Are we home yet?!

Since Nick and I were married five and a half years ago, we have called five places home:

1.  Our first apartment
2.  Nick's parents house
3.  A house in Wrightwood
4.  The tiny house off of Daycreek
5.  Our current home in Rancho

Our sixth anniversary in coming up in November, so we figure it's time to move again.   

But we are hoping this time will be different.  That's right.  We are hoping this time we will be moving into our very own home!  No more rent!  No more landlords!  No more living with the ancient blue carpet that our many, small, potty-training children insist on watering!

So, we signed an offer on a house today.  In Pinon Hills.  It's about 35 minutes from Rancho.  Up the 15 , and then off of the 138.  The house is off of a dirt road!  I never thought I would move there!  In fact, I think I swore I wouldn't.  Ya know, if I swore.  Which I don't.  But for a hundred thousand less than what we were thinking of spending in Rancho, we will be getting so much more, and I think we are making the best decision for our family.  If we get this house, I think we are going to love it, and Nick and I both really feel like this is where God is leading us.  Plus, how could a big house on 2 acres, and a 6 car garage for Nick not have us excited!?

So, please pray for our family, for this big decision, and for God to have his hand in it every step of the way.

On a side note: my heart loves our current home.  I feel like it is mine, even though it isn't.  It's not for sale, but even if it was, it isn't big enough for our growing family.  We moved here when Noah was one.  We brought the twins home from the hospital to this house.  Caleb was born here for crying out loud!  Our family has grown so much here, literally.  If, and when we move from this house, I will mourn it a little bit.  So also, could you please pray for my silly, sentimental soul?

3 things

So much has been going on around here. I'll start with the least important factoid.

1) I chopped off my hair. Into a bob. Shorter than it's ever been. I pretty much love it. I suppose the fact that I love short hair on myself means I am getting older. That combined with the fact that I pulled a beautiful white hair from my head today.

2) We are contemplating moving to Pinon Hills. My mind really begins spinning when I think about this for too long.

There are so many benefits for our family when it comes to moving there, but then of course there are drawbacks as well. I love being close to my parents and so do the boys. I see my mom a few times a week, and it is nice knowing she is close by if I need her help, or if I want to drop by for an hour to let the boys play and chat. My mom watches the boys for me sometimes when I go to the store and such. In some ways I just can't picture my life living further away from her. I know it seem silly when we are talking 30 miles. It's pathetic, right? Some people live days away. But I am spoiled, and used to what we have.

So, that all sounds pretty negative. However, we could buy a house for SO much cheaper up there, and it would be much bigger and have much more land for our growing family. Not to mention practically all of Nick's family now lives up there, and all the moms stay at home, so we could all hang out.

Which leads me to the last, and most controversial point I wanted to make about all the things that have been going on around here.

3) I recently stumbled upon a lot of information regarding birth control and family planning. Or should I say the lack of birth control and family planning. As many people know, I have had it on my heart for a long time now to have a big family. It seems like every time Nick and I would talk about having more kids, I would increase the number I thought we should have by one. Or two. This desire of my heart lead me to find blogs and websites and books about families who let God plan their family sizes. Even though this idea is so counter-cultural, I began looking into it because it matched up with what is in my heart. The more I have looked into it and prayed about it the more sense it has started to make to me.

God made husbands and wives. He made our bodies, and he gave us desire for each other. The natural result of this is usually bearing children. His first commandment to husbands and wives was to be fruitful and multiply. It all started making sense to me. God says children are his blessing to us. Which other blessing that God offers to us do we seek to limit?

I believe that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. If this is true, then the current idea and trend to limit the number of children born to us is a result in a change in the culture, and not a result of a change in God's ideas about children.

Now, I totally understand that my natural inclination to want to have a large family makes me more open to this "radical", yet ancient way of thinking. It still scares me a little to be sure, because I am a planner. I want to plan my pregnancies. I want to avoid being pregnant in the summer months. I want to plan births for when I think it would be most convenient in relation to seasons, and activities such as homeschooling.

But.

Then I remember that I serve a God who loves me and my family and my children more than I do. I serve a God who knows everything, and created everything, and has my best interest at heart. He knows what I can handle. He knows when our family will be complete better than I do. Do I think I can plan our family better than He can!? If I say I trust Him, and if I say I lean not on my own understanding but on His, shouldn't this apply to every aspect of my life, and not just the parts I feel comfortable trusting Him?!

Anyways, I have loads more to say about this topic. Enough for now though! I will just say lastly that I began my search into this topic by reading a book called Family UnPlanning by Craig Houghton if anyone is interested. It's a really short book. Have a good day!

BIG

This has been a big week! We put an offer in on a house in Fontana on Tuesday! It is a one story, which is hard to find, and it has four bedrooms! Anyway, it is a short sale and we won't know for a while it we will really get it, but we are excited! We just have to be patient now! As it turns out, those four bedroom will really come in handy seeing as today we found out I AM PREGNANT!!! And then there were four! I am a little freaked out, but am warming to the idea suprisingly fast! Oh my goodness! My due date is November 12, 2010...our 5th anniversary!