Here we are...

Well...we made it back to Texas! We found a town-home to rent while we focus on getting established here. We were a little disappointed when we moved into our new home. It was, quite honestly, nothing like what was promised. The carpet was missing in several areas and what there was of it reeked! The place was dirty and damaged and I was afraid to let Parker down to run around. Thankfully, we documented everything and sent it to the leasing office. We had brand new carpet put down within a week and repairs made. That, coupled with a good cleaning, and some pictures on the wall made it feel more like home. The next roadblock we faced was getting my husband employed! Zach had so many interviews in the month of July that they all started to run together. A lot of interviews, yet no offers. We were starting to feel that maybe we misunderstood where God wanted us to be, when we saw an episode of Joel Osteen one Saturday night. Joel talked about facing extreme challenges when you've been faithful and how that is God's way of strengthening you and raising you up for bigger things down the road. We both took that to heart and it changed our outlook on the situation we were in. So, here we are...August 3, 2009. Zach was offered 3 jobs at the end of last week! He accepted a position with Covenant Hospital and started work today. Parker is thriving at Hope Lutheran. I love that my little boy is in a Christ-centered school. He came home a few weeks ago and told me "Him saw Jebus at skoo!" That roughly translates to: "Mother, I saw Jesus at school today when we went to chapel time." He makes me laugh. I really feel we're right where we are supposed to be and that we are all growing in the process. I'll end this with some lyrics by Matthew West that have really been on my heart lately:

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

Summer

I am starting this blog as a way to keep our family and friends up-to-date with what we're up to. I also love writing, which many people do not know. It seems I never have time to engage in that passion. I am making time for it now, though.

So...here we are.

We're moving back to Texas.

And no, we're not crazy.

The past year has been tumultuous to say the least. I changed careers and financially it has been a bit of a struggle. Instead of enjoying the life and child we'd been blessed with, we fought...and fought...oh, and fought some more. I looked across the table around Christmas-time and realized I didn't have a clue what made my husband "tick"...I didn't know or care to know what his wants, needs, and desires were. I was in a bad place and actually contemplating the 'D' word. It's very sad that in this day and age we're very much instant gratification and if it's broke don't try to fix it...just throw it away and buy a new one. I hate that this was the person I'd become. I hated the way I sounded when I spoke to my husband, a lot like Kate from Jon & Kate Plus 8...not pretty! We started going to meet with our pastor once a week in March for marriage counseling and I have no words to describe what it has done for our marriage.He asked us to make a list of the things that made us fall in love with each other in the first place...it seems so simple, yet it was something we never considered doing on our own. We started having 'Date Nights"...and it truly felt like we were dating all over again. Putting God back into our marriage, a simple concept it seems, but the results are indescribeable.

So, I told you that story to tell you this one. We had been praying for God to give us an answer on what we needed to do from a financial standpoint so that we could live comfortably. We have been doing very well, as far as what we earn, but it seemed to never be enough. We wanted to buy a house in Erie, but at $300K...that's a lot of money and not necessarily a lot of house. Saturday, May 9th, Zach and I were throwing out random ideas of things we could do...we couldn't agree on one. Feeling frustrated, I went to get ready for the day and just think. It was as if a lightbulb had been switched on and suddenly the answer was as clear as day. I felt the answer we'd been praying for had arrived, but I needed confirmation from Zach. I calmly walked into the laundry room where he was sorting laundry and said 'We move back to Texas.' I will never forget the look on his face. He said 'Explain.' I told him exactly what had been placed on my heart and we both agreed that was our answer. I told Zach, now we just need to figure how what to do about the condo. About 10 minutes after that, the woman who was renting our condo called and said she wanted to buy the place! We were both giddy the rest of the weekend...when some friends and coworkers saw my face Monday morning, the immediately guessed I was pregnant (I'm not, by the way). This has been such an amazing two weeks, and both Zach and I continue to have faith that God is going to bless us in amazing and unimaginable ways!