A Crazy Month....

Well, I have been wanting to sit down and blog with pictures of what we have been up to in the past month. However, Mike has our laptop and I can't download any of the pictures. I will try and post some soon! I hope you are all doing awesome. I know this time of year for many of you is very exciting with the start of a new school year. Even though I am not in school and just stay at home. I feel like we are somewhat getting back to a normal schedule! I have realized lately how my little Anna loves her schedule. When she gets off of it she is a different baby for sure. Well, I will try and remember all that has happened in the past month and include many of the funny "shelton" moments. Mike and I drove to GA a few weeks ago and dropped the girls off with Nana and Papa so we could fly to Dallas to try and find a house. We found many on-line and thought it was going to be really easy. Well, all of the ones we found on-line we realized once we got there were in not so good areas. We basically started our search over and probably drove our realtor crazy! It was so different in Texas than the East Coast that it was very difficult for us to get used to buying a house built in the 1960's. We saw so many with the original carpet and lovely brown paneling. I really don't have the energy or desire to remodel a house that I kept thinking there has to be one that has been updated? We looked and saw some with potential, but none that felt like home. The last night before we were to leave I went back and looked on-line. I saw one that I really liked and asked Mike if they had already looked at it. He thought so, but was not sure. The next morning our agent called and said I think we need to look at the house on St. Luke's street(cool street name huh?)! I was so excited cause I could tell from their pictures that I was going to like the inside, but the main concern would be where it was located. We got to the house and knew instantly it was the house for us! It always works out that way that it is the last house you look at huh? I think it was good that we looked at all the bad ones and were able to see how great the house would be for us!
I will not change one thing and love it so much. A young family had renovated the entire house and she had great taste! The nursery was already painted with stripes on the bottom below the chair rail and the girls bathroom has the original vintage pink tile, tub and toilet. It is in a unique neighborhood that backs up to a creek. Mike is already so excited about taking Ellie to the creek. The family that owned the house were Christians and have been so easy to work with through our agent.
We will close on the house on the 17th and move in sometime around the 24th. Our last day in Dallas, Mike had lunch with Braun the director of student ministries and they were talking about is there anyway Mike could get there earlier than the 24th to start work. I thought it was a great idea except we had to pack all of our stuff, move it, etc....
We fly back to GA on a Monday and drive back to Raleigh late on Tuesday. We decided it would be best if we could be out of our house by September 1st so we could avoid paying rent, utilities, etc..We start packing on Wednesday and Mike calls a company that has moved us before to see if they could just come and load everything onto our trailer. They say yes, but they can only do it the next day!
I was a wreck cause we had not packed anyting yet and still had to throw away so much stuff. We also would have to take care of Ellie and Anna. It was insane! Mike and I stay up really late on Wednesday and get most of it done. The movers came the next morning and loaded everything onto the trailer which was such a big help. I don't think we could have gotten it all done without them. We finish everything except the cleaning by Thursday afternoon. We clean on Friday and the moving company takes our trailer to be stored until the 24th. They will then drive our trailer to TX. It was way cheaper than a company coming to pack, load, and drive it across the country.
We had a week until Mike was supposed to start work so we decided to take one last trip to the beach. We went to Myrtle for 5 days with the girls. We had so mcuh fun. It was awesome to see Ellie enjoy the beach for the first time. Anna loves the water and just riding in her baby backpack everywhere. There are lots of pictures I will post soon from our trip. The crazy thing was we both had to drive to Myrtle cause we were going from there to GA so I can stay with my parents for a few weeks until our house closes. Mike is staying in someone's guesthouse and we didn't think it would work out to well with the kids there. Mike then left this past Friday night at 10 P.M. from Georgia with the idea he would drive a few hours then spend the night somewhere. He decided to keep going and ended up driving the whole way so he got there on Saturday morning. I am so glad I did not have to make that trip through the night. Anyways, I can't believe all this has happened in just a few short weeks and we all survived all the changes. Ellie and Anna are very thankful to be on a normal schedule! I am so thankful to God for what He is doing in our lives. We are really excited for this opportunity at Watermark and have sensed His complete control so many times in the past month. I will post pictures soon if I can figure out how to do it here. Sorry this is so long and random. Have a great day!