Homeward Bound!

Well, what a week it has been! Full of prayer and planning and good conversations between my husband and me. We found out after lots of back and forth communication with our tenant that he will be able to move out just in time for us to move in. This was a huge anxiety of mine as I'm just so ready to be done with temporary living and moving! One thing that I treasure is that while praying for this to work out I specifically prayed that because it's a favor to us for Steve to break the lease, that his move would some how bless him. We found out that his new place is not only more central to his job but very close to some old buddies he's been trying to reconnect with and he is very happy with the move. :)

We expected to be rushing to move in and get settled just DAYS before Christmas but found out this week that Ryan finished school December 13th, and starts his job in Austin December 17th which means we will be moving December 15th and 16th. A week before we thought we would be able to! This brings both blessings and conflict. It means we may have more help moving in the house, and we have more time to get settled before Christmas. But that weekend is the Nutcracker weekend here in Houston. The Nutcracker ballet is a tradition in Ryan's family and while circumstances mean we will have to miss this year, it was also the planned date of our Houston baby shower so that sort of got messed up. We also need to find a time to have a Christmas with our family here in Houston before we leave.
That being said, I am relieved that we get to be out of this apartment a week sooner. Don't get me wrong I'm not against apartment living, we are just disappointed in this specific apartment as our water and electricity have been turned off and gone out several times and the construction has been non stop and we happen to be completely surrounded by smoking neighbors. Plus, our apartment doesn't hold enough of our kitchen stuff to really feel settled so we've been living in a state of temporary inconvenience and  I'm just so ready to have all of our things in one home again, not 4. :)

So all in all, I am happy we get to move in sooner, I'm just bummed that it interfered with family plans here in Houston. Hopefully it will all get worked out. We were trying to have two showers so no one had to drive the distance between Austin and Houston but it may be easier for some Houston family to come to Austin for a shower in January, I don't know. I just want everything to be easier on the people trying to bless us with showers. I feel bad our move messed that up.

I realized that the day we move home I will be about 31 weeks pregnant! How is that possible?! I'll only be about 9 weeks away from meeting our sweet girl! (give or take a few days)
I'm nearly 26 weeks today but 31 just seems so much closer! :) 8 weeks after Christmas we will be on the watch for little Hannah Kate, in our hometown with our favorite OB, in our own home, with my mom and sister just a drive away.

All this craziness with the move and overlapping the last few months rent with the first few months mortgage puts us in a very tight budget but I'm actually thankful for that! It's forced us to be wise and disciplined with the money God has entrusted us with and more creative and purposeful with our time.
We have a 3 month plan in place and scheduled weekly budget meetings and a list of free entertainment ideas to keep us from blowing the budget. We do much better things with our time like reading out loud, finding free museum days, working out together, planning gardens, playing board games, couples bible studies. Our budget is giving us this amazing opportunity to become closer and more engaged that going out for dinner and a movie, or as we've done, renting a movie to watch at home.
We even cooked a big breakfast dinner last night and it was great! We may go on a picnic today.
I love my husband so very much and love that we are learning these things before Hannah Kate comes!

I feel so blessed, more than content, very happy and at peace!

Thank you Jesus for all that we have!