Hi everyone! Just getting ready to go to bed and thought I would update a little bit. The girls are doing great. Gracie is becoming more of a little girl every day...her baby-ness is fading. Very bittersweet. She has the funniest little personality and is constantly making us laugh. Recently, she has also become a little cuddlebug. When Michaela goes down for her morning nap, Gracie likes to get up on our bed with me, under a blanket, and watch Sesame Street. I know I could be getting so much done around the house during that time, but I can't think of another think I would rather do than snuggle with her.

Michaela is doing really good too. She cracks me up because she is so ready to crawl..she just hasn't figured it out yet. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth but doesn't go anywhere. To get to a toy out of her reach she just rolls over to it. It is too funny. She still hasn't got any teeth. We call her the 'Toothless Wonder.' I keep thinking any day now we will see a little pearly white, but not yet. I had a real reality check the other day about how big she is getting. We went to the hospital to meet Baby Cade...Shaun and Meghan's newest addition. He was born at 8 pounds 2 ounces so he was quite a bit bigger than Michaela was when she was born. He looked so tiny! I can't even hardly believe Michaela or Grace was ever that big. I held him and then held Michaela and just wanted to cry over how fast she is growing! She is also becoming quite a little fan of her Daddy. Of course she has always liked him...she just usually wanted me if she had any choice. She reaches for him a lot and her little face just lights up when he comes into the room!

We have officially listed our house. We went house hunting and were not feeling peace about buying an older home for just a year or so. We were concerned it would become a money pit and that would kind of negate the whole purpose of moving while Michael is in school. So, we have just about decided to rent an apartment at The Greens. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of an apartment...small, cramped, low ceilings, scary people, etc. However, these apartments are actually very nice. They have very high ceilings and that makes a huge difference. The aparmtent community is one of the prettiest I have seen...it is actually on a golf course so it is very well taken care of. Square footage wise, they are about the same as our first house...a little over 1000 square feet. When we looked at the amount we were paying to live here...mortgage, water, sewer, heating, cooling, etc. and compared it to our living price there, there was a 100-150 dollar difference monthly which doesn't seem like a ton, but to us right now that is huge. We should be able to protect all of the money we put into this house and save it for our next house and dip into the money we make on top of that amount as needed to make ends meet until Michael is done with school. That has been a priority for us because we have been so blessed to have so much equity in our house that we want to protect it at all costs, and we believe we should be able to do so.

A few people have asked us if we would just rather not take out student loans to live off of rather than sell our house. It is awfully tempting I will admit; however, we really are trying to get out of and stay out of debt. By taking this next year and a half to pay off everything and stick to a budget, we should be able to get ourselves ahead rather than just living paycheck to paycheck and putting things like the girls' immunizations and doctor's visits on the credit card. Of course, we are covering this entire process with prayer. God will open and close the correct doors we believe. If He wants us to move, He will send a buyer to our house with an offer that we can accept. If He wants us to stay put, no one will offer us the amount we need in order pull this off. He is a great God, and we believe that He always provides His wisdom and guidance to those that call upon Him.

We have also had the discussion of me going back to work. If I was working full time we would have absolutely no problem staying here while Michael is in school. And, I know a lot of people would probably say we are crazy to not consider that option. However, it is of upmost importance to us that I stay home with the girls. We have made sacrifices all along the way in order for it to work so far...no satellite, no cell phones, no new cars, no going out to eat/to the movies as often as we would like, etc. And when it comes right down to it we feel that God is calling us to be a one income family for now...that me staying home with the girls is more important than this particular house.

So, life is good here in the Barr house. Hope life is good for all of you too!