We’re finally starting to get settled in to the new apartment, thanks in large part to some wonderful work by my brother, Gabe, on our living room curtains. Thank you very much, Gabe! They look fantastic! It’s been hard to settle in because we haven’t really done a whole lot of unpacking yet. Barbara has been hit really hard by morning sickness, to the point where she can’t eat anything but bland foods like crackers and applesauce. When she moves, she gets sick, so in order to keep anything down she has to stay still. That makes it really hard for her to get any unpacking done. It’s certainly not her fault, and we’re both very excited about the outcome of this sickness she’s been suffering through. I’ve been trying to help, but it’s been tough. When I’m not at work, I’m trying to work hard putting together something I can’t really talk openly about yet, but which will represent a major shift in our lives as we move into something completely new.
With the curtains up, though, and some pictures hanging on the walls, it’s really starting to look like home around the apartment! We’re really enjoying living in the middle of a city again, even just a small one like Lewisville. It’s awesome to be surrounded by everything we need. The reduction in the gas bill has been dramatic! When Barbara and I were working, we’d fill both of our cars up every week. That’s 8 gas tanks each month. Now that Barbara is staying home, we’re down to one car, and work is 5 minutes away, we fill up our one car every other week. That’s just 2 tanks a month, saving 75% off of our previous gas bill!
Luckily, Barbara is finally starting to feel a little better now that we’re nearing the second trimester. She was previously taking two or three nausea pills a day just to hold on to the food she’d eaten that day. Now, she’s almost able to go a whole day without one. She still has to eat bland foods though, which we found out the hard way. Once she started feeling a little better, we decided to try some normal food. We went to Panda Express for lunch, and Taco Bueno for dinner. Barbara found out that our baby does NOT like normal food yet!
All things considered, even though the move itself was tough, it’s been a very good thing for us, especially in the way of finances! We were able to reduce our monthly rent, go down to one car, reduce our gas expenses, and even lower our food expenses since I’m often eating at home for lunch. Even with the cost of a brand new car, we’re still well below our monthly expenses at our last place. In October, we’ll have a major monthly expense paid off and we’ll gain a whole lot more flexibility, also. We’re definitely excited about what God’s plans are for us in the future, and I think we’re in a much better place to meet it now.