I could spend hours going back and reading old posts from this blog… it reminds me how important it is to continue posting regularly. I don’t really do it for anyone but myself. (I’m so selfish.) But I know its the best way for me to document our lives and have something to look back on. Photo albums and baby books just aren’t my thing, I guess. Since we moved out of the house last summer I feel like consistency has not been my strongest skill. I’m going back over the past (almost) year to catch up on what all the ol’ blog has missed out on. Forgive my out of date info, but I want these moments to live in internet world forever…

I moved the ol’ blog from Blogger to WordPress. I think all 3 of my followers might want to know in case you don’t see my new feeds coming in. 🙂

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We are still patiently waiting for the right person to come along and purchase our house. We are also patiently waiting to sign a contract on our land. (I’m already claiming it as ours.) Patience seems to be a virtue hard earned. While we wait, we have already been making plans. Its hard not to get excited about the possibilities of the future, but its also important to stay focused on the purpose. Why are we moving? For a long time, I have felt God pulling me towards Patrick’s hometown. The closer I get to Him, the more I believe this is what he wants for our family. Considering how opposed I was to it in the past, I can tell this is His will and not mine. He is giving me the desires of my heart. We want to be closer to our friends – to raise our children in a tightly knit group of Christians who share our same values. There is something to be said about small towns, but more so for even smaller ones. Pell City is growing quickly, which isn’t a bad thing, but not necessarily the best when you have kids. There are four different elementary schools and one big high school. I graduated with two-hundred-fifty-something people. Patrick graduated with only fifty-something, most of whom still live there. Not because they have to because they got stuck there or couldn’t get out, but because they wouldn’t dream of going anywhere else. Yes, we will be further away from our families and I will have to drive 280 to work, but when God calls you to do something, you don’t worry about the details, you just do it. This is His plan, not ours.

Our house has officially been on the market for 3 weeks now. We decided it was time to get serious about selling it and enlisted the help our our realtor, Mary Ellis. We’ve had quite a bit of interest so far – several showings and two offers – but nothing that has turned into a contract. We’re not anxious or upset, but confident that it will sell quickly. God is in control.

What will we do when we sell? Well, we’ve found what we think is the perfect piece of land, henceforth to be known as The Homestead. We put an offer in on Sunday, contingent upon the sale of our house, and are waiting to hear back… I found this piece of property browsing the listings to see what was available. I didn’t want to miss that perfect place, so I started looking early. Anyone who has bought a house, knows it can take a while to find the right place. I started texting Patrick different addresses to check out while I was at work. When he visited this one, he spent the whole day there. It didn’t take much for him to fall in love and I was already sold.

The Homestead is on a dirt road with plenty of acreage and few neighbors. The upside is that we will be moving closer to our friends, but will still be close to our family as well. (This is something that I’ve felt God calling us to do. I want to raise our kids around the people we go to church with and the girls I have Bible study with. It just feels right.) We want to build a simple house and do most of the work ourselves. Our dream house isn’t bigger, its smaller. I feel cluttered by excess. Too much stuff. Too much to clean and put away. I can’t wait to go through, room by room, getting ridding of what we don’t absolutely need or absolutely love. I will be having a HUGE yardsale. I’m so excited, that I’m ready to start right now. However, I’m trying to keep the house presentable for showings and I’m the kind of person who makes a huge mess when I’m organizing and cleaning out.

This is a big step in our lives. Worthy of a blog post. I hope to have good news soon and I will, of course, document our journey here. Here’s to the simple life!

I recently read an article in Women’s Health Magazine that said women who consumed half their calories for the day in the morning lost more weight than women who consumed their largest meal for dinner. I normally have something light for breakfast with a cup of coffee, but if I had the option, I would choose french toast every time. Here is a healthier french toast recipe that will get you no where close to that 700 calorie mark. Bring on the bacon.

Healthy French Toast

Ingredients:
1 cup vanilla soy milk
2 large eggs
9 slices honey wheat bread (I used Nature’s Own)
olive oil
powdered sugar
cinnamon

In a shallow dish, combine the soy milk and eggs. Lightly dredge each slice in the egg mixture. Toss in a hot non-stick skillet with a tiny bit of olive oil to keep it from sticking. Dust with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Voila.

Nutrition facts: Makes 3 servings. Calories: 387, Fat 15 g, Protein 15 g, Cholesterol 124.7 mg, Sodium 451.6 mg, Potassium 115.4 mg, Carbs  52 g, Iron 22.3% DV, Calcium 23.3% DV