A few more details

I'm so glad that I finally shared our BIG news about moving! We have known since the beginning of January, but preacher's usually give a 3 month notice so I wanted to wait awhile before saying anything.

Last year, around Thanksgiving, Russ talked to my brother-in-law, Chris. The congregation my sister and her family are members at has a preacher who is...shall we say...getting up in years. They had been toying with the idea of hiring a younger man to work with the preacher for a year and then completely take over the pulpit position in a year. Russ actually tried out for this position before we came to South Carolina, but the church decided that it wasn't the right time to make that step. They opened the position back up last year, but have had little luck finding a man who wanted to work with another preacher. After talking with Chris at Thanksgiving, Russ decided that he wanted to try out for the position again. We tried out while we were out there for Christmas and found out the next week that we got the job!

We are so thrilled to be moving back to the mid-west! We will all miss the congregation here, but this part of the country is not where I want to raise Chloe Jo. The racism around here is unbelievable. Maybe I am just sheltered, but I didn't even know racism existed like this anymore. One of the first Sunday papers we bought after moving here was about the Ku Klux Klan having a demonstration in big town next door. For REAL! I had no idea the KKK was still around, let alone having demonstrations! That is one of the biggest reasons we don't want to raise Chloe Jo around here. It would take so little time for her to start having that kind of outlook. Just one person would have to say something and her little mind would take that and remember it forever. I know everywhere has it's problems and maybe in other people's minds this isn't a big deal, but it's a big deal to me.

We will be packing up during the month of March and will be moving out the last week. Russ' first day is April 1st.

We have been looking into buying a house and I am so excited to tell you that we have been approved for a loan! The only bad thing about it is that they want 4 weeks of pay stubs from the new job so we can't go ahead and buy yet. We haven't been able to find a place that will do a month-to-month lease so we are now looking into a long term hotel. I know that doesn't sound at all appealing (at least not to me), but if it will give us the time to buy a house and not have to pay the deposit on an apartment, it is the best option for us. Or maybe we should just move in with my sister for 5 weeks! Bahahahaha! She would love that!

Anyway, it's been very exciting getting approved for a home loan and looking at the houses around the area on real estate websites.

And best thing of all: I'm getting a craft room!!!! I've already started pinning fun ways to organize and decorate!

Next post will have pictures! I promise!