house update

I know there a lot of you who have been praying for our house in Duluth to sell so I wanted to give you a quick update -

Last Friday (as in over a week ago) we got feedback from a showing that we had that someone was "very" interested in our house and was going to schedule a third showing for this past week. We never heard anything, and after checking with our realtor we came to find out that the potential buyer's real estate agent currently does not have her license due to the government state shut down. (We are assuming she needed it renewed and has been unable to get it renewed). This
would explain why she has been unable to schedule another showing this past week.

We are hopeful that the government will start back up soon and this potential buyer will put in an offer soon. The buyer also has the option to go with a different realtor if they so choose. Ultimately we are still trusting in God to provide for our needs as he has in the past. Just wanted to give you all an update so you can pray specifically.

Thanks!

Duluth.

We did it.
We moved, and now we live in Champlin.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, and I don't think it hit me what was actually happening until I was in our jam packed Subaru, by myself, driving away from our neighborhood. Yep, I cried.

Before Aaron and I left we spent some time praying and thanking God for all that he has done in our lives in Duluth and in our home. I'd just like to praise God publicly for a FEW of the MANY things He has done in our lives while residents of Duluth:

-we got married! (ten years in 2 weeks)
-we have Matea and Adlee
-our hearts have opened and embraced adoption
-we have friendships that will last a lifetime
-we grew spiritually through InterVarsity, small groups, and church
-we have mentored and been mentored spiritually
-the Lord has met every financial need we have ever had even when we had almost nothing
-God has provided for ALL our needs....not just financial...we have NEVER been without anything, and in fact, we have been abundantly blessed
-we have learned to view our possessions as God's and not our own and are still working on living that out better every day
-we have grown to have a deeper understanding of theology (I'm sure we've just touched the surface) and are working towards living that out daily

Those are the broad things that He has done....and there are more. Daily the Lord is providing for us and drawing us closer to Him - and yet sometimes I still doubt! Ridiculous. I am realizing how important it is to recount what the Lord has done so that we are encouraged and remember. There is a reason the Israelites would tell the story of what God did over and over and over in the Old Testament - perhaps we need to work on that a bit more in our household.

I am looking forward to this next phase of life and seeing what God does. Stay tuned.

pictures

A few quick pictures of the girls - I am taking a short break from packing. We are loading the moving truck today...craziness. Our house still has not sold yet, prayers would be appreciated.

a new song to love

My DAD of all people turned me on to this Taylor Swift song. I love it. And I love the video. Although I will admit the second and third time I watched the video I got more and more sad. :-) Anyway...enjoy!

love it

You can find this on Etsy - the store has some really fun stuff on it! Here is the link.

update!

FINALLY I am blogging again!! Wow, its been a while. Things have been going well here. Over the last month or so....

We went to Frederic over Mother's Day. We spent a bunch of time at the school playground in the great weather. Matea is getting more and more brave and coordinated every day - it is fun to see the progress in her. We had preschool screening this week and although I was not surprised by anything in the results, it was funny for me to see that she scored TWO points ABOVE the "minimum" for her motor skills!

We went to a Twins game with the Schunks, Jen, Brandon, and Robby. It was FUN. The weather was PERFECT, our seats were great, the kids did fantastic, there was lots of scoring...but the Twins lost. With the way their season is going it sure wasn't a surprise, but it was still disappointing.

Adlee is doing great. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 8 weeks old which, obviously, is fantastic. She is growing well, although she is still little! She weighed a whopping 8# 1oz at her 2 month check up. She has started cooing/talking a LOT and we can get her to respond to us pretty easily. I am enjoying her more and more every day.

And weight loss update: I have lost a total of 5 pounds in the last 6 weeks. So, I'm making progress. I was hoping for more. I have been exercising 5-6 days a week but I am going to really start watching my calories now!

Our last bit of big news is that we are moving to Champlin in July! After months of prayer and contemplation we decided to pull the trigger. Our house has been for sale since early April and we found a place in Champlin 2 weeks ago. The new house is not in the location or the style of house we were thinking we'd be, but this just seems right. There were a number of cool factors that are leading us to believe that this is the place God has for us. It will work really well for Aaron to keep his business in the home for a few more years and the price couldn't be beat! We are now trusting that God has the sale of this home in his hands. As I've mentioned to a few friends, here is where we get the chance to actually trust God, and not just talk about trusting Him! :-) If you know of anyone looking for a place in Duluth, send them our way!

working it out

I had my six week check up with the doctor on Tuesday and was given a "clean bill of health." Those were the doctor's exact words. I didn't know people actually said that, I thought it was just in the movies.

Anyway, the only "problem" that I have is that my hemoglobin levels were extremely low - as in the nurse told me I am borderline anemic. I was actually kind of glad to hear that. I had been mentioning to Aaron that I seemed more tired than I should be - some days I will sleep until 9:00am, take a nap, and then be exhausted at 8:30pm. Even with a newborn it seemed I was way more tired than I should be. Turns out I was right. Bring on the vitamins, red meat, and spinach. Hopefully in the next week or two I'll be a little more normal.

My 6 week check up has officially ended my "take it easy" time and has ushered in "time to get back in shape." I stepped on the scale yesterday morning and officially have 21 pounds to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I am planning on not buying any new clothes until I have gotten back to a reasonable weight for me, and with each day I am loathing my maternity pants more and more so I think I have great motivation. I decided I'll be blogging periodically about my weight loss in order to have a little extra accountability and motivation.

This week my fitness goals are:
*exercise every other day (work out videos)
*take my vitamins daily (got to get my energy level back up!)
*work on a healthy 2-3 week meal plan that I can continuously rotate.

I think that's good enough for now. :-) I did exercise yesterday and it felt GOOD! It is a little weird to be back at the beginner level of my videos, but, I did just have a baby, right?