Come see our new blog....

Since we are back now, I am working on a new blog. I'm not sure how to connect them together, but the address is: TheTexasArds.blogspot.com if you'd like to visit there. There isn't much there now, but I will try to update it as time permits.

We made it!!

It's been kind of crazy around here, but I am finally finding time to post and say that WE MADE IT home!! Yay! The trip was long, as expected, but thankfully very smooth and uneventful. We have been enjoying lots of time with family and getting reacquainted with our favorite foods and stores!! We have also been catching up on doctor's appointments and haircuts.

Here are a few pictures of our little "vacation" before we left. We had to stay in a hotel for 3 days while our house was being cleaned, so we figured we might as well havwe some fun. I also got some more gorgeous sunset pictures.

Now I guess it's time to come up with a new blog name... theardsinguam just doesn't seem to work anymore! :)

Wow!

The girls and I were sitting on a bench at the playground right behind our house tonight and this is the view we had..........



Yes, we will miss some things about Guam!!

Brown Tree Snake

The Brown Tree Snake is somewhat of a big deal here on Guam. Click this link if you want to read about them.... (tried to insert the link and can't figure it out - google brown tree snakes if you are curious)




We have heard lots about them and know a few people who have seen them, but the majority of people are here for years and only see them in a cage at the local aquarium. They even sent a trained dog over here while we were moving out to check all our stuff and make sure that we weren't packing up any snakes by accident. Thanks to some kids playing tag over by our air conditioner unit today, we had the lovely experience of seeing this little guy all curled up on our back water faucet!! He is pretty small from what I have heard - they get much bigger.

Right now he's pretty traumatized as 10,000 neighborhood kids keep coming over to see him and are doing lots of screaming and carrying on. I have called the people who are supposed to come and get him, but they haven't shown up yet. If I were like my Grandma, I'd hack him up with a hoe :) (Yes, she does that for REAL!) but I prefer to wait for the trained "snake guys" to come and get him for me!!

Awana Awards

Adysen and Allie finished up a year of "Awana Club" this week. It's sponsered by the chapel on base and they learned lots of songs and bible verses and had a great time. I missed the actual "moments" when they got their awards tonight, but you can get the general idea! :) Adysen was chosen to go up on stage and help with the "opening ceremonies", so she was very excited about that!

We got the house!!!!

Well, we got another counter offer today and we are going to accept it!!! I am SOOOOO excited!!! We love the neighborhood and the area of this house and the fact that it's only 2 and 1/2 years old makes it nice too. We will have plenty of space to spread out and everyone will have their own rooms which is very exciting! We hope that this house will be our home for many years to come!
Here are some pictures for those of you who haven't seen them yet:







There is some painting that we'll need to do right away and I have some plans to change some of the flooring, but most of the main things will work for us and we can just work on the rest as we go. The closing date will be on or before June 20. We are hoping for a little sooner, but the sellers are moving out of state, so I think they need some time to get organized for their move.

As, usual, God has worked out all the detail for us and we are SOOOO thankful!!! We can't wait for all of you to come visit! :)

An update....

Sorry I haven't updated lately. I was trying to wait until I had some really exciting news or pictures, but some people are too impatient to wait and like to remind me that I haven't updated the blog in a while (TINA!! :)) So... here it is.... we are basically just finishing up school and getting ready to GO! I sold the van 2 weekends ago and rented a little 2 door Toyota (the cheapest car I could find) to get us around until we leave. I wanted to wait until closer to the time we left to sell the van, but I put a sign on it and had an offer the next day, so I decided to take it. I'm glad to not have that responsibility anymore, but I have to say that I will enjoy having the convenience of a van again some day!!

The exciting news that we do have is....... we made an offer on a house in Keller today!!! It's a house that Jason looked at a couple of months ago and really liked. I have been looking at videos, pictures, floorplans, etc. and just didn't really love the house. We looked at some other ones in different areas, price ranges, etc. and the more we looked, the more we saw that while this house isn't perfect, it fits our needs in lots of ways. Eventually, I got the "peace" about it that I had been praying for and now we are hoping it all works out and we can come to an agreement with the sellers on the price! If so, we should be able to close in 2-3 weeks, so it'll all happen very soon after we get back, so we won't be homeless for long. Yay! I hope to post a new update about the house soon when all the negotiations are finished.

Kelsey is getting very sad to leave her friends. I know that part is going to be hard for all of us, but I think the experiences we have had here have been awesome and have changed us all, but it is TIME to come home and we can't wait to be back and get settled back in again!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Because of my sweet girls, I have already had some very happy Mother's Day surprises!! Kelsey was so sweet and thoughtful and sent me these pretty flowers to work yesterday!



Allie was very excited about the gifts she made for me. She is like her Daddy and was unable to wait until Sunday to give them to me! She made this pretty pin in her class:





Allie also made this beautiful card for me. How sweet is that?? She accidentally made the inside writing upside down, but I assured her that upside down cards are actually my FAVORITE kind, so she was releived to know that!! :)








Then, there is Adysen... apparently her class didn't do a Mother's Day project, so she made something for me and put it in the fridge. She has begged me not to look all day, but I must confess that I peeked and found this.....



I didn't even know that I needed a 1/2 rotten banana, a 1/2 empty water bottle and a gogurt in a cake pan, but I guess I did!!! You can always depend on Adysen to come up with a "creative" idea!

Moving!!

Well, the big pack out is finished! It took them 1 full day and about 3/4's of the next day. They have some unusual packing practices here - apparently the goal is to get your stuff into the least amount of space no matter what. So, if there is a spot in a box with kitchen stuff, they go get a toy from the kid's rooms to fill it. They also packed our stuff IN drawers of our furniture - like crammed as much in as they could! The movers who packed us to send us here did not do it that way, so it alarmed me a little. I really can't imagine how long it's going to take me to unpack that unorgaized mess!! I tried to focus on the fact that at least *I* wasn't having to do the packing and moving boxes myself! I've done that enough times to know how much work it is!








Now, we have the loaner furniture back again which is called "boonie furniture" here in Guam. It's functional, but not the most comfortable and our house now feels much like living in a hotel!! We do still have our kitchen stuff, bedding, clothes, etc. that we will send in an "express shipment" right before we actually leave and we are thankful to have all that.
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The Challenges Ahead....

Well, I got "orders" today which will allows me to officially begin the details of the moving process. Now begins the somewhat overwhelming task of getting us and our stuff back 1/2 way across the world while navigating paperwork, processes, and regulations. There are SO many details involved in this move that all have to work together. I found out today that we have to pay $450 to have our house cleaned when we move out in order to pass the "inspection" and we also have to stay in a hotel for several nights while the cleaning and inspection is taking place, so those are expenses that I am not looking forward to. I know it will all work out, but right now I feel like getting on a plane and going back to Disneyland!! :) Moving is not my favorite thing... most of you know that I am a person who likes to have everything in it's spot and the disorganization and upheaval involved in moving is difficult for me. Prayers for sanity and patience would be greatly appreciated!! :)

Mimi's Adventures in Guam - part 3

On Wednesday, we took Mimi to the Chamorro Village. It was lots of fun and we all enjoyed the eating and shopping. The prices are great at the Village which was refreshing after the expensive prices in Tokyo!!







Mimi is so very interested in all the plants and flowers EVERYwhere she goes and always has been!! She had a million questions about all that stuff and I am the WRONG person to ask because I just don't pay much attention to that kind of thing! I did manage to get a few pictures of plants/trees that Mimi was intrigued with here in Guam and maybe some of you other plant lovers will find them interesting too!!








We had SOOOOOOOO Much fun hanging out with Mimi both away and at home!She left for her long journey back to Texas this morning and we miss her SO much already!!! We were SO blessed to get to spend 2 weeks together - we enjoyed every minute!! We LOVE YOU MIMI!!!!