Spring Fever

We've had several glorious days of sunny, 70+ degree weather, and we're loving it! One thing we really enjoy about living here are the four distinct seasons. In Seattle, the lines between fall and winter and spring were much blurrier and hard to distinguish. But when winter gives way to spring here, you KNOW it! The explosion of buds and blooms and green is downright exciting, as are the warmer temperatures. But this taste of spring has given two of us in particular a bad case of spring fever. Kitter and I are both longing to have a yard and a garden! When we lived in Seattle, we both really enjoyed gardening together. While I would dig in the dirt, pull up weeds, and water flowers, she would lounge nearby in the dirt and keep me company. As we start our second spring in this townhouse where we have a small, second-story balcony but no yard, I think we're both longing to get back out in the dirt. For me, this means looking longingly at vegetable starts and blooming flowers at local nurseries. For Kitter this means doing whatever she can to recapture her former life as an outdoor kitty. At least that's my best guess as to why she spent the better part of yesterday afternoon huddled in some dry, old dirt leftover from last summer. Poor cat. (We have bird netting hung up across the entire opening of the balcony to keep our kitty from escaping. She jumps up on the railing, meows manically at the birds who've made a nest in the eves over our balcony, and tries to chew her way through the netting.) So, we are living here in our yardless, gardenless townhouse for the indefinite future. We are still waiting for something to happen with the house we've made an offer on. There recently was a court hearing about the house moving towards full foreclosure. To the best of our understanding (since we're out of the loop and not technically involved in the foreclosure proceedings), there is still one more court hearing (date yet to be determined) at which the judge will rule if the house will go into full foreclosure or if that process can be delayed, giving us a chance to buy the house now as a preforeclosure. If the house does go in to full foreclosure, it seems that our chances of buying it (at least in the foreseeable future) will be very slim. The house will likely go off the market for awhile as it gets lost in the shuffle of being sold from bank to bank. There is a chance we could buy the house eventually, but it's all very unknown. The whole thing is confusing and just reminds us that all we can do is pray, ask for God's guidance, and trust that this will all work out one way or another. It's getting hard to be patient, though, as we grow ever closer to July 27 and as my nesting instincts kick into high gear. I really, really, really want to be living in a house for the summer and especially for the start of our life as a family of three. But I'm trying to remember that God knows what is best for us, and that might mean staying put. After a minor fiasco (that involved our rental company telling us that they'd rented our apartment to someone else at the end of May!), it looks like we'll be able to stay here and rent on a month to month basis. So I guess maybe I'll go buy some basil and a few petunias, take the cat out on the porch with me, and make the most of this lovely spring. Other news: we had two recent GREAT visits with family. We had a "cousins weekend" when three of our Cincinnati cousins (and some significant others) came to visit the three of us cousins who live in the area. It was a lot of fun and feasting and talking and catching up. Then my parents came for several days and we immersed ourselves in the crazy world of baby stuff (looking at strollers, car seats, maternity clothes, etc). It was great to have them here, and now they're off to Seattle to visit my brother for a few days. We're looking forward to a visit from Seth's cousin & her family in June, followed by his parents at the start of July. Can't help but hope we'll be living in a house by then....