Home is where the stank is.

Thanks Mandy for being my only follower! Guess no one wants to follow a train-wreck. :p

I've been wanting to sit and blog for several days now, but it seems that first part ("sit") is pretty darn near impossible. I actually got slammed with a migraine last night. I even thought I was going to die on the way home. LOL Funny now. But we were on our way home from the kids' Awana and I was driving. I was developing a headache on the left side of my head (top) and the left side of my face started tingling. I know- a stroke, right? (I purposely kept using my left hand to make sure this wasn't the case.) Finally I felt like I couldn't focus on the road ahead of me and was getting lightheaded. I pulled over on the shoulder and asked Big Hunk to drive. I was scared. But I felt better after migraine medicine and some sleep.

Until today anyway. My migraine started to come back and I had to nip it in the bud with medicine and lots of prayers. I think it was the latter that did it. I haven't had a migraine in like 7 months (since the day before we left for vacation in June) but when they hit me, they hit hard. Nothing but sleep helps.

So, we're moving. I hate those words.

We moved into our house the first week of May. We LOVE this house. Truthfully, it's our dream home. If we were to choose a place to spend the rest of our lives, it would be here. It's a 5500 square foot fantasy. Everything we've ever wanted (and more). Pool and spa, playground for the kids, lots of room for them to run around outside. And then things we never dreamed of like a cute little playhouse for the kids out back and a media room with a huge screen and 2 plasmas above. We love this house.

But with a large house comes large rent. And though we've afforded it just fine since moving in, Big Hunk's business has slowed down dramatically the past few months and we need to make changes. Not to mention, our church is a good 20 minutes away and we are there at least 4 days a week and it's becoming quite a commute. And the kids' friends all live near our church. It's pretty much a no-brainer.

So we've been looking at houses for about a week. And looking. And my gracious, I think we've seen every house in Southern CA. I never dreamed we'd have to look at so many houses. For sure, this is the most houses we've looked at for any one move ever. The houses either have no yard or are all beat up (and I'm sorry but after the house we moved from 8 months ago, we refuse to live in a house without a decent backyard). Or, people are just out of their minds when they think up how much rent they want to charge! Seriously. I can see where the crack epidemic is coming from.

So last night we were discussing that we hadn't seen a house yet that really felt like it could be our home, and we contemplated staying if we didn't find anything. God truly opened doors for us to be in this house, so though it is large and in charge, He got us in here and we don't question His blessings. We just decided that we would keep looking, but if we didn't find a house that felt like home, we would stay here.

Well we had 3 appointments today. The first one, we loved. Gorgeous. And, with a pool. Which is really our biggest hope for a house. (After 8 months of having a pool and swimming whenever they want, we don't want our kids to forget all they've learned.) It's drastically smaller, at about 1800 square feet- perfect. And, in a great area.

The second house was a total dump and we didn't even stop. LOL We just called the agent and told him nevermind. That bad.

And the third... well. No pool and a good 10 years older than the first one, but about $500 less. And the owner rents it herself and seemed to really like us. She's a single mom and just wants someone to take care of it. Speaking of which, I think something died in there. The previous tenants just up and left unexpectedly a few days ago, leaving behind random belongings and a STENCH that goes on for miles. Tom pulled out an old bowl of food from the oven that was clearly the source of the smell. I wanted to puke. (On a positive note though, they left an almost complete set of china and the owner gave it to me. ;) )

So, we are praying. We are so sick of looking at houses. Every. Single. Day this week we have been out there looking at houses and we're worn out. We are just going to apply to both and put it in God's hands. If we get approved for the house we really want (the first one) it will be only by the grace of God.

Well it's 12:30am and we have Friday school tomorrow at church. I need to get to bed! Even though my Gilmore Girls DVD is queued and ready to go...