Our newest miracle

Wednesday, October 28


(A picture of our new dream home!!) 

Oh friends, these past few months have been full of MIRACLES. I am bursting at the seams to tell you each and every one, but today I want to share one special story because I just can't contain how amazing God is. Truly, I have felt the Holy Spirit overflowing this season, even among hard things. 

It is surreal to even type this story out, but here goes...

5 years ago Kevin and I moved to Northern California where I grew up. I remember having a list of all the things I wanted in a house (you can read that post here), and God was so faithful. There were literally NO houses on the market in the area we wanted to live, but lo and behold, a sweet woman from my church knew a family flipping a house right in the neighborhood we wanted. It was the perfect starter home, right next to the park, filled with natural lighting, and, very importantly, in our tight budget. This home has been amazing, but just in this last season we realized we are starting to outgrow it (with baby coming). 

So this summer, we began to chat about what might be next for us. It came down to either finding a new house OR remodeling the kitchen on our current house. Seeing as I look at the house listings in our town almost every day, and in the last few years have probably ONLY seen 3 houses I've actually liked (I've got VERY picky taste, hehe), we decided to move forward and remodel our kitchen. We figured that would give us a few more years in this house before we moved. 

A month after we decided to remodel and things were moving forward with our contractor and designer, I checked the listings in our town. You see, even though we had decided to remodel, I was secretly praying that God would show me for certain if we were supposed to move or remodel. There was just this spark in my spirit that God was going to do something crazy. 

On this particular day, I opened the listings to see my dream home! An old charming character home, with floor to ceiling windows (hello natural light!), a huge backyard, AND the previous owners had updated it with a new roof, new windows, new electrical, etc! The other dreamy part about it was that it had 5 bedrooms AND a mother in law unit. Kevin and my dream is to live in community, to be able to host international students, and take in people who need a place to live for short periods of time. Lastly, I had ALWAYS prayed for a house with window seats (silly, I know, but the romantic in me always wanted a window seat to sit dreamily in while I read a book and drank tea!). This house not only had one window seat...but TWO!! Truly, this house had it all. The only problem was the price. It was definitely out of our price range, so I didn't even show Kevin, I just put the idea of it aside. 

Fast forward a month and things were moving quick to start our remodel. I was getting so excited going back and forth with our amazing designer. She asked if I'd be able to meet up in a few days to order everything for the kitchen. 

So...I kid you not....3 days before I was meeting with her to order all the items for our new kitchen, God spoke to my heart and told me to go look at the listing for my dream house again. It was a Sunday morning. I opened the listing and to my great surprise, the house was still on the market, and the sellers had just dropped the price 40k! It was now within our reach, at the tippy top of our budget! I immediately showed Kevin, who appeared to actually be interested (usually he just humors me in my house dreams, and then says no, haha!). That same Sunday, we texted our Realtor who booked us a showing, and shortly after decided to make an offer! 

Not only did they accept our offer, but they accepted it at a lower price (we offered quite a bit lower than asking). I literally could not believe how God had worked everything out!! How in the world this all happened is a total and complete miracle! 

And, to top it off, one of my favorite people/friend/babysitter, Sarah, is planning to move in with us and live in the only bedroom on the first floor! Just a few months ago when Sarah's roommate got married and she had to find a place, I jokingly told her that if we had an extra room I would love for her to live with us! Well...now we DO have an extra room and she's taking us up on it! 

We are so excited to live in a home with added space that allows for communal living. We are praying into the ways we want to use this house to bring glory to God, that HIS name be lifted high in it. 

I also want to encourage you dear one, if you feel unseen or your dreams forgotten, take heart. God sees even the smallest and silliest of requests (like a window seat) and showed me no prayer, however small, would go unnoticed. Certainly God has answered so many of my prayers differently than I expected, but this particular prayer was answered to a T. Know that God is for you friend. As we seek His glory, He will move beyond what we could ask or imagine! 

Take Heart Today! And to read more of God's faithfulness, you can read the story of how we sold our house here! 

**Below are some of the pictures of our new home. We will not move in until the end of November, so I took these pictures from the listing (so none of this is our furniture!). I can't wait to move in and make it our own!! 

 


Happy Fall! And an Anne of Green Gables matching shoot!

Thursday, October 15


This Fall has zoomed by...I think that's what happens when you are simultaneously pregnant and crazy sick, chasing a toddler and still nursing a 16 month old! Oi vey! 

Besides feeling sick each day, this Fall has been really fun! Kevin's been full steam ahead in rice harvest, so we try to get out there once a week to ride on the harvester with him and enjoy the beauty of the farm. This farm has been in my family for over 100 years, so it's a really special place to visit. And we are one of the few true family farms left in the area, so even more special to see my husband, dad, brother, cousins, uncles, and 95 year old grandpa all working together to bring in the rice! 

We've also visited the pumpkin patch and I may have bought WAY too many pumpkins for our porch, haha! 

Last month when we were in Ferndale, Avonlea and I put on our matching Christmas dresses from last year and did a quick Fall inspired Anne of Green Gables shoot at the gorgeous farmhouse. This actually is a precursor to our family themed halloween costumes, so be on the look-out for that hahah!! 

If you know me, you know I love costumes, and I love matching...so having a daughter who also loves to match and dress up is a bit of a dream come true. I did have to bribe her to smile and make it through, but I'd wager a little chocolate is worth these pictures I can always treasure of the two of us, hehe!! 

And even though it's way overused this time of year, what better quote have we than the quintessential Anne quotes "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers"

Amen Anne, Amen! 





...and to keep it real...here are the boys behind the scenes...one in scrubs and the other in a diaper haha!