Moving down...

We are moving to a new home.  Everyone keeps asking if we are "moving up."  No, we're actually moving to a smaller, older home.  This current adoption is our 7th adoption in just 9 years.  The adoption expenses themselves have been enough to break us financially, but add to that all the medical bills (multiple special needs children means a lot more medical bills) along with the normal costs of raising children like food, shoes, etc. and it becomes obvious that we have to cut expenses somehow.  Moving to a cheaper home seemed the best option to both help with our current financial situation and also to be in a better position financially to adopt more children, help other adoptive families, donate money towards better orphan care, and donate more to the church.

The home we are moving to is VERY different from our last home.  It's smaller with a lot less closet space and also less garage/storage space.  It has fewer bedrooms, but we are converting the dining room to a bedroom to help with that.  It's older, built in 1970 and never really updated (e.g. the tubs are harvest gold colored, typical 70's color).  The floors need to be replaced, especially in the bedrooms.  The heating/air conditioning situation is a problem that will have to be replaced once we can afford it (we'll be very hot this summer!).  The windows need replaced, and there's other work to be done as well.  However, the house is in pretty good condition overall given its age and the lack of updating.  We preferred to get a home that needed some work since it would be cheaper knowing we would do the work little by little as we could afford it.

One of the biggest differences is the location.  Our last home was way out in the country where you heard more cows than cars.  There were a lot of empty fields around, and there were no worries about the kids playing in the road.  There were gorgeous views of fields, farmland, hills, and mountains in all directions.  Every morning you could see the sunrise over the Smoky Mountains, and in the evening it set over the ridge to the immediate north of our home.  Our new home is right in the middle of town.  We have a tiny front yard, and the street we are on sees plenty of traffic.  (This is a huge adjustment for the kids and a constant source of concern for me since it would take only the briefest moment for one of the toddlers to get into the road.)  We are close enough to the main road to hear nonstop traffic, and there is also a steady stream of sirens since we live close to the fire and police station.

However, despite how different our new home is and the fact it is both older and smaller, we love it.  It may be right in the middle of town without all the gorgeous views we had in the country, but we can walk to the kids' schools, several different parks, the library, and anywhere else we could want to go.  We are only a block away from the greenway that goes for miles, and there are sidewalks all over town as well.  We have great neighbors, and our kids love having a friend right next door to play with.  This is where God has led us, and we are excited about the future here in our new home!

Who cares what color the bathtub is when you've got such cute little babies to play in it?

All the girls are sharing what is supposed to be the master bedroom.  We figured it best to give them the biggest room since there were more of them sharing a room than in any other room, and it doesn't have a bathroom anyways.  Eventually we'll get mattresses to go under their beds so there will be more bed space (right now the babies sleep near mommy).

I was so proud of Caleb for not being upset about the pink carpet in his room.  Most boys his age would have complained.  Not that he likes it, but he said he knew we would replace it whenever we can afford it.  He has been a real trooper about moving.

A typical evening at our old home, our kids playing with our neighbors in the street.  We'll miss the peacefulness of that street (there were only a handful of homes on it), the beautiful ridge line to the north (visible in the picture), the view of the Smoky Mountains to the south, and the farmland and fields all around.  We'll especially miss the neighbors whose kids are in this picture.  We'll always be grateful for the time we had there!