So So Blessed

We moved!  Yeah, I know.  We do it all of the time.  Really and truly though, we hope that this is the last time in a very long time.  And if it isn't, oh well.  We're pros at this whole packing, moving and unpacking thing.  It builds character.  This was a short move- just 10 minutes up the road from the church parsonage to a home in Taneytown that we now own (well, the bank let's us say we own it).  There are lots of reasons why we decided to move.  It really just ended up being the best decision for our family for this season of our lives.

The new house is beautiful.  It is much  more than what I had envisioned when we first started house shopping-two stories, almost finished basement, garage, on a dead end street- it is really and truly perfect for us.  But the very best part has nothing to do with bricks, rooms and grass.  The very best thing about the new house is the neighbors.  I will post pictures of all of the kids playing together when I get to my camera.

Gene (no idea if that's how you spell his name) and Amanda have 3 children- 2 girls and a boy.  Their daughter Erin is Elijah's age (2 months younger), Elizabeth is Micah's age and Austin is 4 years old.  They play together at every opportunity.  Even better is the fact that Elijah and Micah are getting along with them so well.  They always struggle with change a bit, but this time around, they have felt welcomed and included immediately.  It has been the biggest blessing of this whole move.  Thank you Lord for providing friends.

First full day in Keymar :)

Find of the day... This great park just minutes from our house. Maryland welcomed us with perfect weather. We toured the boys future school and found a Redbox for a bedtime movie. Can't wait to move in.

We found a bike shop to get Micah's bike repaired, bought enough frozen dinners for lunches and dinners for 2 days, and played in our back yard/ church parking lot all afternoon.  At the checkout, Micah told the cashier, "Look!  We got Kid Cuisine!  We never get those.  I mean it.  My mommy has NEVER boughten those before ever even though we always ask.  But we're in Maryland, not Kentucky."  He waltzed off and left me there to try and explain that one with a bewildered looking cashier.

Speaking of the grocery store, we happened through the "Family Friendly" lane.  I was unsure of the meaning of this at first.  I eyed the cashier critically- was she going to be extra nice to my kids?  Suckers?  Discounts?  Then I noticed the racks next to the lane that are usually laden with candy and gum.  Instead there were toddler snacks, mini-tissue packets and magazines for moms.  Very smart.  My boys however, not to be fooled, picked up a "mom" magazine and flipped through until they found an ad that they could "show" me, packaged with, "Mommy, I'm not really asking for this but LOOK at this bike.  If someone wanted to trade me my bike for this one, would you let me trade?  This bike is soooo cool.  Its not all rusty and old like mine."

Lots of tree climbing and only one pseudo-injury.  Micah turned over a brick under a GREAT climbing tree beside our house and a million baby ants swarmed all over his feet.  He dropped the brick on his foot, screamed and started stomping all over.  When I ran over to him, he had most of the ants off.  Their nest was so full it looked like the ground was moving.  He was still sobbing so I said, "Does your foot hurt from the brick or did the ants scare you?  He said, "the ants!!!!!"  Isaiah promptly ran over to the nest and started squishing the stray ones that had scurried away from the brick saying, "Leave Micah alone!"

I would imagine Micah will be leaving them alone from now on.  :)

Officially official (its been a while... sorry)

This will be the two younger boys' room in the parsonage.
This is the living room; I'm thinking about keeping the tables and chairs. :)

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We will have a new home. Relief. Excitement. Anxiety. Nervousness. Adventure. All of it, all wrapped up together. Mostly it just feels really good to have direction- to know where the boys will go to elementary school in the fall, to know where we'll live, and just to know.

Now comes the hard part, preparing to leave. I love my people here, and I love knowing where to get a free muffin with coffee before 8am, how to get fresh vegetables all summer long, where the discount bread store is and who to call if I need... anything.

Keymar, Maryland. That's where we're headed and we're excited.
But that's all I can write because there's a lump in my throat for all we'll leave behind.

Moving...

Many of you are already aware, but I thought I'd share with the others, that we are moving- but only a couple of streets over from where we live right now. Our potential new home is above. We are still in negotiation, but everything is looking pretty good. Why you ask? Good question. We're buying the house together with our good friends Tom and Cassie. All four of us will share in the ownership of the home. We'll split all of the regular homeowner costs and we'll all be on the title. We've all made an agreement that neither couple will vacate the home or stop paying mortgage payments until it resells or until the other couple refinances it in their names only if one couple decides they want to stay longer than the other. As it is though, we're all committed to being here for at least 2 more years. It quickly turned from a "ahh wouldn't it be great" conversation to reality as we researched the idea and pieces of the puzzle kept falling miraculously into place. Our current home sold before we even put a For Sale sign in the yard; anyone who has tried to sell a house lately knows how miraculous that is. Then, after some explaining and re-explaining, we got approved for some really good financing- another miracle since only 2 of the 4 of us have full time jobs and even those two jobs don't pay a whole lot. Not to mention the fact that we found a 2,900 square foot house in Wilmore that is in our price range to begin with. It just seems that God has gone before us at every step of this process.

We didn't enter this decision without much discussion, and financial aspects aside, the primary reasons for living together are as much spiritual as they are financial. We all have a desire to live simply, in community with others. We want to provide housing for international students or others in need with some of the extra space that will be in this home. If we all live on the same amount of space we are currently used to, there is still space left over to minister to others. We all recognize the growth that occurs when you live as a part of an accountable community. You learn to share, to give of what you have, to be more self-less, to appreciate the gifts and talents of all kinds of different people.

As the authors of the book Simple Living put it, "While many Americans remain attached to traditional standards of material progress, others are examining their values, their priorities, their lifelong goals, and are choosing to measure gain not by what they have, but by who they are, by how they live." OR, as my friend Cassie put it yesterday, "It's like buying in bulk."

We are so very excited! Certainly there are going to be minor conflicts as we all learn to live together, but we're all committed to making it work, we all believe that the personal benefits will outweigh the difficulties in the end. So, that's our adventure! Moving date will probably be May 1st, so if you're free that weekend and in KY, let us know! And, Olivia, can you believe our new address will be 102 Olivia Court? Crazy huh.