Goofy girl!

Here's a funny Ellie story for you! A few nights ago I put Ellie to bed and she was all set in her warm footed pajamas. About 30 minutes later, I walked into her room and saw a shadow of something lying on the floor. So, I reach down to find her warm pajamas on the floor beside her crib and I see Ellie standing up in the bed--naked except for her diaper. Apparently, those weren't the pajamas she wanted to wear that night. So, I changed her clothes and we tried again! For a young girl of her age, she is quite opinionated about her clothes and shoes (even when sleeping). ha, ha

asleep on the job?

I recently began reading through a Psalm a day with a friend of mine. Today was Psalm 7. In it, the Psalmist says "Wake up, God." My question is: Is the Psalmist accusing God of falling asleep on the job? What are your thoughts? Click here to read the entire Psalm.

It's a Deal!

Well, our offer for the house has been accepted (the cute little white house), so here we go! We are excited about owning our first home! We're looking forward to having a little bit of a yard for Ellie to play in (and it is on a much quieter street).

So, I've had a few people say, "I guess this means you're staying in Washington for a while." I suppose that's the message we're sending! Life is good here. We've been busy with ministry and work and family. Beginning in October, I'll be increasing my hours at work to full-time at the clinic.

Here are some recent pics of Ellie...she's so cute! She keeps us laughing!!

House Hunting

Well, Tina and I are taking the plunge and looking at buying our first home. We've been looking at houses for the past three weeks. Here's a little bit of our journey...

Attempt #1 - We found one we really liked (a bit of a fixer-upper but all-in-all a great house) in the 6th Ave. area, but apparently someone liked it a little faster than us and put in an offer before we could. Our first disappointment! We were both pretty down for a couple days or so, then we picked up again looking at houses.

Attempt #2 - There was another house that we liked in the UP/Fircrest area. It was a split-entry level in need of some cosmetics with a big yard. This time, we got to at least put an offer in. Unfortunately, they didn't like the offer and turned us down (I'm not sure they really wanted to sell their house - but I guess its their loss). It didn't take us long to get over that one.

Attempt #3 - Again we hit the streets with our agent, this time we found three houses we liked. The first was a really cute old house that had been remodeled and setup just like we would have wanted. The only problem was that the yard was about as big as a pancake - which really wouldn't have worked with Ellie. So, on to house #2. This one was huge - 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and two very large living areas with a couple fireplaces and a giant yard. The price was a bit more, but we could rent one or two rooms out with no problem. But in the end it seemed a little too big, and might stretch us a bit too thin. So, on to house #3...


This is maybe not the most eye-catching from the street (at least not in its current white), but it has a lot of old-style charm. It was built in 1939, has hard wood floors, with a good size basement. It also has a great little building out back that could serve as a studio apartment.

So...big breath...we put in an offer, which we found out yesterday has been accepted. Right now we are working on some of the negotiations in that area. Once we know a little more, I'll try to post some pictures up. We are definitely excited about the possibility of owning a home. It seems a bit daunting, but everyone we've talked to has said it's been worth it.

In talking with others, it seems like three weeks of looking is really not that bad, but it certainly does take a lot out of you. We'd appreciate the prayers as we continue working through the process of ironing out details with the house and getting the finances all worked out. We'll keep you updated.