February 2010

I decided it was about time for an update...

A lot has happened over the last 6-8 months. Although at times it was frustrating and scary, we never felt out of God's hands. Somehow we knew He was leading us through it all. It's comforting to know that God is not surprised by the events in our lives, and even more comforting to know that He already has a well-thought out plan to get us through it. That's what we have found to be true in the deepest sense.

In August 2009, Keith received his last paycheck from Wood Lumber Co. in Idabel. The economy, as you all know, has not been good to the wood products industry. Keith began looking for another job, and as we prayed about or next steps God put on our hearts to sell our home. We finished the last of our "to-do" list (a few paint touch-ups, etc.) and signed the papers to put it on the market. We showed the house literally minutes after signing the papers and received an offer three hours later. We were shocked! We had a figure in mind that we would have liked to get for the house, so we listed it just a little higher. The offer was for the amount we were hoping to get. We prayed and felt God speaking a resounding "Yes, this is from Me" to our hearts. The offer went through and on Oct 27 we sold our house in Idabel.

Once we moved out of our home, we moved in with Keith's parents. It was such a blessing to spend some quality time with them over the next few months. Courtney loved getting to see them every day, and they were such an encouragement to us. Keith continued his job search and realized that looking for a job is in itself a full time job!

On December 7, we found out we were expecting our second child; we are due August 8. The timing was perfect. Kristi had a few (6-7) weeks of morning sickness, but had plenty of help from Keith and his parents. Soon after, Keith received an offer from Central States Mfg. in Northwest Arkansas. He had connected with the company through a job fair back in October. Overall, Keith put in over 80 applications with various companies. From the beginning we had prayed that God would shut all doors but the one we were to walk through- of all 80+ applications, only two had come of anything... and the other opportunity fell through. After much prayer and many meetings, Keith took the job at Central States and our family moved to Fayeteville, AR. Keith started his job on January 18, 2010.

Keith's official title (once he finishes training) will be "Engineering Manager". He will do some risk analysis, some number crunching, some supervising and some project management/planning. He is currently spending one to two weeks in each department, learning the comapany from the ground up. This week he is helping the men in the trim department. He loves the hands-on work, and is learning alot about the industry. He meets with his superiors a few times a week to learn more about his role in the company and what he'll be doing once his training is complete (late summer 2010). If you know Keith, you know that this is how he prefers it- to understand every aspect of the business with as much personal experience as possible so that he can do his job in full competence.

While Keith has been at work, Kristi has been home taking care of Courtney. Courtney has given up her pacifer and is growing up too fast! She is working on potty training and was very excited yesterday to receive stickers and a small Dora the Explorer doll as a reward for using the potty two times in one day. We are so proud of her! She is speaking well and enjoys going to the play area in the mall. She also enjoys all of the restaurants Northwest Arkansas has to offer. She calls them all "The Hungry House" and will often sing, "Going to the Hungry House I've got Him on my mind; Oh, I've got Jesus on my mind!"

Kristi and Courtney have spent several days with a realtor in the area looking for a house to purchase. There are many foreclosures on the market, and we are hoping to get a good deal on a fixer-upper. One has caught our attention, but we aren't sure just yet if we'll make an offer on it. We will go this evening for another walk-through. We are praying for God to lead us.

We are slowly settling in and learning our way around Northwest Arkansas. It is an area of several cities with many outlying towns. The population of the area (according to a 2006 study) is around 400,000- a far jump from the population of 7,000 we were accustomed to in Idabel! We are still searching for a church. We've visited several, and Kristi has attended a Tuesday night Bible Study for Women a few times with an old friend from college. All of the churches have been a blessing to us, but we're still searching.

Thank you for catching up with us on our blog. I will leave you with a few highlights of our time spent here so far, and a few pictures. I have several more pics and a few videos on Facebook that you can check out if you haven't seen them already. God bless you all!

HIGHLIGHTS:

* It snowed nearly 5 inches the week after we moved in.

* We were so blessed to get a rent house with no yearly contract- an answer to prayer! That means we can move as soon as we purchase a home with no penalties.

* There are many organic food markets here that sell lactose free ice-cream made of coconut milk! YUM!

* The community is filled with things for families to do that are free or super-cheap. There are parks, lakes, ice-rinks and more!

* Kristi was able to reconnect with a friend from college that she hasn't seen for 6-8 yrs.

* Keith has found awesome deals on food: like $1 pork sandwich day at Dickey's BBQ and $2.99 pizza day at Eureka Pizza. It has allowed us to feel like we're splurging but not break the bank.

*Our pregnancy is going well- Kristi is feeling the baby move more and more each day. We have an appointment March 10 and will have a sonogram sometime the week after to find out what we're having! Courtney is so excited to be a big sister!

Keith and Courtney with our snowman!

Courtney catchs a snowflake on her tongue

Courtney enjoys a bowl of spaghetti at the Olive Garden