i know i said i'd update again with some good news after the closing, but since you are all incredible with your outpouring of love and prayers for us, i wanted to post again and let you know that today, thursday, brings good things. :) (and after reading the post last night, kenny said i made us sound pathetic. ha ha! we're really hanging in there and enjoying the country-life as best we can right now - i promise!)

- babies are being born: to our friends kelly and peter and 19-month-old daughter hannah, they have a son, daniel! to our friends susie and JB, and 19-month-old son will, they have a daughter, annelise!

- a red-feathered (red-tailed, perhaps?) hawk swooped low into our back yard a few minutes ago, and then ascended and soared above our yard for 10 minutes. it was a gorgeous sight. we had a hawk in our whipple street yard once, but it was there to eat the cardinals. not very gorgeous. :) and yes, we're bird-watching nerds.

- our appraisal came back excellently (is that a word?).

- our new washer and dryer combo work well AND they're energy-efficient. i use 2/3 LESS water with each load, and less electricity for drying. GE front-loaders. i'm using a high-efficiency detergent now and when we're more settled, plan to make my own low-sudsing detergent thanks to the inspiration from my friend serina. AND i bought clothes pins for our clothes line which i plan to use after today's loads (i'm using the heat feature to kill the eye virus that's been making the rounds...). yes, i get excited at the thought of hanging my clothes to dry. :)

- kenny gets to pick up his new tractor tonight. it's a john deere 5-something-or-other. i can't wait to post pictures of him on it. i'll have to dig up a baseball cap and flannel shirt for the photo-op. ;) we bought it used from the previous owner who had it serviced recently.

- the baby is staying put for now! he's happily rolling and i've had NO contractions all day today. i even drove into Lindora with the boys to Target (a brand-new HUGE target...i MUST limit my shopping there or we'll all be in trouble!).

- the boys went down for their nap so easily and they love playing with their toys which makes resting a lot very easy for me. we packed away a lot of their toys months ago, and now we're digging them out again, and it's like christmas to them!

- i didn't have to make dinner on monday, or tonight because our housegroup friends stocked our freezer with lovely dishes. tonight's entree is chicken enchiladas!

more house-owning news tomorow. i promise.