Eureka we sold our house!

It's official. After a long drawn out process, one year on the market, major price reduction, new carpet and many repairs that cost us so much money....we sold the house with a loss. We are very happy though and tonight celebrated with PIZZA and a cool night on our screened in porch. Now I feel like maybe we can commit to the house we are in and finish putting things up on the walls etc.

We also just returned from Myrtle Beach. This time we had a great time with the kids. We had a condo with two bedrooms and a kitchen but had to sit though a 90 minute time share presentation which gave me a major headache. We cooked and the kids had their own bedroom. And there was this amazing kids pool. We only went out to dinner once with the exception of ordering 6 McFlurries one night which cost $19....

We learned more about our kids lives prior to the orphanage. Ella said she used to just fall asleep wherever she was like right next to the goats in the barn or at her friends house and sometimes they would all just sleep in the same bed when she wasn't in the barn. They also told us about milking the cow 3x's a day and watching as the cow gave birth to the calf. And then Grace did a pantomime of putting on gloves to birth the cow. Later Ella told us about the first car ride she had at about the age of 4 or 5 and how she threw up because she got dizzy. Jared eats more food than any child I have ever met. He had 4 slices of meat Pizza tonight and ate 8 chocolate pancakes the other day. He is behaving remarkably well and we have seen very few melt downs with him.

It has been 7 months since our kids have been home and to see the youngest 5 kids interacting is so incredible. They do fight but also when things are going well they laugh together, are affectionate to each other and just gel so well together. We are extremely blessed.

Andrew has started a rock band called Quick (minus the u). Qik (motto is 'we are so cool we don't need 'u')....he has written 3 songs and is having a rehearsal tomorrow. He chose the drummer based on who owns a drum kit. He also had a two handed piano lesson from Mark of SMOKE ON THE WATER in 5ths...so all day and all night this is all I hear on our acoustic piano and then on the electric one. He is ten years old and very business minded. Last night he was really concerned about copyrights. I explained how he could save money and copyright with a compilation....prior to that he asked me..."How can we do a fund raiser to raise money for our songs to be copywritten if they aren't copy written? Maybe someone will steal them...." Mark and I both enjoyed listening to his logic but also looked at each other and said "But Andrew has so much promise academically lets not encourage him too much with the guitar...ha!" In case some of you don't know we are professional musician's and prefer a more mainstream path for our kids...

Anyhow...I gotta go and prep the neighbors for QIK's first rehearsal tomorrow. Andrew asked Mark if he would be the manager...why? because we own equipment and it will save the band money.....

Good night...

D