in Oregon. One of them did not like the property because it has a large side yard and a very little back yard. The second liked the property, but has a house to sell before they can buy anything. The last likes the house a lot, but has gone home to think about it for a few days. They promised to get back to us within a couple of days to let us know one way or the other.
The kids continue to perform well in their homeschool. They help Lorena out around the house, continue to swim, memorize, sing, play the piano, etc., etc. I feel like I am missing out on a lot by not having them here. It is true that I am missing out on a lot. This too shall pass. In the mean time, I am staying with Jeff and Crissy Nelson. The workers have been with them the last couple of days. Marilyn Frey is originally from Minnesota. She is the older worker. The younger one is Andrea Jensen from Iowa. They are both great. I cannot wait for my family to meet them.
I am at Jeff and Crissy Nelson’s house in Carrollton, Texas today. Crissy is Ron and Carol Voorhees’ daughter. They have invited me to stay with them while we are waiting for the house to sell in Oregon. They have convinced me that if we can afford it, we should get a house with a pool. I talked with Lorena about it and she said she liked that idea, so that is what I am going to do.
I went to convention at Mountain Peak in Texas. I met too many people to go into much detail, but some of my old friends were there like Jimmy Bryan, Juanita Coker, Justin Wicks, Calvin Griswald, Grandpa Milo, and Grandma Sarah, and many, many others.
Yesterday was my last day of work here in Oregon. I leave for Texas on Thursday morning very early. We have switched over to our new, less onerous homeschool schedule and it looks like it is going to work out well. It is great to see them do there homeschool thing. They got up right at 7:00 am when their alarmclock went off. Christian went to the piano and Kelly started in on her bible memorization and her bible reading. Then they switched places.
The real estate people in the area are all coming to our house today for a tour. We have to be out of the house between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm because people will be here. These posts will remain short for now, probably until we go no vacation to Puerto Vallarta in December.
It is always very hard for me to leave a Sunday morning meeting. While we were attending Jim and Joann Waldo’s meeting, Christian professed and Kelly really started to get established in her faith. Those are huge milestones in our family. We had a very touching Sunday morning meeting, then a bunch of people from the Mark and Nancy Ramsdell’s meeting–the Meyers, the Ramsdells, and the Doolittles–met us at Red Robin in Albany for lunch. We all had a great time. Then, Ryan and Jeannie Harris followed us to my cousin, Tim Mecum’s apartment when we picked him up for gospel meeting. They will start taking him to gospel meeting next week. They even promised to buy him a soda after meeting. I very much appreciate them taking this on. One of the highlights of our time in Albany has been the privilege of taking Tim to meeting.
I only have two more days of work here at ATS. We are going to do something together as a family on Wednesday. I will leave for Texas in my pickup early Thursday morning with the idea of stopping in Caldwell, Idaho to see my business partner and friend Ron Voorhees before going on to Texas. I plan to meet Dad and Mom for the last two days of convention in Mountain Peak, Texas. After that, I need to find a place to stay so I can start work on Tuesday, November 1. All of this, God willing, of course.
Today is the last “regular” day of homeschool before we move to the reduced schedule so we can get ready to move. We plan to spend most of the weekend sorting stuff and getting ready to move. Dad and Mom will probably be over today to pick up the old pickup. I have three more days of work. The project I am on is actually coming together pretty good. It will be nice to leave on a positive note.
Dellis Waldo was in our gospel meeting last night. He came to Albany to replace Jay Wicks who went over to Bend to be with Harold Bennett. It was a very nice meeting. Tony and Martha were back from Texas, so we got to talk to them a little about our move. We are starting to ramp down on the homeschool a little now. After tomorrow, the kids will go to their reduced schedule as I will be leaving next Thursday. I found that I will be in Texas in time for a day or two of Mountain Peak convention. Maybe that will allow me to connect up with a real estate agent or a lead on a place where I can live until we get the house sold in Oregon.
Our digital camera is broken right when we need it the most. I was planning to take it to Texas with me, but will have to get a new one when I get there instead. The purpose of the camera is to take pictures of possible new houses so that Lorena and the kids can participate in the selection of our new house. Maybe I will be able to take pictures of some of the professing kids, so Kelly and Christian can see some of their future playmates.
I am getting short-timer’s disease at work right now. There is too much to complete before I leave, but I will give it the old college try. I very much enjoy working for ATS, so the change to August Technology will not be without sadness. I had talks with my direct boss, the plant manager, and the Vice President of our division. Each one of them said I can return anytime I would like. I very much appreciated their offer.
Note: I will be making fairly short posts until I get down to Texas. After that, hopefully, I will be able to dedicate a little more time to putting up photographs and blogging in general. I would like to get away from posts about the mechanics of our life to some of our projects that might be more interesting, but that will have to wait until we are not so overwhelmed.
The sign for our house is supposed to go up today. Candice, our sales lady is coming over after work to get the last of the papers and take pictures for the flyers and the web site. I surely hope we can sell the house quickly. I mowed the lawn for what will probably be the last time last night. We are going to have Clinton Eblen mow it for us after I leave until it sells.
Joe Layman and Jay Wicks came to our house on Friday night and stayed through until Sunday. It was absolutely great to have them! We got to have some great discussions, mostly on spiritual topics over the three days. Joe will be going over to Bend to be with Harold Bennett for the rest of the year while Dellis Waldo will be coming to Albany to be with Joe. One of the highlights of the weekend was when Joe took Christian and Kelly with him to set up for gospel meeting and had them greet people at the door until we arrived a little later. After meeting, he took them for an ice cream cone at McDonalds. They had a ball.
The house is going to go on the market on Tuesday afternoon. Lorena has been working frantically to get it ready to take pictures and to show it when the people arrive. In the mean time, I have been working frantically to get all the scheduling and materials ready for homeschool for Kelly and Christian through the end of the year. Both of the kids are very far ahead for the year in Math, Spelling, Grammar, and Writing, so we will be able drop those subjects for the next several weeks and still be way ahead, even if we do not pick them back up until January. They will mostly be concentrating on Science, History, and Literature. There is a good deal of writing they have to do in the performance of all those materials, so they will stay pretty busy. Of course they will also continue with memorization and bible reading, too.