I'm not creative.

All of my blog posts should just be titled "updates". That's about what my blogging consists of. I'm not the most creative or witty person, and I actually hate writing. I often wonder why I even bother! Anyhow, this is another 'update' post. :)

HOPE: We had our Ken O Sha evaluation last week with Hope. She certainly qualifies, which is great! KOS has a modified summer schedule where they take three weeks off, two weeks on. Unfortunately, last Friday started their 3 weeks off, so we have to wait until mid-June to begin with her. Her weekly routine will include an hour long in home speech therapy session and an hour and a half long playdate at KOS. The two women who came to evaluate Hope were just smitten by her & said she's a smart cookie, so they don't expect it will take long for her to catch on. It will throw a little curve into our weekly routine, which is a bit chaotic to start with, but it'll be good.

QUIMBY is SOLD. I don't know how it's taken me so long to post something about it. Oh goodness. I have such a mixture of emotions about it: gratitude for the numerous people who have helped us through the process - both of fixing it up & selling it; immense joy at the relief of being done; amazing humility at the amount of debt that has been forgiven (talk about a tangible example of the gospel...sins forgiven, debt payed, etc); frustration at the way things had to go; fear about adding one more bill to our stack that is too high to reach each month to pay off the 7k we still owe; wondering if I should regret that we bought it or that we ever moved into the parsonage; thinking back on the memories of coming home on our wedding night to our home, bringing Isaac home from the hospital, meeting and ministering to neighbors, doing endless projects to make it truly ours, and so many more; thinking back on the pain and feelings of violation when it was trashed and we had to dump thousands of dollars and our weekends for 6 months to fix it; failure that we couldn't make it work/afford another option...

I don't feel a 'huge relief' like I thought I would. Perhaps because we now have monthly payments that still tie me to it. I do feel like a significant chapter in our lives has been finished, however. I feel a sense of moving on, moving forward. The Lord has certainly used this to teach me innumerable lessons. I honestly think that if I enjoyed writing and was decent at it, I could write a book of all that Jesus has shown me through this 4 year ordeal. Maybe someday I'll write more about it. Or make Marc...he's the English major in the family!

PARSONAGE: Kerri moved out almost 2 weeks ago. It's weird. It's kind of amazing to live with one of your best friends AND your family. It's still amazing to live with my family, but I miss her being present. :) It's going to be another transition this weekend as Young moves out. It will be just our family of 4 (5) in this big ole' place! We'll be moving bedrooms around this summer in preparation for baby and hopefully just
re-organizing and de-cluttering. I'm reclaiming space, people, and not to fill it up with more junk.

We've placed an ad with Calvin Seminary to see if there is anyone out there who might want to live in the lower level. We could use the extra cash, but more than that, we want to use this huge house for more than ourselves. It's bigger than we need or want. GRCHS has already contacted us about a student for next year, but we are thinking a break might be nice, especially since Marc's job is dealing with international students all day long. We'll see what God has in store for us and this house!

BABY: Um, yup, baby is growing! I am 18 weeks and have my Ultra Sound scheduled for Monday, June 11th in the afternoon. Yes, we will be telling people what it is this time! I have no feelings either way of the gender, though I think I'll be more shocked if it's a boy. We have a boy name picked already, so I'm sure it will be a girl :) I'm still dealing with some heartburn and headaches, but I am so grateful to have relatively uneventful pregnancies. I have too many friends and family with losses, infertility, horrible pregnancy symptoms, and other complications that I don't take my feeling well lightly. I truly am grateful and count it all God's grace and hope that I can bless others when they are dealing with all the tough aspects of TTC/pregnancy.

Isaac is SOOOO excited about this baby. :)