happenings

This past Friday, one of YOU, emailed and told me you had two plane tickets for me and my husband to fly to Chicago! FREE! AMAZING! TOTALLY AMAZING!!! I am still in shock and so is Jeremy. I've also found some different hotel options and some close to Grant Park (where we need to be) and they are reasonable but I can't book them yet because you have to pay in full. So after we get moved next month, I'm gonna start working on all of that and I am not worried at all. God took care of flights, He will provide a reasonable place to stay in October for the marathon. Also the transportation system in Chicago is wonderful so we don't have to rent a car. We wanted to stay 4 nights but it may only be 3 due to Chicago being so expensive. I had NO CLUE! This Texas girl has been to Hawaii and Mexico but not very many others places. :) Jeremy has not decided whether he will run in Chicago or not. He is working out at the YMCA every other day and LOVES it. We are even doing a spin class together this week. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the YMCA!

We have found a house in the exact area we want to live. It is a beautiful, older neighborhood with TONS and TONS of trees. There is even an RV pad in the backyard that could be used for Jeremy's boat. No, he sold his boat when we moved here but we are pretty sure God will replace it! The homes is under 1600 feet which sounds INSANE to me based on this big house we live in now. But, I am really thinking of all the things we have that we DO NOT need. I could make it work! 1600 feet is not small, it's just going from 2150 sq ft to 1600 is a big change. The backyard has a playhouse, a huge storage shed and there is not one area that is not shaded. It sits on two lots and with no riding lawn mower it could be difficult but we BOTH love it and it's in our price range. Cheaper than this house, smaller too and something even better! Are you ready for this? less than 5 minutes from Jeremy's job!!! We could still go to our YMCA we love by hopping on the highway AND it's about TWO MILES from Target, Old Navy, Wal Mart, HEB, etc.!! There is also an added bonus. It's 15 minutes from my friend Kim. I went to High School with her and her husband and we have reconnected on facebook and have found a pretty amazing friendship. Our kids are the exact same age, our husbands are into all the same stuff and Kim is a beautiful, Godly woman. When we reconnected on facebook, we had no clue God was going to put us closer on the map! Oh and I can still make Heidi meet me for LONG RUNS during training season!! (Okay Heidi?)

The house is available and our realtor is great (thank you Kim) and the realtor for the other house said it's been vacant for three months and the people are desperate. If it stays available this week, there is a good chance it will be the one! We can't move until end of March so this week would be too early for them to accept our deposit. IF this is not the house, we have prayed and asked God for a home in that same neighborhood. He knows what we need and we trust HE will give us the desires of our hearts. This backyard makes me smile when I think about it and think about all the stuff we could do for homeschool! There is one other house in the same town and it is literally behind Jeremy's job. CRAZY! It is on a country rd and seriously in the country. It is cheaper and about the same size. There would be NO place for me to run and feel safe doing it. It's in the country but still close to shopping, etc. I would be happy with either one but it would be hard to be off a country rd when I run as much as I do.

We are hitting school hard this week! Spring break is coming soon!!! And then Summer! WOO HOO!

Keep us in your prayers! We are starting to pack and getting very excited about our new home!!

(Yes we are still renting. Our Bankruptcy was less than two years ago and we've heard the magic number is 4 or 5. By then we should be able to buy again. But I am not minding this renting stuff at all. It's nice knowing we can move if we want and not lose money on a house we can't sell, etc.)