I've Got a John Denver Song Playing in my Mind

The song's been with me ever since Sunday evening when Ryan opened his mission call (which one out of the 407 possible places would it be?!!?) 

in front of....Oh, I don't know how many....

a wall-to-wall multitude of his favorite peeps - family, friends, neighbors & church leaders.
(And family who are also some of his best friends, and friends who are also neighbors, and church leaders who are also friends!) 

{with Jaden - one of his best friends}

The song that's been on my mind is "Take Me Home, Country Roads"

Do you have a guess where he got called, now?

The song introduces this place with it's very first words, "ALMOST HEAVEN".

It continues by singing about it's BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS and SHENANDOAH RIVER.

Any guesses now?

John Denver pays tribute to it with the lyrics, "Take me home, to the place I BELONG...."
He reminisces about it with a "teardrop in my eye." 

Doesn't it sound like a MAGNIFICENT place?
Sentimental.  Dreamy.  Impressionable. Touching.

(Oh....John Denver evokes fond memories for me, too.  I hear his songs, and all of a sudden, I'm riding in my dad's Peugeot, listening to his 8-Tracks!!  
So, Matt bought me John Denver's 4-disc set several years ago as a gift!)

 He didn’t get to choose where he'd go. It could be anywhere from Boise, Idaho (very close to us), Florida, Greece, or Japan (where Matt & I served) or many, many other places.

 We had many guesses.

**One last chance to guess!**  ;)
(Matt put the video on facebook a couple days ago, so maybe it's no surprise, now!  haha)

OK.  Drumroll, please....

Ryan has been called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

He has been assigned to labor in the West Virginia Charleston Mission!!!
(He will serve for 2 years, starting August 27, 2014.)

He didn’t get to choose where he'd go. It could've been anywhere from Boise, Idaho (very close to us), Florida, Greece, or Japan (where Matt & I served) or many, many other places,  

but the second he found out where he was called, it was perfect!


We've been in celebratory mode around here ever since - it's SO VERY exciting!!

 A lifetime of waiting, and now we know!

76

THAT is the magic number.

THAT is the number of times we had to show our home before we got our first offer!

Yes, I said 76.
As in SEVENTY SIX!
Like 70 + 6
or 6 + 70
or 7 tens + 6 ones
or 6 ones + 7 tens
or one more than 75
or one less than 77

CAN YOU TELL I HAVE A 1ST GRADER?   (And I've been overseeing/correcting 1st Grade Math homework a lot lately?  That is, when I haven't been showing our home/preparing our home for a showing.)

Yep, we showed it 54 times the first time around we had it up For Sale, a 13 3/4 month period between Nov. 2010 - Dec. 2011.

And then we showed it 23 times this time around since we've had it up For Sale over the last five weeks.
(We've continued to show it, even after the 1st offer, and will until it's a "done deal" - in case you're wondering why the numbers don't add up!)

If you're one of those people who sold their house to the first person who ever looked at it...you are my new worst enemy!  Especially if you told me of "your experience" while I was in the middle of mine!

I've written a time or two about the "perils" of showing a house:
Who Ya Gonna Call?
My Punishment
A Simple Math Equation
Inspiration from Late Night T.V.
This is the Story of my Life
Here We Go Again

BUT, as a "consolation prize" for showing it 76 TIMES  --  did I mention it was 76 times?  --  we then got THREE OFFERS!   

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS!

It's Time for a New Lawn Ornament

Look what showed up in front of our home today....





With this will come a barrage of questions, no doubt. So, I thought I'd just put a stop to all the speculation/judgement/gossip and provide some of the answers/reasons to your inquiring minds right now.

1. ***This is the most important one*** A Bountiful Brave, like myself, just can't let my babies grow up to be Viewmont Vikings! (High School is just 9 months away for Ryan.) It's just not right. ;)


2. So far, we've gone through three different next-door neighbors - THREE! in each of the houses on both sides of us (for a total of 6) over the course of the 9 2/3 yrs. we've lived here...and my ego just cain't take it again if another were to move out on us (isn't it obvious by now that we are the cause?)...so, our plan is to BEAT them to it!


3. We're tired of getting the shaft on Halloween! We've consistently gotten a poor showing of Trick or Treaters (especially this year with the torrential down pour we experienced, but, Hey! that's still no excuse!) - because everyone is just too gosh darn lazy unmotivated to trek all the way up the hill to our home.


4. I've heard it's a sure way to get released from your church calling! (Besides these other two tactics we tried.)


5. We live on everyone's favorite running and biking Lane - and that's just not conducive to my all-blinds-open-walk-around-in-my-underwear lifestyle.


6. My children have lost every last of our 286 balls (again!) in our surrounding neighbors' yards/bushes, and we just can't bear to go knock on their doors for the 2,394th time to ask them to retrieve it for us.


7. My brother is my listing Realtor. Which means that's what he does for a job - ya know, that's how he earns his living.....and have ya heard lately how the housing market is doing in this lovely economy? So, the house-selling money hasn't been the best for him lately...So, I'm just tryin' to help out by giving him some more "business" - and calling it "charity!"


8. Going to this extreme is THE ONLY THING that forces me to clean my home - every day - all the time - no matter what - and keep it that way.


9. I figure with my current 4 children/10 year history with our elementary school, my turn for being PTA President is imminent - especially when my baby starts school in 3 years (when, at that time, I'll have a 5 children/13 yr. history.) And since I need that like I need a hole in my head, I gotta RUN while I can!


10. This home has "Baby Girl-making POWERS." Seriously. Before we moved here -- we couldn't make a girl to save our life! After moving here -- ALL girls! OK - True Story: This woman, who only had boys, but would LOVE to have a girl, suggested I let her and her husband "spend the night" at my home (while we went to stay somewhere else, of course!) because she wanted to partake of these "POWERS!" So, the reason we have to move? We've met our quota on the amount of drama/estrogen/tears/high-maintenance/hair struggles we can handle. We can't take any more chances!

So, there you have it. All very good, solid, reasonable answers. I hope I've satisfied your curiosity. Feel Free to contact "my People" if you have any more questions.