The last few weeks have been pretty busy around here. We’ve had playdates almost every weekday for the last three weeks, had VBS in the evenings the last week of June, had a visit from my parents over July 4th weekend, been adjusting to Matt’s new job and schedule, and doing laundry, lots of laundry.

Nothing real exciting has occurred, but life is good. We’re enjoying Summer, trying to stay cool, and beginning to gear up for school-time activities.

Hope everyone is having a great Summer!

Today I would like to compose a coherent and thought out post, but I can’t seem to string sentences together. What’s with that?? I would also like to post about our trip to my brother’s house, but I want to upload pictures and that’s not happening either (I can’t figure out how to get them from my phone to the computer).

Instead, I’m posting some random bits and pieces from our lives lately…

~Matt starts a new job on Monday. This is exciting and a bit disconcerting at the same time. We’ve drawn a paycheck from the same place for the last 9 years. Although I am thrilled for Matt’s new opportunity, there is a sense of stability lost at the same time. I have no reservations about him taking this new position, but there is a bit of “fear of the unknown” that I’m battling.

~One of our big changes with the new job involves budgeting. For 7 of our 9 years of marriage our primary income (the one we budget on) has been paid monthly. Matt’s new employer pays weekly. I have to change my mindset as I approach our budget for next month.

~One of the great things about Matt’s new job is his schedule. He will work 7 to 5 Monday through Thursday and 7 to 11 on Fridays. Because he is trading a 40-45 minute commute for a 15-20 minute commute his time at home won’t really change Monday through Thursday, but we’ll have an extra half day every weekend!

~Matt had to make this statement to Boo on Saturday: “Don’t ride your horse n@ked in the living room!” File that under things you never thought you’d have to say.

~Saturday I asked Little a question and she answered, “Indeed!” Sometimes she talks like she’s 30 years old.

~One of my bestest friends is having a baby in a few weeks. I’ve bought 4 gifts for her. I really need to stop (it’s not like I don’t have my own baby girl to buy for).

~Matt’s Father’s Day gift was more coffee preparation paraphernalia. We have a friend who refers to Matt as Mr. Coffee. There’s a reason for that.

~The baby is teething. She’s been a bear the last couple of days.

~She also turned 5 months old last week. I’m struggling with the fact that she’ll start solid foods in less than a month.

~Little wrote her first sentence yesterday (in Matt’s Father’s Day card). I love you. I had to spell it for her, but she wrote it all. I’ll have to post a picture.

~I just bought Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I’ll let you know how it goes. This experience could be a deciding factor in whether or not we homeschool next year.

~I bought a new cloth diaper last week (in amethyst). I know you’re surprised.

~I got the kids a small inflatable pool today. They were so excited you would have thought we bought a water park.

And I think that’s all I have for now. Hope you’re having a happy Monday!

It started about 4:45. Little was watching Caillou on the computer when I glanced out the front windows and noticed the sky had a very eerie orangish-green hue and the quality of light was very odd. I turned on the TV to check out the weather situation and almost immediately the lights began to flicker. About that time Matt walked through the back door and just a short time later – think seconds, not minutes – the rain started falling (thank God that Matt made it home before the bad weather hit!).

Looking out of front window the rain was falling so heavily and the wind was blowing so hard that it seriously looked like we were in a tropical storm. Rain was coming from every direction at once and we couldn’t see the crepe myrtle in our front yard (maybe 10 feet away) for all the water falling. It wasn’t long before the power went out for good, the tornado sirens revved up, and we were packing it up and heading to the hallway (our most interior location).

Little wasn’t sure what to make of it all. She didn’t cry or act scared, but you could tell she was a little nervous. She wanted to be right beside Matt or me or, preferably, in my lap until everything had passed by and she could see that it had cleared up.

Boo, on the other hand, was totally unfazed by the whole thing. He thought everyone being in the hallway together was big fun and the that flashlight was the greatest thing he’d ever seen.

We emerged from our hallway-hiding-place on two occasions only to hear the tornado sirens start up again so back we went. When the storm finally rolled on we were able to get out and survey the damage a bit. Fortunately, most of our immediate area suffered little or no damage – there were a couple of houses that lost large limbs from trees (none fell on houses, thankfully), a couple of houses lost a few shingles, and, of course, there were all kinds of small branches and debris from the trees. We found out later that an F1 tornado had cut a swath about a mile and a half south of our house and done more considerable damage, so we were indeed fortunate.

We had no damage beyond the power outage, but a power outage in June in the South is enough to drive anyone toward the edge (especially a pregnant lady!). We went on with our Friday evening as usual expecting the power to be restored any time. When we woke Saturday morning and were still without power we decided to get out of the house for a while and hoped the power would be restored while we were gone. By Saturday afternoon we’d pretty much given up hope of it coming back up anytime soon.

Saturday evening, a dear sweet friend took pity on us and our hot selves and invited us to her house to spend the night. There are not words to express how thankful we were for her friendship, her hospitality, and her willingness to help us out. And the four kids (ages 4, almost 3, 20 months, and 14 months) thought a sleepover was such great fun that the older two have asked more than once if we can do it again!

We found out on Saturday that more than 75,000 residences were left without power and that the electric company was saying that it could take all week to get everyone restored. We came home Sunday afternoon to ponder our possibilities – should we pack up and head to Nashville for a few days, should we try to stick it out in our hot house, should we head back to S’s house, should we try to find a hotel room in town – and to our great surprise and delight our power was restored at about 1:30 that afternoon.

We are so grateful to God for keeping us safe, taking care of us, and providing for us during the storm and the crazy weekend that followed.

Tuesday afternoon my friend L called and said her church group had a couple of extra tickets to see our local Minor League baseball team in action on Thursday night if we were interested in going with them.  Little enjoys watching “throw-ball,” as she calls it, so we jumped at the chance.  After Matt got home from work Thursday we loaded up the kids and headed downtown to the ballpark.  We really enjoyed the game, there just isn’t anything like the atmosphere of a professional sporting event.  The kids did well, and we enjoyed spending time with friends.  We even left saying that we would like to go again sometime; although, it would be nice to go when it is cooler than 95 degrees.

Friday we just hung out around the house and enjoyed being together.  We made a couple of trips to Target and Best Buy to get accessories for Matt’s new toy – an XBox 360 – but otherwise it was a pretty low-key holiday.

Saturday evening a couple of families from church came over to cookout.  The kids loved playing Wii, and the adults enjoyed some time to chat and catch up.  It was pretty crazy around here, with seven kids 10 years old and under, and quite noisy, but I think everyone had fun.

It was a pretty busy weekend (by our standards), but a good one.  And best of all?  Boo has given up his second nighttime feeding – one down, one to go!

Have a great weekend!

Fast forward to last weekend.  Matt and I wanted to take the kids and visit his grandparent’s again before they move.  Matt’s brother and sister-in-law wanted to visit too, so we decided to try to be there at the same time.  As it ended up, Lu and her family were able to come to town as well, so we had a bit of a family reunion.

We spent the weekend relaxing, chatting, and laughing. Sitting on the screened porch (in the comfy swing, of course) was bliss.  Catching up with family that we don’t get to see nearly as often as we would like was wonderful.  Having the opportunity to meet our newest nephew before he’s a year old was great.  And, of course, it was nice to make a few more memories (and pictures) at the “old homestead”.

This was Little’s very first haircut.  She was born with a headful of hair and never lost any of it.  Because of that we had two issues: first, her hair was uneven – her “original” hair is very straight and her new hair has some curl; second, the longest parts of her hair came almost to her waist.  In order to even it up and get rid of her scraggly look, we got it cut in a blunt cut that falls just above her shoulders.  It is absolutely adorable, but she does look more like a little girl now.

She was a very good girl while her hair was being cut.  Our hairstylist is also a good friend, so Little is comfortable with L and I think that made a huge difference in her willingness to cooperate.  She sat in the chair like a big girl and was remarkably still; she even said “thank you” when L was finished cutting.  I was very proud of her, and I just love her new ‘do.

As for me, I went a little shorter in the back than the cut I’ve been sporting since January (which was pretty short already); the front is the same length it has been, but it is styled a bit differently.  I also got some copper highlights that I’m loving (settled on copper because Matt was very against the red-red that I wanted to do).  Just something fun and a little sassy for the summer.

It was fun to see Little’s first haircut, and I enjoyed getting a little pampering.  We had a nice “girls night” with L.

I would love to share pictures, but I’m having trouble with iPhoto; maybe I can get some posted after my tech guy is home to help.

We got there early hoping to beat the crowds, and we were not disappointed.  This is the best CEC gets – about 15 minutes after opening – only one other mother and child in the entire place.  Also good was the fact that a game-tester was there checking that all the games functioned properly; he would play, win, and leave the tickets for us to gather.  

We camped out at a table in the little kids area thinking that the younger ones (minus Boo) would enjoy the slide and car ride kind of things.  Tokens were divvied up three ways and off everyone went.  Little and I started off at skee-ball (my fave) where she enjoyed throwing the ball up the ramp, even though none of them made it all the way.  

I really thought she would be pretty uninterested in the games, and I was both right and wrong.  She didn’t really “get” most of the games but did enjoy the ones where you have a single button to press and then it spits out the tickets.  However, the most exciting part for her was putting the tokens into the slots.  

It took quite some work to keep her from randomly putting tokens into games and to confine her token feeding to the games that I wanted/could play.  And even when the tokens went into the games that I wanted them to, she would stand beside me and continue to put more tokens in while I played.  I think there were a couple of games that I ended up playing about five times in a row.

All-in-all it was a fun morning, and I think the birthday boy really enjoyed it.  As for Little, she would have been perfectly happy to sit in one place and feed tokens into a slot all day long.  Better not let her near slot machines!   

At first, Little wasn’t sure what the whole point was. We pulled the strollers up to the first exhibit of monkeys (gibbons, actually) and the waterfall at the front of the enclosure caught Little’s attention right away. It took her a few minutes to figure out that we were pointing to the gibbons, but once she did she pointed and grinned as they swung around and played.

There is currently a butterfly house set up in one area of the zoo. Little really enjoyed seeing the flowers and watching the butterflies flutter around and fly right past her face. I thought it was neat to see all of the different types of butterflies and the beautiful colors and wing patterns. It is amazing the variation God created on something as small as the butterfly.

Most of the time Little seemed a bit ambivalent toward the animals; she would point to them, but she doesn’t really identify them yet. She did get excited when she spotted the animals in their habitats and would point and smile.

One of our favorite exhibits was the polar bears and sea lions. The habitat is set up where you can see the bears from outside (like a standard exhibit) but there is also a building you can enter and view them through floor to ceiling windows. The windows look into the pools of the habitats of both the polar bears and sea lions; you can see the animals up close swimming and diving and playing.  It was very neat to see them so close. Little really enjoyed watching the sea lions play because she could see them well as they swam back and forth across the viewing area.

We saw all manner of animals from flamingos to butterflies to tigers to bears to elephants. It was fun for me to see the animals but more so to watch Little’s face light up as she discovered new things.

For my loyal readers: Thanks for continuing to stop by the last few weeks while posting has been so light. I’m hopeful that I’ll be posting more regularly again before long, but I think it might take a few days to get back into the habit.

The most exciting event of the last week would have to be that Little has discovered the joy of standing with her head on the floor looking between her legs. Her new pose never fails to make her laugh. Quite honestly it is pretty funny to see her flipped over like that; add to that the fact that I get to hear that sweet little laugh and it is a pretty fun turn of events.

In other news, we actually had RAIN this weekend! For good portions of both Saturday and Sunday we had water falling from the sky in a nice soaking rain. Although we’ve received some rain in the last few weeks it has always been a hard rain lasting only a few minutes so a lot of the water has run off; this weekend the ground actually had time to absorb the watery goodness. I think the grass and flowers (what is left of them) are grateful for a good drink of water. We are grateful that the drought has officially ended, but we are still woefully behind on precipitation for the year.

Last but not least, Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess is hosting a giveaway for a Tummy 2 Tummy instructional babywearing DVD. If you are interested, click here.

And there you have another action-packed and entertaining post. I’m hopeful that I will have something a bit more post-worthy to write about soon.

Steph is giving away a gorgeous Strawberry Fields Forever sling from Rockin’ Baby. Winning this sling would be a wonderful start to my collection of babywearing accessories for Little #2 that will be gracing our household in a few months. Rockin’ Baby has some really fantastic fabric combinations on their pouches and slings; better start saving my dollars in the event I don’t win.

Hop over to Adventures in Babywearing for more info on the contest and to see the pretty prize.

If you’re interested, the contest ends tonight, so hurry over to Adventures in Babywearing and sign up!

We enjoyed playing inside and outside with everything from bubbles to the Wii. H & N really had fun playing Wii bowling, and N was excited because he bowled a strike in pretty much every game he played. Matt pulled the boys and Little around the yard in our wagon which apparently was a great time. I kept hearing cries of “faster” accompanied by lots of laughter and few breaks for the man doing all the work. I appreciated the time I was able to spend with H (D & D’s oldest daughter) getting to know her a bit and just having the opportunity to talk to her about school, friends, and soccer.

Little wasn’t real sure what to think about having so many other children in the house. She watched the boys, got upset when Matt went outside with the boys but not her, and waited patiently (for a one year old) for her turn in the wagon. She was good and played well, but you could tell she was a bit unsure about why those people were at her house.

After everyone left and Little was in bed Matt and I sat on the couch relaxing and enjoying the calm. We had a brief peek into the life of a family with four children, and I believe that our thoughts can be summed up in Matt’s statement: “I’m glad they usually come one at a time!”

As I sat quietly in the shade of a tree reading and praying I was struck by the lack of silence. Yes, there were no cars, no voices, no ringing telephones, no hum of machinery; but when all of those things fade away silence doesn’t reign. There was the song of birds, the sound of leaves falling, the hum of cicadas, the whisper of a breeze through the grass and trees. But instead of the sounds of a hurried life I was surrounded by sounds that filled me with peace, that allowed me to relax, that drew me into prayer at the recognition of God’s majesty. Times like that are hard to come by, the times when I can truly be still and know that He is God.

Our silence was broken when we gathered for lunch, and, honestly, it was kind of awkward at first. It was a bit jarring to even hear my own voice after three hours in which quietness abounded, but we quickly settled into the hum of conversation that is common when women come together. The afternoon was spent in fellowship, sharing about our experience in the morning, group prayer, and taking Communion as a group. It was a wonderful day that I left feeling refreshed, relaxed, and ready to see Matt and Little.

Not long after I got home this strange wet stuff started falling from the sky; it’s been so long since we’ve seen rain around here that we almost forgot what it was. But when the rain came pouring down sideways it didn’t take long to figure out that we were in for a storm. Thunder and lightning started ripping through the sky, and soon our power flickered and then was gone.

While the rain was coming down hard, Matt took Little out under the carport so they could see the rain (and be in the cool since we no longer had a/c). They walked up to the edge of the area protected by the carport roof and Little enjoyed feeling the water on her skin as the wind blew the rain around. After we’d been outside a minute or so, a huge clap of thunder rumbled through the clouds. I thought Little might be scared because it was such a loud and sudden noise, but she stood there quietly until it passed and then attempted to mimic the sound the thunder made. It was so cute to see and hear her enjoying the downpour.

About an hour after the rain started (5:30ish) we were still without power, so we headed off to find some dinner and a cool place to hang out for a bit. After dinner we spent a few minutes at the bookstore and then headed home because it was getting close to Little’s bedtime.

We were hopeful that the power had been restored while we were gone until we turned onto our road and saw the neighbors out on their porches and driveways. Let’s just say that when it has been around 100 degrees for several days and then your a/c goes out it doesn’t take long for the house to get hot. Matt lit some candles and we sat at the kitchen table (with the sliding doors open) and read until it was too dark to read by candlelight. The day’s silence had returned as we sat quietly reading in a house devoid of all the sounds that are powered by electricity.

The power came back on about 10 (it had been out for over 5 hours at this point). This time when the silence broke I was pleased because it meant my a/c compressor was kicking back on, and we were able to settle in for the night as the house cooled back down to a comfortable temperature. Sometimes I take the conveniences of modern day life for granted, but Saturday evening I realized just how much I would miss my ceiling fans, air conditioning, and electricity if they were taken away.

On a lovely Wednesday morning a few weeks ago Michelle and the girls came over and the baking began. Having noticed that small chefs can sometimes be eager to add ingredients to the mix, I had gathered all the necessary components and utensils beforehand to help speed the process (next time I might pre-measure the ingredients as well). When the girls came in we drew stools and chairs to the counters and set about making our mess cupcakes.

At my instruction B began breaking eggs into a bowl and, due to Michelle’s diligence, we got them into the mixing bowl sans shells. While they worked on eggs, I measured other ingredients and K (the 2-1/2 year old) licked raw egg off the counter. Then, into the mixing bowl – with B and K alternating turns – went all of the ingredients to be mixed by two spoons and four sweet little hands.

After everything was well mixed we used a scoop to transfer the contents of the bowl into the cupcake pans. Into the oven they went and the excruciating wait between mixing and eating began. K was excited because, “Ooo, we’re making muffins!”

While the cupcakes cooled we went to work creating frosting. There were three frostings concocted from which we would determine our favorite and the contest submission. We started with a strawberry frosting that B quickly deemed the favorite. She enjoyed it so much that Michelle and I kept seeing little fingers go into the bowl for “one more taste.”

Once the frostings were complete it was time to decorate. We had sprinkles, strawberries, and chocolate covered strawberries with which to adorn our cupcakes, and beautiful designs resulted. I wish I had pictures of B’s wonderful cupcake creations, but, unfortunately, my camera batteries were dead.

I believe a good time was had by all. In the end, the counters were sticky, the floor was sticky, there were baking supplies and powdered sugar everywhere; in general it looked like a bakery had exploded. But it was worth the clean up to see the girls enjoying the fruits (or desserts as it were) of their labor.

Lauren is so kind; she named me a “Thoughful Blogger”. This was designed to recognize “those who answer blog comments, emails and make their visitors feel at home on their blog; for the people who take others people’s feelings into consideration before speaking out, and who are kind and courteous. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.”

I am honored that Lauren thinks of me in this way. Thank you!

And now, a little of that…

Susan and Janice of 5 Minutes for Mom are having another great giveaway. They’ve teamed up with Best Buy to give their readers a chance to win an Insignia 37″ flat-panel LCD HDTV!! Click here for all the details.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!

In giveaway #1 for the Gnomy’s Diary Angel – comment # 37 – Photojenic

And in giveaway #2 for the Sisterchicks book – comment #8 – Jana

Thanks to everyone for entering the drawings. I will e-mail the winners and get the prizes out as soon as I can.

The Dog Days of Summer Giveaway that Shannon is hosting has been lots of fun. I can’t believe the number of bloggers participating!

So here are the details on my second giveaway this week (look here for the first giveaway):

This time around one random commenter will win a copy of Robin Jones Gunn’s book Sisterchicks do the Hula! This is a used copy (read at least 3 times); the corners are a bit dinged, but all the pages are intact.

I read this book a few weeks ago; it was fun and light reading – just the right kind for the Dog Days of Summer! Although it was an easy read it does carry a message; about friendship, motherhood, and a relationship with God. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Now to the nitty-gritty: To be eligible to win please leave a comment on this post. One comment per participant, please; duplicate comments will be deleted. Make sure that there is a way I can reach you (either via e-mail or your blog) if you win. On Friday, at 4:30 pm central time, I will use an online random number generator to choose a winner. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian addresses only, my apologies to any overseas readers.

To my few “regulars” here at Sidetrack’d: I will be back soon with a real post; I just finished Harry Potter which has consumed much of my normal blogging time this week.

Welcome to those of you who are visiting from Rocks in My Dryer. I’m glad to see you at Sidetrack’d and hope you will stop by again sometime.

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a super fun blog carnival this week rounding up all kinds of bloggy giveaways. At this point there are 250 participants and more giveaways will be added throughout the course of the week! Click on the cute little doggy button above to check out the host of bloggers who have joined the fun.

So I don’t miss out on all of the excitement, I’m hosting my first ever giveaway!

A randomly selected commenter will be the recipient of the darling little angel pictured below. This is the Angel of September from a collection of figurines known as Gnomy’s Diaries. The Gnomy’s figurines include the Angel of the Month series as well as a line known as The Legend of the Fortune Fairies (which I collect). I really like these figurines because of the child-like qualities in the design; they just have the sweetest little faces.

To be eligible to win please leave a comment on this post and tell me what you collect; if you don’t have a collection, no problem, just tell me that. One comment per participant, please; duplicate comments will be deleted. Make sure that there is a way I can reach you (either via e-mail or your blog) if you win. On Friday, at 4:30 pm central time, I will use an online random number generator to choose a winner. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian addresses only, my apologies to any overseas readers.

Head over to the Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway headquarters and see what else you might win! I plan to have at least one more giveaway this week, so check back Wednesday (look here for giveaway #2).

I’m so excited; yesterday I was able to get a Monk & Neagle CD via BooMama’s great CD Extravaganza! It should arrive in 10 days or so, and I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it after I’ve listened once or thirty times.

Click on the button above or the one in the sidebar to hear some of their music.

First, 5 Minutes for Mom is hosting a giveaway for $300 worth of gift certificates to purchase Horizon Organic dairy products. That is a lot of milk (and cheese, and yogurt, and…well, you get the idea)!

Next up is a CD Giveaway Extravaganza Gala Spectacular hosted by BooMama. 100 bloggers will get Monk & Neagle’s new CD for FREE! She has been raving about these guys for weeks, and I’ve really enjoyed the clips I’ve heard of their music. The link will be posted at BooMama’s site tomorrow (July 19th) at noon central time.

Then, I would like to direct your attention to the lovely little dog button in the right sidebar. Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer will be hosting the “Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway” carnival beginning Monday, July 23rd. Lots of bloggers will be linking up to give away lots of good prizes. Definitely check this one out! (guidelines are here)

And finally (for now) click on the other button in the right sidebar – the one that says “Summer Cupcake Caper” – to check out GiBee’s fun cupcake baking contest. I’m getting my entry ready (more on that in another post); submissions are due July 25th.

That covers us for now. Hopefully I will win something in one of these!

I have a friend coming over in about an hour.

My house is a wreck.

Hopefully I’ll be back later with more!

~ Little’s face is looking much better after 2 doses of antibiotic; I think we’re on the mend.
~I’ve walked 9 of the last 10 days.

First, Steph at Adventures in Babywearing continues her summer of awesome giveaways! This time she’s giving away a Podonbutai designed by Jenn at All Natural Mommies. The Podonbutai is an ingenius babywearing device that can be used as a podeagi, an onbuhimo, or a mei tai (the carrier, not the cocktail) depending on your mood, preference, and how you tie the straps. I think Little would be just adorable riding in it!

Then, the ladies at Pinks & Blues blog are giving away a cute Vera Bradley bag and a tub of coconut butter from Sheena’s The Body Shop site.

And last, but not least, Susan and Janice at 5 Minutes for Mom are giving 10 lucky winners The Neat Receipts Scanalizer portable scanner and software. This looks like such a neat product for scanning receipts, recipes, or magazine articles I would like to save for later.

If you would like to join in the fun, click any of the links above to visit the contests.

Yes, I did walk this morning; thanks for asking!

So, how did we spend the day yesterday? Eating hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and apple pie? Watching fireworks?

Nope, we celbrated our nation’s birth by packing a couple of boxes, taking a family walk in the park, playing WiiSports, and reading. And our day culminated with a trip to eat mexican food, because, really, isn’t that what any red blooded American does on the Fourth of July?

~~Little and I have walked 4 out of the last 4 days.

The first weekend in June, Matt spent a copious amount of time preparing his resume and Pushcart Labs, his web portfolio. His hard work paid off when he submitted a resume the following Tuesday and received an e-mail reply within hours. On Wednesday morning he spoke with the CEO of the company, on Wednesday afternoon he spoke with the person he will be working alongside, and by Wednesday evening he had an interview scheduled for Wednesday the 20th.

This job opportunity was one reason our trip last week was a bit hectic. We headed to Nashville on Tuesday afternoon, Matt interviewed for the position on Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday afternoon he was offered and accepted the job over the phone as we drove to his parents’ house in Georgia.

We spent time Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – around wedding preparations, family time, rehearsal dinner, wedding, etc – doing online research on places to live; Nashville is my hometown, so it made things a bit easier in that we knew the areas where we wanted to focus our search. We are planning to rent for a couple of years; I’m sure finding an apartment is much easier than trying to find and buy a house long distance and on short notice. Early Monday morning we left Georgia headed back to Nashville hoping to find a place we liked that would be available in the time frame we needed.

Through God’s provision, the second complex on our list had three bedroom apartments available when we need to move. Our unit has close to the same square footage as our current house, an open floor plan in the kitchen/living room/family room/dining room, a large balcony, and a big master bath (something we’ve not had before). The complex has multiple pools, including an indoor pool that is open year round, and other nice amenities. We feel very blessed to have found a place so quickly, and that, so far anyway, things have gone smoothly.

The next task, when we returned home, was finding a realtor and getting our house on the market. Matt was able to get in touch with someone Tuesday afternoon, we met with her last night, and our listing should go up today. We are hopeful that we will sell quickly as we are in a great school district and our house lists for under $150,000, both of which are a bit difficult to come by in our area. The realtor seemed confidant that we should sell with no problem (but she’s paid to say that, isn’t she?); she said that though the market as a whole is pretty bad right now the market for “first-time” homes is still moving well.

Whatever happens, we know that God is sovereign over all and trust that He knows how everything will turn out in the end. We have been, and continue to be, prayerful through the process and are trying to be intentional toward making this about God’s righteousness and glory, not about our wants. It will be nice to move close to family, it will be nice for Matt to be in a job doing something for which he has a passion, it will be nice to see what happens in our lives as a result of this change; but if God is not glorified through us and through this, what have we really accomplished?