Oh, Baby!

For those of you who look to this blog for updates on the Richerts, I apologize for being so horrible at keeping it UP to DATE...

So much has happened since our major plans changed, and it's pretty amazing to look and see how God worked through it all. How He knew exactly what He was doing, and even as we went about our business, thinking we knew what He wanted, He was preparing us for what was and is to come.

When we thought we were going to be teaching in Ecuador, we sold most of our belongings (including a car and all our bikes... that's 10), packed everything else away (except a few duffle bags to get us through 2 years), and moved out of our much loved first apartment as a married couple. We also quit our jobs, which had been doing a very good job of sustaining us over the last year.

Here are a list of things God has provided for us (so far) since the day we found out I was pregnant and we wouldn't be going anywhere:
*Jon got his job back with no hesitation from his boss, and I landed a long term sub position in Atascadero (no more commute!!) that just happens to last from now until January. (Baby's due Feb. 14th...)
*An amazing apartment in Templeton that we've always admired, owned by a family friend, perfect for having our first child in, became available just a few weeks after we knew we'd be sticking around... and we moved in.
*We found an affordable car (that we like!) right before we would both need transportation for work.

The list is longer, but those are the "big" things that were taken care of while we were jobless, living at my parents' house with one car, and pondering what in the world we were supposed to do next.

Because of all this, Jon and I were able to spend the entire summer together (he got to enjoy a "teacher summer"), which will probably never happen again, since our family will soon consist of 3 instead of 2. We joined a new ministry at church, since the thought of leaving the country caused us to leave the ones we were involved in before... we are HUB group leaders this year for the high school youth group at ABC, and I get to help my brother lead worship there, which is so cool.

It's pretty amazing to see all the pieces fitting together. As much as it threw us for a loop when our plans changed in June, it's quite a comfort to look back and notice all the huge, and small, ways God has provided for us through this. I've learned not to make plans too seriously. We thought we knew what we were "supposed" to be doing, but it ended up being something completely different... it needed to be ok with us... and it was.

Now we're anxiously awaiting my appointment next week, when we get to find out the gender of our baby! (Yes, we knew we wanted to find out from the very beginning.) And no, we are not telling anyone our name choice... until it's born! Sorry, you have to wait. :)

I will be better at adding to this. Not only for the readers' sakes, but for our future child, who someday will be able to read about the year his/her parents were led all over the place before ending up with the precious gift of becoming a mom and dad for the first time.