Snow photos

Chad's play area in the back yard where the snow is up to his belly.


Our back yard, the snow seamed to gather more back there then in the front yard.


This is our front yard once we have sholved all the snow from the walk way and driveway.

oh the snow

We have been trying to stay busy and not board, I can’t stand getting stuck where there is no option to drive some where.
I (Sarah) walked Chad this morning to the park at 8 and we kept getting stuck in snow drifts that came up to just about my knee. The drifts are every where, in the roads by the house it looks like we have speed bumps. Chad was working hard to run but he was having so much fun. Good work out for both of us. I have been going thought boxes of who knows what stuff deciding where to put it or to give it away. Still got more to do but got burn out early. Steve and I got all bundled up and walk to the closet grocery store (Safeway) and then to an auto parts store to see if there were any chains left they would work with my car. Found one pair, so now I can have a better chance of getting to work tomorrow. Once we got back we have been trying to clear our driveway with our little (non snow) shovel. Steve is out there on the second go around now. I have been making cookies, got 2 kinds for Chad done first and now working on cookies for real people. It feels it should be so much later then it really is. But still just time to do stuff and there is always stuff that needs to be done.

getting more done

Things are getting done around the house more and more. Got the washer and dryer hooked up and so now we can wash clothing after 2 weeks. The leak is stopped in the garage and will work on fixing the damage from that soon. Doors are to be put in Friday (that I can’t wait for). The kitchen is just about all put away and cleaned. Chad seams to be right at home. Today before I got home from work he took one if his Christmas gifts out of the suitcase where we have all the gifts that need to be wrapped. It is a volleyball still in it box and it was found in the kitchen. The weather needs to get nicer so he can be out side while we are gone. He loves the new park and walking and smelling every thing around the house.
We finally got every thing out of our storage unit, I did that today. Still have more stuff to get here and there. I find myself remembering things that we got as gifts that have not turned up yet so just trying to think where they could be.
Need to go, Chad is pushing me with his nose and talking to me.

Moved!

So we finally got moved in. Steve picked up the new house keys around 2:30 on Friday and with my aunt and uncles and also my parents help they got about 80% of our stuff moved. So we spent our first night with Chad in the house Friday. Saturday we got more stuff from storage and a dinning room table from his sisters. Unpacked and unpacked all day. Sunday was a fun day, to start off we locked our selves in the garage when we were trying to walk Chad (in the snow and wind) so we had to brake door the door. Which lead us to buy 2 new doors that will replace the broke one and an other door the goes out side to help keep the kitchen warm. Monday I worked all day on the kitchen, (because no work work due to snow) putting new clean shelf paper down before we put anything away, still working on it this morning as well. Steve has been working on projects all over the house getting stuff really for the cold weather and normal things that need to be fixed. Just about 10 min ago Steve noticed a large leak in the garage ceiling and is working crazy hard to stop it and get things dry. We are not all unpacked yet and still have boxes to get here and there but soon we will be ready to have friends and family over. Also looks like more house projects to deal with.

Still waiting

So Sunday I called our broker and she said we should plan on Tuesday to sign so they can get what is needed Monday in order. Steve and I had planned to take time (or day) off work on Monday to get things signed, since that was the first day we were told we could sign. So we thought ok maybe Tuesday and we can plan to sign after Steve’s dental appt and before I have to go to work. Today things have been changing nonstop. Around 2pm we find a time to sign Wednesday (yes we are to have our keys by 5pm on Wednesday) at 10am. Crazy with my work since I have a staff meeting to get back to, and we think we have it planned. Steve got another call around 6 from the loan offer that he does not have the stuff done because the seller got paperwork to him to later, this and that. Now we are to sign Thursday at 9am, not a big deal besides the fact that it is after our closing date and we gave the seller 2 months compared to the normal one month to get stuff done. We are very frustrated and can’t do anything about it but wait more and more. So fingers crossed that we can sign and get keys on Thursday now. Why can’t people get their ducks in a row????

Sitting and Waiting

We were told from our broker that we are to get a phone call from the escrow office this weekend to set up a time on Monday to close. Now it is Sunday afternoon around 3pm and no word yet. I have to say I’m getting worried. Not sure what all is going on. Just sitting and waiting. However our broker spoke with the broker selling the house and he said "yes they will have their new house keys by Wednesday". Never bought a house before I’m just not sure how it all works out.
Will keep you all informed.

More home stuff

Yesterday Steve got a call from our broker and we are ready to go forward with closing but we are still waiting to hear whats next. We are to have the keys on the 10th of December and so we just have to sign some time between now and about 24 to 28 hours before the 10th. We can’t wait to get moved. There are so many things we talk about that we can’t wait for. It will be just a thrill to be able to fully unpack all our stuff and it all be in one place. We have a lot of wedding gifts that we have not gotten to open or use so it will be exciting allover again to take them out and put them to use.
We will keep you all updated once we know more. Pray that it all goes smooth and fast.

Here in America

My Aunt sent this to me in an Email. I really liked it and wanted to share it with thoses who have not seen it yet.

Been meaning to...

So I have been meaning to write this for over a week now. I cut my hair last week. My plan was to post pictures of how long it got and then what it looks like now. I got the long hair picture but I’m not all for my new hairdo so I have not taken the picture. Others like it (Steve says he really likes it) but it is not what I had envisioned. Enough about my hair.
Now to home stuff. We will be getting keys the 10th of December (Wednesday) and that weekend we will be moving. Anyone who wants to help, you are more than welcome. We will keep everyone up dated.

Wii

Steve bought a Wii on Friday with prize money he won though work. I did not think I would really enjoy it but I was wrong. I really enjoy 2 or 3 out of the 5 games, boxing, bowling and tennis. I’m not so good at golf (which is one of Steve’s top favorites) or baseball (which he is very good at). I find that I go thought the full range of motion as if I was really out there playing. I don’t remember the last time I moved like that in a while. We played for a few hours on Saturday and we got very hot, sweaty and now we are sore. Also you can test your Wii age. Steve told me he got rated as a 33 year old. I thought ok this won’t be too hard, on Friday night after about 30 min of play time I was rated at 78 years of age. I was quite up set. They test you on speed, stamina, and balance. On Saturday after our few hours of playing, I re-tested and I’m now rated as 39 years old. Still got a lot of work to do but it is a blast to play. The Wii is very interactive and if you let it, it can really get you moving!

Update 11/6/08

I don’t really know where to start this blog. It is about house stuff. We are still waiting on the broker to identify a property that he will roll his money in to so he does not have to pay capital gains tax. Over all we don’t have a clue when we get to move but we know that it will be no later than December 10th. A lot later then we would like. But yes it would still be before Christmas. We could just open more moving boxes on Christmas day and be surprised. LOL. I can tell you that I’m not one bit happy with the broker selling his house and how I can’t wait for all to be over so we no longer have to wait on him. There is so much more I wish I would write but the blog would be too long.

Dressing up for Work

On Friday I had to dress up for work because it was Halloween. I had been dreading this from the first time I heard about it. I dislike dressing up; I don’t have a creative side when it comes to that kind of stuff. I ended up borrowing a co-works out fit that was a 50's car hop girl. To start off I was not comfortable in it because the skirt and top was a dress and the waist line came about an inch above my belly button (my pants all ride well below my belly button) and I thought this event of dressing up was dumb. I stuck it out for over 11 hours with that stupid thing on. The best part was there was a contest, were our patients voted on whose costume was the best. I did not even get one, yes not even one vote. I could have just gone casual with jeans and a shirt it would not have made a different. All in all, I was quite pissed by the end of the day and thank goodness Halloween is one a Saturday next year!!

Home stuff again

So this past week we had the home inspection, we are not asking for anything to be done (that helped speed up the process). What needs to be done we want to be able to pick the upgrades ourselves. This coming week the house will be appraised and we will go from there. Fingers crossed every thing works out well, that will put us that much closer to closing and moving in. We don’t have a date yet when we are to close on the house, but it will be some time mid November, which is out brokers’ best guess. I know I’m getting really antsy about moving and hope it is before thanksgiving so we can show family the house. Pray this last big things works out will and we can be first time home buyers!!!

Being sick!

I hate being sick. I’m on my second day of missed work now. I do not enjoy just laying around all-day, I go nuts. Being in the health care field I really don’t like it when patients come in sick so I know they would not like it if I came in sick. Fingers crossed that two days is all I need to get better and I can go back to work tomorrow.

For clarification.

For clarification, I (Sarah) post my blogs in the black color (because I don’t know how to change it) and Steve posts his blogs in the brown/red color. Even thought our writing styles are different (I miss spell everything. Lol). I just wanted to make it clear for whom ever might wonder who is really writing this or that.

Family

Here are some new pictures. Enjoy!!

Getting that much closer!

We might finally get to move in to a house of our own. Things are in the works and we are just waiting for all the paper work to get signed and turned in. It amazes us that the guy selling the house is a principle broker and he forgets to sign this or that, forgets to give us paper work. I bunch of little things he forgets that makes us wonder. Now I feel like it is a waiting game. We are not sure of the closing date yet so we have not started to pack anything up yet. But we will be very ready. We are very excited but we don’t want to get our hopes up to much since we have had a house fall thought before. But let me tell you this house is amazing. Totally flipped inside and out, all it needs is our stuff. We can’t wait to have Chad with us all the time. We miss having a ball under our feet.

Choices

Recently I have had many thoughts on political and financial topics. These are not topics I typically ponder. With the attention being paid to them recently and the talk around the water cooler, it's hard not to get thoughts about them. You could rationalize that I am getting older and more mature thus leading to more 'in-depth' concern of these things. You might be right. The last time I was able to vote with two new names on the ballot, I could really have cared less and known even less than that. I find myself lost in a sea of deceit and wonder. Not knowing what is the truth or how we as a society might even get there. There are things I like and dislike about all the candidates. The only person in the race that I have no opinion on is Biden. I hear alot of talk about how the democrats are advocating socialism, even been strung along far enough to get to communism. I find it laughable. Especially when I found that Palin advocated for the banning of books in her time in offices in the state of Alaska. I believe that censorship is one of the most powerful tools of a communist government. I have this urge/sense that as a christian I'm supposed to vote republican. Yet I don't much approve of most the things I hear from their side. Healthcare being the top category. I like the notion of change coming from the democrats yet this slogan only states the obvious. Change is inevitable at this point. The question is how much change are you willing to deal with?

Anyhow, the point was to get to an epiphany of sorts. The thought I'm about to share may not be a new one for me. Someone reading may have heard me say this before. I say this because the thought seems so, for lack of better word, 'right' to me. I believe that God desires for us to have a choice in all our actions. In recent discussions I've heard that the true purpose of the commandments is not to provide laws or guidelines to follow but so that we would know for ourselves the notion or feeling of wrong. Leading us to make the right choice. Thinking on this I discovered that as a follower of Christ, I must be pro-choice. I firmly believe that abortion is wrong. There are scenarios that make the procedure less ugly, but it's still wrong. I'm not saying that I have the answer to how to deal with this topic. I just can't find reason why we (man) should take away the choice that God has given all of us. I know that we don't have that authority. The people that have to make that choice will be tested as I can not imagine. I can't say what my choice would be if I were in one of those "less ugly" scenarios. I can only be thankful that I still have a choice, and God has shown me what is right.

I'm aware that there may be many disagreements, that's not my point. I'm not sparking a debate. It feels like I have sat on the fence of this topic for a long time, I finally found a seat on the grass. Thanks.

House Hunting!

We went searching for another house today. Found one we really really really like and we plan to put an offer in by this weekend. It has been remodeled top to bottom, new flooring, windows, lighting, the works. It has a very cool yard, nice deck and wonderfully taken care of grass and plants. It is also close to a park for Chad. Keep praying for us that we can find a house before Christmas.

Still house hunting.

We put our best offer in on a house on Friday and it got rejected. So we are out house hunting again and looking at homes with a smaller asking price. That means smaller house, smaller monthly payment (which will be good) but it can be a stepping stone to a larger house later. Just need to get our feet in the door somewhere. Keep us in your prayers for a house before Christmas.

Picked up our bedroom set from IKEA today

We got the queen bed frame (one of those beds that is low to the ground and you only need the mattress), 2 night stands, 2 dressers, a rug and some dividers for the drawers. Everything is still in the boxes just waiting for the mattress now. There is a large entrainment center we would like to get later to go with everything.
It was sure fun buying all of that with gift cards from the wedding, I felt like we got a lot and did not have to spend a penny. Wish shopping was always like that.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from the wedding that family was able to capture
Dont we just look so cute together???
Cake time.

Long week / Stephanie

Thank goodness it is Friday. After a long week all I can think about doing is resting. Steve and I have both put in extra hours the past two weeks to help give ourselves a little extra bust for housing funds. I know all I can think about is getting to sleep in at least an hour tomorrow, just have to convince Chad to do the same.
This week I got a few emails from Stephanie in California, sure was good to hear from her. It sounds like she is keeping herself busy, meeting some great people and most important not going hungry thanks to her new church family. In her words “every week I have been going over to eat with at least one family from the church and last week I actually ate dinner with 3 different families”. Now that would be nice since we all know I’m not the best cook nor do I have time when I get home from work. I mentioned to her that she should start her own blog so we could get more updates and not have to wait a month to get them.

Wedding Photos

We got our photos from the photographer a week ago now. WOW do they look good. The hard work has been trying to pick out what five 8x10s and ten 5x7s we want out of the 225 amazing pictures. There are so many good ones to choose from. We are so pleased with how they all turned out. So we finally got that figured out, but now from all the family digital pictures what ones do we want printed up for family and ourselves. On top of what we have now, friends keep telling us they have a CD of pictures or prints they need to get to us. I never thought it would be so overwhelming to look at pictures and make a photo album. We do want to thank all who have given us pictures; it is fun to see everyone’s view of the wedding.
We cant wait to share them all with whom ever wants to see.

Name Change

Upon marriage I’m taking Steve’s last name. I had been putting it off for a few weeks since I was not sure what to do and where to go. Now I think I have gotten all the most important info changed to my new last name. So now officially to the government I’m Sarah Jellison.

House Hunting

When looking at homes we came across the good, bad and just downright ugly. This last house hunting trip started out with the bad and just ugly, or should I say dirty. We walked in and saw garbage left on the floor and the kitchen partly tore apart. I looked in the sink and there is a swarm of bugs that flew up in to my face. There was much more that I could just go on about with that house but I will save that. Trying not to get sick on the smell, we are told the story of why the house is on the market and why the filth. Let’s just say people make illegal choices and leave the “garbage” for others to clean up inside and out.
From the “garbage” house we move on to an elder widowed woman’s home where we were unable to get in since she locked all the doors including the screen door, therefore the keys she gave her broker did not work since the screen door was not to be looked. Steve made the point about elder women locking every door when living alone at that age.
Moving on there were other homes to look at, like the house on a hill with a “pit bull” (who was very nice and just wanted to be loved on and played with) but we finally ended up at the home we had been waiting to see. It was a medium sized home on a quarter acre lot in a cul-de-sac. The house was very nice, as well as the yard. Chad would just love all the grass to run and play ball on and the pond to swim in. Was a bit awkward since the home owners were there but they were very nice and helpful showing us little things and telling us about the area. We would love to go back and look at the home again when more time was available and when the home owners were gone.
When our house hunting day was over it was off to work for me as fast as I could get there and a lot of thinking about what we saw, all the different aspects of the homes and that we wanted to see a few more but of course see that last house with the large yard again. Anyway that is where we are at when it comes to looking at homes. More to see but like Steve wrote our dream is to have a home for Christmas so our little Jellison family can be together.

Planting the Seed

You are reading the first installment of the Jellison family blog. We hope that there will be many more entries for you to enjoy. This one will be just a small sampling.

The last time that you may have seen us, we were all dressed up for something. We would like to thank all of you for sharing in the first and most memorable of all the great adventures we intend to encounter in our lives. Since that day we have mostly been in a constant state of moving and settling into our apartment. A situation that we pray is very short lived! Mostly because packing and moving boxes is something we enjoy soooo much. Recently we have begun searching, again, for a house. There will be some viewings later this week and we believe there are some promising candidates. Our shared dream is to be settled in before Christmas. A little bit more time than the previous attempt.

So, thank you for reading and hope you come back to read all the latest info on our whereabouts in life. Good day.