As if I didn't have enough on my plate right now already...

Mark and I put an offer on this house on Friday, and after a short bidding war with the seller, our offer was accepted yesterday! :-)  We are SOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!  

The seller is requesting a 30-day escrow, and we sign papers today.  Our realtor tells us that this could go very quickly--less than 30 days.  We are hoping for a good report from the home inspector, with only minor and no major repairs, and that our loan information is processed without delay.  If all goes well we could be moving in the weekend after Thanksgiving!  (We may need some extra hands/trucks if you are available!)

On another note...the Italians arrived yesterday.  The two teachers are staying with me until Sunday or Monday, then staying with another family until they leave on November 7th.  They brought with them 17 students and I found each of the students a home with one of our SHS students.  It has been great to have them here!  

I was just reading Tammy's blog and she mentioned that she is having an issue with dead flies in the window sills.  It reminded me of a time not long ago...

One morning I woke up to about eight thousand flies in my apartment.  Okay, maybe that's exaggerating--maybe there were only 10 or so.  Don't ask me where they came from, I have no idea!  I don't leave doors open, because my mom taught me early on that I wasn't raised in a barn.  :-)  Still, a LOT of flies and I couldn't seem to get rid of them all.  

So, not knowing what to do and getting more and more irritated by those pesky things by the second, I called my mom for the solution.  Of course she had one (moms are great for that!)--she said to open my sliding door and close the screen and see what happened.  It was A-MAY-ZING!!!  They all flew straight to the screen door and just kinda sat there!  All I had to do was open the door and they flew right out.  The end!

Just thought you might want to know...in case you have eight thousand flies show up in your home someday. :-)

What emotional roller-coaster I have been on this weekend.

Update...

Dad went in for an appt yesterday afternoon and met with his doctor.  Mom said the doctor told them that there was no evidence of a large tumor in his abdomen (the on-call doctor from Sunday apparently read the scan wrong), but that the cancer had spread even more.  She didn't tell me exactly where it had spread, just said that there was a lot more in his abdomen.  I asked if it had spread to his kidneys, she said no.  I asked about his liver--it is still infected, and it's grown there too.  :-(

The doctor is going to put together a new 'cocktail' for treatment and my dad will go in on Friday to find out what those new drugs will be.  

Good news (besides the fact that there is no large tumor!) is that Mom said he is feeling and looking a lot better than he was when I saw him on Sunday. :-)

Mixed news...

I was going to give you the good first, but I might as well just give you the bad and follow it up with a ton of good. So first, the bad. 
Mom gave me and Mark some news when we stopped by their place yesterday. Dad hadn't been feeling well for the past few days and that morning he was having an unusually hard time getting around. They were very concerned, so they called the doctor to check on a scan that my dad had on Friday. The doctor on-call read the scan and told my dad that he has a new big tumor in his abdomen. For the past few days it has made him extremely sick, he's not eating hardly anything, and he can barely walk. He is going in to the doctor today to find out if it's operable...keep him in your prayers please. And my mom...and me and Jen too.

Okay, now the good. 

Saturday was my first bridal shower and it was wonderful.  My aunt created a beautiful setting with table decorations and pictures of Mark and I and a delicious lunch.  My family and a few friends were there, and it was so nice to see everyone again.  Everyone was very generous and Mark and I were given many things that we requested on our registry!  We are so thankful!  Now we're in the process of boxing up most of the things until we have a house to use them in. :-) 

Saturday night we had dinner with Amanda and Carl.  So fun to catch up with them!  Mark and Carl spent some time together while Amanda and I went to my bridal shower.  I hadn't seen Amanda since the homecoming, so it was nice to spend some time with her (in the car on the way to and from the shower) and her husband.  We ate at Sals...yummy!

Sunday was church with Ashley and then a little shopping afterwards.  Then off to Mark's welcome home BBQ.  On the way we had some errands to run, so we did those and then stopped by my parents house and got the news from my mom.

The BBQ was really fun.  Mark had printed some of the pictures he took in the different ports and put them into an album for my family to look through.  We BBQd burgers and watched the Red Sox game until the 5th inning.  And all of a sudden what we thought would last only an hour or two, turned into a four-hour BBQ.  I enjoyed it though!  

About 20 minutes after I was home my cousin Whitney sent me a text message with a picture attached.  It said "We carved pumpkins tonight!" and had this picture:

And of course she said YES!  Yay!  So she and Blake are engaged.  I don't know if you remember or not, Blake was one of my students about four years ago, and I set them up. :-)  They've been dating ever since and I'm really excited for them!

That's it for now...hopefully good news about my dad soon.  Please pray!

Mark and I were able to see the Blue Angels this past Saturday in San Francisco.  The show was amazing!  We bought tickets for a cruise during the show, so we were out on the water as the jets were flying above us.  I know what you're thinking...Mark just got off a boat for seven months where he was working on jets, wouldn't he be sick of this??  haha.  He was a good sport about it.  In fact, he said he wanted to take me because I have been talking about them for so long and it was a good opportunity for us to spend some time together just hanging out.  Sweet. 

Here are some pictures:

The crowds on Pier 39.  WOW, so many people!  

I'm glad we were on the boat!

The airshow.

Markie and me, on the boat.

He's HOME!!!  Here are some pictures from yesterday. :-) 

Amanda, in front of her house, with the banner she had made for Carl.

Amanda and I at the hangar with our welcome home signs.

My mom and dad drove out for the homecoming too!  

It was great to have them there.  

Dad was my photographer--great pics!  Thank you so much dad!!

They're here!!!  The plane that brought them from San Diego, home.  

Finally home!

The closer Mark gets to being home, the crazier my life has become. I will have to remember this for his next cruise and plan some time to rest a few days before the homecoming.

For the past few weeks I've found myself waking up an hour earlier than I need to, just to get something ready at the apartment for Mark. I'll clean something, or wash something, or move something to a new place. I have been going to bed later too. Just when I think everything is finally finished and ready to go, I remember something else that I wanted to do for him. It seems like a neverending process! But the end is actually near...and I'm so excited!

This weekend I was able to spend some much-needed time with my girl friends.  Mark will be home soon and though I will still want to make time to spend with my girls, I don't know where it will fit in between my classes, work, wedding planning, family time, and pre-marriage counseling.  So this was a great opportunity for some girl talk and good laughs. :-)

Friday night was Amanda's birthday bash (okay, three girls at Panera and then shopping at Target afterwards...not much of a bash, but still so fun!). I'm so thankful for that girl--who knows how crazy I would have been halfway through cruise without her. She knows exactly what I'm going through with Mark being gone, and it's been so great to have her just a phone call away. :-)  

Saturday was Cindy's wedding. Ashley and I left K-town around 10 and headed to LA. Cindy looked beautiful, and it was obvious that a lot of time and planning had gone into their big day. I hadn't seen Cindy in a few years, but it was still great to share such a special day with her and her family and friends. You only have one wedding! :-) Ashley and I headed for home around 8pm, listened to the Bulldogs lose on the way home :-(, and pulled in just after midnight, exhausted and ready for a good long nap!   

I have a Stats test to study for now, then home to tidy up some more!  Less than 48 hours left, and counting!! The next time I post something on here, he will be home!