Updates...

Wow! Can't believe it's been so long since I've posted!! Obviously we have kept very busy and haven't had time for an update. I'll try my best to remember all the changes that are happening..

God has been blessing us in so many ways lately. I love to see the way He is working in our lives now as a married couple. :)

Just recently, Andrew received a pay increase (YAY!) and his job changed slightly. Instead of working in the Cadillac part of Willis Auto Campus, he now works in the Used Car Department. With the change, he is experiencing a variety of cars that he gets to work on, instead of the same thing over and over each day. Also, there is a good possibility for him to pick up some extra hours. :) So far he is enjoying it.

My job at the State continues to remain busy. With several retirements and resignations, it feels like a revolving door with all the old employees going out and the new employees coming in. I think at this point, we are still sitting with roughly 20 (+ or - a few) vacancies at the DE. Also, around the 4th of July, I moved offices. I know have the privilege of having a larger office, with floor to ceiling walls, AND...wait for it....a DOOR! Most days it is super quiet and very helpful for me to get all my work done when needed. :)

In July, I coordinated my first wedding. :) After working at Beyond Elegance for several years, I got an itch for helping others plan/organize their wedding. After planning my own, it became more of a dream. I put my name down at our church as a wedding coordinator, and I had my first one on July 6/7. It was a blast! And I couldn't have asked for a better Bride and Groom. Brian and Lindsey were wonderful! It felt awesome knowing that I had a hand in their beautiful special day. :) I'm anxious to add another date to my calendar!!

The last weekend in July we had the privilege of traveling to WI with my mom and dad for my cousin Jessica's wedding. We were able to drive around and show Andrew where my dad grew up and also the many memories that were made on Grandpa and Grandma's farm. Even though SO much has changed over the years. We enjoyed getting to spend some time with Grandma Broadway. I miss her so much and wish we lived closer.

Finally, probably the biggest news of all, it's finally official. WE'RE MOVING!! :) Ever since this past Spring, Andrew and I got this crazy idea in our head that we wanted to sell our townhouse and find a house. We first sat down and made a list of the "must haves", the "would like to haves", and the "if the price is right". :) Niether one of us like packing/moving, so we decided if we were going to go through with this, we're going ALL OR NOTHING! We wanted a house that would fit us now, but also in the future when we start our family. We knew we wanted to be somewhat out of town, but yet still close enough for our work commutes. We also wanted Ranch style, with an unfinished basement that we could later finish. And most importantly, we wanted our OWN SPACE! We're tired of feeling cramped and on top of our neighbors.

We are pretty faithful at watching the DIY and HGTV channel, so it gave us quite a few ideas. We looked at some newer houses first, but then we started looking at older homes that we could possibly fix up. After a couple of weeks, we were getting frustrated because we weren't getting any bites on the townhouse, and we weren't finding any houses in our price range that we really truly loved! So, we put it on the back burner. We still occasionally pulled up searches on Iowa Realty, but was always disappointed.

Then we started thinking about the possibilities of building...hmmm...what were we thinking?! The prices of lots were outrageous and then to build a house too...WAY out of our price range. BUT, that started several weeks months of research. We met with several different builders just to get some ideas. A couple of them were absolute "NO"s, but some of them sparked some interest. We then flipped our search from houses to lots. We finally found one for a decent price that was only a few miles from where we lived in Grimes. It was a 1/2 acre lot and backed up to a corn field. PERFECT! :)

SO, we started thinking a little bit more seriously about everything. We spent several hours on-line searching for the floor plan that fit our wants/needs the most. We met with two of the builders a couple more times to get a feel of who we wanted to be "our" builder. We posted our townhouse up for rent/sale and within a few days we had someone that wanted to sign a rental lease.  Within a week, we were packing up our things, moving them to storage, and moved into Andrew's parent's basement. We have since, signed a contract with "our" builder, the lot has been bought, and this week we meet with the builder for our plans and specs meeting. :) By November, we should be moved into OUR house!! :)

I never DREAMED that I would be building a new house with my husband. We know that God's timing is perfect. Now that it's actually happening, we are SOO excited and SOO anxious for all the fun planning that we get to do and decisions that we get to make. I'll be sure to take LOTS of pictures as we go through the several stages.

OUR dream house is in the beginning builder stages and I can't wait to someday raise our family in it!! :) Thanks be to HIM!