the-richmonds.net

Well, we did it!

Today, we signed the lease papers for a house in Maine! The lease officially starts on February first. It is a HUGE victorian house with an attached carriage shed that will give plenty of room for the businesses (current and future). I'll take some pictures in the morning and post some of them up here so everyone can get a sneak peek.

Also...

A few hours after we signed the papers about the house in Maine, our realtor called and let us know that we had an offer for our house in Milford! We'll be in touch with our bank to see what they will do with the offer as it would apply to the outstanding loan. Our home will also be featured on the front page of the Nashua Telegraph for the weekend - so we may have a few more showings and perhaps another offer or two come out of that (hopefully!). It'd be fun to see a bidding war for our house!

I'll keep the page updated as things unfold! Thanks for all of the prayers! We're excited to see what the Lord has in store for us here!

I've updated some photos...

Hannah's 25 month size comparison picture has finally been posted.

Several new pictures, including Christmas pictures, have been posted in the Hannah Album (starting on page 2).

And (what you've all been waiting for), there is a new album with pictures of Mason that we took at the hospital.

Enjoy! 

We're so excited to announce the birth of our son!

Mason James made his appearance at 10:53pm on Sunday, December 30th.  He was 7 lbs, 11½ oz, and 21" long at birth.  We just got home half an hour ago, so we're settling in and enjoying the family time now.

Happy New Year!!!

Every once in a while, I stumble across a song that just seems to fit into my life and it "catches".  Yesterday while I was out driving, I heard a song on WLMW (a local Christian radio station that we barely get reception for) that hit me right where I'm at.  I had to Google a few words from the chorus to find out what it was, since the DJs on that station must assume we know every song being played.

I found out that the song was by a group called The Kry, and I know nothing about them (besides what I learned at their website, including the fact that they are French).  It is called "Take My Hand", and it must be one of their lesser-known songs, since I couldn't find much information about it on any of their discography or Wikipedia articles.  But I haven't been able to get it out of my head since I heard it.  The chorus is as follows:

Take My hand and walk where I lead
Keep your eyes on Me alone
Don't you say "why were the old days better?"
Just because you're scared of the unknown
Take My hand and walk where I lead
You will never be alone
Faith is to be sure of what you hope for
And the evidence of things unseen
So take My hand and walk

I just think it's really neat how God can put a song in your heart that is so appropriate for what you are going through in your life at a given time.  As I stand on the brink of a major transition in my life, uncertain of what exactly the future holds for me and my family, I take comfort in knowing that the future is not unknown to our Father.  As I listen to this song, it reinforces the mindset that I need to have: focusing on Christ alone, knowing He is right there with me, and that all things will work together for His good.

Our God is such an Awesome God! 

Yesterday, I went over to my parent's house to help unload a truck that my dad had coming in for his business. As the 28' tractor-trailer was backing up to the shop, it got stuck in a snowbank. We struggled for an hour and a half to try to get it out (sand, shovels, more sand). The way that we finally got it out was a bit unorthodox, but it worked. The driver jacked the trailer off of the tractor, and I used a chain to pull on the tractor with my truck. (Click here for picture of the type of tractor, a former American Freightways International rig). Once the tractor was free, he took an almost jack-knife approach to reattach the trailer, so that he wouldn't have to drive the tractor back into the snowbank as he tried to pull the trailer out.

It's not every day you see a pickup yanking a semi out of the ditch! Love that low-end torque!

Here we are in the midst of the 36th week of pregnancy! I can't believe that we are already this close to meeting the newest member of our family! We can't wait to find out if this little one is a boy or girl, with a head of hair or bald!! Our Hannah girl came at day 1 of week 37, so really we can expect to see this one anytime! We are sure hoping that this baby is early, though when exactly no one ever really knows until the time comes! I am sure we will update this with the stats as soon as the little one enters the world, and Matt can step away for a short time, or find internet in the hospital! Fortunately, what was a sideways baby up to 2 weeks ago, is now head down, so I am very glad that the little one is cooperating!! Now for a smooth delivery!

My family will be here for the holidays in 2 weeks and less! I am so excited to see them! I have the major holiday groceries bought so they won't starve in the event of a Christmas delivery!! Mom, Dad, Britt and Jimmy will be here Saturday night the 22nd, and Steven and Ashley fly in on Christmas day! Everyone will be here for New Years and then they take off shortly after that. I am so anxious to get hugs, and good visits and enjoy the snow and Christmas decorations and music and all the things that come with this time of year. Especially, remembering the true meaning of the season... the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ! I am sure we will celebrate Ashley being our Sister in Christ for one year now! How He is working in her and Steven's life, it is really exciting!

We have had a few showings of our house, as we knew though, the location doesn't work for everyone. Seems that the location is the major drawback for those who did look at the house. But it will work out wonderful for the right person in the Lord's timing! In the meantime, we keep the house in tip top shape all the time in case of short notice for a showing, so it is pretty nice to have the house clean and when we do get the call we just have to do touchups!

Matt is working hard, he has been into 5 day weeks now for a few weeks and he is pretty exhausted. I am anxious for him to be done so he can rest for a small bit, between trying to figure out our next move and trying to entertain for the holidays! But things are looking as if the Lord is opening just the right doors for us, so there is a bit of relief in sight it seems! As things get a little more confirmed, we will keep you posted and let you know the latest in our whirlwind called life!

Hannah was 2, a month ago and she is still such a joy in our life. She is getting her molars, and we don't know when those will cut, but they have changed her schedule a little bit, not too bad, she is still very well behaved for me! She is saying so many new words and putting words together to create sentences... however not complete, but you have to start somewhere! She is so amazed at the Christmas lights on the tree and she just loves the snow! I think she is pretty excited about being a big sister too! She puts her hand on my baby belly and says "baby" and beats her hand like a heart beat while say "dump, dump", it is quite sweet... she has been to many of my dr. appointments and knows what the baby's heart sounds like!

Hope you are all doing wonderfully and enjoy the Christmas season, if we don't get a chance to update again soon, our thought and prayers are with every one of you and we love you! We will let you know when Baby Richmond arrives!!

Just a quick note to say I have finally added some new photos.  We've taken plenty in the last month, but I've been slow getting them off of the camera and sorted, and even slower in picking out the best selection to put up on this website.

The 2 year size comparison picture is up.

Several pictures have been added to the Hannah 20-23 months album, starting on page 10. These include pictures taken at the Punkin Chunkin in Greenfield, Hannah helping with the laundry, and Hannah with Jay.

A new album was created for Hannah 24 months and up.  Photos uploaded here are mostly about her 2nd birthday or playing with things she got for her birthday.

Click here for the NNEREN MLS listing for our house.  It appears as if you need not be logged in to view all information and all photos for the home.  I found this link off of our realtor's website.

We've been neglecting the oven for some time now, and we've had a few spill-overs in the last month.  I decided it was time to see what the self-cleaning oven could do the other night.

The oven heats itself up to extreme high temperatures (the manual warns to remove the racks so they will not discolor and become hard to slide in and out, as well as remove all items from the stovetop and surrounding area).  It burns off any crusted-on gunk in the oven, and when the cycle is complete and the oven has had time to cool, you simply wipe the ash out with a damp cloth.  Pretty cool! 

Well, to start with, the self-clean cycle set off the smoke detectors after a few minutes. The initial burn-off lasted less than half an hour, and the smoke cleared out.  After the oven had been cleaning for two hours, I heard a fan kick on in the kitchen; the over-the-range microwave automatically turned on the hood vent, in an effort to cool itself down.  I should have thought to turn this vent on to begin with (it would have caught much of the smoky air coming from the oven), but there must have been some thermal sensor in the microwave oven that decided that it was getting too hot for it's comfort.  It's almost scary that our electronic appliances are smarter than we are!

Our house came up on the MLS watch that we are subscribed to... The realtor did a nice job with the listing.  And the photos are relevant to the house, not the furniture in the house (like so many of the photos on the MLS seem to be).

Here's a link to our listing on the Yahoo! Real Estate website (appears to be working in conjunction with our local Prudential office).  If you have an MLS service that you are subscribed to, you can plug in the MLS number directly to find it: 2690725

It's hard to see our house, the house that we were planning on spending the rest of our lives in, with all of our personal touches, up for sale.  It is a chapter in our life that we have to close.  I know that the Lord has something much better for us, where ever he leads us from here.  As sad as it seems to be leaving this house behind, it is, after all, only a house.  We are very excited to move on to the next chapter, and are open to the Lord's calling for our life.