Crazy Chaos of the Nelson's Zoo: Holy WOW!

So, I had always heard stories of people being snubbed/discriminated against/etc. for having more than a couple kids. I literally NEVER thought I'd be one telling those stories. I have TWO such stories that literally happened within 24 hrs of each other. How sad is that! That house that I looked at with the old bitty lady?! Yeah, well, she really IS an old bitty (no understatement there)! She not only wanted to raise my deposit because of the animals, but wanted to also charge me a couple hundred extra a month to tuck away for the "inevitable damage" that would occur from my kids destroying the premisis. AND, her lawyers would be involved in assessing the damages to the property. She was also going to add some things to the contract agreement that were mandatory that we comply with (shoes off policy at ALL times in the house....{probably outside too with out anal she was being}, a tray MUST go under our washing machine to prevent major water damage {seriously, if your washer leaked bad enough to cause water damage, a small tray wouldn't help much}, and we would have to come up with a carpet cover for the dining area {we already do have this for my own sanity}). I got off the phone with her and started crying. Seriously, how RUDE can you be?! Why didn't she just come right out and say what she was thinking....."I DON'T WANT TO RENT TO PEOPLE WITH KIDS OR ANIMALS!!!" She should totally put that in her newspaper ad...."no children, no pets please" or "pets and children are welcome at an added $50 per child/pet per month and extra deposit". (I'm not bitter at all, can you tell)

The day prior to this phone call I recieved from her, we were told that they couldn't rent to us because we had too many kids to fit in this "tiny house" (I think I posted about that before).

Wow, people, I'm really sorry that Chris and I decided to go with our feelings of starting a family and following our dream of having a house full of kids....sheesh, what were we thinking....should have consulted with all the old bitties out there before making this decision I guess. But, there is good news on the horizon (I hope).

I called this morning after my mom left for home (*thanks for all your help mom, it's VERY much appreciated....and the kids miss you already*) on a house that is for rent. This house is on a busy street (as busy as Strasburg can get), has no yard for the kids to play in....the part that IS fenced is barely big enough to be used as a dog run for our two k-9's. (I'm trying to stay positive) The house, however, is fairly good-sized with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Shortly after calling to set up this appt for later on this afternoon, a friend of mine from the Ward called and said she had the perfect house for us to rent. They had just helped this elderly gentleman move into an assisted living place and he doesn't want to sell his house. No deposit is required, I can decorate it how I want (if I got the *'hankerin'* to do so, it's on a prime piece of land (right next to the church), all animals are welcome....and the list goes on. She quoted a rent price that is a little out of our reach and I asked how set he was on that price and she said she could probably talk him down a couple hundred just so that we could live comfortably without straining our budget. We're hoping and praying it works out for us. That would be such a relief! We'll be driving by to checkout the outside of the house and if we like what we see, then we can call my friend back up and they can come over and show us the inside tomorrow when their schedule clears up a bit. We're hoping that it all works out for us. Thanks for all the prayers that were offered and are stilling being offered on our behalf....we are grateful for them!

On another note....here's a couple of pics of the kids in their Easter outfits! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!