Sunset

This was the view from our deck last night. It had just stopped raining and the sun was almost down. If you look closely, you can see a rainbow.

Flappy Duck

Now that we actually have a yard and a driveway and a sidewalk, Harper and I have been spending a good part of our evenings outside. She loves it. In fact, as soon as we get home from baby school, she grabs flappy duck and pretty much demands that we go outside and take him for a walk.

What a Week

We have had a crazy last few days. Here's a rundown.

• Harper got Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease from baby school. It wasn't serious, but she did have a lot of sores in her mouth that made it really painful to eat just about everything. She's better now.
• The breaks went completely out on Rob's car. It's still not fixed yet.
• We moved into our new house. All of our stuff is technically in the house. About 20% of it is put away.
• The air conditioner in our new house magically broke right before we moved in. The temperature has been in the mid-90s for the last 5 days here in Nashville. It was literally 85-90 degrees in the house - way too hot to stay there so we have been staying with friends for the last 3 days. It took 2 repair companies and 4 days to fix it, but it's fixed and we will finally be sleeping in our new house tonight.
• Harper pooped in the bathtub for the first time ever. Enough said.

We are all a little tired. But, the good news is that things are getting better. Thanks to all of our totally awesome friends that helped with the move and especially Laurie and Ed for letting us stay at their house.

Child Labor and Other Confessions

We are officially moving on Saturday - that's when the movers are coming. Until then, we will be packing and moving as much as we can by ourselves. To this end, we have resorted to using child labor.

I am very excited to move into our new house. It's out in the country. Harper will have a huge yard to play in. I can't say that I'll miss our apartment very much. We are currently living on the 3rd floor. There are 39 stairs to climb to get to our apartment. 39 stairs to carry Harper up and down every day. 39 stairs to carry groceries up. 39 stairs to climb when you get to the car and realize you forgot something on the kitchen counter. You get the picture.

Also...I have a turkey in my freezer. It's been there since last Thanksgiving. The university that I work for gives out turkeys every year at Thanksgiving as an employee appreciation gift. I don't know how to cook a turkey. Therefore, it has been in the freezer since I got it. My question for you is: Is it still good? Should we bother moving it to the new house or just toss it? Does anyone want it? Or better yet, does someone want to come to my house, cook it, and then we can have a dinner party? I'll cook everything else. You just take care of the bird. Deal?

Housing Crisis

We moved from Cincinnati to Nashville almost a year ago. We still own our house in Cincinnati. It's been on the market for over a year now and hasn't sold yet. That kind of sucks. We are currently living in a rather nice apartment in Nashville. Our lease is going to be up soon and we need to decide whether we want to sign another one (which of course, then rent has significantly gone up) or find somewhere else to live.

While we are certainly not hurting as much as some families, our own personal housing crisis has definitely effected me. This whole house situation has kept me up more nights that I would like to admit to. When we first put our old house on the market, I was sure that God knew what our time frame was and would make sure it sold in time for our move. I mean, God loves me, right? He knows what I need, right? It was Him that facilitated our move to Nashville in the first place, right? I was sure He'd come through. Our moving date came and went and the house didn't sell. And here we are, a year later, and the house still hasn't sold. The house that I love and that I would pick up and move to Nashville if it was physically possible.

I've been through several emotional phases over the last year regarding this situation. First there was hope. Then disappointment. Then stress. Then I tried to ignore the whole situation. Then stress. Then hope. Then more disappointment and stress. My prayer life also went through phases. At first, I was praying regularly to God asking Him to let our house sell quickly. Then I pleaded with Him. Then I stopped talking to Him about it. Then I would mention it every once in awhile. Now, I'm in the occasional pleading phase but mostly trying to ignore it.

I'm smart enough to realize that my timeline is not God's timeline and that He is probably using this situation to teach me about His provision. Blah, blah, blah. My head knows these things, but they haven't downloaded to my heart yet. Ideally, I would love to sell our house in Cincinnati so that we can buy one here in Nashville and put down some roots. But, I don't know what God wants. I'm trying to ask and listen. Your prayers would be appreciated.