mi casa es MI CASA!!!!!!

HOLA! Well, I waaaaaay behind on the news here, but with very good reason. So, to catch you all up who may not yet know, we are now real-life homeowners! The appraisal went through at the loan amount, we waded our way through all of the mountains of paperwork, we had every conceivable obstacle on closing day (including getting a city inspector and a contractor out to look at non-permitted repairs one hour before our scheduled closing -- aah!) but it is done. We now own the house and are busy moving in.

I have been so overwhelmed by the show of love and support from our church family. The members of our ward (LDS lingo alert - that's the local congregation) have been positively amazing. The week prior to the move we had 12 people at our house over three evenings to help pack and the full time missionaries came over and hauled boxes out to the POD in our driveway as we packed them That was an inspired choice, by the way, that I highly recommend. It was very beneficial psychologically to have the boxes leave the house as they were packed up. Then on the day of the move over 20 men and boys showed up to load the van, which amazed my non-LDS friend who was afraid he'd be the only guy to show up. They moved and unloaded the whole house in about 3-1/2 hours. The following Monday a half-dozen women helped me clean the house we were leaving. Then later that week my visiting teachers came over to spend an evening unpacking with me. And one brought her husband, who unloaded half the POD during that time (LDS lingo alert: two visiting teachers are assigned to every woman in the church to visit regularly and make sure her spiritual and temporal needs are being met. This is part of the Relief Society). The full-time missionaries happened by the same evening and moved some furniture for us. They also came back yesterday and unloaded the rest of the POD. This is the way things are supposed to work! This is an example of people living their faith. I am grateful for the sacrifices they made of time and energy to help bear my burdens and serve my family.

So now the POD is empty, the garage is fairly full, and we have boxes in the house to work around as we accommodate their contents. But all in all we are surprised and pleased that it's not so cluttered as we though it might be. Yay!

And my dad came over and measured everything in the house to make a floor plan. I can't link to it for you, because I only have a hard copy, but it's very cool. Thanks, Dad!

On another note, Hijo No. 2 turns 11 today and we are going to the science museum to see the current exhibit on Star Wars, including the Omnitheater show about the special effects, and we can hardly wait! AuntyX is meeting us there. In fact, I'd best quit blogging and get ready to leave. Hasta luego.