Well, I'm sorry to say, but it looks as if we don't have a house after all. The inspection was done on Monday and some fairly big problems were discovered (primarily, the need for a new roof). As we found out in the negotiating process, the owners just won't budge much on the price. They need to come down several thousand in order for us to be able to do the repairs and still be able to afford it. It just doesn't look like it's going to happen. Soooooo, here we are...back at square 1.

To say that we're not super disappointed and discouraged would be lying. We are. But at the same time, we are completely trusting that God is in control. More than wanting a house, we want His protection. We fully expect to look back at this whole situation someday and say "Ohhhhh....so that's why that all happened like that!"

Ummm...so, yeah, the last month has been pretty rough. Things just haven't happened quite like we had expected. Yet, at the same time, God has continued to confirm His calling--we know that we know that we know that we're supposed to be here...and we're so grateful for that continued assurance!

There's definitely been days that I haven't lived like I know this, but I was reminded the other day that our JOY is NOT dependent on our circumstances. JOY is a gift of the Holy Spirit and is completely detached from whatever is going on in our lives. So as a follower of Jesus, we can still be JOYFUL even when life is not much fun! What a timely and much-needed reminder! :o)

We are continuing with the house hunt, but with less urgency now. At this point, with Christmas break and a conference in Colorado immediately after Christmas, it's not possible for us to get into a house before January. The family we're living with is still planning on leaving January 7th, although we've been told things could very possibly change again to a later date. We are thinking we'll just stay there until we find a house, possibly as late as May (which is when the family will return from the Netherlands).

Anyway, that's the scoop on our lives right now. Someday (hopefully soon) I'll post again to say that we've found a house for real! Maybe next time I should wait until AFTER the inspection, huh? :o) It's definitely been an emotional roller coaster for us....maybe you got a little piece of the ride with us. Thanks for being excited for us and with us. We'll keep you posted...

We love you all!! :o) Please keep in touch!! You may know what it's like to be in a new place...It always brings a smile to our face when we hear from an old friend.

WOOHOO!!! Just letting you know that we got the house!!! :o) Our closing date is December 12th, and possession date is the 14th!! We're super excited and once again are so grateful for the Lord's provision in our lives! Because of Brett's Papa, we have a great downpayment, thus making our monthly payments very realistic for us. Thanks for all the prayers! We love you all!

Hey there everyone! Well, we're here! The past 2 weeks here in Wichita have been SUPER BUSY for us...and the 2 weeks (or month) before that were even CRAZIER!! I feel like the last 2 months have been so full, emotional, and hectic that they're almost a BLUR! Moving is NOT fun and NOT easy!!!

I wish that I could report that we are all settled in and calling Wichita home already, but not so much! The day before we left Waco, Brett found out that plans had changed (again) for the family that we were supposed to house-sit for. Now, they will not be leaving for the Netherlands until January. We decided that an overlap of 2 months with this family, plus the 4 months of house-sitting (total of 6 months in someone else's house), was a bit too long for us. We believe God has asked us to be here for now, and we are ready to start being able to call this home. The sooner we get into our own place, the sooner we'll be able to feel like this is home (hopefully). So we immediately began house-hunting once we got here. We have found a house that we're super excited about. We've made an offer and then they counter-offered (it's gone back and forth so far about 4 times). We're hoping to have a closing date of December 15 or sooner. We're desperately wanting to see a light at the end of the tunnel (which probably won't come until after Christmas). So far, there's been ZERO routines or "NORMAL DAYS." And believe me, we're really ready for that!

Emma sure is having fun playing with all the kiddos around her! The family we're living with has 3 kids (2 boys and a girl). We've also spent lots of time with some of our friend's children...Hudson and Hannah (twin 3 year olds), and Zoe (about 2 months old). Plus she gets to play in the nursery at church and at the Y. It's been fun for her!

Here's a few random things I wanted to share:

• We'll be sending out a newsletter after Thanksgiving with more details about our time in Wichita so far (and I'll hopefully be able to include our new address in it so that we won't have to use someone else's address for Christmas cards!!)
• For now, we've decided to stay with AT&T and keep our same phone numbers (at some point our #s will change, but not as soon as we expected). Also, we have no intentions of ever changing our email addresses, so hopefully that will always be a good way to contact us...of course, Brett's better at checking email than me :o)
• The camera dock got put in storage so this blog (and probably any posts thru December) will not have pictures. It stinks because I have several that I'd like to share! Oh well!

I'll try to blog again sometime in the next month, but no promises! With the holidays approaching, life can only get crazier, right? :o)