Q1 Going Strong With More Gains Expected in Q2

Spring is the best time of the year (regardless of what Dale says). Temperatures are perfect, wild flowers are blooming, outdoor activities can resume. Ahhh, sounds wonderful. Unfortunately, spring is still one month away, and it is currently 29° with a wind chill of 6°! Texas winters are fairly mild, but we do get occasional reminders of how fortunate we are not to live up north (one of many reasons, haha).

To me, spring feels fresh and full of possibilities, and I expect that the next few months will bring quite a few fun adventures. I’ve already revealed that we are having a granddaughter in May, but I haven’t shared that by the end of March, our youngest two kids will be new home owners! What a blessing. We’ve been praying for this!

New Home Owners

Our son and his wife are buying a home in our neighborhood, which will make seeing our new granddaughter easy, and our younger daughter and her husband are buying a home in New Braunsfels, an hour closer to us! Our oldest daughter and her husband started their home-buying journey many years ago, and are currently living in a beautiful home in North Texas, with our two grandkids.

I can still remember mine and Dale’s first home. It was a 14′ x 80′ three-bedroom box with wheels, situated in the lovely Royal Valley Mobile Home Park in Hubert, NC. We bought it in 1995 for $15,000 and financed it for 15 years. Yes, you read that correctly. Our monthly house payment was about $100 a month. We sold it after a few years for what we owed. It was the cheapest “rent” we’ve ever had. Of course we also had a monthly charge for the lot it sat on, but it was still a bargain. Plus, we were situated close to the dumpsters. Can’t beat those amenities!

A Part-time Gig

Another addition coming to our lives is a new gig that’s going to keep me busy three days a week. The pay is out of this world, and I get to work from home! I’ll be babysitting my granddaughter! This is not something I ever thought I’d do, but I am sure the Lord placed the desire in my heart and I am glad to lend a hand. It will be an interesting experience. I worked full time from age 18-52, except for one year after our son was born (couldn’t afford daycare), so I didn’t even have the opportunity to babysit my own kids! Now I’m looking at play pens, car seats, high chairs and other baby necessities. Unbelievable, right? I’m excited. But before this happens, we have other adventures planned.

Aloha!

March will be a very fun month. On the first Saturday Dale will be conducting a wedding ceremony for a wonderful young couple. The following Saturday is a baby shower for our son and daughter-in-law, then the following weekend we are off to Hawaii for seven days! Our middle daughter and her husband are joining us for that. I’m really looking forward to it. I hope to get some good photos for a blog.

April is pretty chill, then the baby arrives in May! I’m hoping to have foot surgery during that time as well so I will be ready for our two-month road trip to South Dakota and Michigan this summer. I still need to finish planning that trip so we can be home before my new babysitting career starts. More about our road trip coming soon.