Whew.

It has been a whirlwind the last week!  Last weekend we said goodbye to our first home and hello to our new (more spacious) second home.  Well...not sure I would call it goodbye, considering we still own the first house.  We have had our cute little home on the market for about a year and half and it became completely obvious to us it was not going to sell anytime soon.  Unless you have had your head in a hole for the last couple of years you know that the housing market sucks stinks right now : )  Not too many people are in the market for a 1,000 square foot home at the moment. Yeah, we're not in the market for one either, so I guess I can't really blame anyone.
After giving the house a fair amount of time on the market, we knew it was time to consider renting it out.  It's funny because even thinking about being a Landlord used  to make us nauseous, but one day we both just seemed to have a weird peace about it.  Chad and I had decided to completely commit ourselves to prayer for God's Will with our situation.  We prayed together and we prayed separately for guidance for our family.  We by NO MEANS wanted to become "landlord's" without being under the umbrella of the Lord's protection.  And we knew we were guaranteed that protection by being right in the center of His Will.  We prayed if it was His Will that the process would go easy and without glitch and He would make the provisions we needed to get things started.  Our first step was to get our house out there for rent.  On Craig's List it went at 9pm on a Wednesday night.  By Thursday at 12 pm we already had 2 people coming to look at the house that evening!  The first renter to walk in the door loved it and was very anxious to get the house.  Chad and I both had a huge peace about her and felt so confident that we called her later that night to let her know she could rent the house. 
Now onto the next step, finding a new house!  We had narrowed the house list down to a handful we wanted to go and look at.  There was one house in particular that just stood out to us and Chad let me go and look at that one first, while he was out of town that weekend. It was perfect and every box on my list was checked.  He told me if I liked it to put an offer in...and I did!   They soon countered back with a reasonable offer that we accepted.  Our next obstacle was the tricky process of getting approved for a 2nd mortgage when you already have 1 mortgage.  Praise the Lord, we were approved and we closed in 17 days.  Chad said that is the quickest he has ever seen a closing happen at the bank.
It is the absolute best feeling to know that our family is in the center of God's Will.  It is a very free feeling!  It was incredible to watch God work as we went through the whole process and to see everything just fall into place.  I love that the Lord cares about the intricate details of our lives.  He cared that we were busting at the seams in our last house, and He cared that Carter was running out of room to play the bigger he got, He cared that he had no place to ride his toys outside, and that our closets were overflowing.  I cannot tell you enough how perfect this new house is for us, it is everything we have wanted and needed in a home.
Also, what a great distraction this has been from my miscarriage I had last month.
We bring all of our thanks and praise to our God because He made it all possible and we would not have had the faith to step out of the boat without His promises.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Bye, Bye Sweet Home....

Hello New Home!!

Let me also mention that we are on a culdesac with a huge flat driveway and we have a downstairs playroom.  I love that HE cares and shows us His love in so many different ways in our lives.  I pray that our family will always reflect the goodness of His provision in our lives.

I hope to soon add a few more pictures of the inside as we get everything decorated and painted.