I missed posting on my 3 year “Blogiversary”, which was earlier this month…I think on July 3rd.  Happy Blogiversary to me.

So have you ever been on that carnival ride called the Himalaya?  You know…the one that spins you around really fast and has sirens and strobe lights and blasts obnoxious 80′s music while a scary carnie DJ yells into a microphone imploring you to scream as loud as you can so you will go faster?

Yeah…I used to ride that kind of thing all the time too.  I loved it.

From April 6th to mid-June, I felt like I was back on one.  Non-stop action and thrills…one thing to the next.

Then, about mid-June, that crazy ride shot me right out of the seat and on to solid and rock-steady ground.

ahhhhhh….

quiet.

still.

it’s not moving.  no more non-stop insanity.

I’m home.

It’s taken me a few weeks to kinda get my bearings again (just a wee bit dizzy from the madness) and I’m settling in to our new life in our new home.  I’m eight weeks post hysterectomy, and with the exception of a few setbacks, I’m healing nicely and getting back to normal…I’ve even started to run a bit again.

So here are a few random and rather disjointed musings about life in the Teel home right now…

• Our new home rocks.  Especially the back yard.  It is completely shaded and the boys are enjoying their swing set…even in the middle of 95 degree plus weather.  We’ve still got lots of work to do, but there’s no rush to get to it all.  The novelty of being seven minutes away from church has yet to wear off and I’m still rather giddy when I think about it.  I have NO idea how we did the 45 minute commute for all those years.
• Noah finished summer school last week and has five weeks off before school starts again.  His teacher is working on a new reading program with him.  That program will continue next year, when Noah gets a new teacher in the classroom.  Noah’s teacher for the past four years is moving to a front office position, but will still work with Noah every day in a reading group.  I’m a bit in mourning, but I completely trust that the school has hired well…Noah’s current teacher did all of the interviewing with the principal (22 candidates!) and chose the teacher to be hired.  Noah will still have his same paraprofessionals, who we love, love, love.  All of his VBA/ABA, Speech and OT will remain the same.  He will be in good hands.
• Isaac will start kindergarten at a private school this fall.  He will be in class with one of his good friends from church and he is getting really excited.  My baby is growing up.
• Doug has a special gift for ruining perfectly good songs for me.  Like how he turned Journey’s “Open Arms” into “Broken Arms”.  (Although it does work both ways and he can make horrible songs even worse, which actually makes me like them because now I have a way to mock them.)  So on our ride home from Atlanta post-hysterectomy, I was snockered on too many Advil and bloated up like I was 6 months pregnant, riding in the front seat of my parents’ van with a pillow on my belly.  Any sudden jarring or motion HURT and I was trying to just stay still and quiet.  Doug went on a tear with a few radio tunes and I cannot even tell you how hard I was laughing and how hard it was to laugh.  I can’t remember any of his revised lyrics, so I can’t let you in on it all, but it was just WRONG.  I was lucid the other day, however, when he transformed that perfectly wretched “God Blessed the Broken Road” song’s closing line to “God poked my open sore and made me think of you.”
• see?
• So far, the only casualty of our move is our camera’s battery charger.  This annoys me.  I know that I saw it at some point in this house, but I have no idea where it is now.  Our camera battery has been dead for three weeks now, and if I don’t find the charger thingy soon, I will be shopping for a new camera.
• Speaking of cameras, I’ve got some wicked adorable pictures of Isaac to share.  My Dad took him to Strasburg, PA last week for a three day train holiday.  Isaac had the time of his life riding trains and touring train museums and staying at a caboose motel.  He has not stopped talking about it since he got back.  When I get the files from my Dad, I’ll post some of the pictures.

Well…that’s about all I can think of for now.

I hope that you all are having a lazy and relaxing summer…

nah, nah, nah, nah…

(sing it with me)…

hey, hey, hey…

GO-OD-BYE!!!

….

You know what I’m talking about, right?

Tomorrow morning, that stanky old uterus of mine is comin’ OUT.  Along with my appendix and any and all endometriosis that happens to be lurking around my innards.

So Doug and I made it to Atlanta last night and are roosting in a hotel over by Northside Hospital.  I go in at 6:30 in the morning and surgery is scheduled for 8:30.  It should take around two hours and I hope to be out of there and back at the hotel by late afternoon.  If everything looks good, I will be allowed to head home Friday evening.

I know that lots of ya’ll have been praying for me for a long time about all of this.  Thank you for those prayers, and please keep them up!  I need just a few more days of them to get me through the surgery and recovery process and we’ll put a great big “ANSWERED FAITHFULLY AND GLORIOUSLY” stamp on the prayers for this whole mess.

I’ll try to post an update when I can.  (ie. when the happy drugs wear off and I can remember how to spell my name.)  I’m off to attempt to get some sleep.

Ya’ll have a blessed week and wonderful week…

So we’ve been riding on this E-ticket attraction (for all you youngins out there, that’s Disney-speak for a white knuckle thrill ride) that has been our lives for the past 35 days.

To recap, here’s what’s been happening…

• On April 6th, we received a purchase offer for our house.  It was a bit less than we hoped for, but the buyers were not asking for us to pay any of their closing costs or for any money to be spent on repairs.  It was, in essence, an “as is” contract.   They also dangled the carrot of a quick close in the text of the contract.
• On April 7th, after prayerful consideration, we accepted the offer without a counter.  It was time for us to go.
• On April 9th, we went to look at houses in the Mt. Dora area.  We fell in love with the first house that we saw.  It was perfect and had absolutely everything that we hoped and prayed for.  The house was a REO property (bank owned), and was priced WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY below market.  And WAAAAAAYYYYY below anything else that was in it’s much fancier than us neighborhood.  We walked around the house and mourned the fact that we could not make an offer on it until our own house closed.  We said a prayer that God would keep it for us, and moved on.
• On April 12th, Doug and I drove to Atlanta to meet with the surgeon that I was hoping would do my hysterectomy and endometriosis excision.  The appointment went better than I could possibly have hoped for.  A sonogram revealed a mass that my surgeon believes is a clump of nastiness made up of my right ovary, my appendix, and all kinds of endometriosis lesions and adhesions.  This finding made the insurance coding for my surgery a virtual slam dunk…it would be covered.  Surgery was scheduled for May 19th.
• While sitting in the waiting room for my appointment, our realtor called with the news that our buyers were willing to go into warp speed on the closing so that we could make an offer on the house that we loved.  The new closing date was set for April 26…just three weeks away.
• Three weeks away.
• We prayed and put together an offer on the house we wanted on April 13th.  The bank came back later with news that there were multiple offers, and asked for our “highest and best”.  We gave it to them.
• We found out a few days later that our “highest and best” offer was still quite short for their taste.  We walked away.
• We placed an offer on a second bank owned property.
• After a few days and several inspections, we started doing the math on the repairs needed on that one, and walked away when we learned that the bank was holding firm on their price.  We would end up paying more for that one than the original one when repairs were figured in.  No thanks.
• On April 21, a storage Pod arrived at our house.  With the help of some great and faithful friends, we began to stuff it with all of our belongings.
• We spent our last night in our old house on April 26th, and moved in with my parents.  (We moved out in three weeks, ya’ll.  Now THAT’S crazy.)  Thank God for my parents…they have been beyond wonderful to let us “squat” here while we shop for our next house.
• On April 27th, we submitted an offer on a 104 year old home that we absolutely fell in love with.  It was cuter than cute.  On April 28th, we came to an agreement with the sellers and went under contract.
• On April 29th, we closed on our old house.  A beautiful Christian family with three precious kids got it and we couldn’t be more happy about that.
• On May 1st, the deal on the adorable old house began to go south.  We learned that we would need to rewire the house, replace the roof, put in a new air conditioner and replace some VERY expensive windows.  On top of that, no company wanted to insure the thing.  I was told that even if we were to do a complete update (the only way to get insurance on it at all), we would always pay at least twice a “normal” homeowners policy rate for that house.
• On May 3rd, we came to the sad conclusion that we would have to walk away.
• On the evening of May 3rd, Doug popped out with the question…”I wonder if that original house is still on the market?”  Sure that it couldn’t possibly be, I called our realtor.  He called the broker for the house, who told him that it was under contract, but that the buyers were starting to “act crazy and get on his nerves”.  We began to pray.  Could it be?
• The next afternoon…May 4th, our agent called with the news that the buyers walked.
• That evening, we submitted the same offer that we gave the last time we tried to buy the house, picking up where we left off.
• On Thursday, May 6th, the bank countered, dropping the price much less than they did last time, but still not low enough for us.  We stood firm.
• On Friday, May 7th, the bank came back and dropped the price to within $1000 of our offer.  We prayed, and with great joy and peace, agreed.
• Our inspection is tomorrow.  We are hoping for a quick close so that we can move in to our new home mid-June.

I’m blown away at how magnificently and graciously God has answered so many prayers over the past 35 days.  Our old house…finally sold.  My surgery…finally scheduled.  Our new house…our new home…a blessing above and beyond all that we could possibly ask or think.

So that’s been our 35 days of crazy.  I’ll try to update when I can and write more about my surgery when I get a chance.

Ya’ll have a blessed and happy week…

Yep.

Finally.

The offer came in last night at 10:45.  (really?)  Our Broker reviewed it and called us at 11:00.   Since I was already all jacked up from watching two hours of “24″, the news sent me way out into stratospheric hyper mode and I’m not sure that I slept much at all last night.

Doug and I decided to talk and pray about it throughout the day today.  We did, and neither one of us ever had a doubt that this was “our” offer.

We signed the contract tonight.  Our “target” closing date is May 10th.  (More later on why that is a “target” date.)

We are going to start looking for our next home immediately.

I’m excited…thrilled actually…that this is over and that we are finally going to be living in “our” community…where our church family and church home is.

I do have to admit that I am a bit nostalgic over this house though.  It’s been an incredible blessing to live here these past eight years and I am going to really miss living so close to my family.  (I know…they will only be 30 minutes away.  But still.  5 minutes down the road spoils you just a bit.)

I’ll post more later…but I’ve got to get some sleep.

Ya’ll have a great night…

So this past week, I’ve been knocking on some doors.

Some have remained shut.

Some have cracked open…just a wee bit.

Not one of the doors has swung open wide, screaming to me, “come on in!”…

…so I keep knocking.

We’re trying…once again…to sell our house.  We are using a fabulous real estate broker and have priced our house to compete head on with the foreclosures in our area.  Since going on the market 10 days ago, we’ve had 4 showings.  Feedback is positive…everyone “loves” our house…but so far, no offers.  While I’m quite pleased that they’re lovin’ on us, somebody needs to show us the money.  I’m just sayin’.

I keep waiting.  And knocking.  And thanking God every day for my beautiful Bissell steam mop which makes keeping my house clean and shiny ever so much easier.

I knocked on a door of possibility for Noah on Monday morning.  I visited a private autism school, looking to see if it would be a possible placement for Noah for next year.  While I was really impressed with the school’s director, the size of the facility (way too small for a school) and the lack of inclusion opportunities quickly told me that it would not be appropriate for Noah’s educational needs.

So I keep knocking.  And waiting.

On Tuesday, Doug and I began to knock on a door of possibility for Isaac’s schooling for next year.  We visited a private Christian school in the Mt. Dora area and absolutely fell in love with the school’s principal.  Her heart for the children and vision for the school is amazing and we instantly felt at home there.  So that door cracked open for us, and we will continue to knock and together pursue what God wants for Isaac for next year.

After a miserable weekend (and week) on the endometriosis front, I’ve again started knocking on the door of the marvelous possibility of getting all of that messed up junk…most importantly, my uterus…RIPPED OUT OF MY BODY.  I called the specialist’s office in Atlanta that is now (praise God) covered by my brand spanking new insurance policy and asked what I need to do to get on up there and get this thing done.  They gave me the email address of the surgeon and told me to contact him directly.  I sent that email out yesterday afternoon and I’m waiting for a response.

I hope that that door opens quickly.  I’m beyond over it.

I’ve got other doors before me…some big…some small.  I’m knocking on those too.  More on all of that later.

So that’s what’s going on around here.

Oh, before I forget…in the interest of recording some comments from the Isaac gallery…

On Sunday, I taught Isaac’s class at church.  The lesson was about the prophet Elisha, and included discussion about angels and how they are all around us…protecting us…even though we can’t see them.

While the children’s comments and questions swirled around me (one of them wanted to go “hug” the angels in the room), Isaac raised his hand with this little observation about angels, confidently stating that,

“When you lose a tooth, they bring you money.”

oh. my.

pastor’s kid.

Ya’ll have a great weekend…