He is in control

Tomorrow will mark 22 weeks for our kickboxing champion! Ilyana is doing great, she's kicking like crazy which is fun to feel and watch although not always pleasant to wake up to! She's about the size of a spaghetti squash and has now developed a sense of balance (lets hope she gets that from her dad, not me!). She also seems to really like apples, they've definitely been a craving of mine and she tends to go nuts whenever I eat one. On the baby front, everything really is going great.

As most of you know, along with expecting our little one, we are also in the process of building a house. Even though dates were continuing to be pushed back, we were holding on to hope that we would get into our house before Ilyana arrived or at least shortly afterwards. We received news today that they will not begin building until next April, estimating to be done by mid-July. This is definitely a bummer. As thrilled as we are with the benefits of the ROOTS program, it has definitely been a frustrating process. The big reason we're so behind is slacking on the builders part, not the city. After taking several months to get a document to the city, they then put off giving the city a timeline until the last minute, meaning our deed couldn't be processed through this months council meeting. Because they now won't have the deed until the end of November (after the next council meeting), they won't be able to start building until it warms up and the ground thaws. As disappointing as this is, there have been a couple of thoughts that have been helping me to stay positive that I'd like to share. 

1. James 4:13-15: 'Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”'
There are two things in these verses that really stuck out to me about our situation. First of all, life is short, in a year or two, will it really matter that we had to wait 5-6 extra months to get into our house? I doubt it. Also in this verse I saw a challenge from God, can we trust Him enough to give this up to Him and have peace in our hearts about a difficult and disappointing circumstance? We are not in control here, He is.

2. The city is highly involved in our house now. They have done a lot of extra work to push our builder in ways that we can't. They will also be holding our builder accountable for the timeline they gave them, so hopefully this means less delays.

3. As much of a bummer as it is to not be able to get into the house sooner, there is a silver lining. Before finding out this news, we were in a sort of awkward state of unknown as to where we would be when we have our baby. Now that we have this information, we can make the decisions necessary to figure that out and start preparing for her arrival. We can start setting up furniture and other necessary items in the next couple of months instead of having to wait until the last minute. In some ways, waiting until July, although not ideal, may be a blessing in disguise. We no longer will have to move in the winter and won't have juggle unpacking with either me being super pregnant or with caring for a newborn. Also, Jake will (hopefully) be working full time when we move in, which will definitely take off a large financial burden.

Basically what this all boils down to is this: We're definitely disappointed, but God is in control. He knows what He's doing and we are trusting in Him throughout this process, both with the good and the bad.

Information about Ilyana:

EDD: 2/27/15 (127 days)

How mom's feeling: like a punching bag ;)

How dad's feeling: Amazed at the feeling of Ily kicking.