Spring . . . Summer . . . Fall

So much has been happening on the Finstad Homestead over the last few months, we haven't had time to post!  Here's a quick recap (with more detailed posts to come):

In June, Jean and I, along with several other NSA friends spoke to our good friend Carl Herder's graduate fluency class about stuttering and about the NSA.  This is something that we've done a few times now, and we really enjoy it.  What a lucky girl I am to be surrounded by so many awesome stutterers and to have the Herders as friends!

On April 21st we found - and made an offer on - our first house!  It's a 3-bedroom/2-bath rambler with a full basement, sitting on just over one partly-wooded acre atop Apple Mountain.  Just a few days later our offer was accepted, and we began the process of purchasing our home (loan approval, inspections, etc.)  Because we went with a USDA loan, the process was lo-o-o-ng and arduous, but well worth it in the end.










On June 15th, Jean celebrated his 31st birthday.  What an old man!  Once again, I baked him a rainbow-Nutella-Fruity Pebble cake (4th year in a row!) and we celebrated with a quiet evening out together.

In July we head down to St. Petersburg, Florida for a week for the 29th Annual National Stuttering Association Conference.  The Friday before we were to leave we received a call that our home loan had been approved!  The bad news was, since it had taken so long to process, we needed to close on the house the following week, the week we were meant to be in Florida.  We scrambled and were able to change Jean's flight and shuttle reservations, and I head down to Florida alone on Monday morning, and he joined me on Tuesday night after buying our home that afternoon!

We returned from Florida on Monday July 9th around 1PM, and we were already packing by 3PM that afternoon!  Needless to say, we were excited to finally be homeowners, and couldn't wait to get started.  Not sure what we were thinking, though.  Packing sucks!

July 15th - Moving day is finally here!  Several of our friends came over to help us load up the U-Haul, and we were able to move everything in one trip (more or less).  Jean and Carl were NOT happy to be moving the piano up and down steps and around corners, though :)

The day after moving in we hit IKEA to purchase some of the furniture and items we needed for our new home.  It was QUITE the shopping trip!  Let's just say, we're glad we kept the U-Haul for an extra day!

On September 30th we became members of the Front Royal United Methodist Church and couldn't be more thrilled!  Jean has been doing handyman work for the church and has been playing with the Praise Band during services on Sunday mornings, and I have been invited to serve in several different ways as well.  We love our FR-UMC family!

Fall is here now, the leaves are changing, and we're loving getting settled in our new home on the mountain.  Though the home was newly-remodeled when we bought it, we've done quite a bit of work putting our own personal touches on the place, including painting, refinishing furniture and the deck, and remodeling the fireplace.