Officially Homeowners Again!!!!

So we finally made the big move!

Wow! You really know how to pack a truck babe ;) And you get extra points for not damaging anything, way to go!

You just don't even know how hard it was to get that pretty car up there.

Me and the girls crammed like sardines in the Tahoe. And don't you love Jason's boxers there, protecting my leather seats from Jakes kennel. haha! We're so creative.

I promise Ryann can breath back there, lol.

This picture speaks for itself.

And here are the girls playing with Ann Wyatt after we closed. So happy!

The last 3 days have been a whirlwind. Packed the truck all day Sunday and still some more Monday morning. We were able to get out of good ol' Lutz by about 2:00pm. Traveling actually went quite well. We made great timing and praise God we made it safely. Traveling with a 26 ft. Uhaul, a trailor with a car on it, a dog, along with me and 2 toddlers in my packed SUV is dangerous! God definitely protected us. ;) The girls were so well behaved, (which I was worried about having them by myself on an 8 hour trip). I can't even tell you how nerve racking it was to watch Jason drive that monsterous Uhaul and trailor. I know he felt every bump in the road. He did an awesome job driving that beast though. I'm so proud of him. Pretty sure he could be any kind of driver he wants. Race car driver, semi truck driver, truck and trailor driver, he's pretty much a professional driver in my book. Me on the other hand, not so much, but I couldn't see anything out my back window with the boxes stacked so high. So I'm just re-emphasizing how thankful I am that God brought us here safely. We had an easy breezy closing this morning, wrapped up at about 11:00. Jason, his cousin and uncle helped unload the truck. Another major blessing! And then Jason and Scott got to cleaning and even managed to put our living room together. (Pictures soon to come;) Things are going pretty well. It's hard to put into words how I feel about it all. Obviously I'm ecstatic! I'm also really tired, lol. Still tons to do. This week isn't slowing down. We have to get all our utilities squared away, buy a fridge, master bedroom suite, dresser for the girls, GROCERYS, and on and on. I'm really grateful for it all though, and I'm not complaining one bit. Just praising Jesus! Can't wait to start visiting churches. First stop, Westridge!

Packing

I know I'm not the only one who gets annoyed by the tiny-ness of baby and toddler clothes. Sure they're cute but they are just so SMALL. And it seems like it takes forever to do laundry with all those tiny articles of clothing. When we moved from our last home into my parents we didn't box any clothes. We just left them on hangers and transported them to the next closet. Well this time we have to box them and I started doing that today. And today I really appreciated those tiny little clothes. I was able to fit both Micaila and Ryann's ENTIRE wardrobe (with the exception of what I left out for them to wear from now till Tuesday) into one box. Shoes are another story, thank you Linda. =)

Kudos to my sweet *M-I-L* Linda for the free boxes she got us from the school board. yay!

If you are close with me you'll know what an extreme procrastinator I am. It's not that I LIKE procrastinating. I actually hate it. One reason I dislike it is because often it makes me late which I can't stand. And since I'm so anxiety stricken at points the whole feeling under pressure doesn't look good on me. But I can't help it for some reason. I just can't seem to do things a little bit at a time. It's all or nothing for me. And that goes for like every area of my life. And when it came to packing I just couldn't put things away here and there. So now I find myself jumping in to the deep packing waters and putting it alllll away. Not really loving it either, but oh well.

CLEARLY I am NOT a professional packer.... there is no method here just madness! lol. I bet my mom cant wait for this room to be empty. Notice the sweet missing flooring in the back..... previous blog "moving update" explains....

It's funny, I've filled several boxes of clothes and shoes and toys and our little bedroom is still a total mess! What the heck??? I thought this stuff was gonna start disappearing..... boy is that frustrating.

New Closing Date!

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday! We are set to close on Tuesday at 10:00am. Woohoo! We'll pack the truck up on Sunday, take our time and drive up Monday and then on that glorious Tuesday morning we will be closing on our new home. Praise God! We are so unbelievably blessed. That's all I can think about right now..... for so many reason outside of closing on our home. Take a moment and lets count our blessings =)

Here are a few of mine.

parting gifts

I have been working on parting gifts for friends all day. I don't know why I think I could ever just throw a gift together quickly. It's totally not my style. I'm a complete perfectionist when it comes to making things and I have always been one to put a lot of thought into whatever gift I'm giving. I like to make it special for the individual and put my little Katie twist on it for them to remember me by. So as it would go, I have spent all day on 1 gift. 1. And it's now 1 in the morning and I can't believe I am still up and only have partially finished 1 gift. Wow! I have a lot to do for all these special friends of mine. It's a good thing our closing got pushed back to an unknown date hopefully in the near future. I am such a procrastinator..... did I mention I haven't begun to pack a THING that's at my parents house..... oh bother....

Tell me why Georgia why????

This is what many are thinking. Something I haven't blogged about is the idea of moving to Georgia that Jason and I have been entertaining. This weekend we are going up to look at some houses. It's very exciting for us to do something totally different and outside of what people might expect us to do. We both think this could be really good for us, stepping out completely on our own. There are a lot of signs, we feel from God, that are also pointing us in this direction. So we aren't just doing this based on our own fleshly desires. (ie: bigger better house on land for way less money!) We truly are trying to make a decision based on God's leading. And honestly, we feel he is guiding us to Dallas, GA.

Jason has lots of family there, from his dad's side. Two cousins, both married with children. An Aunt and Uncle, and a Grandma. So we wont be totally alone. We are actually very close with his cousins Scott and Nicole. In fact they have 3 little girls, one of which is only 2 weeks younger then Micaila.

Yes there are many draw backs with us leaving our immediate family. But at the same time, we feel there is some growing that would get accomplished better if we were out on our own. And this doesn't mean we will never come back to our wonderful family here in Lutz. Trust me, there are some sad sad things that have crossed my mind in regards to leaving everything I have EVER known to go somewhere ENTIRELY NEW and different. Remember what I said about my Honduras trip, about never having gone anywhere on my own with out knowing a single person. Okay imagine me doing this permanently. I've always been super attached to my family. But now it's time for me to be super attached to my God and my husband and go where they lead me. So here we go, taking the first step in this "calling". We aren't sure where it will take us , we just know for now we have to go and see what God shows us next. Kind of like Abraham in Genesis 12. So be in prayer for us on this new journey. We really want God's will..... even if it means sacrificing what is comfortable and convenient, which is exactly how we're living now.

God we pray that you would do something in our days that we wouldn't believe even if someone told us. Acts 13:41 Use this family to glorify you in a new way.

In God's Will

That's where I want to be. As I've already stated, my family and I are residing at my parents home for the time being. We've been looking for houses for 3 months solid and just haven't found the right one. This past weekend we went to a very good friend of ours wedding. And just because I got one of the best photo's to date with me and my 2 daughters I must share =)





No I don't love Micaila more.... I just couldn't get Ryann any closer. And believe me, you take what you CAN get with little ones when it comes to photos.



The wedding was in beautiful South Carolina. My mothers sister Laura lives there and we stayed in her charming home. You know the kind,.... big porch with a swing and a few rocking chairs, over looking the mountains. Oh how I'd love to sit there every morning, sip on my cafe con leche, and talk to God about how He made those beautiful mountains, among other things.



My Aunt and ALL her children live in the same neighborhood. How cool to have your entire family; Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles, and all your cousins within walking distance. My cousins daughter, Emily, hopped on her four wheeler one evening and road it down to her "Mimi's" house to bring her some dinner. I would LOVE it. I did love it! I'm absolutely in love (okay honestly I'm in some seriouse "like") with South Carolina. SO in "like" that I would pick my family up and move there in a heart beat if I knew it were God's will, and of course if my husband would go for it.



So once again I'm wondering, what is God's will for my family? Where does God want us? How does He want to use us? Because I could put together a very compelling case of why I think I should move to South Carolina. I could give you all sorts of reasons for how it would be smart financially, how it would be a better environment for my children, and I'm sure there are plenty of people that we could minister to! Maybe God DOES want us there. I mean He sold our previous home within a WEEK, He obviously didn't want us there any longer. (We had done enough damage, lol) And now here we stay in my parents home, searching tirelessly for a place to live in Florida with no luck. So maybe, just maybe, God doesn't want us in Florida at all. And then maybe He doesn't want us in South Carolina either....



I don't know where He wants us, but I do know that after our little road trip, I will be more open to see if He wants us somewhere other than Lutz. I now will be praying for Him to reveal where we can be the most useful in furthering His kingdom. Whether it IS here, or South Carolina, or Africa! Wherever He leads, I will follow. *Isaiah 6:8 Here I am, Send me!*