7 Quick Takes Friday

Here's my 7 Quick Takes post for this week.

1.

We sold our house!!

After "stepping out in faith" (I hate how self-applauding that sounds) that God was urging us to go ahead and make this move, David quit his job, effective last week. Our house had been on the market for seven months, and we had gotten no bites whatsoever. Not a single offer. David and I went to Pennsylvania last week to look at houses, and we got an offer while we were there.

"Wow, must be God," we thought. "Amazing how perfect His timing is," we rejoiced as we giddily prepared to come home and sign the contract.

Then the buyers backed out. Not exactly what we expected. Enter my crisis of faith.

"Maybe we were wrong about the whole thing! Maybe we're not supposed to move to Pennsylvania at all. Maybe David is supposed to go on up and discover that we could never make a living there, and that's why we can't sell our house. Maybe I misunderstood God's leading all this time."

Enter God, providing us with not one, but two, more - and much better - offers on the house a mere 3 days later. I can just picture Him in heaven saying, "How's that? Three offers in 6 days enough for you?"

We now have a contract and are moving on March 6.

2.

I'm trying not to think about all we're leaving behind. I'll save those teary posts for another day.

3.

I did it. I gave the dog to my brother. The plan is for Dan to keep him for the next five weeks until we move, and then we'll take him to PA with us.

We shall see.

The last straw came last night when Lauren was laying on him watching a movie and sat up with a tick on her head. (We live in the woods. We've had plenty of ticks, but seriously, the kids I can check each time they come in from the woods . . . the dog, not so much.)

My life feels better already.

4.

Last night within a thirty minute span, I took a tick off of my daughter, burned my hand by mindlessly putting it in a pot of boiling water (to retrieve a spoon while I was talking on the phone and not paying attention), and spilled pomegranate juice all over our 2006 tax return (kind of important for getting a home loan).

All this while cooking dinner, taking care of four kids, and faxing tax documents to Pennsylvnaia. I'm surprised I didn't fax the bank a recipe for baked tilapia and feed my kids a W-2.

5.

I eat a lot of bananas. I wonder if one can eat too many bananas. Between the banana I had in my cereal this morning, the one I had with peanut butter for lunch, and the several bites I've taken of just a plain banana, I've had the equivalent of at least 2 1/2 already today. I probably eat 2-3 a day.

6.

The kids discovered this whole in the woods in front of our house recently.



We have no idea how it got there . . . or when. While the kids have played in those woods for years, they had never played in that section before, so perhaps it's been there the entire five years we've lived here.

I hope so, because I can't think of a good alternative. The thought that a giant perfectly grave-sized whole was recently dug in our front yard does not sit well.

Wherever it came from, I am thankful for it as it has kept my kids occupied for countless hours over the past few weeks. They are currently trying to dig a ramp on one end to make it easier to get in and out of.

I'm sure they're increasing the value of our property, right? It's better than any landscaping David and I have ever done. (Did I just mention David and me and "landscaping" in the same sentence? It's okay; you can laugh.)

7.

I signed up for one final Georgia CLE yesterday. That's "continuing legal education," because, you know, I would want to waste this great law degree I have or anything.

Surprisingly, I am only deficient one class this year. (And, by "this year," I mean 2008. I haven't even begun work on 2009 yet.) Usually, I have to take like 3 or 4 classes in March because that's the deadline for rectifying deficiencies.

Since I don't practice at all, and I choose CLE's based solely on being able to schedule babysitters, I end up with an odd mix of topics. For my 2008 credits, I will have attended classes on the following subjects:

DUI Law Updates
Class Actions
Professionalism and Ethics
Banking and Finance Law

I sound like a well-rounded lawyer, no? The truth is I that, much to David's chagrin, I usually read a novel during them. But not always. Sometimes I read non-fiction.