Change is GOOD.

Hey everyone!

Well, it's time for a change. I have too many blogs. I can barely keep up! I've been researching a bit and I've found a blog hosting site that I REALLY like, Typepad. It has way more options and I prefer the setup. It also allows me to have photo albums on my main page! I'm still figuring it all out but I am really excited.

I've set up the new blog and will be updating there from now on. I'll keep this one live for posterity's sake, but it's time for me to say goodbye to all these various things. Any pertinent news (usually just silly stories about daily life) can be found over there from now on. So please change the link in your favorites and your blog links to the new site:

http://insidedog.typepad.com

Thanks for reading!!

Life's a beach

Since things have been slow here the last week we decided yesterday that once again it was time to pack up the truck with the cooler and the beach towels and head to South Padre Island. The weather was gorgeous and the company was pleasant. :) We feel as if we're on "stolen" time right now, not working, not moving, any of that, but it's ok. The respite away from the house and daily life was welcome. We threw the frisbee, ate potato chips, and relaxed under our umbrella talking and peoplewatching. We're ready to GO, but we're trying to learn to be still and wait on the Lord.

We are planning another open house on Sunday June 10. The wonderful part about the date is that we won't be here! We'll be in Colorado at my sister's graduation! Hooray! She'll be receiving her Master's degree in Social Work on June 8. We couldn't be prouder. She even has her job all lined up at the Griffith Center in Larkspur, CO outside of Denver. Since the budget is tight for us John and I will be driving to Denver (the other option was that I fly out without him, which to me didn't seem like much fun at all). We love to road trip so we're looking forward to it! We like to listen to books on tape and music, watch the scenery, all that good stuff. Who knows, I might even see the Grand Canyon this time!!

At least SOMEONE is selling their house!

Good news everyone! My mom sold her house in Champaign, IL for MORE than the asking price the DAY it went on the market! Hooray! She called us last night in a frenzy... it's so nice to have good news on the other side of the phone line for once! We are so happy for her and we hope this means a landslide of home sales are in the future. She has yet to blog about this stuff (too much "house sale" work to do I'm sure... I wouldn't know what that's like), but I'll let you know when she does. Praise God!

Struck down but not destroyed...

The open house didn't go so well. I'm sure there's a nicer way of getting to the point there, but it's late and it's the truth. It torrentially rained between 3-5 Sunday (what a lovely coincidence!) and our realtor's daughter (who also works as a realtor at the same office), came late and left early with the teeny tiny sign she posted inside our neighborhood and not on the nearby main drag. Only one person came to see the house. We are disappointed. John really gave Sheila the realtor a talking to on Sunday and she came over today to meet with us and "defend" herself. She brought along a lot of convincing proof that it's just a bad market right now because of the many foreclosures in our area, which basically means that The Man can buy houses for super cheap and a nice, correctly priced house like ours only adds to the value of the other houses at rediculous prices and does not necessarily help sell our house in a timely manner. We were not really comforted by any of that, although we do see what she's saying. Right now it's a matter of waiting things out. Our house has been on the market 63 days and the average for selling a home is around 140 days. We are praying for a miracle and God's will on or before June 1. We are still firmly in His grip.

In other news, tonight (Monday) Young Life had a very lovely going-away party for us at my area director's apartment. The place was packed with leaders and kids! We had a lot of our usual fun eating, talking, and playing a few wild rounds of spoons. At the end of the night the leaders gathered around us and just talked a while about what John and I meant to them and how we'd impacted their lives, and then they prayed for us. I was awed and humbled, elated and heartbroken all at the same time. I rarely show emotion in front of a group like that but it was impossible not to cry and hug my friends and tell them how much I love them all and what a blessing and honor it has been to know and serve with them. It was water on dry soil for both of us, and a reminder that we serve a loving God who has high expectations, and we're not going to let a sorry open house get us down. No way.

Good for the soul and tough on the nerves

This was the Huds on Thursday:

It was a very good thing! We rented two chairs and an umbrella and parked it all day long with no phones, no computers, no house, no dogs. The weather was beautiful. And since Mom is wondering, yes, we wore SPF 3o and reapplied and sat all day in the shade of our umbrella (that two nice older ladies named Sue and Virginia helped us rent from their condominium complex ... coincidence that my grandmother's name was Sue and she was from Virginia? I don't think so!!). :)

We're having our open house tomorrow from 3-5. We are ready to sell. We are ready to move on to the next thing. June 1 is a very important date for us for many unexplainable reasons. Please keep us in your prayers. This has been one of the most challenging things we've experienced in our young lives. We know that God's not finished with us yet and we hope he never will be.

You win some, you lose some.

The visitors cancelled at the last minute this morning. Darn! The house is at least clean, and we still got in a nice walk with the dogs at the park. We've been practicing our Dog Whisperer skills on them there, which means the day wasn't a total loss! We just can't get enough of Cesar Millan around our house! We're hoping to visit his pirate dogs at his Dog Psychology Center when we're in Los Angeles. Maybe he's hiring?!


http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/

More visitors tomorrow!

Our hopes for selling our house are a bit higher today... we have another visit scheduled for tomorrow from 10:30-11:30 am tomorrow! Also, our realtor brought 30 flyers for the box that's out on the lawn Monday and there is now only one left. We also have an open house scheduled for this Sunday from 3-5. Keep your fingers crossed and keep us in your prayers!!