Charlotte Pear: Nine Months

Charlotte at nine months has five teeth. She's gone through some sleep deprived nights, where we've reverted back to her newborn sleep habits of needing food every couple of hours. She loves her Johnny jump up, and though she can't go from sitting to standing, she loves to stand against the couch when we help her get that way. She eats more food these days, good at picking up her own bits and getting them (mostly) to her mouth. She can clap and high five, and sometimes she waves. She doesn't talk yet, but she babbles often.

The house we were praying would be our forever home sold, but God has given me heaps of contentment in our current home. After looking at other homes, I've grown to reappreciate our home. I love all the windows, letting light into every room. I love the hardwood floors and the beautifully updated kitchen. I love the nooks and spots that old houses have, with strange shaped doorways and a built in desk. Mostly, though, of course, I love the hard working man who I share my bed every night with, and the sweet baby who sleeps across the hall. No matter if we live in our current home for the next fifty years or find someplace with a fireplace and some extra land for gardening and nature journals, I'm thankful to have a husband who loves me and trusts our God. We have another showing tomorrow, so our house could still sell, even with no home in mind to move toward living in next. God knows.

Matt and I have looked into starting our own Window Cleaning business (Matt's trade). We've run all the numbers and had some financial and business meetings, and Matt has talked to his boss. He's under obligation to not wash windows for an entire year after leaving his current job, and his boss offered him a raise and more (and better pay) paid vacation days if he'll stay. It's a crossroads for our family. Either we're starting a new job (doing something else for a year) while working towards beginning our own business a year from now, or we're staying the course, continuing with the job that we know came from God's hands five years ago. Matt is a steady, honest, reliable person and worker, and the fact that he had in his mind to begin something new is the kind of process that he doesn't enter into lightly. Pray with us, that we'll seek God in this as we make a decision that will affect us now, as well as long term.