Can you believe after all this time....

I've never known God to fail me, so don't mistake what I blog today....

I never thought it would happen. When Chad and I got married, we moved in to a 930 sq. ft. 2 BR 1 bath house that had storage coming out our ears. There were about 200 kitchen cabinets...well, it seemed like it. There were 2 closets in our bedroom. One in the other bed room. The house just seemed really open. Maybe it was because we were new to marriage and didn't have a bunch of junk yet...It also had a detached garage and fenced in yard. The bathroom had big, roomy cabinets above the toilet and a big counter filled with drawers and cabinets that was the length of the room. To our small family of 2, it was perfect. Then we had Luke.

With the big bedrooms that were in this house and all the storage, his stuff didn't seem too bad. We were still very comfortable. Then our landlord decided to sell the house. We had thought about buying it, but his daughter wanted it, and rightfully so, she had "first dibs," so to speak. So we went on the hunt.

With a tight timetable, we found the best we could afford, having only been married for about 2 and a half years. The best we could afford, was still pretty good....for 3 people on a very tight budget. We lost the garage, the big back yard, and all but one closet in the entire house. Our living space is similar in that it's about 900 sq. ft, but at the same time, the layout is completely different and MUCH more crowded. Our bedroom space was cut in half, I'd say. Our kitchen was cut by about 80%---easily. We lost the laundry room, which was HUGE at the other house, I forgot to mention. It was definitely bigger (with two closets and cabinets) than my bedroom is now. We also lost a nice sized deck for grilling and lounging. Even our bathtub size shrunk. I know that may seem hard to believe...but it really did.

It didn't matter. We were still a family of 3. But not for long. Shortly after moving in, I became pregnant again. All was not lost. We could easily squeeze in another baby with Luke. Hopefully, it would be a girl! :) God had other plans. On the day after April Fool's Day of 2002 (perfectly timed, wouldn't you say?), my ultrasound revealed that not only was there a Baby "A," there was a Baby "B"!!! And NOT ONLY was Baby A another boy, so was Baby B!!! Instant mini-van status...and space problems. Luke wasn't even out of the high chair yet....what a rude awakening! He got an instant posse, and we seriously didn't know how we would fit all the clothes, two swings, two high chairs, two cribs and a toddle bed, etc. all in this tiny space.

We managed...maybe a little too well. It's like God said, "Hey, Pete, check this out! They've made it with 3 little guys...let's see how they do with another baby. Hey, I'll make it a boy again. THAT ought to do it." I'm not the perfect parent by ANY Stretch of the imagination, so I was a LITTLE overwhelmed, to say the least. I don't believe Chad spoke fir 2 weeks after finding out for his 28th birthday that he would soon have one player short of a starting line up.

Well, Gabriel is now 28 months old or so. After 4 years of outgrowing this house, WE ARE MOVING!!!!!!! I can't tell you how blessed we feel.

We are moving to a 4 Bedroom, 2 bath house with a HUGE kitchen, an attached 2-car garage with a huge back yard complete with swing set, sand box, slides, space to ride their bikes! We will have so much space! I can't wait! We hope to start painting sometime this week. Then the owners are putting in brand new carpet for us. Sure, it's renting, and it's moving slightly backwards for what the world sees as the proper timeline for home owners. But I honestly don't give a hoot.

GOD IS GOOD. HIS TIMING WAS PERFECT, financially and otherwise. (The only sad thing has been that the kids must get rid of their doggy. We're hoping to find a temporary home for him until we eventually have enough money saved to move again...but it may be a while, so this is a difficult task. Drew and Evan really cried tonight when I told them about it...but I'm hoping having their own room will perk them up.) Either way, I'm very excited about the opportunity God has given my family! I praise Him for it continually!