Move Update

Most of my readers (all six of you) would really like a move update.  I'm sorry I haven't been more diligent to keep everyone posted.  I figured it was better to wait until something was certain than to post possibilities and have to keep correcting myself.  That, and I've gotten sucked into pinterest, so all my computer time is spent pinning ideas for the new house.  J's been at a programming conference here in town this weekend, so I've tried to use my time for the greater good and let you all know what is happening.

We have sold our house!!  Thank you, God!  We close on September 22nd.  Many thanks for all the offers of help, but God has provided the finances to pay for movers this time around!!  Woo hoo!  I am so relieved that we do not have to abuse our friends and family with yet another scorching hot move.  The movers will pick up our stuff on September 20th and we'll stay here two nights because somebody-who-shall-remain-nameless managed to have a top-priority-can't-miss-it-or-rearrange-it meeting scheduled at the office for the day before we close.   It will be a crazy week.

We have found a new house!!  Thank you, God!  Looks like we will close on it mid-October.  My brother has generously offered to house us for those gap weeks, so we'll be staying there until we can get into the new place.  Thanks, T & CA!  Our stuff will be in storage and the movers will deliver it the day after we close.

I'm super excited about the new place because of the way God provided for it.  We had put an offer in on a different place and that offer had been accepted; we were moving forward.  But I just couldn't get that settled peace about it.  We went back and looked at it again, and I felt a little better.  We estimated the payments and knew we could swing them.  But the more we talked about it, the more we realized that we would have to postpone some major family goals if we bought that house.  So we walked away. I was actually relieved instead of disappointed.  It was a great house, just not the one God had for us.

We picked the winner after narrowing down dozens of choices to our top three.  We imagined life now in each of those places....who would sleep where, hosting a small group, having overnight guests, doing school, etc.  And life five years from now.  The winning house kept coming up with an extra room. What would we do with that much space?  It's a foreclosure, so it's a lot of house for a little price.  One of us threw out the comment, "We could host an exchange student."  We've always wanted to do that!  The list of opportunities started rolling and we started getting more and more excited.  Even though we had a different neighborhood prioritized, we really feel like God is giving us this house so we can share it with others.  I've felt like God planted a seed of hospitality among the gifts He gave me; I enjoy hosting and making folks comfortable.  So the idea that He provided a house where I can use that gift for His glory and our budget stays flexible at the same time....I'm overwhelmed by His goodness!  And I'm eager to watch His abundance flow through my hands to bless others.

So right now we are just living life as usual.  I'll pack up the things we need during the gap weeks, but leave the rest for the movers.  I'm going to get my money's worth out of them.  I should probably be purging, but I'm just going to wait until we get to the new place and purge as I unpack.  Ask me later if that was a good idea or not.

I'll try to write more if more happens.  The next ten days are full of last playdates, last visits to parks, a smidgen of school, and hopefully, lots of rest.  Thanks for the prayers!  Please continue to pray for the rest of the Snoball.com team to sell their homes and find the right one on the other side.