Finding our Princess her castle

Today, our Princess Camille turned one year old. What that really means is that it's been one year since my waters broke and then waiting for ten hours for labor to start and feel painful and then for two hours of intense pain before Camille was born. That also means it's been one year minus one day since Russell succombed to croup. Ah, memories!

Camille's 12-month stats: 18.2 lbs, 28" in length, and 25% overall in size. She's the same size that Russell was at six months of age. I'm glad she has her big brother to take care of her! Russell took the above picture of Camille with our camera at our latest camp-out at HMB.

We haven't officially bought Camille a present yet. Russell plans to buy her a pink purse. She's always into mine and he figures she needs her own;-) What we hope to buy her is a castle.

In the last five years, our rent has gone up $250/month since signing our original contract. Thankfully, at this time we are not in contract so if we move, there is nothing to break. We've reached our max in this condo. I've loved most of the memories here... the friends & family visits, the births of our two children (well, at the local hospital), and the awesome location; close to San Franscico and close to beautiful views of nature. The straw that broke the camel's back was just two months ago when we received our latest notice of rent increase.

At that time, Dan started researching VA loans and we talked to a finance guru who told us how much we qualified for in purchasing power. In the last few weeks, Dan and I have viewed homes in our price range and last night we put in our first offer. If this offer isn't accepted, that's okay. We'll keep castle-searching and place another offer. VA loans are tricky to work with so that will be our "fleece" with a potential purchase. As we read Russell his nightly devotions, it is amazing how the bottom line of most Biblical stories is obeying God and His directions.

We cherish your prayers for our family during this time. We won't be leaving the Bay area but we will be moving 25+ miles south of here- which means eventually finding a new church community. In light of our family/married life this will be a small move but for now, it seems so overwhelming. I'm just glad we'll still be close enough to keep in easy contact with our current friends.