Pictures of the House!!!

Warning, this is a very long post. This is for those of you who have asked for "lots" of pictures. They are kind of out of order, sorry! Here are answers to a few questions I keep getting, but haven't mentioned on the blog. The house was built in '57, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage and a little over 1700 square feet. The inspection went very well this morning. There are a few issues, but the inspector says they can all be fixed relatively easily. We are so, so thankful for such great news! As of now, our closing date will be November 7th. We will be living in the house six weeks from now!!! So here are the pictures:




Who wouldn't buy a house that has these WEIRD flowers in the backyard?
One of the guest rooms, that will probably be used as the office/catch all room

The guest bedroom (hint, hint-come visit us)
The end of the living room looking toward the entryway/dining room
The entryway
One of my favorite things about the house, I love this huge window!

Guest bathroom

Master bedroom
Master bathroom
Another shot of the master bedroom

The front door

As you can imagine, I LOVE the kitchen!


From the living room


Another one of my favorite things, a built-in book shelf and desk

The State Fair of Texas

James and I had such a GREAT time at the State Fair on Saturday. I had not been since high school and James had never been. I don't have too many pictures, but I'll share a few that we took. When we first got there we each got a corn dog, then headed to the Auto Show. James was in heaven.

Here he is with a Corvette ZR1 (I think). He had never seen one in person, so he was pretty impressed.
After the auto show, we walked around a few of the exhibit halls and happened to come across the Celebrity Cooking Demonstration. The celebrity was some chef from one of Dallas' hotels. We got to watch him cook and then sample the recipe. It was Blue Cheese Bread Pudding with Sauteed shrimp. Very, very interesting. I wish I had a picture of James' face when he took a bite. If any of you are dying for the recipe, I will gladly pass it along.

Here is James with King Tut at the Sand Sculpture exhibit. Gotta love the things they come up with for the Fair. If you look closely, you will see Big Tex in his yellow shirt in the background.

Yummy, yummy funnel cake!! I asked James to give an excited face and this is what I got. : )
After a day full of walking around, seeing the sites and eating yummy food we went to see the big concert of the night. It was the Zac Brown Band, we had never heard of them, but they were great! It was wonderful to sit back in the cool breeze and watch kids and elderly people alike dancing, laughing and having a great time. If you get a chance, go to the fair!

Home Inspection

James and I are beside ourselves with excitement over the house. The inspection is scheduled for Monday morning. We have to go meet the realtor and inspector when they are done, so I hope to take more pictures while we are there. I'll be sure to put them on here ASAP. Here is the front of the house. We just love it!
We are looking forward to a totally free weekend with no house hunting. We plan to head to the State Fair tomorrow! Look forward to pictures of that soon. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Fun with Riley

I know everyone loves pictures of Riley, so I wanted to show a few that I have taken this week. He is a cutie!

Too Funny

Both of the girls I keep say funny things on a daily basis, but I wanted to share two things the five year old said today.

I knew that she had gone out for Mexican food last night, so I asked her what she ordered.
"It was like a taco, but flat and it had brocomole on top."

Later we were in her closet and I asked her what shoes she wanted to wear.
"Let's see how the clocks look." She was pointing at her clog shoes.

YAY! YAY! YAY!

Wanted to give you all an update about our house hunting that I mentioned earlier. I have some great news. We found "the house" on Friday and have been working through the weekend on negotiations. We just found out a few hours ago, that the seller accepted our offer!!! We are very, very excited. The house is exactly what we had hoped to find, but were afraid we wouldn't.

Although we are relieved and excited, we both know this is just one more step in the process. We hope that there will be no kinks, but are trying to remember that is a possibility. I will keep you all updated as things go along.

I need to brag on James for a bit. He found this house all by himself and convinced me that I must see it too. He has good taste and knows what I like. I am also very proud of him for being so thorough and doing so much research throughout this process. I know he is nervous, but he is doing such a great job!

Just wanted to share the good news, hopefully everyone else is having a great day!

The Story of My Necklace

Many of you have seen this necklace and most of you have even commented on it. I wear it almost everyday and I get some sort of comment on it almost everyday. For some reason it really catches people's eye. I absolutely love it and it has become one of my very most prized possessions.
Today I was out running errands and ran into Starbucks for an afternoon treat. As I was waiting for my drink, the barista asked if my necklace meant anything. I told her that if you look closely, you will notice that it is a butterfly made out of two hearts. She looked at it a bit closer and told me how much she liked it, but I could tell she was waiting for more of a response.

Side note, one thing I have noticed about myself is that sometimes I tell people way more than they want to hear. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. Two examples, one time while James and I were at the pool, a neighbor sat down next to me, we exchanged small talk and she asked how long we had been married. I went into the whole story and her response was, "hey, I don't judge." She then packed her stuff and moved on to find another chair. James and I still laugh about that to this day! Another example, on our trip to Mexico the check-in lady at the airport, asked if we were on our honeymoon. "Well, our second honeymoon, because you see we were married before..." You know how this story goes. Again, she didn't have time to listen to all that with 50 people behind us in line waiting to check in. So all of that to say, I have tried to pay more attention to people and figure out if they really are interested before I say too much.

When I could tell the barista was still curious, I continued about my necklace. I told her that my husband gave it to me on our second wedding day. The necklace signifies two hearts coming together for new life (the butterfly). At first she was confused and I continued to say, we were married, divorced and remarried. My husband gave this to me on our second wedding day. Right there in the middle of my iced white mocha, the barista began to cry. Then I began to cry. She called the other lady who was working to come see my necklace and then asked if I could tell her the story. As I was walking out the door, the lady asked if I was a christian, I nodded and she said "I knew it."

That was the best white mocha I've had in a long time!

The Hunt Is On

I thought I would share with all of you that James and I are hunting houses. We have been seriously looking for about a month now, spending most of our weekends with our realtor, but have not found THE ONE yet. The more we look, the more we are realizing what is most important to us. It has been lots of fun, but very overwhelming! Living in such a large city gives you so many options.
Our lease will be up at the end of November, so we are getting anxious about finding the right place. I will keep you all posted!

I Need a Hole

This is a blog topic that I have been putting off, but I know it is a critical part of my story. I have no idea who all reads this blog, but I am hoping that somewhere, someone will happen upon my words and take something from them.

On Sunday, James and I went to a meeting at church to find out more about "young married, small groups". We have had this date on our calendar for a while now for several reasons. We really, really want to connect with some other couples and we also know that we need some accountability and advice from other people in this stage of our lives and marriage. To say the least, we were stoked about the meeting and the prospect of a small group.

We walked into the meeting room on Sunday afternoon and James immediately spotted a guy he recognized. He walked straight to him and the guy said, "James, good to see you. You are the last person I expected to see here!" So I, who had a smile plastered on my face, waited for them to greet each other and then be introduced. James says, "This is Rachel. We are remarried." I'm still not sure of the connection here, until James says this is "Bob", he was an intern at Cooper.
I immediately wanted to hurl. I'm thinking, "Don't cry. Keep smiling. Don't puke. Don't run away." I have no doubt that this guy knew James while we were separated and divorced. I am overcome with shame and embarrassment. What must this man be thinking of me. "You fool. Why are you remarried? What an idiot."
I have no idea what was said after that. I'm sure I shook he and his wife's hands, he told James congratulations and James told him we were doing well. I have no idea really. I just needed to find a hole and find it quick. I wanted to crawl in and never come out.

I have anticipated moments like this, but I never imagined it would be so horrible. I know that I should stand on the mountaintop and proclaim the miracle that has occurred in our hearts and caused our marriage to be resurrected, but sometimes its not that easy. I still deal with a great deal of embarrassment related to the past year of my life. I can't explain where it comes from, but perhaps it is because I know how judgemental I have been of others. I have been the one to say, "you fool, what are you thinking?" about other people. I guess I expect the same from others.

Yes, there have been some people that have said similar statements to me without hearing and seeing the changes in both of us, but the beauty of it all is that most people don't. Most people are thrilled. Most of all, they are thankful. Thankful that the hurt is over.

I look forward to the day when I don't feel the need for a hole.

To Mommy and Daddy, From Riley

Hi Mommy and Daddy, I wanted to tell you all about my day. First, I got to Aunt Rachel's and we just played and played. I showed her how well I can kick and smile and coo. I think I really impressed her. Oh yeah, Dad you will be proud. I dirtied 3 diapers today at her house! Then after all that playing, I conked out. I had just a short nap before my bottle.
Then Mr. James came to see me. I heard him say he was able to rearrange his appointments just so he could come see me! We both look a little uncomfortable here, but I loved his voice!
Then, the meanie, Aunt Rachel made me have tummy time. Just cause I'm super stong, doesn't mean I like tummy time!

I sure missed you so much today, but I'm pretty sure Aunt Rachel was so happy the whole time I was at her house. I think she is very thankful that we get to spend time together.

A Day at the Spa

I know all of you are dying to know what spa I've been to after seeing my BEAUTIFUL nails! Now I just need to figure out what I will say tomorrow when little missy asks me why I took the polish off.