Our house in Florida

I had a fight with Blogger trying to get this up, but here it is. :) Click on view all images if the slideshow never loads. Hal and I went to an early service this morning and then had lunch/breakfast and then headed to the house. Enjoy the pictures.....we are excited. Happy Easter!

Blessed

Blessed. This sums up how Hal and I are feeling right now. We made an offer on a house yesterday and we found out today that is was accepted! We have gone through some stressful moments lately as we researched houses and as we were on the ground here looking over the weekend, but we are absolutely amazed and humbled as we look back and see the hand of God on this entire process. We were able to find exactly what we wanted and we got an amazing deal.

We will probably be taking the buyout on our house in Houston. We don't know any specifics yet....but hopefully the details will all be worked out soon. I will put up pictures soon. :)

If my life were a movie or a TV show.....

If my life where a movie or TV show, today it would have had one of the following titles.

Golden Girls: We had an early flight into Tampa this morning and I dropped Hal off at the plant around noon. I then headed to the hotel to check in, but the room wasn't ready yet. I decided to grab some lunch and headed across the street to a seafood restaurant. As I walk in, I notice that I am the only young, and by that I mean under age 50, person in the restaurant. As I continue waiting on my table, I can't help but start chuckling to myself. I am not sure if it is the shorts and knee high socks or the couple that walked in with matching canes w/ a flowery motif on them. I just kept thinking...this is just like the Golden Girls! I just kept laughing out loud to myself in the car! :)

Legally Blonde: I am sure most of you have seen this movie. At one point she is stressed out and is driving around a her new town and slams on her breaks when she sees a nail salon. After lunch and checking in, I decided I needed a pedicure. I called 7, yes, 7 Aveda Salons and none could get me in this afternoon, so I decided it was time to get out of the hotel and I headed to look for a good ol' nail place. After driving about 4 miles, I SAW ONE! I made a quick left and practically ran into the place. The pedicure and manicure did me good. :)

That is the recap of my first day in Sarasota.....I am househunting tomorrow with the realtor. We had a great night last night....I will post pictures later!

What to Pack???

We are getting ready for our temporary move to Sarasota this week. Our flight leaves early Thursday morning. I have been working on getting our stuff packed, but it is hard to know what to take! We aren't sure how long we will be there before we come back to Humble to be at the house when the movers come. I have made numerous lists to try to think of as many things as I can! I will spend Friday previewing stuff with the realtor and Hal will join us on Saturday and Sunday. I am anxious to see Sarasota....it is weird to be moving to a place you have never been! :) Please pray for us as we look at new homes as well as make a decision about what to do with our home in Texas.

Breakdown in the car

No...my car didn't break down. I had a break down in my car. I had just walked out of a doctor's office and felt silly, stupid, and frustrated. For a few days preceding my trip to the doctor, I had been having tingling and numbness in the back of my head. Sometimes I think I am a border line hypochondriac (ask my mother about my numerous trips to the elementary school nurse) so of course it freaked me out. Hal was out of town, so I went ahead and made an appointment to see the doctor. I explained my symptoms, he asked if there was any other stress in my life......after that question, I knew what was coming. I explained to him that we were in the process of getting our house on the market and relocating. He then said that he felt that the numbness was due to anxiety. I was relieved on one hand and on the other I was somewhat angry at myself and embarrassed. I quickly made my way back out to my car, called Hal and told him, and then I sat in my car and cried. I began asking God to forgive me for my lack of faith and trust in His provision. I don't have to know necessarily how and when all the details of our move, the sale of the house, and finding a new house will take place. It probably won't work out the way I want it to or the way I would do it, BUT it will work out exactly the way God planned it and it will be for mine and Hal's ultimate good. That good may not be us making a big profit on our house, that good may be sitting in my car that day and recognizing that the God of the universe is in control and not me.
The two weeks since the breakdown in the car have been better, but not without challenges. Our house has been on the market over two weeks and it hasn't shown yet, the temptation to freak out is there, but God is so gracious. He has calmed my anxious fears and reminds me to make the choice to trust in Him. He also reminds me of His provision for us. It's a daily battle...and sometimes it is minute by minute battle, but I want to chose to trust Him.

Update

Life has been moving quickly for us lately. I don't think I realized how quickly until we were in our student service this morning. During worship, I looked up and saw students that we have grown to love worshipping and it really hit home that Hal and I just have one more Sunday left. Sure, we will be back to pack up the house once it sells or we take the company buy out, but next Sunday is our last normal Sunday. We have known moving was a possibility for a while and we have been talking about it for so long, but the time to move is coming fast!

Hal left tonight for Atlanta. It is his last week of travel in his old job. It was somewhat surreal for both of us when we were getting his luggage out of the trunk at the airport. We have done that countless times over the last two years, but we gave each other a high five, smiled, and said this is the last trip! He has been gone 6 straight weeks....and I know he is ready to be in one place for a while.

We have one way tickets to Sarasota booked for Thursday March 13th. We will spend the first weekend house hunting and Hal starts on Monday. Our first few weeks will be spent in a hotel and then we will move into a corporately furnished apartment around the end of March. We can stay in corporate housing free for 60 days so we will leave the house on the market for a while this spring. If it hasn't sold by late April or May, we will need to start thinking about taking the buy out option.

Please pray for us in this transition time. We have a lot of decisions that will need to be made about our current house and as we look for a new home. We are both learning a lot right now....more to come on that in future posts.