Catching up...way up...

Well, hello, Internet!

Did you miss me?

Wait. Don’t answer that. Let’s just pretend you did.

WARNING: Rather long post. Consider it two weeks worth of reading. At one time.

So there’s been some stuff going on in our little world. Mostly, I’ve been just hanging on for dear life. I feel like there’s really no way to explain it all in detail so let’s do a timeline.

My reasoning is twofold:

1. It’s simple and I like simple
2. It’ll get ya’ll caught up the fastest way possible.

Here we go:

June 9th – Chris hears about a new job north of the metroplex (definition: the Dallas/Fort Worth area including the surrounding cities)

June 10th – He applies for said job

June 14th – gets call for interview

June 15th – I buy new tie for interview because everyone needs something new for an interview

June 16th – interview; feedback is good

June 20th – gets call; the job is his!

June 24th – meet with realtor

June 27th – photographer comes to take photos of house

June 29th – House goes on the market

July 2nd – House is sold. Three days. Totally not prepared for that. Closing set for August 1.

July 3rd – House hunting day one. Fruitless.

July 5th – House hunting day two. Love house, make offer.

July 7th – We’re under contract for the new house near Chris’ new job. Contract is contingent upon the sale of our house but we’re under contract for our house.

July 9th – Inspection at new house

July 10th – Sellers of new house for us sell it to someone else who did not have a contingency. Apparently, they have a pile of cash sitting around.

July 11th – Spend all day packing the kitchen trying desperately to calm down and get rid of the knot of stress in my stomach. Cause in three weeks, we will be homeless.

(And yes, I realize that is a little dramatic but I totally felt that dramatic)

July 12th – House hunting day three is fruitless.

July 13th – House hunting day four is fruitless.

July 144h – Sign a six month lease on an apartment. 863 square feet.

July 16th – Spend 16 hours getting to the beach for family vacation. Baby was not happy about that.

And there you have it. You’re all caught up!

In and around all that, my mom came for a visit and Chris’ parents came as well. And I’ve been working too. So very much. This whole working from home thing is a complete myth. But that’s another post for another day.

The awesome news is Chris’ new job. It’s the reason we’re here in Texas. Band in Texas is pretty much da bomb.

Sorry. Not saying that out loud. But that’s the only way I know how to describe it.

Chris always says he can go be mediocre closer to home but he wants to be awesome here.

Chris has always wanted to teach at a premier high school program. Certainly before he goes to teach college. I think it’s some sort of personal test for him. If he can’t be successful there, then he thinks he should just hang it up.

Whatever.

He’s a fabulous teacher. One because he loves doing it and two because he is always looking for ways to improve. The only reason he knew about this job was because for the last couple of years he’s been working with a mentor of sorts. He’s a fine arts director in the area and during the year, Chris would take his music and recordings of his band to the mentor. They would listen and work through any problems.

Yep. That totally screams BAD TEACHER to me. Totally.

But honestly, I think that’s what makes someone great. They know enough about what they are doing in life to realize they don’t know it all.

As soon as he got the job, I started praying for a buyer for our house. In case you’ve forgotten, the economy leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve always paid attention to houses in our neighborhood. What upgrades they have, or don’t have, how long they’re on the market, what they’re selling for, etc, etc. Add that to my slightly obsessive love of Lisa LePorta and Designed to Sell, I figured we knew what to do to get rid of the place.

But none of that mattered if it wasn’t in God’s plan for us to sell. Much less quickly.

So when we got an offer in 72 hours, I was pretty excited. It just confirmed to me that this was exactly where God wanted for us. New job, move to another part of the city, a whole new world. Sort of.

The largest hurdle we had…have…to overcome is the cost of living in our new area. It’s way more expensive. Like would have been a stretch when I was working full time. A complete step of faith for us on one salary. One in which he took a pay cut for the move.

Yep.

But if this is where God wants us, then that’s where we want to be.

So we were very excited to find a house we love. And we could afford.

Until we didn’t have the house anymore.

I mean, we had been praying that if this house wasn’t where we were supposed to be, that God would stop the process dead. No ifs ands or buts about it.

And so He did.

But that didn’t help me feel better. I was furious. It hit at the heart of my prideful self. We are good buyers. We have a good buyer for our house. Why would they do that to us? ME! Why would they sell it out from underneath us like that?

So rude.

So yes, I did a great deal of praying about my heart. I didn’t like myself. Not one bit. I prayed for the sellers of the house and for the buyers. I prayed for God’s blessings to be poured out on them. I prayed God would give them a peace about their decision.

It didn’t help much. But I prayed. Somehow I’m sure God got a little giggle out of me. He knew what I was feeling and why I needed to pray the same prayers.

All. Day. Long.

So we’re off to an apartment.

Very glad we continue to drag apartment sized furniture around the country. We pulled it all out of the attic and have been packing everything we don’t use or need on a daily, or even hourly, basis. I’ve taken the floor plan for all 863 square feet and placed the furniture, planned the kitchen items we can take to fill all six cabinets and packed up all of Pumpkin’s clothes, toys and linens we no longer fit in to, engage us or use for swaddling.

And that is where we are now.

We have two weeks before we have to be out of our house. There’s a zillion things to get done and work to do during my “free” time.

Hopefully, I’ll do a better job of keeping you, precious Internet, updated on our life. No promises but I would certainly like to be able to do that. In the meantime, if ya’ll would pray for us, we would be so grateful. Not sure what God has planned for us but we are excited and a little fearful at the same time. Since I quit my job, we’ve been waiting for whatever God needed me full-time to do. I feel like that’s coming. And it’s more than simply being available to pack up a house.