Tough Lesson Learned.... check

Today is Tuesday... and we get to move this weekend. I am beyond excited and have maybe never been so ready for something in my life. Being physically uncomfortable with my surroundings for an entire year has really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

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I have learned:

~that God does not call us to be comfortable

~that I am selfish and at times not grateful

~that Nate is extremely patient

~that it is hard to be surrounded by boxes

~that I can't remember what I own

~that I don't like people coming to visit us in the mission house

~that we can be slobs

~that I hate hand washing dishes

~that I put too much stock into having our own place

~that windows (where the sun can come in) are an absolute must have

~that even dogs can get depressed

~that I don't like moving

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But most importantly I learned:

~that God will provide

~that His timing is perfect

~that Nate and I are incredibly blessed and I can't take that for granted

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And just because I don't like posting things without pictures....

Here are a couple of my favorite baby.

Gage and his sweet Mom (my sweet friend), Hollie

Me and Gage

PTL!

I take back my almost negative comment about how "nothing ever goes the way its supposed to with us."

We still get to close on September 30th!

Praise the Lord for a great realtor, a great house, and a great closing date. Yay!

Good things come to those who wait.... Right?

Well, now we don't know when we are going to close on our house. Something always gets messed up with us. Really... I feel like nothing can just happen the way it's supposed to.

But, the good news is it will definitely be before October 8th. We were trying to close early so the sellers wouldn't have to pay another month's mortgage, but our finance guy didn't get the memo.... or at least he forgot about that little detail. It is only 8 more days, but after waiting 11 months I can hardly sleep at night because I am so excited to unpack.

I am constantly thinking about how we are going to decorate. Like all the time. It is driving Nate crazy, but I am just excited.

Here is what "we" are thinking:

This is my inspiration. We got it at Garden Ridge and I am in love with it. I know exactly where I'm going to put it. I'm going for eclectic country.... or something like that.

And, I have a new theory.... less is more. I don't feel like I have to hang something on every wall like I did in our first house.

This is our new pantry. It is going to house all our food. It is currently sitting with all our other stuff in two boxes (one weighs 90 lbs and the other 70lbs...we figure it will be easier to move this way) just waiting to be put together. Can't wait to see it in person. These are our new outside lights. Nate already has some projects lined up :) New inside lights.

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Now, this is the stuff I am looking for.... and will buy when we replenish our bank accounts.

I want 4 antique ceiling tiles to put together in a square. I can't find these things anywhere. Where else do I look?

I bet they will have some at Affair of the Heart (a huge craft show here in OKC)! Can't wait for that.

Furniture! It doesn't necessarily need to be leather, but we definitely want a dark brown couch, love seat, and recliner. We have been married long enough to finally buy our own furniture, right?

A sofa table. Who knows what color or shape.... we just need one. Our new house is so open we don't want people just staring at the back of our couch. I plan on putting our digital picture frame on it. (my Christmas present from last year that's still in the box) I like little decorative chairs with weird fabric. I like this print, but would also be open to some polka dots or stripes :)

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That is all for now. I'm sure I will think of something else in about 3 minutes. ha.

Anybody out there have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions? I don't hate comments :)

Home Sweet Home

The LORD your God is with you,

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.

~Zephaniah 3:17

Introducing our new house!

We close on September 30th and couldn't be more excited. I am already decorating it in my head and planning what I'm gonna cook.... if I can remember how.

The best thing about this house isn't the brick, the extra 500 square feet, the extra room that will be used as an office, the back yard, location, or open living area...... It is that God has been completely in control of everything that had to happen in order for us to get this house.

If you have been reading my blog, you are probably sick of hearing about our house in Arkansas selling. Even as I read some of my earlier posts I was a little embarrassed about how it has been mentioned every time. I guess that just shows how it has been consuming my mind and life for the last ten months.

BUT, no more my friends! Here is the story of how God moved:

Nate and I decided that we had been saving all this money for our whole five years of marriage and we are gonna spend some and take a trip. So, we went to the Bahamas, of course, and promised each other that we would try not to think about the house while on our relaxing vacation.

As the week went on it was hard, but we didn't think about it too much. I just knew in my bones that we were gonna have a message from our realtor when we got back to the good ol USA. Especially because there was a lady that had been talking with our realtor everyday and he said he hoped to have something in writing when we got back.

So, in the Dallas airport Nate checked his two messages. One was from a man named Brian that saw our house on Craig's List and wanted to see it. The other was from our realtor here in OK that was about to list our new house for way under market value and thought we would like it.

After calling everyone back, I convinced Nate to call our realtor in AR , cause I knew that he would have good news for us about this lady. Forget the Craig's List call. But again, there was no news to report. I was.... uh distraught. That's a nice word for it.

I felt like our realtors in AR have just been messing around with us and I just knew something was going to be done after our trip, but no.

To say that my heart was a rock is no understatement. I have been totally cold about the house thing since about month 7. I had tried to take God out of the picture and was starting to place blame on our AR realtors and Nate. I have never been as down in my life as I was the Friday we got the call about the Craig's List Brian wanting to lease our house.

I am not usually one to voice my opinions, and mostly rely on Nate to make our decisions.... So even though I was reluctant about the lease to own option, Nate strongly felt that this was our answer. Then, with the promise of a contract coming, we called our realtor here and went to see some houses.

He showed us our new house first, and all of the others were junk compared to it. We slept on it and when he took us to see it again I didn't want to leave. Nate and I felt great about putting in an offer. While we were sitting in the house Nate got the email with the contract for our AR house.

Since then, everything has been smooth sale-ing... ha. The buyers for our house in AR have given us an actual contract to buy the house with a early occupancy addendum, and the first months rent already. They are serious about getting some credit so they can be financed in less than 6 months and putting extra money in escrow every month. Our new house here passed inspection with flying colors, and is move in ready.

Now we are just waiting on our financing and everything should be signed for and done two weeks from today.

I didn't even realize all the tiny details that God worked out until I started to write in my diary. Think about it. Nate had two messages when we got back from our trip... One ended up being from the family that is buying our house, and the other ended up being about our new house. The family here could have gone with any number of realtors to sell their home, and they choose our realtor out of OKC. We got the contract for our AR house while we were writing a contract for our new OK house. His timing was just amazing. And, our realtor here, Christopher, thought of us when he saw our new house.... he hadn't seen us in 10 months.

Who says God doesn't answer prayers? Sometimes He just let's you wait. And in this case he had us wait so we could bless one family with a house of their own, and another family who needed to sell their house quickly. And so that we could have this wonderful house that we will be able to call "home"

Those words have never held so much meaning, or sounded so sweet.... "Home Sweet Home"

We are beyond grateful for all the prayers and support from our family, friends, and church family. It has been a rough 11 months and we don't know where we would be without you.

Memorable Moment #14: Our Five Year Anniversary Trip to The Bahamas

This was our second trip as just the two of us. The first was our honeymoon to Disney World. We have had the great privilege to go on a lot of trips, but we always have 20-60 teenagers with us. ha

I decided that no matter how broke we are we should take a trip every five years. Man, was it worth it!

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Five Year Anniversary trip to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas

September 2-6, 2010

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Us at 5:30am. Gotta go catch our plane!

. Nate with the tiny plane we flew in from Miami to Freeport .

We somehow knew the whole trip that our one bag wouldn't make it. Kinda ruined our first day, but we sat on the beach anyway

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Nate did a lot of reading

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I could stare at this view all day every day. It was gorgeous!

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Nate was so sweet to take so many pictures with me. We took a tripod and I was snapping away the whole week.

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My two favorites

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We had like 100 strawberry slushes. They were so great whenever we were so hot

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We took a tour of the island one day and went to The Garden of the Groves.

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. Just hangin out on the beach

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. The best thing about the trip was just uninterupted time alone with each other.... away from everything... We have been physically, mentally, and emotionally exauhsted since our move. Everyday stepping into the mission house, surrounded by boxes, thinking about the life we used to have took its toll on us.

This trip was definitely needed and we loved it! What has been happening since we got back has been even more exciting!

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Can't wait till our 10 year trip!

Trip to the Bahamas!

We leave tomorrow morning for the Bahamas! We are so excited to get some much needed rest, away from the worries of our life right now, and with each other :)