Memories on Monday: home is where your family is

3 years ago, we returned from our honeymoon and started life together here:

A sweet one bedroom in a quiet complex with grad students. We painted some of the rooms and I learned some valuable lessons about paint color selection. The YMCA was right behind the complex. We played and practiced handstands at the field out there in the evenings. On Sunday morning we walked through the woods to go to church at The Rock. I learned how to cook in the little kitchen. We had our first arguments in that little kitchen--arguments about funny things like how to do the dishes and how to fold wet dish rags. I remember laying in bed in that one bedroom, still holding the pregnancy test in my hand, excited and astonished that our family of 2 would soon be 3. Then I remember throwing up in that bathroom...a lot. I remember when all of a sudden our living room was full of baby stuff and we realized we needed more than a 1 bedroom apartment.

God provided this:

 Apt D5 in the almost ghetto. We brought Kai home here. We brought Caleb home here. Every Monday night we filled our little apartment with single mothers and their babies. We ate dinner together, chased our babies around together, and grew together. We got to love on 9 mothers and 9 precious babies during our time here. In the summer, the neighborhood kids knock on the door all the time and come in to hang out with us. We put on puppet shows, we talked about Jesus and dating, we went on outings to the park and fountain. Our awesome Guatemalan neighbors welcomed us into their community and fed us amazing fajitas every time they grilled out. But now our living room is full of baby stuff again. So God has provided this:

Our first house!! We have it under contract now and we should close at the end of this month and move in August. When we started house hunting, I half expected that we would get a tiny little fixer-upper with the budget we were working in. But we went ahead and made our dream list anyways and asked God for it...

A large backyard with a sunny area for a big garden and a shady area for Kai to play in. An open kitchen with a great view into the backyard so I can see Kai playing while I cook and clean. 4 bedrooms so we have room to grow and room to offer a bed to anyone God tells us to. A pantry. A mudroom or foyer with a closet. A garage. 

God knew we didn't really have time for house hunting. The first house we looked at was a foreclosure. It had everything we wanted and it was in our price range. It was too perfect to believe, but in a few weeks it will be our new home! It's only a few minutes away from Brandon's new job (another provision from God! thank you!). God has already provided a great church out there with old and new friends. We are so excited to make memories in our new home!