A Little Sad

Grandpa Hicks was here to visit this past weekend and it was nice to have him but he will no longer be staying with us during the summer months. I knew this was coming because he was not here much this summer. The stairs have become harder for him and I have stairs. Every time you want to get out of my house there are stairs. I would have more than willing to have him and Hannah change rooms (Grandpa slept downstairs and Hannah on the main floor) to have him stay. It really hit me when I was downstairs after he left that there was no clothes hanging in the closet and none of his personal items on top of the dressers. It made me sad and longing for him to come back and he had just left that morning. It's a bummer to have your parents getting older.

Anna thought it would be fun playing with her food. I sent Ed the pic, and the first question was is it poop? All I could do is laugh. At less she know how to make me smile.

Kids' Schedules

So for those of you who are in the area and would like to attend, here are the activities Lexi and Merrit have going on through the end of the year. I will try to post the elementary concerts as I get more info for them. Lexi's Choir Schedule Messiah Concert - Dec. 7 at Central Nazarene Church (I'll have to get the address later) at 7 p.m. Holiday Concert - Dec. 13 at the high school auditorium at 8 p.m. Holiday Collage Concert - Dec. 19 or 20 at the high school auditorium at 6 and 8 p.m. each night. You have to purchase tickets for these concerts so you need to let me know in advance if you would like to go and when so I can get the tickets for you. These concerts are really great. I would highly recommend going. Merrit's Cross Country Schedule 9/11 at Carmen-Ainsworth middle school at 4:15 pm 9/15 at Springfiled Oaks Golf Course (12450 Andersonville Rd. in Davisburg) at 8 am 9/18 at HOME at 4:15 pm 9/22 at Linden Community Schools Complex at 8:50 am 9/25 at Grand Blanc East middle school at 4:15 pm 9/28 at EA Cummings Center in Mt. Morris (where the county fair is held) at 4 pm 10/2 at Davison Regional Park at 4:15 pm 10/9 at HOME at 4:30 pm 10/13 at Huron Meadows Metropark (8765 Hammel Rd. in Brighton) at 11 am 10/16 at Silver Lake Park in Fenton at 4:15 pm The kids would love to see you come. Hope you can.

Large Animal Auction...

The kids sold their goats at the large animal auction for the first time today. They usually sell in the small animal auction and we've been trying to get them moved for the last couple years. This year the goat committee voted and put us in the large animal auction. We are so glad! Last year, the best price our goats got was $1.75 per pound. This year Lexi got $3.00 per pound, Merrit got $2.75 per pound and Makayla got $4.00 per pound. We are so happy!

Update

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, Charlie didn't get the job in Wisconsin. Oh well. Moving on...

Blahhh...

We've been getting ready for the Genesee County Fair all week (well really over the whole summer so we wouldn't have to cram at the last minute, but here we are still cramming). I think we are almost finished with our preparations. We are actually going to camp at the fair grounds this year (1st time) and that means that I have to get the camper ready and figure out a menu and food for the fair too (something I haven't had to do before). Plus, of course, our regular lives don't pause for us to be able to do everything we need to for fair either. It's been a "fun" week. Can't wait until it's over. We've had some fun weather the past two days too, to top it off. It's been rainy and in the 60s. Not what we've been used to this summer, but I'm not complaining. I actually like the rain and cooler weather. I also have an update, sort of, about Charlie's job search. He put in an application for an assistant principal job at the same school in Wisconsin that he taught at 4 years ago. He told me he did it only half thinking that they might call him back. Well they did call him back and he has an interview there on the 13th (of course it's the day our kids show their goats at the fair too). We've been doing a lot of praying and talking about our options in the future and here is kind of what we've been thinking... If Charlie is offered the job and we decide to accept it (we are pretty sure we will accept if it's offered, but not 100% yet), then he will move to Wisconsin and I will stay here with the kids for this school year. We don't think we could sell the house that quickly, and there are several things we need to finish in the house before we feel like it would sell well anyway. We think we could probably get those things finished within a year. Charlie would probably only be able to come home once a month so we'd be skyping a lot (which sucks!). We've thrown around the idea of buying him a small fixer-upper to live and work on and then sell at the end of the year. That way we could potentially have a little more money to put down on a new house and we would have a place to stay with him if we were able to go visit him. We think this might be cheaper than renting an apartment, but haven't really done any serious looking into it yet. We think he could also rent a room from a member of the church there. We still have several friends in that area from when we lived there before. In fact, Charlie is staying the night at the bishop's house the night before his interview. So that's another cheap option for his living accommodations. I only have 10 classes left before I finish my degree. We think it's the best thing for me to just get finished so I don't have to transfer anywhere if we have to move. So this fall I will be taking 5 classes a semester so I can finish and graduate in the spring. I'm a little freaked out since I've been only taking 2 classes at a time, but I think I can handle it. I just might not get the grades I like to get. I will be doing this even if Charlie is in Wisconsin or not, so it's going to be ten times harder without his help. If he doesn't get the job, he'll just remain teaching at Beecher (which he's really ready to be done with) and we will still fix up the house, just in case we need to move next year for an administration job. The kids are glad that we won't have to move quite yet, especially Alexis. They really want to stay in their schools. I don't blame them. I know it's hard to start over at a new school. I think they may not feel so happy to be staying once we've been away from Charlie for a long time (if that becomes the case). So here we are, living in limbo again. Waiting to see how things will play out. I kind of wish I had a better idea of what was going to happen. Oh well.

The faces of Wyatt