Big Changes

We have moved to Eagle Springs, NC, which is near Pinehurst, NC! On October 26th, we loaded all of our earthly possessions into a U-Haul and headed down to our new home. There was a wonderful group of friends from our Sunday school class that came to help us load the truck. My dad, both of my brother-in-loves and so many others made sure that it all happened efficiently and that it all got down here in one piece. On this end, our new church kindly showed up with food and help. The truck was unloaded in just under an hour and then we all collapsed with thankful hearts.

Since March of 2012, I had been interviewing with Eagle Springs Baptist Church, having preached once for them in July, there was a vote to extend the offer to us to come and become their new minister over Labor Day weekend. I was able to preach Homecoming weekend in mid-September and then finish out his time at UNC by the end of October.  

This beautiful historic church is over 100 years old with some of the nicest believers we have ever met. We are so grateful for the church and their love for the people of Eagle Springs, NC.

It is a bit overwhelming to see my name on the church sign as the new pastor of Eagle Springs Baptist Church. I feel very blessed and a bit overwhelmed by the great honor and privilege of pastoring these very sweet people.

We were very blessed that not only did they have a parsonage for us, but the parsonage was brand new! Our new address is 522 Eagle Springs Road, Eagle Springs, NC 27242. The parsonage was particularly a blessing as we were not ready to buy another home just yet and were very thankful to not have to go out searching for a place to rent. 

There is a wonderful unfinished walk up attic that the church has allowed me to set up as a home office. While we hope to finish this space out eventually, it has already been a HUGE blessing to be able to have a home office and storage area. Lindsey even has a great deal of room for her crafts. Sometimes, I even get visits from my sweet ones!

Pontouf's Rough Week

We've been really impressed with how well Pontouf has adjusted to the new house and the move. Other than being completely afraid of our garage door opening and closing, she hasn't really had any issues. She still loves to curl up and snuggle with us, but usually if we are running around doing things around the house, she will follow us around everywhere we go. If we park it in one room she'll find some other little place to curl up. She still definitely loves snug, dark places like a little cavedweller.

For example, in the closet.

Or under the computer desk:

Also, recently she's been getting into a few places that she's not usually allowed, such as curling up on the couch,
and most days when I get out of the shower, I find her curled up on our pillows.

You can tell from that little face that she knows she's getting away with something. Such a spoiled girl! (ps- that brown thing is the other comforter. I just realized how strange it looks in this picture).

I guess I've been a little more lenient than usual to try and help her adjust. Matt and I felt really bad for her last week because it seemed like bad things kept happening to her, and I'm sure she didn't understand it. We used to take her to PetSmart to get her nails trimmed, but we don't have one close by anymore and they had already told us that we weren't getting it done often enough, so we bought our own clippers to start doing it ourselves. It turns out 8 bucks a trip is worth it once you've acidentally cut the cuticle on one of your dog's nails... it bleeds like crazy, she yelps because it hurts, and you feel like a horrible pet parent! It might be silly, but she spent the rest of the day with a bandaid on her toe (mostly for the sake of our carpet).

A day or two later, she and I were outside for a little while when she got stuck in a branch of a prickly bush that we didn't even know was there. The branch was stuck horizontally from one ear across the top of her head to the other cheek. She was shaking her head in pitiful little shakes trying to get it off, and it just got stuck even more. I grabbed it, thinking I could ease it off her, but the prickles on it were not straight but little hooks that were hooking her skin, and also into me where I was holding it, trying to get it off. When it stuck into her face, almost in her eye, I starting yelling for Matt to come help me and between the two of us, we got it off of her without too much damage other than a few little scabs in her ear from the hooks. They were painful enough stuck into my fingers, I felt so bad for her having them stick in her face and ears!

Needless to say she is a tough little cookie, and we have been giving her extra love to make up for a rough week!

Getting Settled

So finally, here are the first pictures emerging from the new house as we work to get everything unpacked and settled! We've really been happy with how well it's turning out, and while a new house, new job, new town, and new friends is always a lot of 'new' all at once, we really feel God's provision with everything in the adjustment.

We don't have a mantle anymore (there's one of those giant hole things for the tv above the fireplace), so we did a bit of maneuvering and used the top of the piano instead. I figured this was a safe little spot to share since it's one of the only pretty and (almost) completely finished little corners of the living room! I love having so many family pictures all in one place.
Here's part of the back yard and deck with the grill waiting to cook and a swing waiting to be swung! Matt found out that our new yard is just a little bit bigger than our old one when it took him 3 hours and two water breaks in the heat today to get it all mowed!
Come visit soon, and I promise this nice clean guest bathroom will be waiting for you!
Right next door will be baby K's room as soon as I can get it all set up (notice the giant box of diapers already! And the big white tub, is, well, a baby bathtub.)
The rest, we'll just say, is a work in progress. My family moved enough growing up for me to know that there are always a few weeks after a move where you panic because you have no idea where something important is, and you just have to sit back and say it must be here somewhere. We're pretty much in that stage right now, trying to be patient as it all comes together. I got all of our pantry stuff put away yesterday, and we went on a big grocery run today, so that helps. There's nothing like a cold coke in the fridge and some chips in the pantry to make a place feel more homey. Plus, we're getting our mail here, which is exciting to me. I'm always worried they'll mess that up somehow in the whole mail transfer process.

We're heading back into Raleigh tomorrow for just the afternoon so that I can go to the Kid's Exchange consignment sale at the fairgrounds, which I'm pretty excited about! This will be my first time going as a mom (to be) and I can't wait to see what kind of cool cheap stuff we can stock up on for the wee one!

back in Raleigh (kinda)

We're in Raleigh this week, finishing up our last... four... days... of work... I think we're going to make it. We've both been anxious to go ahead and get down to Randleman and be settled in one place! I keep having the classic problem of going to grab something, then having to stop and think which house it might be at (nevermind which bag/box/random hiding spot it might be stashed in)... and then realizing it is not at the same house as me! We're staying at the beautiful and luxe Hotel de Brogli (Matt's parent's guest room) and it has been so nice. I have a big, beautiful bathtub at my disposal anytime, and in-laws who have been stuffing me and Baby K full of delicious home-cooked food! Most of the veggies have even been fresh as it gets, straight from their garden. Thanks mom and dad! Hopefully we have not been too obnoxious of houseguests, although we do have one little addition with us who is furry and barks a lot at inopportune times- but maybe all the puppy kisses and snuggles have made up for it!

One of the things I keep leaving in the wrong place is my camera, so of course, I can't post any new house pictures yet. But it is definitely coming together well! We spent overnight this weekend putting up the blinds over the windows, and putting away more dishes. Right now what's mostly left to unpack are the pantry things, my craft room stuff, putting together the guest bed, and then putting together K's room. I've left that for last 1-because we thankfully don't need it right this second, and 2-because I'm so excited about taking my time and making it beautiful! (And because some of the projects I'm planning to make for it necessitate the craft room being organized first).

There's lots of exciting things on the horizon for us, but luckily now that one house has closed and the other is about to close (thank the LORD!) and everything is moved, we can catch our breath a little bit!