March Madness...cont.

Our house goes on the market tonight! Any second now, I should be able to get online and see our house listed with it's mls #. It is so bittersweet! I was telling a friend at church this evening that the girls emotions have been up and down about us selling our house. She mentioned that my emotions were probably a roller coaster as well. She was so right! I cried after our new flooring went in last week. It is so nice; but it is not for us to enjoy. It's just for us to clean until our house sells- boo hoo. I think that the girls and I will be in much higher spirits once we find our new digs, though. I hope so anyway.

A new crazy dilemma happened on Tuesday. A sweet neighbor of ours rear-ended our van while I was on my way to drop the girls off at school. The girls were in the car and cried quite a bit when it happened, but they were buckled in tight and I think they were more scared than anything. I went to an urgent care facility to get myself checked out and hear the baby's heart beat to make sure everything was okay. I considered taking the girls in too, but every time I asked them if anything hurt, they would tell me that they had no aches or pains. My neck is still soar today from some whiplash, but other than that, all is well with me and the baby. My boss and other co-workers encouraged me to go home after my urgent care visit on Tuesday and rest. I am glad to say that I took their advice. I feel terrible to miss work-- I still love my job, but I needed the rest. Moving, being pregnant, and adjusting to Dave's longer work hours has certainly taken it's toll on me. Plus, our regular Monday and Friday babysitter quit in January. So every week, we are concerned about finding a safe, well-adjusted place for the girls to be. We can't really commit to anything because we will be moving soon, but finding temporary, affordable, trustworthy child care is liking trying to find a needle in a haystack. All of those things with a car wreck on top of it adds up to just plain stressful. But, God continues to pull us through!



 Switching gears:

Something else I've been meaning to blog about lately is that about two weeks ago, I got to be a part of leading worship at Houston's First's Celebrate Recovery program. It was definitely an honor to get to hear several testimonies of how God delivered people of their "hurts, habits and hang-ups". --I also count it a privilege to get to serve beside the wonderful group of singing people that are in our group.

I was in the front row, at the very far left. (I'm not pictured here.)

(I was either cut-out, or singing my lead song. Either way, you get to see the group in the shot)


I got to lead a beautiful song: "In Christ Alone"


This pictures cracks me up because there is an optical illusion at play. When I first saw this picture, I thought, "I can't believe my shirt was so short! --I don't remember that." But my shirt actually isn't too short. That's just the music stand playing tricks on my eyes. Can you see what I mean?

Anyway, I guess I should end this rambling post. I need to go to sleep. I have to make sure the house is in tip top shape every morning until it sells. So extra work means getting up earlier. Yuck!

-Good night, world; sweet dreams! -Amber

March Madness

Well friends, Dave and I have some news to share. Dave is getting a new job in North Houston, and we will be putting our house on the market the first of March. When Dave first started hunting out new jobs, we really felt a simultaneous call to be involved in some sort of marraige ministry. We don't feel called to do that full-time, but we know that it will soon be a big part of our lives. As we searched God, and tried to figure out what he had for us with this marraige ministry calling, Dave and I really thought that moving back to Bartlesville would be a possibility. We didn't really want to share this plan right away because we knew that it would mean a big change for us, new jobs, and a move.
However, last month an ex-coworker, Alex, asked Dave to go to lunch with him, and Dave agreed. When they went, Alex shared with Dave the vision of the company that he had helped start, and asked Dave if he might be interested in looking at an opening that their company had available. Dave and I prayed about this, and we decided that it would be wise for him to pursue this offer.
Long story short, Dave went through the interview process, and got the job. God defintily opened the door for Dave to get this new job. He will start on March 1st. I am very excited for him, but am also overwhelmed by what the next few weeks look like for us. Because Dave's new office will be 50 miles north of our house, we will be moving to an apartment/condo. -- Looks like I'll be packing while 7-8 months pregnant, again. But, I've decided to take this adventure one day at a time, and it has helped give me tremendous peace.
We've talked to Julia and Lydia before about what it would be like to move from our current home in the last few months. They were very excited when they thought we would be moving back to Bartlesville because Granny lives there. (They ask often if we can move in with Granny, Mimi and Papa or Grandpa Dan. They miss seeing their grandparents regularly.) But, when we talked about the move again tonight, Julia was very sad. She expressed her love for our house, and told us she really didn't want to leave. As Dave and I were reassuring her, she asked, "Can I at least keep my baby dolls?" When we told her we were taking most of our stuff with us, she was a lot more at ease. (Both girls are really excited that we will live closer to church friends, as are Dave and I. --I can't wait for us to be able to travel 10-15 mins to church instead of the 35 mins to an hour it takes to get there now.)
So 2012 holds a lot in store for us; a new baby, a new home; a new job for Dave, kindergarten for Julia (we have no idea where) and a new sense of following where the Lord leads despite our previous understanding of His calling. Dave and I still feel called to be involved in marriage ministry, and hope to do so at our wonderful Houston church. How that will look, we don't know. But we will stick to God's journey for us.
I am also still trying to understand what I will do for my job after the baby is here. I don't know if being strictly stay-at-home is the best plan for me, but I can't even imagine what my life is going to look like in a few months. Everytime I try, I lose a lot of sleep. In fact, I was woken up this morning at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I did take a nap after work and after I picked my darlin's up from school. But, I was a very tired momma today.
Anyway, thanks for reading my post today. I appreciate any prayers you might be able to say for us. For the next few weeks, we will be painting, fixing and working to get our house on the market the beginning of March. One. day. at. a. time.

Blessings to you, Amber