A whole new world

Well-we moved. Our house in Mississippi is now ready to be cleaned and our house in Georgia is somewhat set up.

Our moving miracle started on Sunday when we found out we were getting the truck a day early-at no extra cost. 

We loaded up all the big stuff and Todd and my dad made the 6 hour trek to Georgia. They unloaded it all-and turned around and made the 6hour trek back. 

When they got back-my dad went to bed and Todd and some of the guys from youth loaded all the other stuff. Then Todd and I and the girls drove to Georgia (again) and my parents followed with the truck the next day.

We had roughly 36 hours to get the house as set up as best we could. I set up te kitchen and mine and Todd's room-Mia's room-and started on the girls room. 

Todd will return to Georgia Friday after thanksgiving and the girls and I will be floating between friends and family the next 3 weeks while the girls finish school.

We will have Christmas in Mississippi -then a surprise-and we all will return to Georgia on New Years! 

I am ready to be settled. I pulled out a few Christmas decorations and put them out so Todd would have some Christmas spirit while he is there by himself. 

Please pray for us the next few weeks-safety as Todd travels for work. Sanity for me as I am a single mom and living out of a suitcase with 3 kids

And understanding for madyson and aubrie as their lives are being turned upside down. 

Brown.

Moving boxes are brown. And brown is not blue or yellow or any other bright happy color-it is blah. And when all your beautiful things that fill your home and bring you happy butterflies are packed up in brown boxes..it makes it hard to be joyful over something you were joyful about before your house was taken over by brown.

I had my first two cries the other day. I am sure many more will come. First-madysons best friend for all 7 years of her life spent the night the other night. This was their first sleep over together. They truly love each other and it breaks my heart to see her try to be so strong when I know she is so sad. 

The next cry was Monday night after our 2 year life group meet and greet. Being surrounded by friends that have loved on our family through the good time and the bad knowing it was probably one of the last times we would all be together was hard. Especially with our best buddies-the Byrds. We have been there for each other in every ugly situation you can think of and we have always seen each other to the other side. They are our girls other parents and their kids are mine and Todd's extended hearts.

The thought of us being apart is killer-but God never said His plans were easy.

As I sit in sadness for what we are leaving-I strive to make myself see the greater picture. He has great plans and we must go and seek out His will. He has opened up these doors for us to basically walk through without effort and I must stay focused on the goal-to follow God and trust Him in everything we do. I am so thankful for all of our friends-and I am blessed because of them. 

Following and trusting

Todd and I are moved and overwhelmed by the response we have received over us moving-we have dear friends here and leaving is just one of the hardest decisions because of them-but y'all God has some amazing plans lined up and although we have no idea what they are-they are big. let me catch you up to speed on this exciting time we have been living in.

We tossed around the idea of moving for the last year. I have never lived ANYWHERE else. Ever. Todd has.

He didn't want to lose our church-take the girls away from their friends-leave our family here...

We talked about it and I kept getting the prompt in my heart to "just say yes" Atlanta was never my first pick. I really wanted Birmingham or Nashville.

One night we were in the kitchen-talking about it and I told him-we just need to do this-I feel like----right now.

Baffled because Atlanta was not on my list he asked why-I told him "if god called us to a 3rd world country to be missionaries would we say no-sorry God...we don't want to leave our friends and family and especially our church??!?!" No we would go. We would sell everything and pack up and we would go. We wouldn't worry about how it was all going to work out-we would have faith and we.would.go.

He agreed and we made plans to go to Atlanta later that week.

We were there and we were looking at houses and we found one-on a cul-da-sac that we felt like was home. But it was under contract. We told Todd's step mom (our realtor) that we would like to live here. She said, well...if it is suppose to happen-it will happen. 

We get back from Atlanta-with no clue about what to do next-except have our garage sale. Our plan was decrapify-finish remodeling-move in January. 

During the garage sale we get a call from Todd's step mom that the house we found was ours and we can move in the end of the month-say what???

Blown away by the advance in this move-we knew we had to get on the ball of remodeling-after the garage sale. 

During the sale a lady was there and asked if we were moving-when we said "yes, wanna buy our house??" Jokingly-she responded with no but I bet I know someone who does-she proceeded to call a friend-who came over the next day-and then back on Monday and back on Wednesday and then a text on Friday and now-that lady and her husband and their precious family are under contract to buy our house-before it was even listed-as is-without us finishing all the remodeling. Wow God.

There is no doubt that God is up to something. I was sharing with Todd how I was a little nervous about what would happen once we got to Atlanta-because whatever God has in his plan for us-he needs us now. I know whatever it is-He is in control. 

Proverbs 16:9 says "a mans heart plans his way But The LORD directs his path" oh how this verse has been a crutch for me the last few weeks. Stepping out of our comfort zone-headed into an unknown area-without a clear plan on what life is going to be like-trusting Him for guidance and depending on faith to sustain our wondering minds. 

It's big. And it's scary. And it's exciting. And then I have doubts like-how are we going to pay for?? What if?? And I get an automatic feeling of "I have this-do not doubt me"

And y'all-it is the strongest spiritual feeling I have ever had. 

As I sit back and look at the last months of trial and pain-I see it as God broke us-in ever way to make us completely dependant on Him-for this very reason. He had to bring us down to our dirty, grimy, exposed selves to make us so aware that He is in control and surrendering to Him is the only way.

This marks the beginning of a new chapter for the broadus bunch-and I am excited to see what all God has planned! 

A new begininning

To bring you up to speed on the last post about us moving to Georgia-let me fill you in on the details you need to know.

Over the last few months Todd and I have gone back and forth about what our future looks like to us. We wrote out our plan and although it was descriptive-it wasn't specific (i.e.Live in ___ state)

So as we begin to pray about Todd's job (since he is the one with one) I began to feel like I didn't need to sign up for next years PTO committee-because, I wouldn't be here. All of our emotions kept telling us that we were not to be comfortable anymore.

See-we live in a town they call "the bubble" it is a small, safe community where most people live and stay their whole life-you know of everyone.

We are comfortable here. We love our church-it is home. We have been actively involved for 6 years-teaching preschool, children, youth and choir. We are in love with our church kids and we are just comfortable.

But the more we prayed-the more be uncomfortable came up-it was like God was personally saying-"you aren't going to be here"

With Todd's new job-he travels-and we prayed about what to do and all signs pointed to us moving. We are really letting God orchestrate this and I can't wait to share just how awesome He is handling it.

Yes-the girls know. They are excited and nervous and sad at the same time. We all are. We love our friends-our family here but we both really feel like this is our time to step out in faith and let God show us this next chapter.

So when? Where? 

When-in 2 weeks Todd will move to Atlanta to our new house! (Yes-we already found one...how? God.)

The girls and I will be here staying with family in the district til they get out of school in December.

Our house: is for sale. Please. Buy it. It's a great big 2680 sq foot 4 bedroom house we are selling for way below its value because we don't want to  pay for two houses. If you don't want it-find us someone who does.

god knows-he will send them. 

Where in Georgia-the burbs of Atlanta-if u want specifics-I'll tell u in person. :) 

Well-there ya go....:) 

The finale of our decrapify process.

Y'all-it is over.

We have decrapified.

All of the weight that held us down and made my heart ache and my mind become overwhelmed is gone. All of the stress of spending every waking minute in a house full of crap-is lifted.

10 weeks ago-I made the decision that I want to be able to spend quality face-to-face time with my kids. That I want to sit in my bible study and not think about the mounds of laundry I need to do. I wanted freedom to live-with less-and be content.

God orchestrates life so seemlessly that half the time we think we are fulfilling our plans-he is really prepping us for the bigger picture.

First-here is the garage sale-we set up Friday morning after the girls went to school-that way we avoided any early birds and our morning was pretty relaxed.

We sold til 6pm-pushed the leftovers in the garage and headed to Todd's dads for Todd's bday dinner :) 

Saturday morning we got up and pulled it all out again! 

We sold and sold and sold and sold til noon-then we scheduled a pick up by a local charity for the rest!

It was freeing, exhausting, and all around...worth it. We made around1,300$ during this sale-totally awesome. 

The bigger picture? About 2 weeks ago Todd started a new job...in a new state. Something that 10 weeks ago-wasn't even on our radar. So all this decrappifing  certainly helps since in a few weeks our house will be on the market to sale. Because we will be going to our new house in Georgia...in just a few weeks! OMG!!!

And it's a lot easier to sell a house when the lookers don't have to worry about things falling out if the closets and cabinets. 

So there ya go! Our decrapifing challenge full circle! If I seem distant over the next few days it is because I am busy trying to get our house ready to list. We still have a lot of projects that we were saving to do over the next 3 years-that we need to fit into the next 2 weeks!

 

The time is approaching-decrapify almost finale

We are almost at the end of my decrapify journey. This weekend is our yard sale-and we are busy going back through the house making sure that everything here has a purpose and it isn't here because of some shallow reason. 

This journey has been such a revelation for me. 1) we have a lot of crap.

2) it was weighing me down more than I knew.

3) God has been a huge part of this-preparing me for more than I realized when I started this almost 10 weeks ago.

To my friends and family-if you stop by our yard sale and see something you have me in the collection please don't take it as an insult. We have loved it-but now it is time to allow someone else to love it.your love and friendship fills our heart with enough joy that any trinket is just an extra sprinkle to our already yummy cupcake.

We have a lot of stuff in this sale-furniture, tons of baby items, household decor, kitchen thingamabobs, clothes, shoes, purses....a whole lot. 

I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment-not at the letting go part-but at the whole prep of the garage sale. Wowzers!

I won't be back here til Sunday-and then I will fill you in on the massive sale-how we went about it-and how much clutter we removed from our life.

Happy 8 months Mia Margaret

Happy 8 month birthday Mia!!! 

You are becoming such a BIG girl!! This month you started crawling!!! You also say dada and mama and baba and you can do sign language for dada and drink.

You weigh 23lbs and are in the 100% for weight!!

You love to eat. You are nursing 2-3 times a day for about 5-10 minutes and you will drink 1-2 bottles a day. You eat oatmeal and fruit for breakfast-and usually veggies for dinner. You also love mini pancakes (sans the syrup)

You are taking a sippy very well!! You get so excited when u get your cup like madyson and aubrie.

Speaking of the sisters-you adore them!

You trick or treated this month. You were a pumpkin for Halloween-but we dressed u as Cinderella for the princess picture.

You are very playful and love your piano and stuffed animals. You also like doc mcstuffins and Mickey Mouse clubhouse. No matter where you are in the house-if you hear these on the tv you come scooting! 

You are such a ham-and love for people to hold you and snuggle you. 

We are so thankful for you Mia!!