A big sigh of relief ...

So the last couple of months we've been looking around at housing options as our current lease ends in January. After looking at houses, duplexes and even a couple of apartments ... we began to realize that we really couldn't find a nicer place than the one we have now for such a great price. 

God blessed us so much with our apartment moving down here. A year ago Christmas we were frantically looking for a one bedroom apartment somewhat close to the church that didn't cost $1200 a month. However, we stumbled upon our current apartment and received an AMAZING deal on a two bedroom apartment. The last year we've been saving $300 off the market value of the apartment.

Yesterday, Ethan and I went to talk to our apartment about our options as to when we need to give our notice, what the three bedrooms are going for, etc.

We were SHOCKED when the leasing agent offered to give us another full year at the same rate we are currently paying then gave us $500 off this months rent and they are going to clean our carpets for us. To make matters even better, then rented us a garage for $20 off a month and a free month of garage use. Needless to say ... we are excited and blessed to spend another year in these beautiful apartments nestled in the rolling hills of SW Austin. 

Ethan still has about a 30-45 minute drive, but he loves where we live so much he felt that the drive was worth it. The guest bedroom will soon transform into baby's room. We are excited to get all the boxes taking up precious closet space into the garage and still have plenty of room for a car.

Looking back, we definitely made the best decision. We couldn't find a deal anywhere close to what they offered us here. We were looking at spending a couple extra hundred dollars a month but would have to take a big step down and move into something quite a bit older. 

All this to say ... we are stoked not to have to move. Kari and Scottie are coming by this week to pick up all the empty boxes a friend gave us when we though we were going to move. I'm getting really sad about their move to New Braunfels however. We will miss them around here so much.

I made Pecan Brittle over the holiday weekend. I was pretty proud of myself about that. We are excited for our flights to Jeff City this weekend but this week is already going by too fast. Too much to do. Our last life group meeting of the year is tomorrow night. 

And then the flood of holiday parties begins ...