Settling in....

We've been in the house now for almost 4 weeks. I can't believe it's been that long! We have almost everything done we can get done. Doug has painted basically the entire house. The boys' both liked their room colors, but other than that, every room is a new color. Doug rolls and I cut in. So, there are two rooms I need to cut in still, but I will hopefully get that done this week. The last thing on our list is to put up a fence, but that will have to wait for just a while.

I seriously think several times a day that I cannot believe this is the house God had for us. It's just almost perfect! It's huge! It's layout is perfect! We just love it! We have an entire room with basically no furniture in it. We hope at some point to put a pool table and game table in there so we can have parties!

I cannot believe how easy it is to keep this house clean as well. Our old house was almost always a disaster. This one is twice the size, but we're able to keep it clean. The reason is that the layout is just so much better! Not to mention the fact that I have my very own workspace so all of my stuff is out of our living space. God is so good!

We haven't really met any of our neighbors. We did talk with the older lady that lives across the street the day we moved in, but no one else. I guess it is hard to do in the middle of winter. We have seen a lot of kids around though, so hopefully my kids will have friends in the neighborhood, as soon as it's nice enough for them to out more.

We absolutely love being here. Doug is still traveling to Illinois three days a week for work, but that will only last the next month. We're trusting God for a job for him in His time. It's absolutely amazing to be hands on with SCC. The whole purpose of us coming here is definitely the best part!

Well, I just wanted to get down some thoughts about the house and our move. I'll attach some pictures of our beautiful new home!

15 Years Ago Today...

I became a mom. Wow! What a change to my life. Austin David Jones was born on February 13, 2007 at 4:10pm. Doug and I were so disillusioned about becoming parents. We thought it was just going to be loads of fun. Although it is, it is also a lot of work! Thankfully, with Austin, it has not been that hard. He's just a good kid. He likes to do what we ask and to please us. He does things with out (too much) grumbling, I mean, come on, he is a teenager. He's just a joy in our lives. It so weird to think that he's 15 today. I feel like I have an official teenager now. I know that 13 & 14 are technically teenagers, but 15 just seems so much older somehow. What really doesn't seem right, is that I only have about 3 1/2 more years of him being with me all the time. I'm so thankful I homeschool so I can really treasure these times. I know he's going to start stretching out and being gone more, but he's still here. I cannot even imagine the day when he moves out and is not here every day. The day is coming, and my job is to prepare him for it. When it comes, I need to be thankful for my time with him and joyful that he is fulfilling the purposes God created him for. Not today though, today, I have him here.

So, Happy Birthday Austin. I love you so very, very much. You changed my life when you joined this world, in a way only you could.

Thank you God for the gift of children and being a parent. Thank you for this small glimpse of just how much you love us.