Well, in my normal style, I only blog about the big things. I have gone back and forth on even sharing this. These choices have come with prayers, tears, smiles, and honestly a huge change in my life. I truly feel my family is going where God is leading us, and with it has come the thought "Why should I stand with people who truly stand against me?" I am so very blessed with some family and great friends that love and support us. I cannot tell you how much the ones who have hugged my neck and said "I am so excited for you." have meant to me. There are a handful of you, even if we do not get together often or even talk that much, I would not trade you for anything in this world. I am so thankful that God put these supportive families in our lives. With that comes three BIG things that people were not expecting.
One, We are having another baby girl!!
Two, We are leaving TPS.
Three, We are not moving.
WOW, right?! So let's knock this out one by one..
One, Another precious baby. THIRD girl! David was absolutely thrilled to find out I was pregnant again. If you truly know him, he loves his three children to the moon and back (and all things kids). Then he found out it was another daughter, and our beautiful girls with their Daddy's sparkling blue eyes and white hair make him nervous! He simply said " I'm not sure God got my job right!" The doctor thought this was extremely funny and felt the need to educate me (not David, he already knows all things science of course) that this was all David's fault. He made three little girls (and one boy) and the gender has nothing to do with me. HA! We are nervous, life is crazy but already so in love. Cannot wait to welcome another precious life into this world. She is nameless. We are nowhere close either!!
Two.... Two is hard. This came about right after the baby was found out about. This has caused the tears. This has caused me, honestly, not telling many people, and putting my family at arms length. This has also come with the hugs and excitement of many friends that I love dearly. We love Trinity. This decision has nothing to do with anything negative on Trinity. We are leaving to homeschool. This is scary, but we have to do what's fair for our family, and money is a big part of that. We have high standards, and I found no one else that I trusted. First thing our TPS friends have said, is "Why not try to get financial support?" This was our choice not to go there. The money is there, but we feel like the money should be elsewhere.
I love so many homeschool families, most of you know David was homeschooled and had a wonderful experience. I am surrounded by the best support group I could dream of. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about how God has laid the bricks to this road, the mentors that have stepped in my life, the friends I have come to love, the passion for watching my children grow. It is so beautiful to see it now. But I am insecure, I will not lie about that. So please pray for us as we travel down this road. And for my skin to toughen up, I am not very good at the "You are doing what?" All the negative talk from family... hurts. I am healing but still trusting someone, when you know they talk so bad about your choices, is no easy pill to swallow.
Three not moving. And now you are saying "Wait, you are having another baby, homeschooling, and NOT moving?!" Truth be told I did not want to accept this. I put my feet down and God has slowly gotten me through this. The whole time He has given me the thought "People all around the world, dream of a house this nice" This money is not there. The market has not recovered in our neighborhood. Very little sells, and what does is at a low price. Everything is going to rental. We have not said no to renting it out, but not yet. We need to have met some financial goals before we go down that road (queues the $ is there for TPS but needs to be elsewhere). This is still hard. It has been hard on me for over a year now, and it has only gotten worse. If you have been to my home you know, Ella Grace has always had a crib or toddler bed in the corner of our room. We are busy busy redoing Addison's room to fit both of them. And like any remodel project it always takes longer and cost more than you ever planned. I will post more about this, with before and after pictures later :) The crib will go in our room and we will go about life a lot like it is now. I have cleaned out, thrown away, given away, so much stuff, and still have more to go. I could have never done this without the help of a sweet friend, that rocks my socks off!! This is not forever, but God whispers in my ear OFTEN, "Be happy where you are."
So yeah.... love me or not this is where we are going in life. Very humbling time for me, I like to drive, not sit in the back seat and wait. Please pray for us as we go through these changes, and if this makes you mad, tell someone else. In the words of Sweet Brown "A'int no body got time for dat"!! And I sure as heck don't have time for you to tell me I am making bad choices. And to the friends who are excited for us, you have no idea how much you mean to us. I truly am thankful for your friendships.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding,
in all ways submit to Him,
and he will make your path straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
With love,
