Its Ours! (Almost) :)

Sometimes God blesses you in ways that you never expected, and we have seen that throughout this house buying process. If you read the last couple posts, you know that we made an offer on a home that was rejected, and after scrambling for a couple days, found a home that we fell in love with. After much prayer, paperwork, and many, many phone calls, that home is ours! Well, almost ours. We are under contract, and our loan application is in the works. As soon as it all clears and we close, we will be the proud owners of 1.48 acres and a home at 234 Trenton Highway, Milan TN!

The best part about this home is that we wouldn't have it if the first lady had taken our offer. I know that was God looking down on us and had something better in mind, because this house is not only amazing but we have great neighbors. We have not met them yet, but have been told that one is a former elder of the congregation we will be working with, and the others are members of the church too! God totally had a plan for us and this home! Thank you all for the prayers and for keeping us in your thoughts as this exciting chapter in our lives is starting! Here are a few pics of the house that will be completely ours in a few short weeks.

Okay... next!

So, we thought we had found the perfect little house for us in Milan, so we put in an offer. We got totally rejected- she didnt even give us a counter offer! We were so disappointed that the offer fell through that Ross and I both started to scramble. We had looked at five other houses in Milan, but none of them stood out to us, so it was back to the drawing board. We found a few more houses that would be okay to move into but would require much work- apparently if you dont like wood paneling or mauve and green paint you cant live in Milan.

Well, as usual, God had a plan for us. We found another home at midnight last night on a website that we had not seen before, and it was a listing that had just ben published. This house is even better than the first one- its newer, has a better location, and is just all around a better home. Mom and Dad were nice enough to go and check it out for us this afternoon, and we have put in an offer on house number two. Please pray that we get this offer- this house is just amazing! God has been so good to us with this opportunity thus far, and I know he has great things in store for us when we get to Milan! I will wait until we have a contract on the home to post pictures, because it seems that was bad luck last time.

A New Chapter

As the summer came to a close, Ross was approached by the Main Street church of Christ in Milan, TN. They asked for his resume, and we thought nothing of it. We sent it in, and about three weeks later, after much discussion and prayer, several interviews, and lots of logistical decision making, Ross accepted the position as Youth Minister at Main Street.

This is a decision that was hard for both of us to make- leaving the kids here is going to be really hard, but its also really hard living this far away from virtually all of our family and friends. Sure we have made good friends here and have a nice church family, but this was the opportunity that Ross has been waiting for his whole life. He is going to be working with Taft (who will be the outreach minister), and that is something he has dreamed of since his intern days at Woodland Hills. It was just an opportunity that we couldn't leave behind.

So, as of November, we will be moving to Tennesse, hopefully to a little house that we put an offer on last night. Please pray that this move goes smoothly and that we can get settled in Milan and work to the best of our ability for the Lord. Please also pray that I find a job there and can get back to doing what I love- teaching.

I put a picture of our hopeful house at the top of this post, and if we get it, I will post more pictures. If we dont get it, then the pictures will have to change! Pray that this offer goes through well and we can get this part of our lives going!

Summer Update Two

Since the last post was just about my junk, this one is just for Ross. He has been so busy and has worked so hard this summer with the youth group. From preaching twice a month, making a young men's service, planning activities, designing posters and tshirts, teaching class twice a week, and taking care of me and my high stress levels, somehow he found time to be the best youth minister ever. The first big event of the summer was our Vacation Bible School, and our good friends from Woodland Hills came up to help us with that event which was a huge success.

After VBS we went to Green Valley Bible Camp. Ross stayed out there until Tuesday when he tore ligaments in his ankle playing basketball and had to be put in a walking cast for 10 days. The month of July was so busy it seems like ten years ago, and honestly I cant even remember what all we did. I know we went to Taylor Christian Camp, and the kids had a blast. What a great week! August was just as busy, with devotionals and back to school cookouts taking up our time before kids got back in the swing of things with school. Our most recent event was RUSH at FHU, which was also an amazing event and fun for everyone. Needless to say, Ross has had an awesomely busy summer and is ready for a break that is a long time coming.

Summer Update One

I noticed as I logged on today that I am a terrible blog updater. I have not written anything since May! I am going to try and be better about that, but right now things are so busy I dont know how it will end up, but I will try.

Since so many things have happened since May, I feel like I need to start with a review of the missing months. I finished my last semester of classes at the U of A, and spent the summer researching my thesis, which is now well underway and will be turned in, Lord Willing, next Friday. After that will be revisions and then, DUN DUN DUN.... the dreaded Thesis defense on December 2. I have mixed emotions about this- excited, scared, terrified, elated; so hopefully it will turn out for the best and I will be done with this thing and move on to my next career move, which I hope will be a return to teaching.

This summer, I submitted an article length paper to a contest sponsored by the Flashback, a small journal put out by the Washington County Historical Society in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I somehow managed to win second place, which allows my article to be published and adds $200 to my savings account. Even though this is a small publication, its a dream come true for me because I have always wanted to write, and now to have something published feels amazing.

I also submitted a couple entries to the Arkansas Encyclopedia of History and Culture, which can be found online, but will not be published until closer to January 2010. I am trying to build up my resume so eventually I can get into a doctoral program somewhere and become Dr. Vego.