We listed our house in the second week of July, asking kind of a middle-to-high-road price for our house size and location. Then we waited. And waited. Jason started to get a little worried that the house wouldn't sell, and I said, "Don't worry about it. If it's meant to happen, it will."

By August, we still had not had any showings, so we dropped our price significantly. We were hoping to sell by the end of the month, so that we could be moving no later than mid-September. "The market's been flooded," we were told, and with 108 properties on the market, we wondered if we even had a chance.

We waited for about another week, and then it suddenly seemed as if Peace River had, collectively, decided it was time to shop for houses. For the next two weeks, we had showings every day or two, sometimes more than one a day, but no offers. I was too tired from all the cleaning to be worried, but Jason was getting increasingly doubtful.

Finally, we had an Open House, after which we were told that one couple was interested enough to go through the house twice. That was on a Thursday. But by Sunday, there were still no offers.

That was when I began to doubt. See, we had always put our plan to move to Arkansas in the Lord's hands, and He seemed to be opening the doors. But if this door didn't open, we couldn't go. Not only that, even if we weren't moving to Arkansas, we needed to sell our house anyway, because another winter in this huge beast would bury us, especially considering I had already given up all of my students. So if we didn't sell the house, and ended up staying here, Jason was talking about taking a second job by the end of September.

The next day, we had a noon showing. The same couple looked at it again around supper time. Then they gave us an offer before bedtime.

The day after, they accepted our counter-offer, and we had another showing that gave us a back-up offer. The following day, that couple accepted our counter-offer.

So. We now have two accepted offers on our house. Both are for the same amount of money, for only $5000 less than our current asking price. Both for the same possession date. The financing condition on the first offer has been cleared, and their house inspection is on Monday, which is the only other condition, so I guess we'll know about that one pretty soon.

With the offers in hand, and a moving date on the horizon, with a 4-day weekend for Jason coming up, we took the time to go for one Final Hurrah to visit family and friends around Sylvan Lake and Red Deer on Labour Day weekend. While we weren't able to catch up with everyone (I mean, c'mon, like our friends are going to avoid making plans just in case any of their friends call them at the very last second to get together? Right.) we did get together with our old friends Chad and Renée M., and Candace V. (I got to see baby Zoe for the first time!), as well as my brother and Dad, my grandparents and Uncle Darrell and Auntie Joy, and Jason's entire family. It was a busy weekend, and it feels like all we did was go from this place to eat, to that place to eat, and then we did... guess what? More eating. By Monday, on the way home, we were stuffed, and felt kind of icky from a rather high percentage of our diet being fast or processed food for the weekend.

It was worth it, though. But I'm glad the feasting didn't last any longer. Tuesday, I made a wonderful vegetable broth soup to start getting our bodies back on track. Within a few days, we felt pretty good again.

Despite the fact that I am now packing, and changing addresses, and taking care of a million little last-minute things that need to be done when moving, especially a move of this magnitude, I also started school with the boys on Tuesday. We are only doing half-days right now, as I really don't have the time to do a full day of school with everything else on the to-do list. However, we are still managing to work on the three R's every day, as well as some other "fun" stuff incorporating science, art, social studies, etc. We are doing a unit study on the character trait of Attentiveness, and our current topic is the five senses, starting with hearing. On Thursday, we "made" an ear, using blankets for the ear canal, a jar of water for the vestibule, with socks wound up or attached to the jar for the cochlea and semi-circular canals. The kids got to climb through the ear, telling me where they were in it and what each part did, banging on a metal lid with a maraca for the hammer and anvil, and basically "being" sound all the way from the ear flap to the nerve (skipping rope) that went to the brain. This is only one example of the cool ways this curriculum incorporates learning and makes it "real" to the kids. So fun!

So, as I sit here typing, we are about two weeks away from our moving date. I have several boxes packed and stacked around the house, but plenty more to go. Chances are, my blogging rate is going to go down now that school has started again (as evidence is already suggesting), and then during the move I will be taking a hiatus. However, for now, I'll try to keep capturing memories with words as much as I have time for.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us during this time of transition, and who continue to do so. Your prayers are felt and appreciated.