We are enjoying our stay at the Bashford Suites here in Fort Worth, Tx. Here's a little update for ya on what's going on.

March 17th is not only known as St. Paddy's day around this house - it also happens to be Randy's birthday (Randy - aka, Grandpapa). Although he had to work, he came home to birthday party festivities. Us girls cooked the birthday meal and got the present zone ready...then we all enjoyed a great home cooked meal (in the "fancy" dining room!), present opening and dessert! Abby had hand-picked some goodies from the gift shop at the air museum we visited just a few days before. A book about the F-14 Tomcat, a rubber band propelled P-51 Mustang and some sort of foam plane (a banshee) that gets SERIOUS air lift! If we would have known how much fun that foam plane was, we would have bought many more! Another year in the books for Grandpapa, and we pray many more ahead!

A living arrangement update - we had requested prayer a few posts back for our living situation once we arrived in Tennessee. Mike, Abby and I have been praying each night on our road trip that God would already be preparing our living arrangements for our arrival in TN sometime in late April. We found an apartment complex that seemed just right for us (we had our friend Bonni visit the complex and meet with the leasing person - she gave it thumbs up). However, the likelihood was low that the specific floor plan we needed would come up exactly at the right time.

Well today I spoke with the leasing agent at the complex - it turns out, there is one apartment (the exact floor plan we are looking for) coming available on April 15th. Not only that, but it's a previous "model apartment" - so there is nobody living next door to this particular unit. It also is very close to the pool (not sure if you knew this or not, but it gets HOT there in the summer!) and has a nice grassy area behind the unit - perfect for kids. The best part is they are running a special this month - your first month of rent is free, and they waive the application fee! So today I worked on filling out the application and getting the supporting documentation over to the leasing office. They have no problem with us not physically being there, and are agreeable to handing the keys over to Bonni until we officially arrive. We will know for sure tomorrow after they process the application and check our details. It would be great to have this little detail secured this early in the game - I figured it might be a little more trouble than this.... I'll keep you posted. By the way, the floor plan that we are looking at is a 3 bedroom/2 bath and is 1216 sq. feet - just 31 sq. feet shy of the square footage that we had on Charlotte. The rent is $965. They also have 6 month leases (we thought it would be a year) so we are hoping that in the fall we will be ready to buy a house.

Well, we are soaked to the gills out here in Fort Worth! It has been raining cats and dogs...we've heard rumors of tornado warnings, flood watches and 2 inch hail - but right here in Mom & Randy's hood, we just have alot of wind and rain. They are blessed to live in this little nook of a county that just seems to stay out of the way of tornadoes. We are so thankful that our whole trip we've experienced such great weather - now that we have some place cozy to hunker down at, we are fine with the rain. It's quite impressive rain, too I might add - some of it goes horizontal!

It's been nice to cook and clean (good grief, I can't believe I actually said that) and not have to tip a waiter. There's a lot of fun that goes along with traveling and eating out....but I've been craving a home cooked meal and a messy kitchen to clean. Of course, check back next week when I might be singing a different tune like, "I want my baby back baby back baby back, I want my baby back baby back baby back....Chili's baby back ribs" or something along those lines :) Just kiddin around.

All for now...

k