Balitz family updates!

Where do I start?!

2009-11-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

Ethan's room

Living room

Living room, dining room and kitchen looking from the front door.

Garrett and Kayla~

We have moved into our home!!! WE love it! I still can't believe it is ours and that we are paying a mortgage and not a landlord. The house is great and we are soooooooo happy. Would have included a pic of our room but it is nothing but a king size bed:)

Since moving in we have adopted 2 dogs, Bear; 18 month old Alaskan Huskey and Australian Sheperd, and Maddie; a 1 year old yellow lab and pit mix. As well as a 3 month old kitten named Sally! I know we are crazy but the animals are so much fun and the kids love having them.

Garrett is getting back into a normal routine of sleeping during the day and working at night. He was working all day long, on the house, sleeping a few hours, then going to work.

I am getting used to the animals and still moving things around to where I like them!

Ethan~ Is doing really well. he has a few bed-wetting accidents since the move but seems to be doing really well. He is reading really well and doing great in school! What a blessing he is to our family.

Trinity~ Is doing well also. She has wardrobe meltdowns all the time and gets into a bit of trouble at school but is so smart! She sings to her own tune and that is going to be a good thing when she is older!

Penelope~ Had to be re-potty-trained after moving. Normal I know but really hard. She is in Pre-K with Trinity and loves it! We werent going to put her in but she would cry when we left the other two so we enrolled her and she is having a ball!

All of our children are a gift from God and we are thankful for them every day! (Even when they are bad and get on our nerves:))

Just a brief update on the Michigan Balitz family! So thanks for all of your prayers and have a great Thanksgiving!!!

Sharing what I know...

2009-08-31T14:03:00.000-07:00

What I know really isn't much. Garrett has a short list of things he needs to get done. ie; front storm door installed, screw down counter tops, instal door knobs in bathroom, and just a couple of other small things.

We signed our purchase agreement today and will be getting our closing papers as soon as we pass inspection. We are supposed to have heating/plumbing as well as electrical inspections done today. If they pass then we can order our final inspection. Once we pass the final inspection then we will get our occupancy permit and get to close on the house. Optomistically, I would like to be moving this weekend. Nobody else is sharing my optomism.

Thanks for all of your continued prayers! We will keep you updated on all that is going on.

With love,
Garrett and Kayla

2009-08-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

We are finally coming to the end! Inspections are Friday the 28th! Pray for a perfect inspection!!! Here are some updated pic's. Thank you all for your prayers, keep them coming!

I love my house! I can't wait to move in!!!

Bummer news...

2009-07-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

We heard from our project manager yesterday that our cabinets are not coming in until the 14th of August. We were supposed to be moving in by the 20th of August. But since they are late it pushes back the plumbing and the last of the electrical. We are now looking at the second week of September to move in. This may be okay as Ethan and Trinity will both be in school. I am really disappointed that after all of our hard work and Garrett's sleepless days we are still going to be a month behind. What can you do? Anyway, please keep praying and I will post new pictures soon!

Painted and floors are almost complete!!!

2009-07-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

The girls room. It's purpleish, Trinity's new color!

Ethan's bedroom.

This is our kitchen and dining room! (Cabinets will be here 7/28)

We are looking at a closing date of Aug. 20th! I can't wait! Will keep everyone uppdated and will add more pictures over the next two weeks. the cabinets and the bathroom will be complete during that time. Love you all, thanks for the prayers!

It is in the 80's today!!!

2009-06-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe it, it is finally warmer than 60! I was so sick of the cold weather. Summer is finally here!

Ethan is riding his bike without training wheels! This is a big summer for him, no training wheels, soccer, new tooth, and he can read! My baby is growing up!

Trinity is always the center of attention. She comes up with the funniest things sometimes. Her new thing is to call me Kayla.

Penelope is a very busy two year old! She is constantly going, trying to do all that her brother and sister can do.

House update..

We are finishing up the siding tomorrow so that the excavator can come back out and start on our septic. We will have a raised septic but we will have city water. A raised septic is what it sounds like, but then they cover it with dirt and we can plant and play on it. It will just look like a hill in our back yard. The excavator will also be clearing the rest of the lot for us. Beginning next week we will be priming and paiting our walls as well as putting up the finish trim! There is still a lot to be done but things are going so well. We are truly blessed! God is GOOD! Thank you for all your prayers and help before and during this process.

SOCCER

2009-06-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

Ethan scored his first goal this week! He had a belly-ache before the game too and he conquered it. We are so proud of him for getting out there and trying new things. He can't for his next game now:)

Ethan's Kindergarten graduation!

2009-06-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

My kindergartner is no longer, he is now in grade school! I can't believe how the time flies by. He was such a trooper during the ceremony even though he had a belly ache from being so nervous.

2009-06-06T16:30:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? It is June 6 and we are doing our siding! We are so pumped. Still a lot to do on the inside but coming along really well. WE are truly blessed. (We new that before this, but it helps!)

The roof is finished, as well as the plumbing and electrical being roughed in. We are looking forward to doing our back poorch and then dry walling into next week!

2009-05-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

Anyone wondering about potty-training? Well, Penelope isn't ready yet. Not to mention we are building a house and then moving. Probably not good timing.

We are having fun with the house. We have heard from a few people, "If you can make through building, you can make it through anything." So far, and we have had to pick stuff out and decide how to place the house... things are great! We haven't had any problems. I hope we don't see what those people were getting at.

It could definately be warmer here!!!! It was only 47 yesterday and today. Burrrrrrr! Hopefully we will get a summer...Until next time.

2009-05-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

We have walls and a roof! This is so cool!

2009-05-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

These are our pre-built walls! This is so cool!

2009-05-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

Our floors are in! This is them working on the floor joyces! The walls are going up tomorrow, rain or shine! I am so psyched! What a great experience. Garrett is exhausted and Nathan is just happy to be doing some work after a long week at home with us.

2009-05-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ceremony is over and we are official partners! Woohoo!

2009-05-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

Waiting for everone to arrive!

2009-05-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

Ethan is now 6 and going to play soccer this year! We are so proud of him for trying new things, as this is not his strong point. He is doing a bike-a-thon for school and had to step out of his comfort zone to ask for pledges. He did really well with this, it took him a while but he did it!

Trinity is 4 and going on 30! She wants to be just like mom. God only knows why. She is doing well in headstart and will be moving over to the Christian school in the fall for Pre-K.

Penelope is doing great! Still in speech twice a week but coming a long way. Most people can understand her now! Mary is coming this weekend and is going to help me potty train Penelope. I am thinking we are done with diapers. 6 years of it has been a long time!

Anyway, we are doing well and hope that you all enjoy our blog. I promise to update it regularly!

Kids grow way too fast!

2009-05-06T06:32:00.001-07:00

Easter Sunday! This is the only "good" picture of the three of them together:)

update pictures...

2009-05-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

Flag cutting ceremony!

2009-05-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

May 6th is the day! Today we will be cutting the flag for our property! They have already gotten the foundation in and the walls will be delivered on the 14th! I can't believe it is finally here! Thank you for all of your prayers they were and are much needed! We are hoping to move in by October!

Is it really October 28th?

2008-10-28T09:06:00.001-07:00

Wow! I can't believe the end of October is here! Even more than that, Ethan where's the same size gloves as me! He is only 5 and so big.

Property news: They called us today and told us that we will not be breaking ground until the spring. It is a bummer but we know that God has us right where he wants us. We may have the oppurtunity to purchase the lot right next to ours. How cool is that?! We are praying about that, and have no idea when we will know whether or not we can purchase it.

Thank you all for your prayers they are felt.

Update on the house

2008-09-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

We were informed this last week that we are going to get the property we originally were going to get. This is exciting as the property is much bigger and we just love it. This is the property in the posted pics. Anyway, our contractor is in Alaska this week so we won't have a ground breaking date until Monday or Tuesday. This doesn't mean it will be this week that we break ground but hopefully soon.

The kids are all doing well. Ethan is doing so well in his Christian school. There are 36 students in the entire school ( K- 8th grade). This is a great thing for Ethan. Trinity is in Head Start this year, she doesn't even kiss me bye. She just goes off into class and is done with me. After her first day I asked her if she made any friends and she said "No, no I made lots of friends!" This was the coolest thing. She rides a little bus home every day and loves it! " The girl on the bus loves my earrings, I really like her." She is too funny. Penelope comes home after taking the other 2 to school and crashes. We really don't have any one-on-one time. Maybe she will get used to it.

Keep praying for us, we are praying for you.

pictures of the kids.

2008-09-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

Penelope is almost 2! Ethan's first day of school.

What is going on with the house?

2008-09-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

Wow! I finally added a couple of pictures!

Okay, I am sure everyone is anxious to hear what is going on with our house. We are too actually. The spring family, who began their home this past spring, are now getting divorced. It is very sad but has left us waiting in the wings. We are supposed to hear this week whether or not we are going to be offered this house. We have already decided that we don't want it. The property looks right at the apartments we live in now, it floods every spring and the property is less than half the size of the one in the pictures. So we are waiting. As soon as we hear we will let you know. Thank you for praying for us, keep it up.

2008-08-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

Trying to add a couple of pictures....

Garrett and Kayla's house!

2008-08-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I finally got the blog up and running. Just a quick update on our house. We have been clearing the property of trees and bushes that we don't want. We have heard a rumor that our house is scheduled to start on September 9th! We will know more at the end of the month.

For those of you who don't know what is going on, our family was selected to build and buy a Habitat for Humanity home. We both have to put in 250 sweat epuity hours for our down payment. So any of you who want to help we would love to have you. After the house is built we will sign a motgage and make monthly payments at no interest! We are so excited!

Our property size is 91x297 feet and the house will be 3 bedroom, 1 bath. We will be able to add on within a year or so. I have put up a couple of pictures of the property. I hope you enjoy them.

Thank you for all your prayers, keep them coming.

God Bless,

Garrett, Kayla, Ethan, Trinity and Penelope