Umm.......we just bought a house!

This is a very strange situation, as has been confirmed by many other sources!


So here is the thing, we have been renting a house from our friends these two months that we have been back and were resigned to stay here throughout most of the year. Well, when we came back from our trip to Chicago for New Year's, we went to see a house here in Warrensburg that caught our eye. We spent 2 1/2 hours there that day and completely fell in love with it. No kidding, it has all of the things we were looking for-

• Style: Bungalow, check
• wood burning fireplace, check
• bigger kitchen and master bedroom, double check
• land with fruit trees-fun place for kids to work and play etc, check- (including grape vines, cherry trees, apple trees, black walnut, bla bla bla)
• Closer to church, work and school, check
• Ready to move in, check
• Music room, check
  

You get the idea, we figured it would be tough to achieve. So at that point there were some things that we just couldn't do. It was priced a little more than what we were comfortable with, we would have to have the PMI on our mortgage- yuck, after draining all of our savings. We just felt like we really couldn't do that even though it felt just like home.

This is where it gets weird, that day we actually met 2 of the daughters (who are selling it for their parents after 45 happy years there raising 6 children) and actually the mom was on the other side of the property watching us, talking to another lady that wanted to make an offer. We had pretty much written it off as our dream come true. So we were a little suprised when we got a call from our agent on Saturday stating that he had gotten a call from the sellers. They wanted to let us know that they were going to drop the price for us if we would be interested in buying it. We talked about it for a bit then told our agent that we just weren't feeling comfortable with it- I mean who knows if the economy will tank tomorrow. Our agent let them know and they said something to the effect of- this is not about the money, it is purely a sentimental sale and they wanted to see a family in their home- that family would be us! We said "wow, how nice, but not likely", and they said "what do we have to do to get that family in this house". (We found out today that they have a cash offer to close in two weeks- and they are persuing us to buy it for a chunck of change less than asking price.)

We feel like there is another hand very much involved in our life right now. We have spent some steady time on our knees this weekend and have been able to resolve all of our original concerns- so, we just bought a house. Good thing we still have lots of boxes to pack things back up in!

Opa!

We have had lots of fun things going on in our lives this last week- Zachary is playing recognizable songs on the trumpet- way to go Zach!! Eli can spend hours upon hours playing Lego's with friends or by himself. Kaija aced a test in science, though we were in NY during the actual unit study. Isabella has found that moving to a new school is not such a bad thing, and she has found long lost friends and delights in her wonderful teacher! We also have our dear Jeannette staying with us a couple of days a week, she is a delight to have in our home! This goes as a reminder that everyone is welcome- especially if you want to be awakened by Joseph practicing the piano at 6am, sorry Jeannette!

Yesterday we had a wonderful visit with some of our friends who previously lived here in the Burg- always wishing for more time to visit. But, that is the beauty of friendship; it is ever present, even though time has passed and distance makes gathering infrequent. You can just pick up right where you left off and rejoice in the goodness of life experiences.

On Friday night we went with some other friends to Tasso's Greek Restaurant in Waldo Missouri. Where is Waldo, you might ask- well it is located in the south part of Kansas City-who knew! Admittedly it was a lengthy supper and we got to experience the full gamut of excitement that they have to offer.

There was a greasy old guy there with belt cinched around his ribs and a waxed mustache, taking every one's photo and printing them up for you on a Tasso's card- (this is where they make the big bucks!) The man would hand you this photo of you and your loved one which we looked at and sort of put to the side and went on talking, but he would not leave. He remained resolute, examining the photo over our shoulder, then followed with his well rehearsed line " ...you like... that will be $5" then he just stood there waiting! So Joseph being the non- confrontational guy that he is, gave him the money to get him away from us! It really became quite funny to watch as he did this to the remainder of the patrons. So now we have a super photo memory of the night! What ever! You know it makes me wonder what they do with their copy of all those photo's, do they delete them at the end of the day? or are you black listed if you didn't pay the 5 bucks?? I wonder........

There was a guy there playing very loud music, just loud enough that you could barely speak and hardly hear any piece of conversation from the person sitting next to you, let alone from across the table. He played some peppy Greek tunes and quite a lot of Neil Diamond- he really sounded just like him. It was definitely lively- I read one review that stated that if you were looking for a nice quiet romantic evening, you probably don't want to go to Tasso's!

The food was tasty enough- very good dressing for the salad; though it did take nearly an eternity to make it through the meal. There was an interesting version of the plate toss tradition- sort of anti-climatic if you ask me, and we couldn't escape before the belly dancer participated on the program. Gratefully we didn't have to endure the full act; only a minor chair bumping incident, that was majorly funny. Baklava for everyone and a run for the door summed up the exciting evening. So to all of you Greek buffs, "Opa!" and all other happy salutations to each of you!

2008's Closing Events

So there have been a few things taking over my extra curricular time lately, certainly moving back to Warrensburg and all of the unpacking and sorting and pitching of seemingly endless quantities of stuff, has been a major activity. But the added benefit of Christmas and a couple of fantastic trips away from the Burg, has delayed my progress on some of the other things I like to do, like blogging for instance. I have decided that I like to blog, because it helps me to remember what is going on in my life, this is due to the fact that I am a completely random journal writer, which in fact leads me to be a random blogger-so that doesn't help me out too much.
To help me realize my delinquency in this area of my life, Zach has had a project in school this last week, to do a timeline of his life. It has been very challenging, much to my chagrin . First of all to actually locate appropriate pictures of periods throughout his life span- one problem encountered is there is a period of time completely missing due to our cameras being stolen back in the summer of 07, which had quite a bit of data stored therein- (it just feels like a personal mental block), secondly is to remember when things actually took place. I have a pathetic memory when it comes to that. I am a little alarmed really to find that my brain got packed away somewhere with everything else, and I can't find it either! I think I have come across all of the boxes of photo albums and copious amounts of prints-including many doubles, still in their original envelopes. I will save that adventure for another day! However, one of these days in the future you may come across an envelope of photos in your mailbox from yours truly; not today however!

So for now, I finally did find all of the cords and pieces to the camera so I could download photos from our last bit in NYC up to this very time. Just sorting through those seems to take up much more time than I would like it to! Having said that, you can either continue and check out some of those picture "perfect" moments, or just take a pass on the Nielsen memorabilia!

This first set is of our last days in NYC- they were packed!

Next is Christmas and our awesome trip to Chicago!

We had such an amazing holiday-our first year staying home! We started a new tradition- celebrating Lillejulaften on the 23rd- all things Norway- great food, great friends. A quiet Christmas morning where the kids were delighted for everyone and for everything, a lovely trip to visit cousins in Ozark and Nixa Missouri, and finally a fantastic trip to Chicago for some big city moments with our good friends John and Carrie and their beautiful family! We even joined in on our Stake Temple day in St. Louis on the way home- it was perfect! Thanks to all for making it so wonderful!

Fantastic Sabbath

On Sunday we were running behind, and trying frantically to get ready for church; just then we received a phone call to let us know that church was cancelled because the water lines had frozen. We were so relieved, then sad to miss the services before Christmas, then glad to have some special time as a family.

Joseph was set apart to be a member of the High Council at the Stake President's house, then we were invited to join with our good friends in a small gathering for a Sacrament Service. We were so glad that we had this wonderful opportunity, and the spirit was very strong. The novelty of the situation was fun for the kids and they had some giggles, but it was so fantastic to join our voices in song and prayer in this special Sabbath day worship- these opportunities are few, but always memorable!

We also enjoyed the company of the Young's for dinner later in the day, and just had a lovely time visiting and eating yummy food!

What a beautiful time of year to reflect on the Savior's birth, his life and his great sacrifice for all of us! So grateful to have the light of Christ in our lives each day.

Now, Where is That?

Part of the joys of moving includes the constant echo, "Now, where is that ____". I could fill in that blank with a number of things like, the hardware to the girl's beds, or the camera docking station, that is needed so we can download all of our pictures to the computer-even the extra cable would be fine, but we can't find that either. These are the things that make moving a tad frustrating. I can find all the broken pieces to toys, and old towells and rags, or a thousand books that we really should donate to another home, but never those few items that are at the top of our list to find. Hopefully tomorrow we will come across them as we get the remainder of the stuff from the storage unit. Of course that won't help with the camera issue since that was a item coming back from New York. It isn't like you can substitute an empty flower pot, that has been sitting on the kitchen cupboard for over a week, to fill in as the needed item- drat! We have plenty of useless stuff that I just don't know what to do with- each box has a few curve balls; the majority has a home, but there are those few items that worked in one place, now they just don't seem to fall naturally into a new spot- designed just for them. These are the items that will likely go into those boxes labeled BYE BYE! Oh the joy!
Now I have to stop writing about it and get back to work- must hurry, we have the Quimby Pipe Organ holiday party at lunch today!

Returning Home

Wow- what a difference a day will make! Funny how one day you are in the cultural mecca of the world and the next day you are back in your familiar little town, boasting of a Wal-Mart and Lowe's for all your shopping pleasures; it seems strange and almost dreamlike that you could have ever experienced what you just did.
That old adage "I love New York" is ingrained in our very souls now- I mean really, how could it not be so! We miss Fairway, the beloved and busy grocery store that has more amazing delights crammed into one small building, than the entire town of Warrensburg. Gone are the days of gourmet cheese- sorry Joe, no more Gietost and Dutch Parrano!

Getting behind the wheel of the van was another experience- the kids were flipping out about our driving, which they seemed to think was rather crazy, because when you drive down your neighborhood road and there is a mailbox or a trash can- they think that you are going to hit everything. Whatever! This is from children very comfortable riding in buses, taxis, and subways, with blaring horns and cut corners, swerving and all manor of less that desirable tactics. I was shocked and stunned at their reaction- perhaps they were just looking for the same thrill!

We had been back a couple of days when Eli came to the stark realization that we were not returning to our previous home! He asked one night when we were going to go back to our "white house", he had enough of the camping out. When I told him that someone else lives there now, he was devastated and broke down into sobs. Bless his heart, this particular transition has been the most difficult for him! He is doing well now, we have gotten a couple boxes of his toys and some of our Christmas decorations out- so we are good! That was the kids one request when we got back, was to have our tree up and make it feel like Christmas here. We really enjoyed the festive feeling in NYC and had to appease them somehow! So now we have a tree and some garland and a couple of chairs and a fold out table, some nice air mattresses from friends and we are good to go! This is the week of retrieving our belongings and purging all unnecessary items! Everyone should live in NYC for at least a few months to see how maximum living can be done with minimal belongings! One great lesson for the Nielsen family!

Giving Thanks

Well our time is short here, and it feels like it is the most natural thing to move on, and we are ready to shift into the next phase of our lives. But, not without giving thanks for our many blessings right now.
We are tremendously thankful for:

• Amazing friends and family near and far, who build us up, strengthen us, and help us be better people
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which literally helps us keep our focus where it should be- on Christ and our families
• The Church, which creates a family for us where ever we are
• The Temple, which provides peace and learning in a turbulent environment
• Good health, which has been a tremendous blessing for our family
• Beautiful children, who are a delight and help us to be a little less selfish
• Music, that makes life more full
• Diversity, which makes all things more wonderful
• Art, that stimulates every feeling
• Talents, which we all have and those of others that bless our lives
• The earth, and its many bounties and beauties that bring us gladness
• New York City, and all the marvels that she holds
• Warrensburg, and all the potential that is there
• Public and private transportation, that gets us where we want to go
• Challenges and trials, that make us stronger
• Laughter, that makes everything more bearable
• Holidays, that help us reflect on our blessings
• Change, which keeps life interesting
• Good food, that delights the palate and encourages gathering with friends and family

Much love and appreciation from the thankful Nielsen's