Here's the low down, the scoop.

So.
We're not moving.
Yes, you read that right.
Le'me 'splain.  No.  There's too much.  Le'me sum up.
(name that movie!)
Anyway, here's what happened the last couple of months:

Our house was not selling.  We maybe had a total of 8 people interested in our house in the 11 months our house has been on the market.  No bids.  No offers.  Nothin.
So, I started praying.  It all seemed just too weird to me that nothing was happening with our house.  I started wondering if maybe we weren't suppose to move.  I asked God that if we weren't suppose to move that He would protect us by not letting our house sell.  We really couldn't afford to move, the launch for the church plant had come and gone, the pieces just weren't falling into place for us to go anywhere.
I prayed that if we weren't suppose to move that He would not only protect our house from selling but that He would also put it on my husband's heart to stay here since he was the one who felt the call to move in the first place.
Then, in the last two weeks I decided to spruce up the house to make it homier for showings.  I bought new throw pillows for the couches and bought plants for the front porch.  I worked really hard one day on the porch, planting plants, moving furniture around, and decorating the outside to make it purdy.
So as we're all sitting outside on our newly decorated porch as a family I said to Bryan, "You know what's gonna happen?  We're gonna make this house all nice and homey and just the way we want it and then someone is gonna come along and wanna buy it."  And he said. "Yeah, I want to talk to you about that..."
At first I thought, "Oh no, he doesn't want to move any more."  But then relief washed over me and a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders.  And it's not that I don't want to be out that way but it just didn't feel like the timing was right.
After the girls went to bed, we talked that night over everything and decided that we felt God was telling us not to move but to stay here and do the things here that we were wanting to do there.  We've already started an outreach group for events to reach out to the community surrounding our church.  We've met more of our neighbors and we're hoping to connect with them.  We've even met some other fellow Christians outside of our church that we're hoping to connect with them as a small group or even just to fellowship.  And something I've really been praying for has been another little girl for A to play with within our own block, and lo and behold, we met another little girl just her age that same day we decided not to move.
God is answering our prayers just in a different way than we imagined.  It's so cool how He works.
And when I told our (Christian) realtor that we wanted to pull our house off the market and why, she agreed that it's the best decision financially and that we should definitely do it if that's what we feel God's telling us to do.  She also said that this last year has been weird because she had been watching all the houses around us sell for the same price but it was like we were in our own little bubble!  So there it is.  God has been protecting us this entire time from moving and we didn't understand it all until now.

So, we're here to stay.  At least for now.  :)

Interview With A Four Year Old

I saw this interview on pinterest and I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Here are the answers she gave me:

1. What is something mom always says to you?  Love you
2. What makes mom happy?  When you get your hugs
3. What makes mom sad?  When I don't listen
4. How does your mom make you laugh?  When I tickle you
5. What was your mom like a child?  You gave your mom hugs cause she likes hugs
6. How old is your mom?  Four? No, six.  I don't know.
7. How tall is your mom?  40,000
8. What is her favorite thing to do?  Clean (I must do that often)
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?  Help clean the dishes (I guess that confirms it!)
10. If mom becomes famous, what will it be for?  For being grumpy (she says with a smirk and a giggle)
11. What is your mom really good at?  Numbers
12. What is mom not very good at?  Putting plastic on the windows because that's what daddy's do.
13. What does your mom do for her job?  Clean (hm...)
14. What's your mom's favorite food?  Grapes and pizza no, and salad.
15. What makes your mom proud of you? When I help you.

It's back on the market

Our house is officially back out there.
After chatting with our new realtor (same company) we are going to do a FSBO and hope for the best.  I'm a little nervous with all that it entails so if you'll be praying with us, that'd be grand.  Our realtor will still be helping us as much as she can so we won't be completely alone but we will be the ones to show our house and field calls and whatever else along those lines.  We're also dropping the price.. by a lot.

Alright God.. you've got this...

Busy Weekend

Last Thursday morning we headed off to Minnesota to visit with Bryan's brother and sister in law and their two kiddos.  We had been anticipating this trip since November so when I woke up Thursday morning not feeling too great I was bummed.  However, they told us to come on up if there was no fever, so we did!  Thankfully my sis-in-law-in-law is hippieish so she had some all natural remedies for me to try.  Some berry syrup and echinachea tea.
Thursday night the boys had a hockey game to go to so Alyssa and I were left at home to watch the four kiddos.  It was nice to sit and talk although we practically had to wait until the kids all went to bed.
Friday I felt like I got hit by a truck but I kept on with the syrup and tea.  Bryan had a lunch with a co-worker so we just hung around the house until about three then we headed to the Mall of America.
We went to the aquarium and then Buffalo Wild Wings.  Those two things plus all the walking to get there, trying to ride the Dora the Explorer Ferris Wheel but finding it was WAY too expensive, and buying the girls' swimsuits took us nearly 6 hours.  It was crazy that we hardly did anything!!
Saturday I was starting to feel way better so the manly men went out shooting at a range while us women stayed home with the kids (don't worry, they paid us back). After they got home, Alyssa and I went shopping with only her baby.  We went to the smaller mall (which was still way huge) and went in to Charlotte Russe.  Super cute store!!  We had so much fun trying things on, shoes, clothes, jewelry, it was great. We even found some super awesome deals so that made the trip even better.  We ended up spending 3 hours in just this one store but it was totally worth it.
We headed back and took the family swimming at the pool they have in their apartment.  It was great!  The kids had a blast and completely wore themselves out so we got them to bed pretty quickly once we got back to the house.  Then us adults ordered some Chinese food and watch Gran Torino.  Such a great movie!
Sunday I was feeling loads better (Thank you berry syrup!).  We went to church then to a pancake house for supper.  It was seriously some of the best breakfast food ever.  They even had gluten free foods so I was able to have the GF cinnamon french toast.  Yum.
All weekend Alyssa and I had talked about how we missed our nose piercings and that we should get them redone.  We didn't really have the opportunity until that afternoon and we thought that if we didn't do it right then, we weren't going to be able to.
So we found a shop and headed that way.  Sans kids!!  The place was called Aloha Monkey so we were super skeptical but we thought we'd try it out.  It was super clean, bright and everyone looked professional- even with all their tattoos!  The guy who helped us was really nice and did his best to calm our nerves.
I think once you get it done once you know it will hurt so it makes you even more anxious to get it done a second time!
Alyssa went first and did great.  Then it was my turn and I was still so nervous but I knew I really wanted it back so I was going to go through with it.  So glad this guy was super nice!!
He and I were joking about making sure it was done through the previous hole (which was very obviously still there) and when it was over he said "I made sure it was perfect cause otherwise you said you would've f***ed me up!" I laughed and said "yes but not in those words" and he replied "pretty close!" haha :)
Anyway, we had a lot of fun and are hoping to do it again in a few months.  But I think this time we'll need to save some money for all the shopping Alyssa and I like to do!

Sleep Less in Iowa

So, I don't normally do Lent, not being Catholic and all.  Well, that and I never really understood why people would give up things just because it was for lent.  Like, no internet or no sweets.  If you're not doing it to grow closer to God then what's the point?
(I know some people do give up those two things, among others, to grow closer to God, I'm just speaking of those that only give up things just to give them up for 40 days and for no other reason. Also, I'm speaking of no one in particular.)
But this year I've found something to give up, so I'm going to give it my best.

I've been following along with our church's Bible in a Year and it's going alright.  I really have to work

at finding the time, which, to me, is awful.  It's awful that I have to find the time to be in God's Word.  

So for 40 days I will be giving up an hour of sleep in the morning to be in God's Word.  

If you know me, you know I love my sleep.  I cherish it, mostly because I really need it.  Having hypothyroid I get really tired if I don't get plenty of sleep and I need about 10 hours every night.  And with no nap in the afternoon, my sleep at night becomes very precious.  And waking up in the middle of the night to nurse the Little, my extra morning sleep is even more precious.  So you can see what it is that I'm really giving up here.  You other momma's can relate!!
I guess this'll mean that I need to give up my evenings and go to bed earlier.  That's not easy since the hubs is a night owl (and really, so am I) and that's our time together.  But we'll get it figured out.  And then maybe we can have a new routine that really works after the 40 days is over.
I'm really going to give this my best shot.
Wish my God speed, or well wishes, or pray for me, or all the above!  Cause I'm gonna need it.

Do you have anything you're giving up for Lent?