Surprise!

Before marriage, a family, and all the fun that comes with this season of life, many of my weekends were spent with my girlfriends.  In Florida, I was so fortunate to find a great group of gals so surround myself with, and about four times a year we'd pile in the car and head out of town.  Well actually, we always went to Disney, but we never got tired of it!  I miss those trips, and even though I had some new great girlfriends when we lived in Illinois, I was knee-deep in pregnancy and dirty diapers during those two years that a trip with them just never panned out (yet, right?  You know who you are!).  So I was ecstatic when an opportunity for one of those rare girls' trips came up two weeks ago... this time with an old friend who I haven't seen in awhile and my best friend since high school.

The South Florida crew... and Pluto

Aside from living near family now, I have also quickly found that it's equally as lovely to be near some old friends.  As a graduate of the University of Tennessee (go Vols!... that statement could get me killed around here, but it's a risk I'm willing to take) we are now about two and a half hours away from Knoxville.  Even though most of us grads did not stay in K-town after graduation, all of my closest friends from those years seem to be within three hours of the place.  Once I graduated I spent five years in south Florida and the next two in Small Town, Illinois, so needless to say, I have not lived within driving distance for quite awhile.

About three weeks ago, my best friend's boyfriend sent out a mass email with plans for my best friend's big 30th birthday bash.  We had literally just moved into the house, but I knew immediately that I wanted to be there.  Elizabeth is probably winning in the who visits who more tally, and she even surprised me to be there for my bridal shower a couple of years back.  Yep, she's the best.  The party would be in downtown Atlanta, about six hours away, and Josh and I knew that we just couldn't get away for an entire weekend.  I was bummed because I knew that I didn't want to go all that way by myself, especially at 33 weeks pregnant!

Not long after that, my friend Kristen and I started emailing each other to see if the other was going.  Kristen was Elizabeth's college roommate (as was I in different years) and is honestly one of the nicest people in the universe.  If someone doesn't like Kristen, then they have serious problems... but I digress.  Up until this point, it had been a little over five years since we had seen one another, even though we keep up with one another on Facebook and in the blog world.  She mentioned that she was trying to work it out so that she could go, but would probably have to go alone so that her kiddos could stay home with their daddy.  And so from there, a plan was born!

Last weekend, I drove about four and a half hours to Chattanooga and met Kristen at a random hospital that we found on Google maps.  It was close to the Interstate, and a hospital was the safest place we could think of to leave a car overnight.  I'm not sure if I was more excited to surprise Elizabeth, or to see Kristen!  Because of some traffic snafus, we estimated that we would be at the restaurant about an hour late, so we texted Dara and let him know.  Kristen thought that Elizabeth might have had an inkling that she was coming, since she mentioned that she was trying to figure out a way to be there the last time they chatted, but we figured that if we were late, she would lose all hope... not part of the original plan, but sneaky sneaky on our part!  The drive to Atlanta went much faster than the rest of it had since we had such a great time catching up and we were downtown in no time!  We realized that we both needed to changes and scoped out the surrounding area for someplace that we could run in and use their restroom.  Feeling a bit awkward about that, we ended up in a non-crowded area of the mall parking garage and changed in the car!  I have to say, what sounded like an easy task proved to be quite a bit more difficult than usual with this belly of mine, but I managed.  We both put on some make-up and headed to the restaurant, arriving exactly an hour late.  Perfect.

The actual surprise itself could not have worked out more perfectly.  As we wandered through the restaurant looking for a big party, we saw two long tables flanked by balloons and figured that it must be them.  I spotted Dara right away and  noticed that Elizabeth was sitting right next to him, with her back turned to us.  Convenient!  We walked right up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.  When she turned around, she let out the loudest squeal, right in the middle of the restaurant!  We also  got hugs and a few happy tears, which was awesome and made the drive totally worth our while.  We were told later that some of her friends at the other end of the table thought that she had seen a mouse or something based on her unexpected scream!  BEST. REACTION. EVER.  She was absolutely giddy with excitement as she introduced us to everyone and her friends were kind enough to scoot down a bit so we could sit next to the guest of honor.  Again, our timing could not have been better considering that the waitress came around to take everyone's order about five minutes after our arrival.

Elizabeth, Kristen, and Me... back together again!

Dinner was delicious (sushi, which I rarely get... yum!  And don't worry, mine were cooked to keep the little one safe and healthy) and then we headed over to an upscale Irish pub nearby.  The place was really nice and not too crowded, which I appreciated, and we found a table and sat right away.  As the others in the group mingled with one another, Kristen and I just sat and caught up some more, even though we found that being blogging buddies over the years has made it feel like we had chatted last week!  It's funny how I feel closer to some of my blogging buddies than I do to some of my close friends that live far away.... just another great reason to not be so lazy and continue with mine I guess!  By quarter 'til one, the two of us were probably visibly tired and just trying not to show it and so we were happy when Elizabeth came over and said that she was ready to call it a night.  By the time we got back to her place it was already after 1:30am and I must say, I was quite proud of myself for hanging in there because this mama likes her sleep!  It was worth it to celebrate with my best friend though!

We would have loved to stay longer, but we had to head out pretty early the next morning as we both had things that we needed to get back home for.  On our way though we did spend about two hours at another friends' baby shower in Chattanooga (another one I hadn't seen for years) and there were some other familiar faces there, too.  It was just amazing to see some folks that I hadn't seen in a long time, hear about the great places their lives have taken them, and learn about their families.  It filled my heart with so much joy.

Needless to say, when I finally arrived home Saturday afternoon, I was pretty exhausted.  I managed to catch a little nap before we headed back out for the evening and actually felt pretty good for the remainder of the weekend!  I also realized later that this was officially Lilly's first girls' trip, too, and it makes me very excited to think about the trip that we will take together someday.  I used to get a little bit sad thinking about Jake going off with Daddy for a weekend of fishing or camping, but I know that this will be a big, special part of his life someday.  He is my little man and I know that I'll miss him like crazy and wish that I could be there, too.  But now I realize that on those weekends, I will have some girl-time with my little one where we can go have our fun, too!

We Start 'Em Young

As most of you probably know, one of our favorite past-times in Mauneyland is racing- well, marathons and triathlons mostly.  I realized today that I started this blog a little over two years ago and this has never been a topic because I've been on a two-year hiatus due to always being pregnant or nursing!  But once upon a time, there was not much that I liked better than a race day.  Josh and I have run several together and a few separate and have plans for more in the future.

After the 2009 Disney Marathon

So it was much to our delight that we heard that one of the biggest summer events here is the "Midsummer's Night Run" downtown.   The event includes a one-mile family fun run, a 5K, and wait for it...... the Fastest Kid in Town Race...... complete with a division for 1-year-olds!  As soon as I heard this, I knew that it was time to introduce our little boy to something that his mom and dad love so much!  And then to make it even better, my sister and brother-in-law decided to come down for their night and enter Adam into the race, too!  It's one of the perks of having us all living close to each other again!

At first, I think Josh was a little nervous that my competitive streak would come through and I would become some crazed lunatic about this whole thing.  However, I was surprisingly okay and just wanted to see Jake have a good time.  We went downtown plenty early and got the boys signed up.  The best part?  They even got official race bibs and numbers... how cute is that???

Our little racer... built for speed!

Adam is ready to go!  He even practiced "ready, set, go!" all week.

It was quite hot outside, so by the time race time rolled around, Jake was losing it a little bit.  We knew that it could go either way... he was either going to love it, or have a complete meltdown.  I stood at the other end of the racing field, which was quite a bit farther than I expected them to have to run!  I knew that Jake would never be able to see me from the other end, but at least I was at an angle to take pictures!  After the kiddos and their parents were all lined up, we heard "On your marks, get set, go!" and off they went!  Well... most of them anyway.  Thanks to Adam's training, he set off at a dead sprint (well, for a 1-year-old) and we pretty much thought it was in the bag.  About halfway to the finish-line, however, he noticed all of the folks on the sidelines cheering and clapping and became far more interested in clapping and cheering along with them than he was in running any farther!  It was incredibly cute (and comical).  Jake, on the other hand, took about three steps and just stopped!  I started yelling his name as loud as I could, but he just stood there!  There was another kid standing back there, too, and I could tell that Josh just couldn't get Jake to move!  Finally (after a winner was already determined) he came charging down the field and all was fine and good until he fell.  At that point, he was over it!  I ran out to try to coax him to the finish, but as soon as he saw me, his arms went straight up and he wanted to be carried the rest of the way.  Oh well... I guess our little bruiser wasn't built for speed after all!

Mindy and Adam on the far left, Jake and Daddy STILL standing at the start!

Go, Adam, Go!

Later I did learn that (as I should have expected) our little man was sabotaged.  The dad of the kid next to him had a sippy cup, and as soon as Jake spotted it, that's all he could focus on.  In retrospect, we should have come prepared with an apple or Goldfish to bribe him with since our kiddo loves to eat so much!  Oh well, maybe next time.  Josh ended up running the 5K later in the evening (along with many others in our family) and I took the boys home to bed... they were pooped!  And let's be honest, so was I just from standing in the hot sun for awhile!  The entire event was so much fun though and we're already excited for next year.  Aside from the races, there was some other fun that our little man was a big fan of as well:

Wheeeeeeee!!!!

Mmmmm... a cherry sno-cone.  Yes, please!

Once our little Lillian comes along, I hope to pick something to train for and get back into the race world again... it's been too long!  But I did enjoy being a spectator for once and think that I could get used to doing that more often as well!  All I know is that when the race rolls around again next year, we'll be ready!  Look out 2-year-olds... here we come!  

If you want to see a video of the cuteness, you can check out the post on my sister's blog here.

Moving, moving, moving...

Okay, so I realize that I have been missing for some time now.  And I realize that I have neglected my little blog for... well... all summer really.  And I realize that many of you may be wondering if I am still alive, so to answer your questions... yes!  We are alive and well!  But very, very tired.  I'm happy to report that we are in our new digs and almost 100% moved in, thanks mostly to my husband who worked diligently to get us unloaded and unpacked as quickly as possible.  So here's a recap of where we've been and what we've been up to:

July 1st - 15th
My sister and her family were super generous and let us crash at their home while we set up some groundwork for the church and found our own place.  Our house-hunt only took a couple of days and we signed a lease that would allow us to move in on August 1st and live in the neighborhood that we wanted.  I've never been a big fan of subdivisions, but I must say, I'm really loving suburbia right now.  After two years of having the weirdest neighbors in the world (except for Ted, who was awesome, but we hardly ever saw him since he is 96-years-old) I am excited that there are other families all around us.  But back to my point... we lived with them for quite awhile this summer, which was fun albeit chaotic.  I had several built-in babysitters, however, since my nephews love to play with Jake and so I was able to lock myself upstairs each day and continue to work from home.  Then on the 15th, we headed back to...

July 15th - 30th
Small Town, Illinois and the address formerly known as home, sweet, home.  It was a bittersweet two weeks really and it still hadn't sunk in that we were moving away.  I spent as much time as I could visiting friends and we really took our time packing up the house.  It was actually kind of nice to do it that way because it never really got exhausting or stressful.  Jake was so wonderful while we were there and it makes me realize that kids really do recognize "home" and their own environments.  His temper tantrums almost went down to zero and he loved being back in familiar territory and routine.  And a happy baby makes for one happy mama!  On the afternoon of the 30th and the morning of the 31st, friends and loaders came over and packed up the trucks.  We originally were supposed to get one 26-foot truck, which is what we used when we moved up from Florida, but UHaul double-booked our truck and so we ended up with two 17-foot trucks and a trailer for our pickup truck.  It wasn't ideal, but we didn't have much of a choice.  So yes, I got to moonlight as a truck-driver for two days... don't be jealous.  The majority of our house fit in the trucks, but our garage, attic, and basement still have quite a bit of stuff in them, which didn't stress us out considering that our house is still on the market.  So basically, we have the world's most expensive (and inconveniently located) storage unit, but hopefully not for long!  We were worried that our house wouldn't show as well empty, but honestly, it looked huge once the furniture was out!  Now we're just waiting on that right person to come along and fall in love with it the way we did... it only takes one person!  I'm thinking that October would be an ideal month to close since the baby will be here, I'll be on maternity leave, and we want to head back up there anyway to introduce her to all of our friends.  Yeah, let's make that a plan, okay?

Me and my big-rig... I make this look GOOD!  And by big-rig, I mean the truck... not the belly!

Our convoy... yeah, we know how to make a grand entrance!

Moving on... July 30th - 31st

Most of the time, we make the drive from Illinois to Kentucky in one day.  With the late start and the trucks, however, we decided to split it into two.  Our "vacation home" is pretty much at the exact halfway point of the drive and conveniently enough my sister, Mindy, and her family were visiting, too.  We didn't arrive until close to 7:30 PM on Saturday night, but it was great to see some friends and family, have a meal, and relax for a bit.  Jake got to play with his cousin, Adam, and they put on quite the show.  The older they get and the more they interact, the more entertaining it is!  I love watching them play.  I know that my sister took some pictures, so if they make it up onto her blog anytime soon I'll have to link them together.  We finally crashed around 11 or so and got up bright and early to head to our new place.  We were supposed to meet our landlord at 1:30pm to get the key, but our caravan took a little longer to get there than we anticipated.  We made it there around 2:30pm, unloaded some stuff, and dropped Jake off at his aunt's house.  As with any move, our first trip upon arrival was to Home Depot to get some odds and ends and order a washer and drier... something we really can't put off with a one-year-old in the house!  The good news is that my husband thinks it's so cool (yes, we splurged on the front-loaders, but that's mostly what they sell now anyway!) that he has already done about four loads of laundry and I have not even tried them out yet.  I think I could get used to this arrangement!

Off we go!

Jake did not mind riding shotgun AT ALL.  What a spoiled boy he is... and we had no choice!

August 1st - 2nd... move-in day!
So we've officially decided that our landlord is awesome.  Upon hearing that we wanted to do some painting, he told us to meet him at Sherwin-Williams on the morning of the 1st so that he could purchase the paint.  He had told us that the walls needed repainting anyway, but he was just planning on painting them white.  If you know me at all, you know that Kim does not do white!  But like I said, he is awesome, and let us pick out whatever color we wanted!  Considering that it's a rental, I didn't want to do anything all that crazy so we just got a few cans of a taupey-beige color called "sand dune" and a darker brown color called "hatchnut" for the living room.  I have been carrying around a magazine picture of a brown living room for months and was dying to have it for myself... weird, I know.  Our landlord had his concerns as they were not colors that he would ever pick out for himself, but he went with it.  Have I mentioned that he's awesome?  And then get this- he had his father and two of his sons come over to help us paint.  And his father used to paint for a living.  Yes you said it.... awesome!  So with the crew that we had helping we managed to paint the dining room, living room, kitchen, kids' room, and the master bedroom all between the hours of 9 AM and 2:30 PM.  Amazing!  And it looks spectacular if you ask me!  I would post pictures, but I'm waiting to get all of the finishing details up around here and then I'll do an official "house tour" post soon... I promise (and mean it this time!).  Because we knew we'd be painting and figured it would be just the two of us, we had no intention of moving anything in that day.  Since we got done so early in the day, however, Josh started  bringing in the light stuff and as many boxes as he could.  Then my brother-in-law showed up and Josh's dad arrived from out of town and between the three of them the light stuff turned into the not-so-light stuff.  By the time evening rolled around there was literally about three dressers and a desk left in the truck... we were almost completely unloaded!  Not only that, but as they unloaded, I had unpacked boxes and so on day one our kitchen was completely unpacked as well as most of the living and dining room.  I ran to the grocery store that night and we enjoyed a frozen pizza as our first meal in our new home... and it tasted divine!

On Tuesday we had unloaders coming to help and thank goodness we had called them the day before and told them that we'd only need them for an hour.  I think that they were literally here for about 35 minutes before the second truck was empty.  Josh and his dad took the trucks back to the rental center and I got to work.  By the end of the day, we were pretty much all moved in except for having pictures hung.  My sister and her family came back over and could hardly believe it!  She wanted to help but there was really not a whole lot left to do!  I'm loving that it's feeling like home already.

I did not mean to get this long-winded, but now you're all caught up on what we've been doing and where we've been.  Unfortunately I did not take any pictures during the whole process because my memory card is not in my camera and I have no clue as to where it is.  Thankfully there are no new pictures on there to upload, but it's still a rather annoying situation.  I may just have to suck it up and buy a new one so I can take pictures for the house tour.  It's been such a crazy summer with so much traveling and it feels wonderful to finally be settling in somewhere, so much so that I fell asleep at 7:30 PM last night in all of my clothes!  I think all of the running around had finally caught up to us, so we've committed to having a low-key weekend and spend some time relaxing a bit.  I think we've earned it!

Thanks to all of you (again) who have been praying for us and helping us during this crazy time.  We had so many friends show up to help us move and lend a helping hand and you all made this process so much easier than it would have been.  And a big thanks to my husband, who I just can't brag on enough... he knows the importance of home, particularly to a woman who is 31 weeks pregnant, and has worked hard to make this home in a hurry.  I look forward to hanging out with him and Jake this weekend with very little on the agenda... that is music to my ears!

This Will Have to do For Now

My handsome husband has been at a church-planting conference all week and I stayed in Illinois as it was too long to be away from our sweet Jake.  Needless to say, Jake's not the greatest with a camera, so the picture I promised last week has not been taken, but a friend of mine did snap one of me at the homecoming parade for Joe.  It's not the best to really see the magnitude of the bump (thank goodness for patterns and good angles!) but it will do until Josh gets home to take one.  And please disregard the hair and make-up... we stood outside in 95 degree weather for far too long that day!  So here we are in all of our glory at 29 weeks:

At this angle (rather than straight from the side) you can see that what they say is true, at least in my case: girls sit all the way around your middle.  She's not quite the basketball that Jake was at this point!

Our Vacation Home

At the beginning of the month, we finally found some time to have a weekend getaway at our friends Bud and Abby's home.  Bud and Abby are great friends of ours from when we were in Florida and were both in our wedding.  Oddly enough, they moved to the Midwest (well, technically back to the Midwest since they both grew up out here) about a year after we did and we've been trying to get down to see them ever since.  They live in a tiny (yes, much smaller than Small Town, IL... 'small town' is a relative term I guess) little town in central Illinois in a great house on a lake.  I. WAS. IN. HEAVEN.  Their house is now referred to as our vacation home whether they like it or not!  I think we're going to have to make time from here on out to get over there and see them more often.  Needless to say, most of our time was spent outside in the water... this is truly what summer is all about.


These guys were really excited to see "Mr. Josh" again!  Funny story: the boys have always called us "Mr. Josh and Miss Kim," and one of the twins referred to Jake as "Baby Jake," which is fairly common.  The other twin, however, called him "Mr. Baby" which cracked us all up!  There is nothing funnier than hearing a child yell, "Mom!  Mr. Baby spilled the Goldfish all over the floor!"

Speaking of "Mr. Baby," he is quite the little water bug!  Having a lake out the back door was lovely, except that he never wanted to get out!  The house has a little beach down to the water, so it was perfect for him to sit down and play.

This face?   Absolutely priceless!   He pretty much had this expression on his face all day, everyday.  Well, until we made him get out and come inside anyway!

I even got in on the action.  Thankfully my husband was kind enough to take a photo of me standing in the water, rather than one of me floating on the raft.  Or even better, photos of the struggle to get on the raft!  The funny thing was that one of the twins was so concerned about me (at least we think it was concern... we're still not sure) that he would swim out and get me if I floated too far out.  Eventually he made me hang onto the dock and stay in one place.

What's better than having a beach in your backyard?  How about having parents that live across the lake and have a boat!  Poor Jake was so wiped by this point that he really did not enjoy the ride much, partly due to the life-vest.  He and I cut our ride short and while he napped, I sat in an Adirondack chair and read.  Ahhhh.... sweet bliss! 

Apparently the boat ride was a success!  The weird thing is that I think I've only seen one or two other pictures of my husband with a fish, and he makes this face in every single one.  And now he has a follower.  Nice.

This will probably be our only "vacation" this summer, or this year for that matter, but I honestly could not have asked for two better days.  It was a great time with great friends in a great place... what more could we possibly ask for?  We're already searching our calendar for a time when we can visit again... thanks to Bud, Abby, and the boys for such a wonderful getaway!  We love you guys!

Oh yeah, and the highlight of the trip?  This would get Jake's vote:

The Rest of America Should Take Notes

You might remember my good friend, Chelsea, from my post back in January.  Yesterday, after a twelve month tour of duty in Afghanistan, her husband Joe returned home.  And what a return it was!

Small Town, Illinois, you did it again!  I brag on you a lot... noting how charming and easy-going the folks here can be.  Everyone's willingness to do anything for anyone never ceases to amaze me, and the rest of the country should take notes.  Here, if you need to borrow a lawn mower, someone will more than likely go the extra step and do it for you.  Or if your on bed rest, a parade of folks will be in and out of your home the whole time to cook and clean.  I would know... I've experienced both.  And when one of our own returns home from deployment, people line the streets in 95+ degree heat to give a hero's welcome.

Yesterday I was in awe (once again) of how a community can come together.  Chelsea had made a few phone calls to a few folks just a couple of days before to see what we could do to really give Joe a deserved welcome.  From there the whole thing snowballed and by the time they rolled into town, it was perched on top of a convertible behind a fire engine with its sirens blaring, about 50 motorcycles, and followed by several decorated vehicles that had jumped into their convoy on the way back from Clinton, Iowa.  It had been announced in the local paper that they would be cruising down Main Street around 3 PM and the residents here were encouraged to make signs and line the streets to honor the family.  Sure enough, the streets were lined with people, many waving flags, and when we heard those sirens and saw the family we all cheered, shouted words of thanks, and in my case (and many others) teared up at the sight.  It's easy to forget that we have thousands of men and women overseas everyday risking their lives to protect our country.  It's easy to forget that these men and women have spouses at home that do all that they can to make that void feel small for their children.  It's easy to forget that these men and women have children who change so much in a year and are totally different kids when they return.  And even though we can't make it up to them, I hope that yesterday helped show one family how appreciative we are of that sacrifice.  I cannot imagine being away from my husband for an entire year and being home by myself with the kids, but here in Small Town, Illinois, I know that I would be taken good care of, just as Chelsea was.  America should take notes.

I won't do a good enough job trying to describe the fanfare, so I won't try.  Chelsea wrote a great recap on Facebook, but I'm not sure that you could access it, so I'll leave that for her friends and family to enjoy... it's her story to tell anyway.  But if you'd like to see more pictures and read more about the festivities, you can check out these articles and photos here and here.

Today was the first time in a very long time that my heart really swelled with pride for America.  I grew up as an Army kid, so my patriotism runs deep, but we take it for granted all too often.  Even more than that, I'm truly proud that I can call this family my friends.  And most importantly, I'm really happy that this daddy is back where he belongs- at home with all five of his girls.  Welcome home, Joe!  You were truly missed!

Home

I have to admit, when Josh and I got married, we hit the jackpot in terms of our first home.  While most couples spend the first season of their marriage in a tiny apartment or condo, our first years of husband and wife have been spent in a beautiful, and very large, Victorian house... complete with the picket fence.  Upon first seeing it we both fell in love.  Josh has even called it his dream home on more than one occasion and I could honestly be happy staying in that house forever.  But alas, it is now adorned with a For Sale sign in the front yard.

This past week we spent about two solid days looking for a new house here in Lexington.  We knew the area we wanted to live in, had our "wish list" of criteria, and moved very quickly in order to find something that would be available for us starting in August.  Rental houses in this area, particularly in the neighborhood where we want to live, go quickly, so we knew that if we found anything we liked, we would need to act fast.  We were this close to settling on a house that would certainly be comfortable for us, but still not everything that we needed it to be, when one more ad caught my eye.  We were on our way to drop off our rental application on the first home when we swung in and toured what will be our new home for at least the next year... if not longer.  Again, it's more than we could have ever imagined and is perfect for our needs.  We feel blessed.

As we were debating the pros and cons of the houses we toured, it occurred to me that at this stage of my life, I could be happy anywhere.  Sure, space is nice to have and we would love it if the kids could have their own rooms, which as it turns out they will.  A fenced-in yard is ideal and room for a home-office is important, but if we had to do without either one, we would survive.  As I compared the options, I was just struck by how at this point in my life, my home is wherever Josh and Jake are... and that's why those first shoebox-apartment days for many married couples work out just fine.  As long as I have them under one roof, whether that roof be big or small, all is good in the world.  Sure, I'll miss our big Victorian, but as we transition here it is feeling like much less of a home and much more like a house.  And if anyone would like to buy it feel free... haha!  But seriously.

To that point, I would be lying if I told you that we don't have our concerns about having a mortgage, rent, and two sets of bills.  My maternity leave is right around the corner and it's a lot to prepare and plan for.  We have been saving for this situation for months, but as the start date on our lease draws closer, the reality of our situation becomes more and more apparent.  I am typically someone who worries about money, and was particularly bad about it when we got married.  I've always been used to having somewhat of a "reserve" saved up and do not like to see it dip below a certain amount.  With all this being said, I have been truly amazed at what God has been able to do in this area.  He truly started working on me as I became a diligent tither, and time and time again, He has provided and honored our giving.  Our prayers are still for our house to sell, but even though that hasn't happened, He has continued to bless me with a great peace about this move.  I expected to be a total and complete stress-ball right now, and instead I am nothing but excited about the move, our new home, and most importantly, the new work we are doing here.  While we did not see a large number of people come to our first meeting, the right people certainly showed up and have the passion and connections that we needed them to have... God definitely provided once again (as He always does) and things are moving in the right direction.  It seems like the more we continue to diligently and joyfully give, and the more we step out in faith, the more peace I have filling my soul.  I know I should not be surprised by this, as it is what His word says, but His love never fails to amaze me.  We are feeling tremendously blessed.

We're heading back to Illinois next week to pack up our first home and prepare for the move to our second.  So come August first we will be going from this:

To this:

Truck not included  :)

We're giving up a bedroom (as if we needed them all in the first place!) and quite a bit of square footage, but we are gaining more closet space than I could have ever dreamed of... Josh and I will actually be able to share one and have room to spare!  We have quite a bit of painting to do as every wall in the house is white (and Kim does not do white!), but it is nice to have a blank canvas which gives me the opportunity to pick out all of the colors.  We'll be paying for that upgrade, even though we're just renting, because my hubby knows how important the "cozy factor" is to me.  I am one lucky woman.

It will be bittersweet to pack up our things and leave a house, town, and friends that we have grown to love, but as the details of what we're moving toward continue to unfold, I am so very excited to be home again... in Kentucky.

 ³ Trust in the LORD and do good;
   dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the LORD,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.

{Psalm 37:3-4}