Where are we now?

So.....I have had a lot of people, particularly at church, coming up to me and asking where we are right now in this moving process, so I believe I will blog about where we are now. We officially sold our home to the Tabor family (uh..love them to pieces!) on April 21st at 2 pm in the evening. Now the deadline to sell our home in order to go overseas was April 22nd at 12 noon. The week of April 22nd our company called us and said that since they would be closed for Good Friday that the deadline was now Thursday the 21st. The Lord was right on time. We know this was and still is His will and He will get us there no matter what mountain has to be moved. There were plenty of nail biting days for me and I am ashamed of my worrying (which my husband helped me with tremendously) but there really were a lot of set backs that made me stress and cry at times. It was definitely a time of learning to trust that He had everything under control. period. It was not hard to leave my house but it was hard leaving somewhere where so many memories were made. Does that make sense? I have been clinging to I John 2:15-17 recently. I prayed and have been praying that the Lord would allow me to have a detachment to "things" that are of this world and He truly has. I had a really hard time with one item so don't think I am completely detached from worldly things, but praying and memorizing scripture from His word got rid of the "pride" that would not let me let go of something I thought was mine. Nothing is mine. It is all His. Does a servant own anything that the master has given him? Nope...it still belongs to the master.

We are currently living in seminary housing at Mid-America and I am really enjoying it! We have sold both of our vehicles and were given older vehicles by both of the families that bought our car and truck!!! He has provided again and again!!! We have vehicles to drive now until we leave the States! I really enjoy living in Seminary housing. I am assured that I am living around Godly people, some who are in the same moving process as us even! My girls have constant playmates and there is always someone to borrow something from if I need it! ( I was making lasagna the first week I moved in and realized I had no tomato sauce and I already started cooking the meat!!! I ran outside while calling everyone I knew here and found a group of ladies and asked them for some tomato sauce! One lady that I hadn't even met before took me to her apartment and gave me some! Love it!) What other advantages are there....lower utility bill, no yard work (like I did any before!), Mac and Sarah live here, and I feel like I get to spend more time with my girls just playing! We will be living here until sometime in July. We officially move to Richmond, VA to start training for our new job July 25th. Between now and then we have tons of things to do, mainly packing our stuff for a trip across the ocean. Crating does not sound fun and will be a very tedious process that will most likely drive me crazy because of my OCDness of wanting things organized "my" way. Brad does not understand my way of organizing, but I DO. :) I mean we have to make the most out of the space we are given. For example, we will cut open the box springs we are taking and pack them full of things, pack toilet paper where ever there are empty slots, put linens and towels in the washer......etc. Basically, if there is an empty space somewhere we have to find it and fill it. If you have any suggestions please tell!!! We will not see our crates for at least 4-5 months when we get over there and will be living "out of our suitcases" for a while. The basics will be provided for us but I am assuming that it will be like Christmas morning when we finally get our crates. I am already excited about that day! Pray for us that the next few months will go smoothly and that more gray hair does not pop up on that one small patch on my head. Yes...I do have a few but Brad is more than willing to pull them out. I don't believe that 7 more will grow back in its place either. :)

We are also trying to buy as much stuff as we can that we will need over there that is not so easy to get. I am stocking up on good shoes for the girls, especially Macy, and clothes. Mara has tons of clothes because she has all of Macy's hand-me-downs which are in excellent condition. Macy however is growing like a weed and trying to figure out what sizes to bring with us to live out of a suitcase for about 5-6 months is a little trying. If anyone has any girl clothes (summer clothes only) sizes 6 and up that they want to sell or donate please let me know OR if anyone sees a good deal out in town let me know!

Brad has also been buying books on how to slaughter, smoke, and cook your own animal. I just smile and think about the adventures we are about to have. Life with my husband is a joy. I truly believe that he could do anything he set his mind to. I need to buy a good cook book on making food from scratch. Brad is an excellent cook but I would like to contribute some days. If anyone has any good recipes write them down and give them to me! We are also looking into canning so those recipes apply to! :)