long overdue update

It's been a while since I've posted anything on here.  Because life has been crazy.

We've known since February that we needed to move out of our apartment by the first of June.  Our landlords wanted the basement of their house.  I tried and tried to convince Steve we should be looking at houses to buy, but made no progress in convincing him until the middle of April.  So, the middle of April we got a realtor and started looking.  Needless to say, we didn't find anything quickly enough to close on a house before the first of June.  In fact, we still aren't in a position to close on a house.  We have 6 offers in on short-sales, but we're not the first offer on any, except maybe the one we put in today.  We haven't heard on that one yet.

I also had a ton of photography jobs come up.  I had ten jobs between the first of March and the end of April--three of which were weddings. I felt like every spare moment of my life was taken up either by processing pictures or looking for houses.

Since we didn't have a house to move into and it would have been just as expensive or more expensive to rent, we decided to move in with Steve's parents until we could find a house to buy.  We moved in about a week and a half ago and things are going pretty well so far.  Hopefully that will continue and we'll be able to get into a house soon so we don't overstay our welcome.

In the last two weeks we also found out about some great opportunities.  Steve applied for and got an interview for a job that he would love to do.  We're still waiting to hear on it.  Wilda also told me about some opportunities to teach distance education courses through her work at BYU Independent Study.  It would be really good pay and I could do it from home, BUT I have to have a current teaching license to do it.  Mine expired last June.  That means I'll be doing some intense teacher training courses this next month in order to bring it current.  Because it will take so long to renew, I might not get any of the classes, but I'm still hoping.  I also found out about some graphic design contract work that would bring in some money a couple times a month.  Since the job was posted the day after we moved in here and a couple days before we moved everything else into storage, it took me a week to get a portfolio together to apply.  It's also a long shot because of that, but I really hope I can get some of that work.  I think it would be incredibly fun and satisfying, as well as a way to get some experience, and bring in a little extra money.

Mira and Emilia are doing pretty well considering the big changes that have happened recently.  Mira is as endearing as ever and finally figured out how to walk by herself last week.  She now has four teeth that she shows off with big smiles regularly.  Emilia was sad to move away from her best friend, Vivian (our landlord's daughter), but she is still a responsible and caring helper.  She is being very brave (for her) lately, too.  She tried out showering, which was a step because she hates the feeling of being splashed or dripped on.  She tried swimming at the pool in the deep part without anyone holding on to her (she was wearing floaties--we haven't put her in swim lessons yet), and she has been willing to try out new foods more often as well.  I'm very proud of her.

If I don't post again for a while, it's because life is still crazy.  But if you don't mind keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, we would very much appreciate the help.  We're hoping for a lot of good things to come our way and I think the Lord will bless us if we keep the faith and continue to pray for the desires of our hearts.  A couple extra voices never hurt though. :)