change of plans- again

So, here's the saga.

We have listed our house for sale - and taken if off - several times in the past two years. It has been quite a journey (of keeping a clean house with a toddler).

The first time we took it off the market we really felt the Lord leading us to stay put. The second time was because David lost his job. And today we took it off again. Out of all the showings we have had (and we've had a lot), we've gotten the same feedback about 80% percent of the time - "adorable house, shows great, lack of a designated dining area is the kicker." And... we agree. That has been one of the leading factors for US to sell and find a different house that better suits us. We bought this house five years ago, just before we were married, and we didn't know what life looked like for us down the road. Now we know we love to host baby showers and play group and small group and the set up just isn't the best.

However.

We, once again, feel the Lord leading us to stay put. And we're ok with that. The biggest change this time is that we are turning our sun room into a dining room! We're going to take out a bit of the wall between the two, widen the doorway and have a full-fledged eating area. Cue the angels! Not only will this make it wayyyyy easier to sell one day, but it will make our house so much more livable for us in the mean time. We have a guy who will do the framing, windows and exterior work, and David will likely do the rest himself (drywall, tile, electrical, heating/air) (unless dude is worth the money to get it done quicker because David will be working nights and weekends... we'll see).

And the new, new house plan? (It changes regularly, obviously, so don't hold us to this...) Stay in this house until we are ready to build. Building has always been our dream, but for some reason we had talked ourselves into thinking we needed an "in between" this house and a house we built.

Last week's sermon was on 1 Samuel 8, and Pastor Frank talked about how the Israelites weren't mindful (of the power and goodness of God), careful (about what they watched and how it affected them) or grateful (they thought what the world had was better than what they had). And it really spoke to us about our desire to move. Frank said "when we want something beyond reason, we're cruisin' for a bruisin'" and we realized we were maybe entering into the "beyond reason" area of thinking.

So, yay! I'm super excited to get the ball rolling on the new dining room. AND, making the decision to stay here means we're also going to make a few other changes (new living room furniture! redo Crawford-and-soon-to-be-Lawson's room! some paint updates, etc.) and I'm really looking forward to it.

I am in full-blown nesting mode and purging like a mad man. One bummer of this house has always been a lack of storage, but it's always made us keep things sparingly. Fortunately, Ash & Chase have a fabulous basement and they are generous enough to let us store things we may want for the future, but we're trying to be very liberal on what we give away or sell. Stuff's gotta go! I'm sick of stuffed-full closets full of "what if we need it one day" things, so out it goes!

Hopefully all of these projects and changes will inspire me to blog more often. Here's to hoping! And dining!

PS- I blogged every day this week! That's a Christmas miracle, y'all!