Where do we begin?

I've avoided this blog for the last few weeks because my head has been a bit cluttered and I'm not exactly sure how to express myself in a written context. So here we go-I'll just act as though I'm in conversation with you.

We began the adoption process last November and our hearts have been forever changed. This child we do not know yet has changed us in unbelievable ways. I think we always knew that there was suffering in this world, but I don't think we fully grasped it until now. We had started to read the Bible exegetically, which means interpreting it on our own and we could see that there were certain commands that God was really calling us as believers in Christ to follow. James 1:27 calls us to take care of orphans and widows in their distress. For us we knew this meant adoption. While I don't think everyone is called to adoption we do however believe that we are called to care for these people in some way or another. Through our adoption we have been forced to reevaluate our lives and the way we were living.

The Holy Spirit began to reveal to us that it was time to sell our home. It's been amazing to see the work God has done in Keith and I and how somehow we've managed to always come together on big decisions like these. SOOOO.....we began seeking out where do we go? We knew we wanted to do a big downsize. We built a BIG beautiful home and we could see that big homes cost losts of money to fill with stuff that you can't take with you. The big home and the stuff that goes into it and this lifestyle was distracting us from what God wants us to be about.

Meanwhile, we found that despite the amazing year in Dallas and what God has shown us here, our hearts were pulling us back to Austin. This year spent in Dallas has been transforming for our marriage and for our relationship with God. Being close to our family in Dallas and getting to know our new friends has been such a blessing to us.

So why Austin? We've gotten this question from many of those who know us and it really comes down to the fact that Austin is home. Aside from our many friends who we've known over the last 10 years we love the culture, we love the beauty of Austin, and we miss our Austin restaurants.

Within 2 weeks of putting our house on the market our house went under contract. When we listed our house we pretty much got a sarcastic "Good luck" from our realtor. It's a tough market especially when new homes are being built around us, but God is GOOD, ALL THE TIME!

Since we are cutting our square footage in half we are forced to get THIN. This book has been a great guide for us:
Tsh Oxenreider is the author and well known blogger of the popular blog called Simple Mom. I would probably put this on my top 10 books to read. She gives you step by step instructions on how to simplify. It's one of those books that after you finish it you want to read it again.

"Simplicity isn't about what you give up. It's about what you gain. When you remove the things that don't matter to you, you are free to focus on only the things that are meaningful to you."

My MOST MOST favorite quote is: "Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

As you can tell we are BUSY BUSY over here. We are going through room by room getting ready for a huge moving sale, while managing to pack, Ohhhhh and let's not forget Will has officially entered terrible 2's. :)

We have a contract on a home in Austin. It's a beautiful ranch style home with Austin stone on the outside. The trees are mature and deer are like squirrels. We can't wait to share pictures, but waiting until we have the inspection.

Love you all!!