...going to the chapel...

have i written about anna katherine's love life? yes, i said LOVE LIFE. and yes, she's FIVE. what the heck? about 3 weeks ago, she started talking about "alex." Alex L to be exact. and every time she mentions his name she gets all giggly and smiley. we've never seen her respond to a boy in this way, and it's actually quite strange. i think it's cute, and steve is depressed because he feels like he's getting dethroned in anna's heart.
alex l is in the preschool class next door to anna katherine's. their two classes actually have playground time together, which is how they've gotten to know each other. i'm fairly certain he's the class clown- every time i've seen him he's been goofing off and anna katherine has been watching and giggling from across the playground. she seems to be admiring him afar, and i've wondered if alex l is actually in on this relationship too. does he know he has a girlfriend? because she's called him her boyfriend. when all the kids in her class received preprinted grocery store bought valentine cards from anna katherine, alex l received a one-of-a-kind homemade valentine with TWO pieces of candy attached. 

yesterday alex l gave her a ring. yes, a RING. and it looks like a diamond ring! maybe he IS in on this relationship too. she was quite excited to show it to me when i picked her up from school.  we quizzed her about how it happened, but she wouldn't reveal much. she actually gets quite embarrassed talking about him, and angry when we tell people about their "relationship." (don't tease her or you'll get me in big trouble.)  

she even got a love note (first ever i might add) from another boy- keaton- last week. keaton is in her class, and spent the entire first half of the school year kicking and shoving her.  

i can't believe all of this love stuff starts so early! hence the term "puppy love" i suppose. do any of you other folks have experiences like this? tell me it's gonna be alright...

...ok, ok.. i'll do it...

dang it. i've been watching people "tag" each other all over the blog world, and i've been praying i would be left out of the mix.  i mean, i just haven't been so sure that i could think of 10 interesting things to share about myself.

so my friend tammy tagged me. about a week ago, i might add. and my friend bill was asking too. ugh. every time i thought of answering this call, i blanked out.  every one else's lists are so creative and great-- how could i compete? 

unfortunately i woke up bright eyed this morning at 5:30 am, and PTL it wasn't because of a screaming child.  what the heck? the lord obviously wanted to chat.  i tried to listen.  wondering what he wanted me to pray about this morning.  i started with the big stuff going on in my life and my friend's lives, but felt like he wanted to talk to me about ME.  he wanted to remind me of some stuff about ME.  

don't expect anything profound, but here is some info about who i am:

1.  i'm a sucker for a dare. i may not choose to do something on my own, but put me in public and dare me to do something, and game's on. make a scene? no problem. exceptions: eating nasty stuff (bugs, intestines, etc.)

2.  i'm brand loyal. don't mess with my tide with bleach, tide with febreeze, colgate total toothbrushes,  and charmin ultra.  if you are disappointed with the performance of a product and need to find a new favorite, just give me the category and i probably have a product i just can't live without.

 

3.  i have a terribly memory.  well, let me clarify. i can remember to-do lists. and prices of products on the grocery store shelf. and other insignificant stuff.  but tell me a deep, dark secret of yours and i'll forget it in 2 seconds flat. this can be a problem, because once you tell someone something deep and BIG you expect her to remember. not so much over here... sorry friend.. i'm convinced it was the hard living in my younger days that burned lots of brain cells, and we all know those don't grow on trees...

4.  i'm obsessed with the myers-briggs.  if you haven't taken this personality test, do it now! (and tell me what you are).. i blame and credit everything to someone's myers briggs personality.  for example, i'm a J and steve's a P. this is the only letter we are different on. and i'm convinced that every disagreement we have boils down to me being a J and he being a P. anyone with me on this obsession? (by the way, i'm an ESTJ)

5.  i am determined.  if i make my mind up on something, consider it done.

6.  i love my life. i really, really, really love my husband. and my girls. and Jesus. and friends who love me in spite of my faults and the parts of my personality that are annoying.

7.  i've been a vegetarian for close to 20 years. thanks to a friend who challenged me at the time and an overdose of chicken in a 24 hour period.  and the determined part of me mentioned in #5.  

8.  i think i'm most comfortable being nomadic (or at least having that option). which is why committing to stay in one area for a long season scares me. 

9.  i once got a phone call from Newt Gingrich (when he was speaker of the house) because he wanted to pick my brain on healthcare. OMG! lest you begin to get impressed, i'll just say i totally bombed the conversation and sounded like a complete moron. he never called again.

10.  favorite things: decaf caramel fraps from starbucks, fall weather, bear hugs from the girls, the feeling of accomplishment, date nights, weight watchers ice cream bars, frozen grapes, cold beer in a frosty mug, fires in the fireplace, time alone.

TADA!  i now tag: amy and travis greene, geoff and sherry, nikki, lindsay, and  jacqueline. good luck :)

...cheers to God...

big news in the hambrick household~~ 

we have a contract on our home! yes Lord! it was agreed upon today.  they will be doing the inspection this weekend, and the buyers have 10 days to back out of the contract with no penalties.  soooo, if you love us (or even remotely care about us) then keep on prayin', my friend. we'll feel much more confident about the deal once the 10 days have past.  the closing is 60 days out, which is also a bit scary because that leaves a lot of time for things to fall through.  we close on april 28th, and we'll have to find a place to live and move our stuff to for the month of may (we move to georgia at the end of may).  we are hoping that they will allow us to rent the house from them for that month, which would dramatically benefit my sanity. (i'm just sayin'-if we have to move twice in one month, i might just need to be committed somewhere).  they have indicated that they will consider that option praise God!

regardless of all of the possible pitfalls and pains, i am grateful that we have a contract. if all goes as scheduled, then it will be beautiful. thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement over the past 3 months! i'll keep you in the loop...

...i could get bitter...

so i've written about moving to georgia in june. and we've been trying to sell our house for 90 something days.  one thing to know about central florida: it has the second highest foreclosure rate in the nation. (or so i've been told). what does that mean and how does that affect me? well, people all over the place down here can't afford their homes. and their homes are getting taken away by the bank. the market is drenched with homes in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure. people in this bind are doing something called a "short sale", which basically looks like the lender selling the house at a loss just to get rid of the home. they intentionally price under value to sell quickly.  the lender eats the difference after they make sure they've taken all savings, etc. from the borrower.  when these homes close, the market value of the homes around them are lowered because they sold at such a low price.  also, central florida had a large number of investors come down about 2 years ago and buy, buy, buy.  now there are more homes for sale than anyone needs... for example, there were 25, 724 homes for sale in orlando here in january.  there were 5500 new listings for the month.  AND (important to notice) only 756 sales closed in the month.  yikes.... the stats ain't so good...

so, my good friend, i'm sure this has you wondering how the heck this has affected us.  please let me fill you in. (trust me, i think about this ALOT and am glad to share). we bought our home 2 years ago, in the middle of the housing splurge.  we bought fairly high, and were even able to see our home increase in value over 100,000 in less than a year.  we were definitely proud of ourselves, thinking about the great investment we had made.  i mean, who wouldn't be pleased with an increase in value like that?? since that time, home prices have plummeted. most people who bought within the last two years are losing money if they sell right now. including us. which really stinks if you ask me.   today we reduced our price AGAIN, and we've now taken off 25,000 from our original asking price. momma ain't happy. a good number of the homes are now empty, and people are desperate to sell. so they are panicking and reducing dramatically. now if we actually intend to sell our home, we need to stay competitive. which means not sticking to a price even though we think the home is worth it.  because guess what?? they can and will find another seller desperate to sell who will take less.  

which leads me to the title of this post: i could get bitter. and i'm trying not to.  coming up with thousands of dollars to bring to a house closing (for a house we are SELLING no less) just doesn't quite fit the plan i had for our lives.  if God had said, "give 20,000 to this person or this organization" i probably wouldn't have been excited, but it makes more sense than wasting it at a closing table, no? i just don't "get" this. i'm not blaming God or anything- i mean we bought the house, but i would love to see him show up and fight for us in this.  i would have loved for him to have shown up today in the 11th hour before we reduced it 15,000 more. he could have had the people who looked at it at 12:30 today decide they couldn't live without it. bam! that would have been an amazing "God showing up" story just hours before it was scheduled to be reduced. but it didn't happen like that. dang it.

so we wait. another day. another day of cleaning up the random trails of papers, toys, and junk the girls leave everywhere. another day of vacuuming and dusting.  another day of scrubbing toilets and lighting candles.  another day of straightening and sorting.   another day of windexing mirrors and sliding glass doors. 

just a warning for my future visitors in georgia: expect to stay in a comfy, yet NOT NEAT home when you come to visit. i'm done with cleaning for a long, long time. 

...the bug is here...

ok, so poor anna katherine was throwing up from 9:30pm until 3:30am this morning... every 30 minutes to an hour.  i felt really bad for her... she had forgotten all memories of barfing in the past, so it was a bit traumatic... since 3:30am, she's been doing well though. and i'm surprised that the illness seems to have come and gone.  we are praying hard that it doesn't make it's way through our entire family.  (it seems as if that has been the trend with all of our friends in town.)

pray for us if you get a chance!

also, our house is for sale and we have a potential buyer coming at 10:30am tomorrow. pray for that one too!

...total exhaustion...

 (written last night (sunday) but not posted until now)

we've just returned.... steve from the wesley men's retreat and i from the wesley women's retreat... and we think the idea of sleeping for 24 hours non-stop sounds really fabulous. but this is one of the areas our life is very different than the wesley folks who attended the retreats... see we have KIDS at home waiting to play and catch up on the last 48 hours.  so it is with extremely low energy that we spend the afternoon engaging our children in relationship.  and cleaning our house. because my brother victor, his wife julia, and their  1 1/2 year old daughter morgan are coming this afternoon until wednesday. (which i'm very happy about, by the way.) we'll be hitting disney tomorrow and possibly the next day.. no rest for the weary, but i'm glad to sacrifice rest for stuff like encountering jesus and being with my brother. somethings are worth pressing through :)

 

...a mind of her own...

AMAZING... guess what anna katherine picked out to wear to school today? with NO encouragement from me... here's a photo taken immediately before we departed for preschool..

(pardon the fake "mom is making me smile" pic)

reminds me of my own experience as a child with tomatoes.. i hated them but mom made me eat them anyway... and now i'm a BIG FAN.. :)

(see post below if you don't know what i'm talking about...)

... drama filled morning...

so this morning was tragic for anna katherine.  she was forced to wear her pink and brown camouflage pants that her grandmother gave her for christmas from the gap outlet.  i pulled out her outfit for school, and had it ready when she got out of the shower.  she immediately began fussing about the pants, saying that she wanted to wear jeans instead.  she and steve bantered back and forth a bit, and she ended up screaming about how rude we were and telling us she was NOT going to wear them. obviously at this point we could not let her win- just on the principle of the whole thing.  did i really care whether or not she wore the pants? no. but here's the deal-- all parents know that there comes a point in an argument when you CAN'T let them win.  if you did, then they would think all they have to do the next time they disagree with you is to scream, whine, and pout and you'll cave. sooooo.... we dug our heels in.  she basically worked herself into hysteria, and kept saying that "everyone would stare" at her; that no one would want to play with her; she would be embarrassed.  she even said she'd rather stay home than go to school in those pants.  her plea was really stirring, and if i were five i would have believed every word.  now i have to admit, i was starting to feel a little bad about the whole mess.  we hadn't intended for this to become such a big deal.  i mean, i knew what she was saying wasn't true and that she was being irrational, but regardless of truth she really did feel that way.  at FIVE!  i tried to rationalize with her and dispel her fears, but to no avail.  (i am still stunned that a five year old actually cares so deeply about what clothing goes on her body and what other people think.)   so i took her to school wearing the pants.  and she wept the entire way.  she stood outside the door of her classroom begging me to take her home.  finally the teacher drug her in as she screamed to me down the hall to come back.  according to mrs. kelly, she stopped crying after about 10 minutes. whooo... 

i've decided the camo pants will never be an issue again- either she picks them herself or they stay in the drawer.  

she will pick her outfits and we won't baulk. if she wants to wear christmas leggings in late january, then she will wear christmas leggings in late january.  

we will let her assert her independence in this area.  (well, for the most part.) case closed.

  

i think being a parent is the hardest job in the world.  kids don't come with manuals, and i hate learning by trial and error.  every day i try to love them and parent them well, but end up wondering if i'm scarring them for life.  every night i pray for God's grace over my mistakes.  

any one else ever feel like a mess as a parent? come on- tell the truth... 

...oh the memories...

i'm reliving my childhood with the new and improved Baby Alive doll. the original came out in 1973, and i loved my baby alive. what's not to love about a doll that eats, drinks, wets and poops her diaper? yippee! my inlaws gave sara one for christmas, so now i get to help feed and burp this little doll.

my girls think she's great. at first glance, i did also.

5 things i DON'T like about the new baby alive:

1. her diapers are more expensive than real baby diapers. i just bought a 6 pack for 5 bucks! and they are not reusable. try telling your girls that you can only feed her once every few weeks... as soon as we had the messy diaper off today, they were ready to feed her again. she constantly says, "i'm hungry. i'm thirsty." anna katherine was rushing me to get the food ready to feed her, and she was really worried that the baby would die from starvation. (great)

2. her food isn't cheap either. (it's a special green pee powder you mix with water. mmmm yummm.)

3. she is REALLY heavy- sara has a hard time lifting her.. i bet she's 10 pounds on a light day.

4. she's really hard and her eyes are big and creepy.

5. she burps and then laughs about it. i think she's a bad influence! :)

anyway, here are a few shots of the girls feeding and changing her poopy diaper today. sara was too cute, talking about how her stinkie "smelled".. and she held her nose.. (it didn't, by the way)..

did any of you have a baby alive? are you the sentimental type who will get sucked in and by one for your child?

...separated at birth...

dave grohl- steve hambrick- separated at birth? decide for yourself...

for years, people have approached steve telling him how much he favors dave grohl (lead singer of the foo fighters).  and some of those folks would swear that steve WAS dave when they met him.  almost every time we are in an airport, people stare at steve. or talk to him about the similarity.  it's actually quite bizarre, and we've come to expect the comparison. i'm surprised at how many people actually know who dave grohl is and what he looks like!

all of this was thrown into full throttle last night.  we went with our good friends joe and julie lamotta to the foo fighters concert in orlando.  you wouldn't have believed how many people yelled out at steve, or stared at him throughout the evening.  we even had a guy chanting, " DG! DG! DG!"  at him.  bizzarro. we tried our hardest to get backstage and meet the real dave, but try as we may, we remained in section 106 row k.  i schmoozed a cop, an old man checking ticket stubs, and dave's actual cousin i met at the foo fighters shirt kiosk.  none of them were impressed. 

maybe one day we'll meet steve's twin.  for now i suppose we are stuck settling for a good show... (and good it was)...