What are we up to?

As you may have noticed, the busier I get and the more that is happening, the less I blog (or facebook). Sorry everyone! I know some of you are wondering what we are up to so here is my attempt to fill you in.

The synopsis: Jonathan lost his job at the end of June and started going through the job-hunting process. Fortunately, most companies loved and adored him. Unfortunately, many companies were on hiring freezes (including all the local companies). Fortunately, he still ended up with a few offers and we were very happy with the company and location we ended up choosing. GuideOne Insurance in West Des Moines, IA has a unique niche in that they insure churches and private universities. They also do the normal run of the mill auto and such, but they have a religious bent (no deductible if you are in an accident when going to or from religious activities). We like being part of a company with that type of focus. We are also excited about the location of Iowa because it is closer to most family members and is much more rural and less expensive than where we are currently. We are looking forward to learning how to raise some farm animals and crops on our new little hobby farm. We'll start off small (because our children aren't exactly of the age to contribute yet) and then work our way up over time. By the way, we may not have a regular phone number for a little bit so please be patient and we'll email out our new phone numbers when we get them.

Jonathan left us this past week to start work in Iowa. He is living in a hotel while waiting for our new home to close on the 13th. We are having new carpet installed the 14th and 15th and that evening he flies back to CT to join up with us. In the meantime, I have been enjoying having Jonathan's parents here. Before Jonathan left we managed to go to the Big E (I'll post about it separately). Since then, his parents have been amazing in helping me prep for the move. They were especially helpful when I got a call from our mortgage company saying that they had just realized that the property we're buying is zoned agricultural and they don't do agricultural loans. So here we were 11 days till closing without a mortgage lender. But it is amazing how Heavenly Father seems to know our needs before we know them. You see, I hadn't felt good about the real estate agent we had originally been assigned, so I had asked the relo company to get me someone else. The new agent was not only amazing, but she had happened to mention that her ex-husband and son own a series of local banks and we had actually met the son over the course of our stay. So when we needed a new lender fast, we called them up and voila, by the next morning everything was taken care of, we had lender, the closing date was saved, and we even got a better rate. Hooray!

As for our CT house, we sold it after 5 days on the market, and 10 over the list price so we are thrilled. We have really felt as though all of this is according to God's will for us, that there is a reason we need to be in Iowa and He is helping push us out the door. We are going to miss all of our friends in CT terribly though. :(

The movers are coming to CT the 12th to start the packing and loading process and we will start driving to Iowa the morning of the 16th, and arrive on ~ the 19th . Our stuff is supposed to arrive in Iowa sometime that week. I remember how difficult it was to keep kids happy in an empty house for a week when we moved here, so I am trying to prep ahead of time with new games and toys packed in the van for them to play with when we get there. I also had lots of fun at the dollar store the other day with Sandy. We bought a bunch of little "car presents" for them to open along the trip. But, ssshhhh, it's a secret. ;)

We hope all of you are doing well and we send you our love!