OUR NEW HOUSE!

Here it is. Our new house! John and I actually own this thing! Right now I'm still unpacking, but I'm feeling more and more at home everyday. Thank you Lord that you gave us a place to call our own and use for your glory! And thanks Jim and Nettie (our realtors) for helping us find the place!

WE ARE BUYING A HOUSE!!!

Yes that's where I've been for the last month, in the intriguing and unfamiliar House-Buying Land. (That would be an interesting board game.) John and I are still in the zone of limbo that lands between finding the house we want (which we found) and getting to move in. I heard that it's common for this waiting period to last around 2 MONTHS! It looks like we're lucky so far because ours should only be one month. I guess. We're trying to close in the next 14 days. The next thing that we're waiting on is our house appraisal, and I'm not quite sure what happens after that. There's so many things that I'm not entirely sure of, but I'm grasping a good amount as we go. John understands so many things better than I do. That's one excellent reason we have husbands!!!

I tried to learn some of what we might be expecting when buying our first house by watching Property Virgins on HGTV. But I've come to realize that a half-hour show consisting of people looking at houses, negotiating the price, and then happily enjoying their new home, isn't the best teaching tool. Actually that's not true. That show has many good things to keep in mind before anyone should throw themselves into House-Buying Land, and I learned from it! I just have to come to grips that it can't all happen in a half-hour!

At this moment it's actually pretty cool that buying a house isn't as unreachable and foreign as it felt a year ago, or even a month ago when we started looking at houses online. I mean, already so many people have said yes to us; the bank, our realtors, the seller, the inspector... now we just need a few more yes's and we'll be done!

Girl Trip to California!

Two weeks ago, Marissa, Daniella and I flew to California to visit my sister Amber and her family. It was a fun and unique trip because it was just us girls traveling across states together. Whenever John and I take vacations we always comment on how fun it would be to take some of our friends along, and now I've gotten to experience it! I can't believe how sweet and easy-going these two were as traveling companions! And getting to see Amber, Dan, Judah, Caleb, and all of our Santa Maria friends was wonderful, and I was really needing it! We love you Church for Life family!

Daniella and Marissa right before Marissa's first time flying!

Notice the bewilderment over the paper straws and biodegradable silverware at a restaurant in the SLC airport. We couldn't quite come to terms with being earth conscious while our straws melted into our drinks!

Amber took us shopping in San Luis Obispo. The boys did surprisingly well while we dragged them from store to store.

Girls in the West Coast sun!

Marissa and Daniella decided that In 'n Out Burger was the best thing to ever happen to fast food. And I must agree, the burgers were juicy, the menu is beautifully simple, and the fresh french fries were just perfect both of the times we ate there. (Yes, we ate there twice in 4 days. The girls had to see if their second experience was just as delightful as their first, and it was.)
Wow. Now I'm salivating!

Friends, Fun, Oh yeah and Music

What do you get when you add together the following;

• Free music from good bands that love God
• Friends from out of town
• Friends from in town
• And lots of rain?

DOWNPOUR!

It was great to introduce our friends from Butte to our friends here. (If they haven't connected already.) And it was awesome to spend some quality time with the Buttians and Lewistownites we have been missing. I especially loved hearing KJ-52, Lincoln Brewster, Sanctus Real and Plumb!

And if you want to know who these interesting people are just ask me.

Mom's Garden

My mom is amazing. And I hope many of those things that make her amazing will rub off on me. One of those wonderful characteristics that I aspire to learn and understand is her way with plants. She has the most unbelievable ability to make anything grow! Many people with sickly or dying plants have brought them to her for her plant-life-giving abilities. Another thing that I love about summer is that it's the season that her artistry can shine. I only have to walk out the front or back door of the house to step into beautiful colors and displays that immediately inspire and delight. This is no ordinary thumb on her hand, but ten green fingers!

The back yard in the beautiful dusk light.

The Mack Summer Update

Hola Amigos! I hope everyone is having as beautiful a summer as John and I are! I thought I would do a bright cherry update to match my summery background that John made for me. (It's definitely a perk to have a Photoshop savvy husband who's patient enough to sit through hours of me prodding, "a little to the left, can you try a different color?"
So here we go. I will do this in bullet form for ease of reading...

• I love Great Falls. John and I miss our friends in Butte but we are glad to be home. (You'd be surprised how many people ask the question, "So how do you like being back?" once you move to your home town.)
  
• John is still going to school. He is working on his MBA long distance through the University of Montana. He's such an amazing student!
  
• John works at the airport for a company called Comair and I work at Jakers. One of my most favorite places to eat!
  
• We live with my mom right now, which is enjoyable, even with it's little challenges.
• Oh yes! John just got hired on with Sears as an assistant manager! I'm so excited!!! It's a position that his college degree helped him get! Thank you Lord!
  
• We are having lots of summer fun including, floating, softball, hanging out with friends, weddings, picking fresh raspberries, lots of thunderstorms, beautiful sunsets and lots more!

I'll leave you with this picture of John and me at our friend's wedding in Big Timber. It was outdoors in the country on a beautiful day with many of our Butte friends. I forgot to take out the camera to capture photos of our friends, but I'll tell you it was a picturesque wedding. I had the honor of singing during the ceremony.

We love you Dylan and Anna!

Just for fun

I found this precious pothole shortly before we moved from Butte to Great Falls. Can you call a pothole precious? It greeted me so kindly as I pulled into the parking lot at our apartment. Then a few days after I had spotted it, a crew came and filled it in along with many other potholes on our neighborhood. I just thought it's heart shape deserved someone capturing it before it was gone. And this is a prime example of the strange little things that impress me.