the Lord provides...

Well, i think it's about time that I update you all on what's going on with us.

As you know, we have sold our house and have been very busy packing. It seems like I just packed up at my parents house and unpacked at our house, now 9 months later, I'm packing it all up again! But it will all be worth it! I am super excited!

So what has been happening on our home front? Well, if you asked us a week ago, we probably would have told you that we were going to be homeless as of Aug. 5, but were still hopeful that something would come about. For a couple of weeks, we really didn't know what we were going to do for a place to live while we are building our house. We had options.... family and friends all offered their home, but we really needed a place of our own, especially if it's going to be 9 months, give or take a little bit. We were always hoping and holding out that one of Matt's dad's apartments would open, but that kinda looked like it wasn't going to happen. So when Matt was out of town 2 weeks ago, I checked out a duplex in town and an apartment in town. Both weren't ideal places to live, but with a little work in the duplex, that could work for us. So, the next week, Matt and I went back to check out the duplex together and talk about a lease with the people. Well, they wanted us to sign a 12-month lease. Now, if our house gets done in 9 months like we are hoping, we were NOT going to pay an extra $1800 in rent for nothing when we could put that towards a new appliance or something. So while we were waiting to hear back from the duplex owners if they would do a 9-month lease, the Lord made His plan for us known! SOMEONE WAS MOVING OUT OF MATT'S DAD'S APARTMENTS at the end of JULY! HALLELUJAH! The Lord is always providing for us.

So, this weekend we will be moving a LOT of stuff out of the house! Our friend Nathan has been so kind to let us borrow his car haul trailer to put most of our stuff that we don't need and can put in storage! It's amazing how much stuff we can actually fit in there. Sunday Matt and a friend or two will be moving all the heavy stuff I am not able to help him move and our last day sleeping in the house will probably be Monday night!

As this weekend comes, I'm looking forward to the exciting things that will be happening in the coming months, but it's hard not to get emotional and remember all the memories we have had in/with that house. I know it's only been 9 months since I've lived there with Matt, but it's been a year and a half since I first went over there. A lot of memories I will take away from that house (Matt I'm sure has a lot more, from before when was there):

- 1st time I went over to his house, Matt made me an awesome steak meal! Snuggling on his couch and I'm pretty sure we watched a movie!

- Our 1st Christmas season together (almost engaged/engaged) - setting the tree up together, me making a big dutch dinner with candlelight and exchanging gifts

- Being snowed in & rained in - being "forced" to stay at his house overnight when we were dating!

- Well, you know.... the "thing" that married couples do...... the memories of all that good stuff, coming back from the honeymoon to our HOME!

- Remodeling the bathroom together

- The toilet gurgling and tree almost falling on the house when Matt was out of town

- The utensil drawer that you were always forced to close twice, because after the first time you realize it never actually closed and it would hang out of the opening a little bit!

- ALL THE LADYBUGS and DEAD LADYBUGS everywhere!

- Painting with my momma!

- Decorating my very 1st & own home! Making it a home and not just a place with all off-white walls with NOTHING ON THE WALLS!! haha.... (love ya babe! - thanks for knowing that a woman would come into your life and want to have a blank slate! i am very thankful for that!)

- and MANY MANY MORE that i just can't think of right now!!

Aside from all the house stuff, work has been very busy for Matt. There have been a LOT of changes for his company. Letting people go, restructuring the way things work, and having more responsibility! We thank the Lord that Matt still has his job, but also we are praying that everything goes okay with things changing slowly and drastically in the next year and a half.

Packaging Tape, Pink Duct Tape & a Sharpie

Before I talk about the major things that are happening our lives, I thought I'd share some of the holiday fun we had this past weekend! Friday night we had a surprise 30th b'day party for our friend from church, Sheri Elzinga! We met at a restaurant and then went out for drinks/dancing/karaoke after that. Let's just say the night got interesting, some wigs and some costume outfits came out and we had a blast, laughing a lot! Here is one photo to give you an idea of the night we had.... and there wasn't even that much drinking going on..... just good clean fun! Then for the 4th, my friend Amanda and I did our 3rd annual Beecher 5K Walk, running 1/2 and walking 1/2 (we still have to be able to talk to one another!) Haha! And for the rest of the day/night we spent over at The Wheeler's house (the husband is on the fire department with Matt). Thank goodness it at least stopped raining before the guys blew off some fireworks!! Nathan and Leah were there with their 5 girls... so I just had to get in some cuddle time with Brietta and Dehlia too!!!

(My hubby will make a great dad someday)













(me and brietta... nathan and leah's 2nd to youngest girl! she's such a sweetheart!)

Now on to the big news that is happening in our life! We have a contract made up and the buyer has signed, we are getting things checkout with house inspection and termites and all that fun stuff and as of right now, the closing date on our house is August 5. So, to say the least, I need to do a lot of packing!! I have started a system of organizing and packing (trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone involved for moving/unpacking. So my 3 new best friends are PACKAGING TAPE, PINK DUCT TAPE (for labeling - very eye catching!) and a black Sharpie!!
And to throw a little extra FUN to our excitement already, we need to find a place to live before we go on vacation to TN, August 14!! Haha.....

As for buying the lot for our NEW HOUSE .... we are getting stuff done for that too! We have a contract that we will be signing that soon and the closing is supposed to be on July 31st! We have met with an architect and hopefully in 3 weeks or so we should have those back so that we can start getting bids! Here is a preview of the IDEA behind our house:

It will be close to the same layout with some minor changes!

Matt is planning on being the General Contractor on the whole project. With that I am super excited, but also nervous! He will do a great job, I know that for sure, but I know that he will get very stressed and that will add a little strain to everything. I just know that I need to be the most prepared I can for everything that he is going to ask me to pick out and just roll with the punches! So many people have told me.... if your marriage can survive building a house together, there isn't anything you can't do together! So, here's our test... haha... just kidding! I have total confidence that we will work very good together. We have the same taste in most stuff and we are both pretty easy going people! But I guess only time will tell!