I can't believe Zoey is a year old and we've been waiting for her to come home for almost 5 months! We had a fun little party with a few friends and family on the 23rd (since it was actually her birthday in Korea at that time). We thought it would be fun to find out the sex of baby Searls (early) the day before the party and have a cake reveal the surprise, so thankfully, he cooperated and we were able to see the goods. Brad and I found out at the ultrasound but kept it a surprise for our party guests until we cut into the cake Friday night. But not before I doctored it up as the layers had shifted on the drive home from Strossner's and the BLUE cake was very obviously showing. Hello? That's not a surprise!
I'm so glad we got this updated picture of Zoey with her birthday gifts we sent to her along with her foster mother (sorry we aren't allowed to show her face). Come home soon, Zoey! There is going to be one more EP submission batch before the end of this year, so there is a slight chance that she could be home by Christmas. And that would be another miracle. Time is really flying by with all the changes going on in our family…
When we found out about baby brother Searls and Zoey's adoption moving forward (not to mention China baby's arrival down the road), it was obvious that we needed to do something about our living arrangements. We had enjoyed the "downtown living" for a couple years and loved it, but realistically, we needed a long-term housing situation that could accommodate a growing family. Anyone who knows us, knows that we are notorious for buying/selling houses and moving every couple of years...for the past 9 years. We think it's fun. Call us weird, but we enjoy it. Because of our good success with the flat fee MLS listing (which also saves you 3% commission, by the way) we decided to go that route again with our current house. Praise God we had a signed sales agreement in under two weeks! Incredible - especially since I didn't know how much longer I could stand the 1 hour notice for showings and getting the house all put together, cleaned up and dogs cleared out. I think we had 8 showings total before we finalized our sales agreement with the couple in France who found our house online!
Obviously, moving is a lot easier without children which is why we are looking for a house that can grow with our family. As much as I love house hunting, I think we found one already! My sister, mom and niece were in town last week and we went house hunting one day - it was actually the very first house we went through with our Realtor. We made an offer yesterday and are waiting to hear back about that…we apparently have some competition and other offers that we are up against. But either way, we will be moving somewhere in a few short weeks. Just keeping things interesting! We are really hoping this is the house for us, after all, we walked into one of the bedrooms and saw this…
…remember the plaque I bought for Zoey's room? I think it's a SIGN! literally…
