driving, driving, driving

So I drove up to Denton on Thursday for a day, got to play golf with my dad Friday morning, then we got in the car to drive up to Edmond, OK to see my wife's folks and her brother for the weekend. Much driving, no so much fun... road construction is always great... (can you feel the enthusiasm??)
Anyway, good times with family, I'll post a few pics later after we get home.

new casa pics

So here's a few pics of the new house. More late after Jillian finishes her 'thang...

starting anew

So here I am now...

 

After much thought, prayer, deliberation and anticipation my family is making a new start.

 

I had been seeking out new job opportunities for some time, due to major job/life dissatisfaction. We had been considering moving away from Denton as a part of that as well for some time. My wife and I had been looking for opportunities to make a fresh start of things by ourselves. An opportunity finally presented itself for a new job and moving to the Austin TX area. The gig seemed good, it was a little different type of work than I was used too, but a good company and hopes of less stress, and normal working hours. I took Jillian down to Austin for the weekend to check out the area and look for possible places we could buy a house at. The following week, the rest of the pieces fell in place and we felt this was the right move for our family. So I gave my employer my notice, we met with the realtor to sell our house, and told our close friends.

 

Things were now in motion.

 

We received an offer on our house and accepted it three days after listing it for sale. We went back down to the Austin area to look for houses again. Our realtor had found a deal with a builder in Round Rock that had an inventory home for sale. The contract it was under previously had failed and they were ready to sell it fast. After taking a look, we knew this was the house for us.  Although we lost one bedroom (moving down to three), we gained many nice amenities and a high quality construction in a great location. So we signed the papers and were to close 5 days after the sale of our current home.

 

Changes keep coming.

 

During the process of making these changes as far as moving and jobs are concerned: we learned we were to have a surprise blessing. Turns out there are antibiotics that interfere with birth control, and if you're a nay-sayer... wait till December 4th when our second child is due! We were both shocked and excited because we had been talking about having a second child in the near future. I think Ava's going to end up being a great big sister.

 

The hardest part of the move was making the decision to leave our close friends and family in Denton. We will cherish the relationships we've formed and will continue to develop them even if by some long distance methods. We continue to reassure ourselves that this is right for us. This is something we needed to do. I look forward to being able to regain some control over our lives, no focus so much on work and the pressures from it. My wife and child(ren) are second only to my relationship with God. By this change, I'm able to focus better on both. We have found a great church home at Westover Hills. There's lots going on there, awesome ministries to be a part of, and great folks who are grounded in Christ. We've met a lot of young families who are interested in the same things we are.

 

So although it's a long post, I wanted to put some of it in writing for those who may be reading and interested...