Hallelujah, God is good!  Our house in Florida closed yesterday!  I am so very thankful that this burden has been lifted off of my parents.  It is such an answer to prayer and such a relief.  My whole family is so grateful to everyone who was so faithful to consistently pray for the house to sell.  It was an encouragement to hear that people were praying.  Thank you to everyone who has been praying.  And thank you for rejoicing with us.  This is such an awesome thing that has happened.  My family has constantly been reminded, through all the trials we have been through together, that our God is good and He reigns and He holds us in His mighty hands and He knows the perfect timing for all things.  I am thankful for our trials.  I am thankful for everything the Lord has shown my family through this house situation.  And He continues to bring my family closer and closer together.  Whatever we face next, whenever that is, we will be more ready for it.  Praise the good Lord for allowing the house to sell and the closing to go smoothly!  Praise God! 

~Sarah

It’s been a great weekend at home.  I have truly enjoyed being around my family these past couple of years more than ever.  Through all the trials we have been through, we have become so much closer.  I appreciate my parents and my family so much.  They mean the world to me.  I love being able to spend time at home.  This weekend has been great.  We watched a couple movies, Slumdog Millionaire (so good!) and Yes Man (some funny parts).  We went to Amy’s track meet, did some schoolwork, relaxed, and tried to plan out a family vacation for the summer.  We had a wonderful supper with some friends and the family today.  But we definitely missed Chip!  There was a powerful message of Jesus’ saving, redemptive grace and the hope we have in Him…some extraordinary testimonies were shared in a neat and powerful way.  God has been teaching me a lot this weekend, through many different things.  Overall it’s been a wonderful weekend.  We will head back to school soon.  And now it’s the home stretch….about 6 more weeks.  It’s going to be tough.  I’m ready for this semester to be over, even though we’ve been learning so much.  It’s been great…just really hard.

~Sarah

So when we moved from Florida to Tennessee, since our house didn’t sell yet, my parents had to find someone selling a home that would do a lease/purchase deal.  They found a builder that would and we moved into the house in early August.  But the contract is coming up to an end (after 6 months) and the house down in Florida hasn’t sold yet, so my parents won’t be able to close on the house we moved into.  And after talking to the builder about extending the contract, that won’t happen, so my parents spent the weekend looking at houses in the same area.  More will be figured out in a few days, but once again, my parents have to move, even if it’s just down the road.  It’s still exhausting and a burden on my parents, but they have been so strong and have had so much faith through all of this, it really has encouraged me and made me so proud of my parents and how they are handling all of these trials.  My family definitely knows about trials, especially these last 4 years, and each one has made them stronger and given them more faith.  My dad’s company still hasn’t moved to Memphis, and in fact the company keeps pushing back the date for when they will move from Virginia, and so once again my dad has to figure out all this housing and moving stuff from a distance while working and commuting back and forth and so on.  Moving is hard when you are living at home, let alone being a couple states away and only home on the weekends, and also having to bargain to figure out someone who will do a lease/purchase.  Hopefully someone will be open to that.  Cory and I will be going to help them move in a couple weekends…should be interesting, since I feel like we just did that.  Anyway, I’m just really proud of how my parents have handled things.  I know it is so hard for them and I know these past couple of years have been anything but easy; they continue to show all 4 of us kids their love and devotion to our family and strength that will pull through.

~Sarah

Just some random thoughts…It’s been such a blessing to have my family so close by.  But at the same time, it’s weird calling it home.  Since they moved up to Lakeland, TN just about a month before I started school, it’s pretty much only home because my family is there.  It’s just a weird situation.  I love having them close by, it’s been such a blessing, especially with all the health stuff I’ve had going on; and with school being overwhelming at times, it’s good to have a place to go on some occasional weekends and just relax a bit.  But it’s strange being at home, and not knowing anyone.  But nonetheless, it’s not like I had very many friends in Orlando, but I did have my few close friends, and also was extremely familiar with the area.  So all in all, I’m just rambling a bit, but I’m thankful my home and family is just an hour away, but also thankful I have a home in Florida, where my few good friends are and where I’m familiar with the area.  So I guess I have two homes, and there are highs and lows about each, and I’m thankful for each.  But I also feel like I have a third place to call home, and thats here at Union.  I know this is where I am supposed to be for this time in my life, and am learning so much here, and never want to take this education for granted.  I am so blessed to be able to be here and just amazed at how God is working.  There really is no place like home, no matter where home is.

~Sarah