Big Announcement!

It's official. The church voted (unanimously!) to call Lucas to be their pastor! We have prayed all throughout the process that God would VERY CLEARLY show us where He wanted us. Previously, He very clearly closed doors, and we wondered what it would look like when we found the right place...would doors simply remain open, or would He give us clear signs? We think the vote is a very clear sign :)

The church

Another clear sign? At the end of our house hunt we narrowed it down to 2 houses. Neither was perfect. Neither had all of the space or the layout that we wanted. But the locations were perfect, and with some work on our part we could make them the ideal homes. So we scheduled one last walk through. Just before we left, our realtor asked us if we wanted to look at another house, listed by another realtor in their office (and near the other 2). Why hadn't we looked at it before? Because it was roughly $40,000 out of our budget. But, apparently, the listing realtor had thought this was the perfect house for us since she had first heard about us, and thought it was always worth it to at least put in an offer even way below asking price. The worst they can do is say no, right?

We agreed to see the house, and really loved it from the moment we walked in (although neither of us got too attached because we knew there was no way it could be ours...). The bedrooms were huge (Ryan & Allie can share a room and still have so much space), it was the only house with a specific dining room (if you've seen our honking table, you'd know why this is a bonus), lots of entertaining space, and a finished basement (the one thing the other houses were lacking) - with a spare bedroom, a hobby room, and a room that can serve as the kids' play room (finally, a place for toys so they don't completely overtake every other space in the house!). The yard is a little small, but there is the potential to purchase part or all of the empty lots on either side in the future! We decided that it was too perfect not to put in an offer, offered what we could afford (actually, we left a little wiggle room for a counter), and then talked about what we were going to do in our "real" house (the house we were going to put an offer on when this one was rejected...the one in our budget!). We both said the only way our offer would be accepted would be if God really wanted us to have the house.

48 hours later I got the call that our offer was accepted. There wasn't even a counter! Lucas and I are still in shock.

Our house.

The babies' room

The Master Bedroom (yes...it has 3 closets!!!)

The living room

The kitchen & dining room

And so, with confidence, Lucas and I are preparing to follow God's calling to Michigan (I'm not going to specify the exact location, for some privacy sake, but if you know us, don't know where it is, and want to know, feel free to ask). We are excited, and sad. Moving is always bittersweet. It's like finishing a really good book...you enjoyed every minute of it, but it had to end...and there is another great book just waiting to be read next!

And a baby update. Sickness still reigns in our household. I wish I could say it's getting better, but actually, each day they wake up a little worse. I'm looking forward, with eager expectation, to the day when we wake up and I can say definitively that they are getting better and the end is near. I went to the doctor and found out...nothing. Basically, this kind of thing (cold-like in nature) frequently goes into bronchiolitis or a similar illness, but they aren't at that point yet, so there really isn't anything medically that can be done. So we're continuing with humidifiers and simmering pots of VapoRub water, baby tylenol (since you can no longer give any sort of cough syrup to children under 4), mesh teethers filled with ice (to soothe sore throats), and LOTS of tv (which kills me, but it's the only way to keep them confined. When I let them down to play they get worked up and start coughing, which makes them cry, which makes them cough more...).

Our mini-miracles? Last night Lucas had the brilliant idea to go and buy a second monitor (we had been separating them to keep one baby's coughing fits from waking up another, but since they are so hoarse I can't hear them at night I had been sleeping on the floor of one baby's room...which we found was generally just causing them to wake up more...). This meant that I got to sleep in a bed (for the first time in a couple weeks) with my husband. Granted we both were up with babies at some point during the night (Lucas more than I because I'm getting sick and he wanted to try to help keep me healthy. Bless him), but the sleep was heavenly for me!