Fourteen months is WAY too long!

That's how long it's been since we last saw my mom and dad - fourteen months! The last time we saw them, they helped us move across the country from northern Illinois here to southern Texas. They stayed almost two weeks and helped us get settled in our new home. It's been such a blessing to have them here this past week for our Lord's Resurrection Day.

Our heart's desire is for them to be able to move down here, too. All our married lives, we've lived two states apart from each other, and it would be such a blessing to all live close enough that we can see them more than once a year. We've spent a lot of time this week driving around looking at houses and neighborhoods, and getting a feel for what is available and what they're looking for. It's probably not quite time for them to move down here, yet, because we saw a lot of what they can't afford, and nothing very appealing that they might be able to afford. We looked at a few model homes, all of which are sitting on lots the size of postage stamps. We're amazed at how densely packed in they are. You have literally five feet of yard on each side of the house, and if you're lucky, you get ten or twelve feet of yard in front and in back. The house itself takes up the rest of the lot. And some of the houses aren't all that big inside - they start at around 1100 square feet.

One of the model homes was obviously built in a real hurry. I think this was definitely a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, or something like that (not that this house's kitchen had room for that many cooks!). There were also three full baths in this very little house...one in the master bedroom, and the other two right across the hall from each other. Very intelligent. This house wasn't really big enough for a family that would need three full baths, as far as I'm concerned.

And I think it might have been that same house that had another goof which my dad noticed - the access hole for the attic had a rafter that went directly across the hole, and electrical wiring strung across the space as well. One obviously wasn't supposed to have access to this attic, at least not through this access hole. Hmmm...

So, we looked at a few more model homes, and then decided to come back to reality and drive through some more established neighborhoods. They need a place where my dad can do his woodworking, so a one-car garage isn't an option. It would be nice to have it near my neighborhood, or better yet, IN my neighborhood - please pray that one of our neighbors will move out and sell their house CHEAP (and take their yappy dogs with them).

We're praying that the market in Tulsa will pick up and they'll get a good price for their house there. We're convinced that God has a house already in mind for them here and when the time comes, He'll make it possible.

The In-Laws are moving in!

We've always been blessed to live only an hour away from Gary's parents, and the kids have enjoyed seeing their Opa and Oma once a month or so. So, that made it really hard when we moved last winter. Now, that's about to change - Gary's folks have bought a nice little house only half a mile from us! It will be really nice to have them close enough that we can get together more often than we did when we lived in Illinois! And, they'll be able to get passes to the pool that we can see from our house, but can't use - I hope they're allowed to bring guests swimming, too. They're hoping to be able to move in before Christmas, so now we just have to pray that all goes well with their packing and preparations and that their current home sells quickly. I think it will - two and a half acres of wooded land with river frontage won't be on the market for long!

Once we get them moved and settled, our next project will be to get MY parents down here, too! They live in Tulsa and are caring for my grandmother who has Alzheimer's disease, so it might not be so easy for them right now. But we can pray about that, too! It will be really wonderful to have our whole family together at last.

Our family is blessed to have such good relationships between both sets of parents and us. I know that's very rare - we are so richly blessed.