The week before Thanksgiving week, we were getting anxious about the house. We'd had a lot of good showings, but no offers. Lachlan was feeling a pull to jump start the adoption back as soon as possible, and decided that we would give the house until the first of December, and then we would call it, stay put, and start rolling in getting settled for Baby 3 and the adoption. We'd attended the open house at the private school we were considering for Ellory. Looking at the costs we (mmm...I) was overwhelmed. If we took the private school route, I knew we'd be committed for several years, at least until the Buna's adoption was finalized. A few days later we brainstormed, and decided to drop the price of our house the cost of Ellory's kindergarten tuition. We were pretty sure that Thanksgiving week was going to be slow for showings, which left us one week to sell. We got a showing request for Black Friday morning, and another request for the couple to return that afternoon.
We had an offer! And a good one at that!
We signed the agreement on Saturday, and on Sunday we went back out house hunting. We had our top house in mind (which had dropped 10k since we had seen it the first time), but we also wanted to see a few more in our price range, that would fit a growing family of six... SIX. This is crazy.
We felt so good about the house. We could picture our two babies turning into 4, and all of them growing into big, crazy teenagers there. The house was nearly double the size of our current digs, but still felt like a cozy home to grow together in.
We put in our offer. It was accepted, and 45 days later, we closed.
We have not quite been in our new house a month, but we are busy making it home. Lachlan painted almost every room. I'm putting all my pins from pinterest to use. (check me out here: pinterest) We've jumped into eldership at the New Albany campus of the church we attend, and we are loving it! Ellory will register for kindergarten NEXT MONTH, (let me take a moment to wipe a tear from my eye..) and as I approach my third trimester, I am tired, but feeling so much better, I've actually been cooking on a regular basis! (again, putting pinterest to good use).
Thank you all so much for your prayers. We know that our God's got this, but it's so sweet to know that brothers and sisters are petitioning for us.
Here's a look at our sweet home, I'll do a before and after post soon:
In other news:
Ellory Sue had her very first dance recital in December, and she did AWESOME! We were so proud. Here is a pic of Ellory Sue with one of her BFFs, Dorothy. Lachlan and Dorthy's Daddy, Mike have been best friends since 3rd grade! Isn't that amazing?! God is so good!
We found out that Baby #3 is a...
BOY!
I guess wrong EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
We are really excited to welcome Ehren Thomasson into our family. My babycenter ap tells me there are 90 days until our due date! Yikes!
We knew we would stick with the "e" theme, and pretty quickly decided that if Baby 3 were a man-child, we would name him Ehren Thomasson. Ehren is the German spelling for Aaron. It means, "honorable." Thomas(son), was an apostle of Christ, and the meaning is "twin." More importantly to us, Ehren Thomasson is named after some very dear people. Our friend Aaron Marrs was an amazing friend to both of us. He was one of Lachlan's best friends, and for a short time my roommate. He was lost when his crab boat capsized in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, just a few months before Lachlan and I were married. Aaron was full of laughter, always giving, creative, fun, and a friend to all. He had the gift of telling stories like no one else I've met. He loved Jesus with all his heart. Ehren will also be named after our dear friend, Erin Ferguson. Erin was the first Sojourn girl to take me in. She and Lachlan had a friendship that had gone back years, but it was her friendship to me that showed me I was in the right place. She has loved and served our family for years. Erin is so beautiful, creative, hilarious. She's a thinker and thoughtful friend. She's passionate about Christ and is a servant of the marginalized. Thomasson is a nod to my big brother, David Thomasson. Thom is only 5 years older than me, but as the man of our house growing up, he became so much more. It was his prodding letters from his college dorm room that helped me understand Christianity as a relationship with Christ, not a religion. His encouragement and love protected me in ways I'm sure I'm not even aware. We pray our little Ehren will grow into his own, but certainly he has many amazing qualities from his name sakes to strive after, most importantly surrendering his own life to Christ as Aaron, Erin, and Thom have. His a pretty blessed little dude already.
We had a great but busy Christmas, trying to keep things Christmasy while packing and preparing to move:
We cut down our Christmas tree with our friends, the Jentsch Family.
We went to the really fun, but way too expensive, KaLightascope at Galt House in downtown Louisville.
We did lots of advent celebrating, readings, and outings with the best neighbors ever, the Paces. (We sure do miss those guys!)
Ellory trying to wake her brother up for Christmas morning
And finally, the big adoption news:
We have submitted the prelim application, and today, the formal application to our new agency, Bethany Christian Services.
Please continue to pray for us as we enter into a very crazy year. New baby, the terribly terrific twos, kindergarten, adoption, church leadership, and continuing to make New Albany home. We Praise God for his provision and look forward to continuing to share our journey with you!
A special shout out to all those blog stalkers that I don't know about! I've met a few of you in the past weeks, and you have inspired me to do a better job keeping up!
Leave a comment and make your presence known, it makes us smile!
Love,
Terri for the Coffey House
