Three days...

As I sit here just three days before we make our move to Houston, I have mixed emotions. Tonight some of my best friends threw me a party! All most all of my work friends were there. It was so fun to spend time with everyone at this busy time of the school year! I am very honored that they came to say goodbye! I can't help but think about how amazing the past two years have been! I didn't think I even wanted to teach elementary school and it turned out to be better than I could've ever imagined! I have made so many wonderful friends and grown as a teacher! The Lord has blessed us beyond belief! Derek has made great friends at his office even though he was only there for a few months! We have lived in a great neighborhood and even made some friends here. Our house had a doggie door before we moved in, which Cooper has LOVED! We are very happy here! So we are very sad to be leaving our family and friends and moving to a new city!
I know that the Lord has big plans for us in Houston! Every step of the moving process has been quite easy, but more than that it's been clearly and carefully planned by the Lord. I got a job in the best middle school in the district. I really wanted to stay in elementary school. I interviewed for a 5th grade math job.(my "ideal" choice) On the way home from the interview, the principal of Clear Lake Intermediate called and asked if I was interested in teaching middle school science. We set up an interview for the next week, but he offered me the job before I even visited the school! I was really worried about teaching middle school, but the Lord made it clear that middle school was His plan for me. I had a job before May even began!
We found our house fairly quickly too! We went and looked at houses one weekend and found a house we wanted to make an offer on. For some reason I wanted to look a little more. We ended up driving around kind of randomly. MoM was looking at houses online for us and found a house down the street from the one we bought. It looked really nice and we decided to drive the neighborhood to see what it was like. As we made a turn we saw our future house. We didn't think much of it at first, but the more we looked at it and it's features, the more we fell in love. There was just something about the house that drew us to it. We had to go back and walk through it another weekend, which coinsided with my "interview." The moment we walked in the house, we knew it was the one for us! We could see ourselves raising a little family in the house. The Lord really answered our prayers for a clear answer to which job I should take and which house we should buy! I am truly in awe of the entire situation! We made an offer and a month later we will close on our first house! Throughout the processs, we were reminded that things happen in the Lord's timing. As soon as we thought we were in control, we would hit a tiny bump and the Lord would remind us to completely rely on Him. It seemed like the moment we did that, He showed us His clear plan and the tiny bump in the road got worked out! So as of Friday, we will officially be home owners! We can hardly believe it!
There is no doubt in my mind that this is exactly where the Lord wants us at this season of our lives! How could there be?!! This makes it a little easier to say goodbye to our current life and dive head first into our new adventure. We are looking forward to Derek living MUCH closer to home! We actually will work a few miles from each other. Derek says that if gas prices get too high we can start carpooling. Sounds like fun to me! With him working closer to home, we can get more involved in our church and community. We desire to make good, Christian friends who we can spend time with. We already have several friends who live in the area and we are so excited about making more! I know that the Lord has perfectly planned all of this for us, in fact, He's planted this desire in our hearts. We will live VERY close to U of H-Clear Lake, which means that I can start on my masters and not have to drive too far! We can confidently face our future knowing that the Lord has planned every detail! We will truly miss everyone in the DFW area. If you're in the Houston area, please call us! We'd love for you to visit! Thank you for your friendship! You have filled our lives with so much joy! We love you!