We’re pretty squished in our current house, and the lack of order caused by our lack of space has been driving me NUTS! Plus, our yard is tiny, and Bryan really wants a bigger vegetable garden. Not to mention the fact that our home is so close to our neighbor’s that their dog barks at us when we’re in our master bathroom. And when our neighbors watch t.v. at night, we see the flicker of lights through our bedroom window. So, for the past two years, we’ve been searching for the perfect new home. As we canvassed North Texas from Aubry to Anna and everywhere in between, Ariana was a good sport . . . better than her mother, at times. But despite our best efforts, the perfect house eluded us, and I was getting mighty grumpy and horribly impatient.
Wouldn’t you know it, but a week and a half ago, on our way to see “Night at the Museum” at the $1 movies, we drove by a house in our neighborhood that we’ve driven by many times before. It was vacant and had been on the market a while, but we had never paid much attention to it because we didn’t think that it had a very large yard, and I always assumed that it would be out of our price range. But, unlike all the other times we drove past it, this time Bryan stopped. He and I got out and, when we entered the backyard, we discovered that it was an ideal size. And a phone call to my mom who did a quick internet search for us revealed that the price had recently been dropped quite a bit.

To make a long story short, we toured the house later in the day with our agent, and today, only 10 days later, the seller signed the contract amendment, agreeing to all of our terms. We’ll close sometime next week.
Ariana will have to switch schools in the fall, but many of her close friends go to her new school, so she is very excited. And I am thrilled to have a home where my kids can bring their friends to play under my watchful eye.
As evidenced by lots of little miracles that have led us to this point, this new home is truly an answer to our prayers.



















My smiley little baby girl is growing up! When Ariana turned one, I hosted a big dinner party for 50+ people . . . and vowed that I’d never do that again because I was too busy and too tired to enjoy any of it. So, Miss Vivi’s big day was quieter by design but no less special. Uncle David, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Clint, Dad, Mom and Ari helped her celebrate at Cheddar’s in Irving–because Dad had been in business meetings in that area, David was picking up Andee from the airport later that night, and it was closer for Clint and Lisa to travel.



To me, Yunhi is a perfect example of FAITH, HOPE and especially CHARITY.
Guppy . . . Gupster . . . Guppy girl. This nickname was given to Ariana a couple of summers ago when we (and she) discovered that she really liked swimming and was actually quite good at it. But it was not always so . . .