We Made It!

We've been living with my parents for a little over a week now. Jon and I made the trip with a van and car load of stuff, while Tom and Connie (Jon's parents) made the trip with Evan and his stuff. It's nice that my parents have the extra room in the basement--it's a bit of our own space. We worshipped at Faith the day after we arrived, but then we had Monday and Tuesday to relax and unwind a bit. Monday we took Evan to the zoo. It was so much more fun to go to the zoo with him now that he knows how to say animal names and noises. We got to see a lot of baby animals (elephant, giraffe, zebra, orangutan). I think Evan enjoyed the baby orangutan the most. He was quite the hyperactive little guy. Evan got a kick out of watching him do sommersaults (especially since Evan knows how to do them too!)

Tuesday was just a "chill out" day, and Wednesday it was back to the grind. Jon went back to work, and I started working for Stephen Ministries again too. We couldn't afford not to work longer than a few days since we still have a mortgage to pay...

Speaking of the house, by Wednesday we got our first offer on the house, which was slightly encouraging, but mostly discouraging since their offer was nearly $20,000 less than what we were asking. We've countered back twice now, and are waiting on their response. I'm not hopeful. Their offers have simply been ridiculous...So we've been praying. Hard. We believe God is going to take care of us. We believe He will provide. But we know that sometimes we will have to wait. This might be one of those times. And in the meantime, we're checking out houses in the area and trying to get our lives back into some semblance of an "order." :)

Jon is very happy at his new job. The people he works with are simply incredible. They have been so kind and so genereous (even with their prayers over us!). We absolutely love the worship, and Jon even got to lead half of the service last Sunday! We are also absolutely thrilled that for the first time, youth events don't cross over learning time on Wednesday, so as of last week Jon and I signed up to be part of a small group. We're studying the book Love Talks by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott. Yesterday was our first night with the youth too. It was awesome! They get to hang out for a while, there are snacks, air hockey, basketball, volleyball, 3 Wiis, lots of chairs, and a coffee bar to keep them entertained. Then they come together for a large group discussion to open up the topic, break up into small groups by gender (I even got to lead a small group last week), and then come back together to wrap things up and end in prayer. I will try to remember to bring my camera next week to take some pictures of the Hangar (that's the youth BUILDING).

Next week we will probably start looking at houses, although our new realtor is going on a mission trip for 10 days starting on Saturday. If the offer on our house falls through, there won't be as much of a rush, but if they seriously want our house and accept our final offer, then they would like to be in it by the end of the month...if that's even possible anymore. We shall see...

Coming up in the following weeks:

• Next weekend is the balloon race in Forest Park. We're planning to take Evan...we can't wait to see how he reacts (since he already loves planes and helicopters so much!)
• Monday I have my first ultrasound (finally!) I'm so blessed to be back with my old OBGYN! And we're VERY excited to meet this little one (other than hearing the heartbeat). Maybe we'll finally "realize" that we're having a baby! :)
• Jon's installation at Faith is set for September 28th. The other new pastor (who's not here yet) will also be installed. We're excited to meet him, his wife, and their kiddo. They'll be living in Waterloo temporarily, which is close to Red Bud, so we'll probably get to see more of them than anyone else! :)
• October 5th there is a grand opening of the Hangar (the youth building). There will be food, fun, games, and (of course) inflatables! We're excited, but sad that it's scheduled on...
• Evan's birthday! (and uncle Kyle's too...) We'll probably celebrate his birthday with Jon's parents, grandma, and our sister-in-law Barb during the installation weekend...We still have to figure out when to have the official party for his 2nd birthday...

So stay tuned for all of these fun updates! :)