Barnes' in January

     We really feel like we have got into the swing of homeschool this year.  It has become a very normal part of our daily routine.  I even feel like I don't know what to do with myself if we don't do school.  When I ask Kendi about what her favorite thing in school is, she says, "everything."  Aydri says she especially likes it when we make stuff.

   Our chickens started laying regularly this month.  I always look forward to feeding them scraps and collecting their eggs everyday.  It never seems to get old.  I got an incubator for Christmas and can't wait to hatch some eggs with the girls.  We will be doing a unit on embryology in homeschool.

     Our neighborhood recently formed a Home Owner's Association.  We had already been feeling like the neighborhood wasn't very friendly and started we were thinking about what our options were as far as where we ultimately wanted to end up.  We were hoping that there would be enough people in the neighborhood like us that didn't want the HOA and that it would be dissolved, but that didn't happen.  One night, Jared and I were discussing all the possibilities and were contemplating what it would take to possibly sell our house. We went to bed that night feeling like the option of selling was not something we could easily do without a lot of upgrades on the house.  Apparently, I seemed frustrated about it and Jared prayed that night that we would find a way to make it happen sooner for my sake.  

     The next morning we got a call from a friend who happened to be a real estate agent.  She knew how we felt about the HOA and that we were looking for another place to live because I had asked her about larger property for sell.  She told us that someone wanted to see our house that very day.  We felt like this was an answer to our prayers.

     Boy, did we have a lot of cleaning to do before we could show our house!!  It was Christmas Break and I hadn't made the girls do their chore's at all for a few days.  It was panic and chaos for an hour.  The girls started calling Jared, "Mr. Crazy Pants."  Both girls rose to the occasion and even used the vacuum that they are both terrified of.

     The people who looked at our house made us an offer that day.  We felt like it was a great offer and had a sense of peace about the whole thing, even though logically I knew we must seem crazy.  We didn't know where we were going to move or if we would find a new home, but we felt very comforted about the situation and knew that everything was in God's hands and everything would work out the way it is supposed to.