I look around for ripe tomatoes.  I also look around to see if there are any leaves that are dying or any other thing that needs to be done.  It’s exciting to be getting all these tomatoes without having done the sowing.

Besides the tomatoes, there are other [...]]]> Every other day, I walk back to our garden…

I look around for ripe tomatoes.  I also look around to see if there are any leaves that are dying or any other thing that needs to be done.  It’s exciting to be getting all these tomatoes without having done the sowing.

Besides the tomatoes, there are other vegetables and herbs planted.  Some are labeled.  There is thyme, basil and rosemary.  I’ve been using them, of course.  And they were labeled.  There is also cabbage.  Too much cabbage.  I’ve made cole slaw, and I have another in the fridge ready to be made into something, but I’m not sure what.

Then, the other day, I discovered that the plant labeled “red bell pepper” finally had a baby pepper growing.

Isn’t it cute?  But it’s not red.  Maybe it will turn red, or maybe it was mislabeled.  It’s already bigger than a couple days ago, when I first took this picture.

Then, the other day, when I was working on the garden again, pruning away some of the bad sunflowers, and picking some tomatoes, I noticed 2 caterpillars.  And they were very colorful…

We kept an eye on them for a couple days.  Even after the big all day stormy saturday, one of them still survived; but somehow yesterday, after eating just about all of the leaves of a mystery herb, it disappeared.

I’ve also discovered daddy long legs, slugs, rolie polie bugs which are fun to show the boys.

But the 2 most exciting discoveries have been the red onion…

which was a surprise, cause all I was expecting was a small scallion root (there were no labels for this), and a small but cute carrot.

Today  I counted the carrot sprigs, and I think there are 11 more.  This time I’ll let it grow for a little longer.

So, as you can see, I’m finding all kinds of goodies in the garden, and making all kinds of wonderful discoveries.

It also makes me ponder about the parallels that this garden stuff has with the gospel.

I didn’t plant any of this.  I didn’t get the seeds.  I didn’t plan for this.  I didn’t do any of the early watering.

Yet here I am, reaping the benefits of Marissa and Justin’s(previous owners) hard work.

So too, I may have reaped the seeds of someone coming to know the Lord on my watch, who I didn’t work hard to help them grow.  Or I may have worked hard to share much about God’s love with someone in my past whom I have no contact with now, but in God’s time, and with someone else by their side, they might be flowering or growing right now.  It’s an exciting process, and I’m glad God allows us to be part of his plan.

I’m also glad that no matter what part I’m in, it’s important to take part.

So I’m gonna keep on watering those plants, working on the compost, tiling the soil, and hope there will be more wonderful surprises in the garden, and in my life.

yes, one of the best things so far, about our neighborhood…

I can get milk from a farm that is about 2 miles away. Yeah, in the glass bottles and everything!

I paid the deposit and the price of the milk today, but after today, I will just be bringing back the bottles, and getting fresh [...]]]>

yes, one of the best things so far, about our neighborhood…

I can get milk from a farm that is about 2 miles away. Yeah, in the glass bottles and everything!

I paid the deposit and the price of the milk today, but after today, I will just be bringing back the bottles, and getting fresh milk and paying only for the milk. I am so excited! I even got chocolate milk as a special treat, since the boys will be back this weekend.

And the price of the half gallon is not that much. $1.95

That’s less than a lot of other milk, especially organic milk or other high quality milk. So, needless to say, I am thrilled, and not only that, we will be a little more green and environmentally responsible by not using so much plastic.

Let me know if you want some, and come on over…

We’ve moved in and the kitchen is almost all unpacked.  Only spices and cookbooks to unpack.  I forgot a bunch of pots inside my cabinet in New York, so I have to get some new ones, and cooking has been a bit challenging.  [...]]]> I have so much to write about, but I’m too busy to write.

We’ve moved in and the kitchen is almost all unpacked.  Only spices and cookbooks to unpack.  I forgot a bunch of pots inside my cabinet in New York, so I have to get some new ones, and cooking has been a bit challenging.  The rest of the house is full of boxes, and we still have virtually no furniture except for the wonderful couches from Patrick and Stacey.

We made a major trip to Lowe’s yesterday, to get paint, closet organizers and a variety of garden and backyard supplies.  It was so cool to buy a hose, and  a pitch fork, to work on my garden and compost.  It reinforces my homeownership.

Fabio is still sick, and is so frustrated at how little he has energy for.  Please pray for his recovery.  He goes back to work on Monday.

The boys are still traveling with my parents in Florida.  They will be back only on the 16th.

My computer is still on the fritz, and I need to finish up this design work for my dad’s church.  Please pray for God’s healing of machines, and wisdom for me to figure out a way to get these things done and printed.

I’m looking forward to sunday, when we can go visit a church, but already feeling overwhelmed at how much I will miss Graffiti.

Will post soon with the pictures and more stories from our new neighborhood.

The day before we’d gone to get the U-Haul truck– a 24-footer, which Fabio had to drive around in Queens.

We stayed up til 2am packing, and we got up at 6am and continued packing, in order to be [...]]]> Yesterday was the big day. we had asked everyone to be here at 9am to help us move.

The day before we’d gone to get the U-Haul truck– a 24-footer, which Fabio had to drive around in Queens.

We stayed up til 2am packing, and we got up at 6am and continued packing, in order to be ready for the move with our friends’ help.

It was 9:30am when Liz showed up, and we were still not ready.  The other friends and family trickled in as time went on, each helping us load that truck.  All were part of making it all possible.  We all just kept working hard.  Some very hard as they carried heavy boxes up and down.  Some watching the truck.  Some carting the dolly. 7 people helped us here.

I was mostly still packing up in the apartment, and helping people know what to take and what not to take.

Not everyone could go to PA with us, so we made the voyage with 3 others.  We were blessed to have Fabio’s dad and Susie come up from Virginia to help unload at the new house.

We got all done in less than 3 hours , even with less people.

Fabio rocked it.  He worked so much, and he is feeling the effects of it today. But he was a real workhorse.

Afterwards, as promised, we went to Cracker Barrel for a nice big dinner, and we all shared dessert.  We had certainly earned it, or rather, they had.  Me, I’m not so sure.

Now we are back at the apartment.  We’re about to send off the boys to Disney World, with my parents in the morning.  We will pack up the 1/8th remainder of our stuff from the apartment and make our way to OUR house.

I can’t wait.

I will include some pictures on the next post.

We have not had the pleasure of putting our window unit in, because there’s just too much going on.  That’s also true of the mini van, which needs a booster of that special air stuff.  I bought it right before the super high temps weekend [...]]]> the boys and I have been surviving without an air conditioner.

We have not had the pleasure of putting our window unit in, because there’s just too much going on.  That’s also true of the mini van, which needs a booster of that special air stuff.  I bought it right before the super high temps weekend in June, but life has been so crazy, that it just doesn’t pop up on the radar, as one of the thing we need to do.

So, we’re surviving, and in a way, I think there’s been some good in it, cause it keeps us from getting sick from going in and out of cold air.

Don’t get me wrong, right now it’s so hot in our bedroom that I want to scream–because of the muggyness only–but I guess it’s just part of our crazy transition this summer.

If you want to count down with us, it’s 12 days ’til the settlement!

If you want to help pack or help us move, we’d love to hear from you.

Two weeks ago, both our realtor as well as the seller’s realtor were out of town, and so was the seller. Now everyone’s back, and there has been a constant flow of info, but I’ve missed most of it since I was roaming in Canada last week with [...]]]> The home front news has been quiet.

Two weeks ago, both our realtor as well as the seller’s realtor were out of town, and so was the seller. Now everyone’s back, and there has been a constant flow of info, but I’ve missed most of it since I was roaming in Canada last week with the boys and my parents, and those cell calls get expensive. Mostly, Heather has been talking to Fabio.

It seems that the Seller is still stuck on wishing they could have gotten a higher price, and so they keep trying to cop out, and pass the repairs onto us, as if us having to fix the chimney were a present –  a house warming gift.  I think we’ve come to some workable agreement where they’re giving us money to fix the chimney, and we’re gonna take care of the radon mediation on our own.  We’re trying to be reasonable but not doormats about it all.  It’s an interesting dance to learn-lots of new steps.  In the meantime, I have been praying for them, and hoping that they find a house they like.

Anyway, I think we’ll have all the final repair papers and agreements by the end of this week. Once that happens, it’s just waiting for the settlement date. It’s supposed to be July 29th.

Fabio also did a bunch of packing this weekend.  We’re getting closer to the reality of all this.

What other things will we have to learn about, with all this “buying a house” bit?  We’re all ears….

Yes. Our offer was accepted on friday night, and I got a call about it while on the women’s retreat. We’re really excited and now we have to wait for the inspections.

The settlement date is supposed to be at the very end of July, [...]]]> update: you can look at more pictures on Fabio’s picasa album.

Yes. Our offer was accepted on friday night, and I got a call about it while on the women’s retreat. We’re really excited and now we have to wait for the inspections.

The settlement date is supposed to be at the very end of July, so that means we’re gonna be around for 2 more months.

Apparently the seller was really soul-searching about whether or not to accept. We were really unsure for about 2 days if we would have to start looking again.

So for now, it looks good, and we have to wait another week or so before we have all the results from the different tests. That will tell us what will happen next.

Thanks for all the prayers, and keep praying. Here are a couple more pictures of the house and backyard…

The whole time you are searching for a home, you have to keep in mind your price range. Your price range largely depends on how much you have saved to put down as your initial down payment. Your budget [...]]]> This home buying stuff is a good lesson in math, investments, planning, and borrowing money.

The whole time you are searching for a home, you have to keep in mind your price range. Your price range largely depends on how much you have saved to put down as your initial down payment. Your budget will also be affected depending on what rate the bank will offer you on your loan, and that depends on your credit, and how much you want to borrow.

Then you gotta factor in the real estate taxes, and if there are any other fees associated with a condominium or other common thing.

At the end of it, one has to decide whether all this is a wise investment. Sometimes, you really like a house, but it doesn’t meet your most basic needs and desires. Sometimes you like a house, but it’s price is just beyond your reasonable monthly expenditures, and buying it would be a poor investment.

So, here we are at another financial battle. The original offer for the home we liked was high, so we made an offer, taking about 7-8% off the asking price. Unfortunately, they came back with a counter offer that was $10,000 more than we offered them. Now, as our “final” offer, we went up $2000. At this point, it becomes a matter of wise investing…

If we go higher, the house might not appraise at that high value, in which case we wouldn’t be able to be approved for our loan. Not only that, but then we might feel like on resale, we might never make back what we invested.

Today, the seller will once again be given a chance to accept our offer. If they do, hurray, we move on.

If they don’t, I think we will walk again, and start looking again. Either way, we’ll keep moving forward.

Here’s a picture of the house we’re trying to get, from the front/side view…

This weekend was another whirlwind of house hunting.

We made arrangements for the boys to stay with my parents, and we went and stayed overnight in Bucks, in the effort of trying to see as many houses as we [...]]]> update: Here’s a picture from the bird’s eye view of the property we put the offer on…

This weekend was another whirlwind of house hunting.

We made arrangements for the boys to stay with my parents, and we went and stayed overnight in Bucks, in the effort of trying to see as many houses as we can…

We saw 8 houses on Friday and 3 on Saturday. Surprisingly, even after the disappointment with the other house, we found 3 we liked. Two we really liked! We spend many a time talking over and splitting hairs over what we liked about each. We decided on one, Elephant Rd. –to make an offer on. When our realtor was trying to find out what the settlement date might be, we were shocked to find that there were 2 other offers on this house.

This house has only been in the market for 8 days, and they already had received 3 offers. Amazing! Some houses just got it going on. After some recalculation and thorough thinking, we made some changes to our original offer, signed our life away, and then Heather went on to deliver it. We would have to wait overnight to hear back, so we headed back to Long Island to meet up with my parents and our boys.

As I clicked thru the pictures of the house we made an offer on, and the other house we decided not to make an offer on, I started to second guess our decisions. Mostly because I began to think that some of our decisions to go to one house versus another had to do with some “unattainable goals” I apparently set for our house. The Elephant Rd. house has a HUGE yard, a modest house, and a quiet neighborly location. The one house we had not offered on was on Main Street(actually Rt. 313–a main artery through the county, but it was a great house with a great yard, and an old garage with great potential for a studio, but it was on a very busy street. That night, as I clicked thru the pictures, in the dark, all by myself, I earnest prayed once again, asking God to resolve my doubts, and make things clear about my doubts. I was feeling like maybe my fears had gotten the best of me… I knew that it wasn’t so much the house but our attempt to be open to God’s way that would matter most. I slept at peace knowing God would work.

In the morning, before we left for church, I got a call from the realtor, that in the middle of the night she’d received an email that we had lost the bid. The winner had been a cash buyer. We had not been outbid. The seller decided to go with a lower cash offer. That email from the seller’s realtor was at the same time as I was praying. You might call it coincidence. I call it, God working. And when I got the call from Heather, I wasn’t even disappointed. It was easy to move on…

So tomorrow we will be putting an offer on the Main Street House. All the documents have been signed by me and mailed. Fabio will meet up with the realtor and sign everything too. And then we wait til Wednesday. It might go great, it might not. Either way, we’re trusting.

There are some great compromises for us in this house… Because it’s on Main Street, maybe it will give us a bit more of our transition from the city, so we won’t miss things as much. Also, since it’s on a busy Street, Fabio and I can agree on the fence issue*. Last, the only thing we have to work on is the garage/studio, and that is outside the house, so the work won’t affect our living!

Please pray for us. Maybe third time’s a charm. Even if they accept our offer, there will still be inspections and lots of other steps, but the biggest one will be overcome. Since this house has no septic, things should go a lot better.

Thanks for the prayers, and keep on praying for us to listen clearly!

I hope to add a couple pictures of the house tomorrow, once Fabio send me some…

It was also our belated anniversary celebration.

The driving around was productive. We got a sense of things we like and don’t like in a neighborhood. It helped us see distances “for real” versus google maps calculations. [...]]]> This weekend was a whirlwind of driving around all over Bucks County, trying to find areas we like.

It was also our belated anniversary celebration.

The driving around was productive. We got a sense of things we like and don’t like in a neighborhood. It helped us see distances “for real” versus google maps calculations. It also helped solidify how much we like Bucks County.

But what it didn’t help us with, is narrowing down on a neighborhood. And other than drive-bys, we didn’t actually see any houses. Apparently, all open houses happen on Sunday. Weighing distance preferences over how much we like the feel of a town, is where it becomes tricky.

Keep praying for us so we’ll have wisdom about what is the right place for our family. We want to see clearly.

The Bed & Breakfast we stayed at was StoneRidge Farm. It is a farm that has been around since the early 1800’s. In 1942 , it was purchased by Pearl S. Buck, where she raised dairy cows. The room we stayed in had a deck that overlook the horse pastures and it was a nice way to wake up– to see the horses grazing. We recommend it. The breakfast was delicious, the service was great, and the owner is an artist. They even have art workshops there, which I’m thinking about attending!