Faithfulness

 NO, we didn't die and YES we're still here. The spring has just been a bit busy, and it's finally time to catch the blog up on WHY! In March, we had THIS...

 and then we had THIS! 

And now I'm going to tell you how God brought those two days to pass. Then in later blogs, I'll catch you up on life surrounding this and the rest of our spring... because it's been a doozie of a good one. But if you're only in it for the pictures, just wait for later blogs, because the rest of this is a long lovely story of God's fabulous provision and faithfulness.

Almost immediately after we returned from California and Jake's graduation, Jake and I entered into an intense phase of seeking God's plan for our family and waiting to see how He was going to provide for some pretty specific needs in our eyes, one of them being a home in a different school district.

The bottom line was that we had X amount to spend on a different home, and the area we so longed to move into cost Y.  We had friends in the area keeping their eyes out for possibilities and in the meantime I was attending orientations at the school we hoped to send Abby Jane to in faith that if the Lord wanted us there, He would make it happen in His perfect timing. However, place after place that Jake inquired about as potential homes were decidedly closed doors.

I should mention that I prayed during this time for God to provide a believer who wanted to have mercy on our little family and work with us. I also wanted a lovely fenced in back yard and a fireplace, the latter of which we hadn't had since our Auburn home.

In faith that this particular area was where we would eventually be moving, even if it wasn't in time for Abby Jane to begin kindergarten in the fall, we went ahead and toured the preschool where the twins would attend if we were to live over there. That was hard to do, because we couldn't have asked for a better experience where Abby Jane has attended preschool and have been so blessed and grateful for our time there. But it seemed that it made more sense for us to invest the twins' relationships in the geographical area where we were headed, once again, Lord-willing.

So of all the balls that were in the air, and all the unknowns and things outside of our control, enrolling the twins in this particular preschool seemed like the easiest step of all and the thing we COULD move on without any particular act of God to allow it to happen.

Not so much.

The Thursday we strolled inside to drop off our registration papers, the director told me the girls were going to be on a waiting list that they hadn't anticipated needing. There seemed only a dim chance that one spot might open up, and of course we needed two.

At that point, we felt like God wanted to remind us that there was not going to be anything about any of this that we could just walk in and do on our own accord. It was all going to have to be His choice and His direction.

The next morning, Jake was taking some time off work to go drive around and look for signs in yards maybe not listed online. Right before he and I left for the day, I got a call from the director saying that there had been so many kids on the waiting list that they had opened up a whole new class, so both the girls were in!! YEAAA!

I had called a friend who lived in the area and told her of the wait list the day before, so I called her back to tell her the good news. In the meantime, she had happened to hear of the home of a friend's sister that was going to be becoming available pretty immediately. It's basically across the street from the school that we so wanted for Abby Jane. So, we made a few phone calls and were able to go view the home that Sunday.

To say we loved it was an understatement.

By Monday, Jake was on the phone with the homeowner and because God answers prayers and nothing is too hard for Him, she was a strong believer. She said she had been blessed and wanted to bless us, and to say the very least, she absolutely did. We moved in about a month later, and that very moving-in weekend, she was in town and came by the house with a couple of friends to stand in our kitchen and pray over our house with us.

After a season of waiting on God, needing to trust him with big details of our lives, and absolutely only being able to move a step if He allowed it, we were blown away by how He blessed us with "immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine" (Eph 2:9).

And, of course, not only does our house have a lovely fenced in back yard, we have not one, but TWO fireplaces! HA! God hears us and God sees us, and He cares about the smallest desires of our hearts! We have been so humbled and our faith so strengthened by how He moved on behalf of our family.

Now stay tuned for pictures and stories from the rest of our spring!