4th of july.

hope everyone had a great holiday.

 justin and i had a quiet weekend in town. we started packing up our summer house...which is making this whole "we are buying a house" thing a reality.

we spent the 4th with some friends from church, the tuscaloosa symphony orchestra played at the amphitheater and ended with an amazing fireworks display!

it rained most of the afternoon, but were so thankful that the clouds cleared up and rain stopped before the show.

no longer homeless.

welllll, big news from the karl family.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!

the past few weeks we have been searching tuscaloosa and northport for a place to live. the rental market was crazy. most of the places we would live were already filled by other tornado victims or the prices were inflated...just because they could and people would be forced to pay.

...so we looked into buying a home. which completely scared me to be honest. but we felt like it was the best option for our family and God had put us in a situation to afford a house.

after looking at many many many houses we thought we found the perfect house, until the contract got messy and we walked away from the house yesterday. but we had a peace from God as we stepped away from our "dream home" and our real estate agent actually found us our true dream house yesterday afternoon. it actually wasn't on the market yet, but we got a peek at it and fell in love. we are so blessed to get this house and are excited to have our own place!!

in a two-hour span we had one house, cancelled that contract, found another house, put an offer in on that one and were accepted. what a day. praise God for working through this situation.

update on my friend, kitty

a few weeks ago we asked you to join us and others in praying for kitty.

things have been tough for them with the tumor, but they found out today that it was benign!

praise the Lord indeed. 

they truly appreciate the prayers and love over the past month or so and are thankful for God taking care of both of them.

joel has done a great job updating everyone on their story and such on their blog Joel & Kitty.


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i promise an update on our life soon. things have been cr-azy over here. but a good crazy.

dual "vacations"

this week justin headed up to louisville, ky to take a seminary class. he is beyond excited...the class is on church history, he has really enjoyed reading and getting prepared for this class. he really enjoys studying and being a student. [another way we are completely different]

since justin is away for the week millie and i decided to visit my parents for a couple days in georgia. i got here saturday and i don't think i have been hungry since i got here. mom does a great job of making all my favorite meals while i'm here...some might say i'm spoiled :)

millie adores her time at my parent's house. they have a nice backyard where she can run around. somehow she manages to find the biggest sticks in the yard then makes you play fetch with them. it's amazing she can even run with these in her mouth...

so thankful for my parents and being able to come see them!

prayers please

i am not one for the medical jargon, but our close friend kitty is in need of prayers.

kitty thought she tore her rotator cuff while in greek summit, which was pretty funny at the time...
but as they got back to columbia, sc they had an appointment with a doctor to get it all checked out, but they found a tumor and recently had an appointment with a specialist in greensville, sc. while things are looking more optimistic than before, she had a terrible reaction to her pain medication yesterday. read their blog for more info and how to pray specifically.

please join us and many others in praying for joel and kitty. i have been blown away by their faith and deep trust in God during all of this.

[kitty and i]