The Bank

Tyler and I have found a house.  We have even talked to a bank.  We have even been pre-approved!!  :D  At this point we are just waiting to see what happens.  It is totally out of our hands now.  We made an offer on the house for a little bit more than the asking price since we knew of one offer that had already come in.  We have filled out all the paper work, signed our lives away, had the seller sign the papers and now they are all at the bank, waiting for them to make a decision.  If we get the house it will be amazing, and we will be in a home by Christmas which was what my original plan/goal was.  If we don't get this house we will be okay with that.  We finally have a plan for saving money, and we are okay with it if we don't get the house.  So we are just asking for your prayers that God's Will will be done.

Thank you to every one who has helped answer questions for us, been there for us through this whole process, and has been praying for us.  We feel your prayers, and can't wait to share the news with you one way or the other.

It's Fall!!

I can't believe that it is already half way through October.  This year is going by so fast.  Here I was in June thinking that I would be ready to move out by now.  Things are actually going pretty good.  Tyler and I are surviving in out 10x10 bedroom, and have only wanted to kill each other a couple of times so far.  :D

School has been amazing.  I finished my first quarter on October 3, KRIS'S BIRTHDAY, and Tyler is finishing his quarter on Friday.  I have parent teacher conferences tomorrow and Friday, but Tyler had to do his a couple of weeks ago.  We both love our classes, and are so thankful to be here.  We found out some bad news about Prince of Peace, which is the school I taught kindergarten at last year.  They are going through a really rough time right now, and are letting go of two teachers at the end of their quarter which is in a few weeks.  I am still in disbelief about this, since both of these teachers were my mentors, and I know I wouldn't be the teacher I am today with out them.  I just ask that you all continue to keep them in your prayers, along with every one else who is struggling during this hard time.

I had fall break last week, and it was amazing!!  Breeann came to visit for four days, and we had an AMAZING time.  We were just girls, and it was so nice to just hang out for a couple of days and not have to worry about any thing.  We stayed at the Hotel Indigo down in Scottsdale, so that was amazing as well.  She is such an awesome friend, and I am so grateful for her.  Kevin and her are having an engagement party at the end of the month and we are so sad that we can't be there to celebrate with them.

After Bree left I got an amazing email from our relator Kim.  There is a house listed in Matt and Katie's neighborhood for a really good price.  Katie and I went on a walk through the neighborhood on Sunday, to scope out where it is, and we walked through an even bigger house further down the street that is going for $315.  The house that we are really excited about is the big house that we have been looking at.  We are going to go look at Sunday, to see if we like it on the inside.  At this point Tyler and I were planning on waiting until summer to try and move, but we'll see if this ends up working out for us.  Right now it is all about the numbers for us.  We are being very diligent about writing out a budget together, and making sure that we stick to it.  God is providing for us, and with out him there is now way that we would be making it month to month, and we aren't even being rent right now.  I am constantly amazed that we survived in Orange County last year.  I really don't know how we did it.

We are very excited about going home for holidays, and can't wait to see my parents for both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.  It might be our last year home, since next year hopefully we'll have a home!! :D

Tyler just has one thing to share with every one: God is good!!

First Quarter is Almost Over

Tyler and I have made it through so far.  We are almost done with our first quarter, which is crazy to think of.  My parents at school have been a handful, but are just invested in their child's life.  Tyler has had some ups and downs at his school.  Last weekend there was a death, so today he has to go to a funeral.  We went to our first Valley High School football game last night with Allison.  It was a long second half.  The guys came back and only lost by six.  So it wasn't that bad.  Allison and I were move interested in the cheerleaders of course.  haha  I told Tyler to find out if they would need a new coach in two years.  I can't invest in any thing else right now since I have now started my master's program, and I will be coaching volleyball starting on Monday!  It's crazy to think that they are going to let me coach.  :D  

We are very excited that we are going to have two visitors next month!!  Bree is coming to visit me during my Fall Break, and then Nicole will be here for her midterm break!!  I am so excited to have my girls here!!  :D  Tyler is happy for me, even though he won't have a friend here.  But I am pretty sure that Jim and Nina are coming back next month too!!

We are still on hold for the house looking.  We are using this time to pay off some debt, and get things in order!  It's crazy the way California is still catching up with us.  One day things will be debt free.  No day soon, but we are trying.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

An update on live so far here in Phoenix.  Tyler and I started school August 12 and 13.  The year is going amazing.  We both love our classes and our new schools.  It has been quite an adjustment, having to commute to work now, but we still enjoy it.  Both of our schools are very supportive of us, and help us get done whatever we need.  Tyler has 68 sixth graders, and I have 20 amazing third graders!!  They helped me celebrate my birthday yesterday, and that was such a blessing.  After school we even played a game of wiffle ball (the staff), just because we wanted to.  We are so blessed to be here, and even though finding a house is on hold, we are still enjoying being married, and the curves of life!

A hold on moving

Well, we have had to put a hold on our house hunting.  We got the numbers back for our mortgage guy, and it wasn't as good as we had hoped for.  So now we are hoping that we will be back to our Christmas plan.  It may not work out that way, but we are hoping.  I know that by the time we are ready to buy a home the one that we will fall in love with will be there.  

We are both working on getting our classrooms together.  I had my first staff meeting on Monday, and Tyler's first one was on Friday.  So now we both have a little over a week to get every thing together for kids to come!!  I can't believe how short our summer has been this year, but that's okay.  Hopefully I will be working on my masters starting this fall as well.  I have applied to Concordia Wisconsin, and I am just waiting to hear if I got into the program.

Jim and Nina came to visit us that weekend, so that was a blast!!  We went and saw Step Brothers on Friday night with Matt, Katie and Andy.  Yesterday we gave them the whole tour of the area.  Went to Shepherd, Christ, downtown, Valley, all over.  Then last night we played lots of games.  They had to leave early this morning though, so no more excitement today.  We miss them already!!

Four Houses

So Kim is amazing!!  She sent us information on houses in Matt and Katie's neighborhood, and then some that are near their house.  Tyler and I found four that we really like so we went and found them this morning.  We were only able to look at the outsides, and this is what we have discovered.  The cheapest one will need a lot of yard work.  The other one in Matt and Katie's neighborhood is the biggest unit in their housing development!!  The other two are like five minutes away from their house.  The first one we went to has these huge orange flowers in front of it, and this huge entry way.  I really liked the neighborhood, and there is a school really close to the house.  The other house is on the other side of the 51, but is BEAUTIFUL.  It has a porch in the front where we could sit out there, after we trim the hedges in front.  The landscaping is beautiful, and the neighborhood is amazing.  I really liked some of the other houses in the neighborhood too, but they weren't for sale.  :D

Kim emailed us again tonight, and said she could meet with us this week.  So we are meeting with her tomorrow morning.  She's going to take us to these four houses, and we'll see what we like.  These are only our top four off the information she sent us, but she is amazing!!  She is working so much for us already, and we haven't even talked to her yet.  Thank you so much Matt and Katie for recommending her to us!!  Thank you Shepherd for being there, so that Matt got a job three years ago!!  :D  Thank you Kim for loving Jesus so you go to church there.  Thank you God for all that you do for us!!

Continue to keep us in your prayers.  This is our last week of summer.  Both Tyler and I start staff meetings next Monday, July 28.  At the rate that things are going with Kim we are hoping that we might be able to buy a home by October!!  We are really excited about this, but also very nervous.  It's going to be such a commitment, but we are ready to start the next chapter in our lives.  NO we are not having kids, or thinking about it yet, but we have to prepare before we can act on it.

We miss you all and love you!!

Realtor

Tyler and I have emailed a new realtor, and she responded very quickly back to us yesterday.  She is the one who helped Matt and Katie buy their house, and they loved working with her.  I will be calling her this afternoon when we get back from the movies to see what she can do for us.  Keep us in your prayers!!!

Sedona Pictures

Sedona was beautiful!!  We were able to stay at my parents time share.  We had a one bedroom room that had a bathroom that was the size of our bedroom in the apartment we just moved out of.  We went to a super nice dinner the night of our anniversary, and they had put flowers on the table for us.  Tuesday we met Matt and Katie for lunch because they were also up there celebrating their anniversary!!  We didn't do much other than relax while we were up there!!  It was such a blast!!  Thanks mom and dad!!

Search and you will Find

I started going through the boxes in Mom's living room and guess what I found!!  The camera cord!!  So here are some pictures from the move, and being here!!

Our living room, before we started packing up the truck.

The view out the back of the element.  I was driving the element, and my mom was driving my car for us.  Tyler was driving the truck!!

The view out of hotel room in Palm Springs.

Welcome to Arizona!!

This one is for you Uncle Al!!  :D  We did eat there!!

Almost Over

Tyler and I had the last week here at the house to try and get things situated.  His mom and dad were in California for a week, so we had the whole house to ourselves!!  We didn't really do as much as we had wanted to, but we did get some things done.  We had Matt and Katie over for dinner twice!!  We figured we needed to entertain them while we could, before we get our house.  I had my first experience of Phoenix rain too.  We had big storms Thursday night.  Tyler was very excited it rained, but it didn't really bother me too much, growing up in the Bay Area for 18 years!!  :D  We watched a couple of movies too!  Tyler brought some home with him from Matt's on Friday, so we had a nice relaxing weekend.  Yesterday he went with me to school to take all of my heavy boxes.  Now I just have the load left in my car.  It's amazing how much stuff I have to go through before the school year ends.  Tyler and I only have two more weeks of summer, and then we are diving into a new school year!!  I still can't find my camera cord, so no photos as of now.  Sorry every one, but hopefully I'll find it before we buy a house.  If not, I'll just have to go buy a new one!!  We sent an email to our relator yesterday, and filled out paperwork for a mortgage, so now we can start house hunting!!  Hopefully our goal of Christmas will work out!!

We miss all of you not here enjoying this journey with us, and can't wait to see you whether it is this fall or not until the holidays!!  Love you guys!!

Hey everyone!!

Now that Tyler and I are living in Phoenix, I thought I would make a blog to update every one on our life here!!  Check back often, because hopefully we'll have lots of updates.  I'll soon be putting up pictures and a description of our amazing move, and then from our anniversary too!!  We miss all of you, and can't wait to see you guys!!  Feel free to come and visit whenever you want!!  :D