Change is Coming!

As many of you know Jason and I recently 'bought' a condo. It won't be official until September 25, but close enough.

God is funny, and not always funny 'ha, ha'...but sometimes funny 'God what are you doing?!?'. We have been seriously looking for a different living arrangement for over a year now, saving our pennies and scouring realtor.com for any good deals. After making an offer on three different homes, having every single one rejected, we took the hint from God that maybe it just wasn't the right time. Through the whole process we have had a peace that just the right home was waiting out there for us, and that we would know when it came along. That being said, we were also dead set AGAINST looking at condos. Buying a condo is a risky thing, as they are a dime a dozen in this area.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago....Jason and I both came to each other with the same goal in mind...to re-visit the thought of buying a condo. This is where God is funny 'ha, ha', because through the 6 years that we have been married, Jason and I have come to each other with a similar change in heart only a few times. These instances include deciding to trust the Lord's timing with children and deciding to move to Iowa. The fact that we were both at peace about 'just looking' at condos was weird, but honestly I didn't think much of it.

We found a few zero lots, but they were still not quite what we were looking for, and in my opinion, were way over priced. Then we found a three bedroom condo, something I had never seen before, granted we hadn't looked a condos much. After looking at the pics on-line we decided to get a closer look. Long story even longer, we bought it!

Below are a few pictures:
The condo on the bottom right is ours.

This is the kitchen/living area (1st bedroom to the right). One perk is they have replaced the carpeting with laminate flooring in the living room and tile in the kitchen. One downfall, the lighting is TERRIBLE, but that's an easy fix...maybe even as easy as replacing light bulbs.

This is a full view of the living room. If you'll notice there's a doorway to the left, which leads to the third bedroom. The middle bedroom is behind the red wall on the left.

This is by no means our dream home, but lately the Lord has been revealing my heart, ever so softly, to me. Something that he has been showing me is that I have ideals that are my own ideals, not based on anything that He has shown me. My idea of a home is a two story home with a yard and a picket fence...or something like that! God is asking me to lay down that ideal for Him, not only that ideal, but every ideal that I have made for my life. Man! That's hard!

In buying this home we are allowing ourselves to better live the way we feel led, for me to stay home full-time with our children, to be debt free, and for us to have resources to help others in need or in full-time ministry.

In other news:

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, and I have wanted to update our blog at times, only to realize I didn't have pictures to share. Pics of Micah will come soon, I promise! He is changing every day. He has mastered pulling himself up, and has began to walk along things. The other day he walked from the bathtub to the toilet (great) and just today he walked from one chair to another. He has learned to say 'Whoa!' and it is hilarious! Today he knocked over a little fan and said 'Whoa'! Sunday I took a corner a little too fast in the van and the stroller 'flew' across the van...Micah said 'Whoa!' Too funny!

We are leaving in two weeks for our first family vacation. We fly out of Kansas City on the 27th to go to Oregon. My cousin is getting married just south of Portland on the 29th. We will stay in Oregon until the following Wed, Sept. 2, then fly back to Kansas City. Jason's cousin is getting married Labor Day weekend, so we will enjoy some extra time with the fam, and another wedding before coming back home on Labor Day. We are extremely excited, and a little overwhelmed with the timing of everything.

This is where God is funny 'God, what are you doing!?!' funny.