Moving On

Just a quick update...we are officially "renters" in our current house though we did sign the papers on our new house this week! We are now busy packing and prepping for our upcoming move. This is definitely a reminder that God's timing is not necessarily the same as what our timing would be...but we are soooo thankful that He has been faithful to work out all of the details right when they need to happen!

Home Sweet Home

It's official...we sold our house! We accepted an offer the third week of October, almost exactly 6 months to the day that we listed it. The buyers signed the papers today and it is supposed to close next week. It was a long process but God was definitely at work and orchestrated a great ending! While we had a couple of offers prior, they weren't even worth considering. Finally, one morning we had an offer come in that was reasonable so we met with our realtor to prepare a counter offer. Literally minutes after we left his office and right before his assistant faxed our counter offer, we got a call from a new agent who said we would be getting another offer that day! After SIX (very long) months of waiting, we had two competing offers! At that point our realtor didn't yet know the details of the 2nd offer but he was able to tell them we had another offer on the table so they knew it needed to be competitive. God put the final "stamp" of approval on the whole thing by laying a specific amount on my heart to pray for. Just seconds after I finished praying and asking for that specific amount, our realtor called and shared the details of the 2nd offer. Guess what?! Same exact amount that God laid on my heart to pray! Don't you just love when He works in a way that makes it so obvious that it was HIM all along?! That confirmation alone was well worth the wait!

The buyers did agree to let us rent back until we could find another house. Just one week after we accepted the offer, we found a great house to buy and had an offer accepted on that house. We are now just waiting for the appraisal on the new house and expect to hear back in the next few days. Praying that goes well! If it does, we will be moving the weekend before Christmas. Moving during the holidays is not exactly what the "planner" in me would have planned but with God, all things are possible!

Fall Fun with "Family" Friends

As you can tell by the title of this post, I'm not feeling all that creative as I sit here typing this. It does capture the feeling well though. We love going to the pumpkin patch each year with our "pretty much like family" friends. Fun times with the Curtis and Booth families!

This morning the Little Miss asked Mr. Wagner, "Why are you wearing THAT shirt?"...

thinking she should have asked more about the hat

 

Love these girls!

Mr. Wagner likes to make fun of my new muck boots...I think they are stylin'

"Old" friends

We tried to get a pic of all the kiddos but they were pretty much all outtakes.
Those are some cute kids though!

Flips, Flying and Fun!

We celebrated our girl's 7th birthday with family and friends doing flips, flying and having fun! OK, so it was mostly the kids doing the flipping but children and adults alike enjoyed the party at our local gymnastics gym. The Little Miss chose the venue and had a terrific time playing with her friends on the beams, bars, trampoline, foam pit and vault. Fun times!

Blooming

Dear Little Miss,

It amazes me to think that you turned 7 years old today. Wow. You are becoming quite the young lady. A true blessing to your parents and so many others. Your kind heart, joyful spirit, desire to be right yet strong dislike of being in trouble (a trait your parents sure do appreciate and hope carries on into your teen years!), your contagious laughter and beautiful smile...you shine the light of Christ to everyone around you.

As I think back on the first day that you entered this earth 7 years ago, I am overwhelmed. It used to be that I was overwhelmed with questions of "why?" and feelings of failure and grief because both your parents missed out on your first moments (I was "sleeping" at the time and your daddy was driving like a mad man to race from work to the hospital which was several hours away). It took me your first few birthdays to not be overwhelmed with reminders of those trials.

Today, on your 7th birthday, my heart was not overwhelmed with those thoughts. They came to mind some but much less so. Today, I was overwhelmed with thankfulness to be able to hold our precious 7 year-old beauty in my arms. To be your mommy. To stand beside you in church and worship Jesus together. To finally feel like God made even those first moments precious. Moments that I wouldn't trade or do differently. Moments that years down the road, will make you even stronger.

You, My Girl, had to be a fighter from your first breath. You didn't give up. Most of all, GOD didn't give up on you. He has amazing plans in store for you Sweet Child. Plans that I am excited to get to be a part of. I am honored to watch you bloom.

I love you more than words can say, forever and forever.

Mama

Photo courtesy of the amazing Joani Curtis

First Day of 1st Grade

It's official, school is now in session! The Little Miss had her first day of 1st grade today. She LOVED it. It helps that she knew her teacher in advance since she is a friend of both Mr. Wagner and Yours Truly from our church college group days. That made the transition much easier, both for our girl and her verklempt mama. Can't believe how fast our 2.5 lbs baby is growing up!

Summer 2013

It's amazing to think that summer is coming to an end already...craziness! The time has flown by and I was reminded this week by my dear dad that it's due time for a new blog post. Since it's been awhile, here's a quick recap of our summer:

June - Thanks to her daddy's patience and persistence, the Little Miss learned to ride her bike without training wheels. A big accomplishment for our cautious girl! She'll be mountain biking before you know it.

July - We headed to Bend to celebrate the 4th with a Family BBQ and most importantly, the Pet Parade. The Little Miss got to walk "Bandit" for the 2nd year in a row thanks to my uncle who had him groomed and ready to go (flag-themed bandana and all). It was a special way to remember Aunt Jenny who loved both the little girl and her dog.

In July, the Little Miss and Yours Truly also enjoyed a camping trip to Lemolo Lake with Papa & Mimi and my brother and SIL (Mr. Wagner had to stay behind to study). Lemolo was our family's favorite place to camp and ski when I was growing up so it was extra special to get to share it with my daughter. The Little Miss also enjoyed our day trip to the coast where she got to "drive" the boat with Papa.

Toward the end of July the Little Miss got to join in the annual Gossers Grandkids Camp. We are so blessed that they include her as one of their own and that she gets the time to learn bible lessons and play with "cousins". Always one of her favorite weeks of the year!

August - This month started off with a camping trip to Timothy Lake with my extended family. We had a terrific time swimming in the lake, canoeing, biking, visiting and eating great food. Such a beautiful location and fun company! August also included a couple of short trips to Bend and ended with the Little Miss and I going on a girls weekend to Lincoln City with two of my good friends from high school and their daughters. This was our second annual trip and I hope it is a tradition in the making.

Other activities that we enjoyed this summer included swim lessons, outings to our neighborhood pool, and trips to the horse barn to see Lucky. Now off to enjoy our last few days before school starts...

Life Goes On

Hello Dear Readers (if any of you are still out there), the West Coast Wagners are still around. Life has been busy and full of it's ups and downs the past few months. A few of the high and low lights:

1. We listed our house for sale. So far we have had a number of lookers but no buyers. If we sell, we are hoping to find a place closer to our girl's school with a little more land (or at least a larger lot). We're trusting God's timing (in keeping it real, I admit I am doing a lot of praying and confessing because I often feel impatient with the whole process. Being an extreme planner, the current waiting/holding pattern is definitely refining).

2. The Little Miss graduated from Kindergarten at the end of May, crazy to think she is going to be in 1st grade next year!

 3. We lost my dear Aunt Jenny. I am thankful that I got to be with my aunt and uncle (who had just recently celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary) during her last few days and cherish those very special moments. She entered the gates of heaven on Monday, May 20th with my uncle, brother and I by her side. We miss her dearly. Holidays in Bend and trips to Hawaii won't be the same without our favorite hostess who loved preparing big meals and celebrations for family and friends. Sundays aren't the same either without our weekly calls. Aunt Jenny adored her great niece, who thanks to her just inherited about 500 teddy bears (literally). We may need to up the size of that house we are looking for...

Aunt Jenny with the Little Miss in 2006



Our Dear Old Man

The girls of the Wagner house sure love our 'old man'...in this case I'm not referring to Mr. Wagner (tho' of course we love him too!). The 'old man' of whom I am speaking is our horse, Skip's Lucky U-2 (i.e., "Lucky"). Lucky officially turned 28 on April 6th. It's crazy to think I won him when he was 3 months old (he wasn't even weaned!). He has been one of the biggest blessings of my life and I am so happy to get to share him with my own daughter. The Little Miss is turning into quite the horse girl!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We hope you all experienced the luck of the Irish today! While I like to celebrate with Irish food, cabbage and anything corned or pickled does not go over well with the other members of my family. Instead we carried on our very Americanized family tradition with loads of artificial food coloring. The Little Miss celebrated this morning with green eggs and green milk, Mr. Wagner added green to his yogurt and just before the Little Miss could complain that her mama wasn't going to eat anything green, he generously tinted my coffee green (ummm...thanks Honey). Lucky for you, I didn't get the chance to get a family picture with all of our green tongues (see, you were lucky today!).

Welcome Tooth Fairy!

The Little Miss has been eagerly anticipating the loss of her first tooth and has complained several times the past few months about being one of the last kids in her Kindergarten class to lose a tooth. That all changed today thanks to the assistance of a bit of dental floss and a mama who was determined to get the tooth out that had been hanging on for dear life for the last week. Guess it's time for our household's Tooth Fairy to find her wings (and a dollar from Mr. Tooth Fairy's wallet).

The Grand Gourmet Group

OK, so we are not so "grand" nor are we really "gourmet" but we did kick off our "try to be gourmet" group this weekend with our good friends the Donnes, Booths and another fun couple we just met (the Stonebergs). Brian Donne's parents have gotten together with their good friends for a gourmet dinner club for over 30 years and suggested that we might enjoy doing something similar (especially since we all like to eat!). The Booths hosted our first event with a French theme and we all brought a side or two to share. It was très délicieux! A fruit and cheese plate plus baked brie and crackers to start, a green salad tossed with a french-style honey vinaigrette and topped with creamy goat cheese, coq au vin on top of roasted potatoes sauteed with fresh herbs, a fresh baguette from our favorite local French bakery and creme brulee for dessert. All the food was super yummy! We had a wonderful, relaxed evening of visiting and eating...and now just need to set up a workout date (or 20) to make up for the evening. Can't wait for our next gathering!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hoping your day was filled with loads of chocolate, hugs, kisses and most of all LOVE! Happy Valentine's Day from our family to you and yours!

A Belated Christmas (and New Years) Dress

I hope there are still a few of you readers left out in cyberspace...sorry for yet another long hiatus from this blog. I started this post at the start of the new year but seem to have maxed the storage capacity of images on blogspot so I had to delete a few posts before I could add more pictures. Now onto our (semi) regular programming....

I know we have all moved past the holidays but I couldn't miss posting about this year's Christmas dress. As I've mentioned in the past, one of my favorite holiday traditions is finding a Christmas dress for our girl and then taking pictures of the Little Miss and her good friend Allison together in their holiday attire. This year was even more exciting for the girls as they had "matching" dresses. We didn't actually get their pictures together until New Years Day but we did manage to sneak in a quick photo shoot before we all headed up together for our 2nd annual New Years Day sledding outing. Love these fancy girls!