“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward!”
We are so excited to announce that we are expecting another GIRL!! Janessa Belle Mudd is due to join our family sometime around the end of June first of July. On Friday the 18th we drove to Williston to get a 3-D ultrasound, a first for us, in hopes to find out what the gender of our baby was so we could plan a little better for how to pack when we pack up our house. The Lord answered our prayer and we got a clear picture and some wonderful 3-D pictures of our new daughter. It was so amazing to watch her move around inside my womb and to see the features of her face, body, and little tiny hands and toes. What a miracle! We were able to have Ezekiel and McKenzie in the room with us and that made it so special! Zeke was so excited to see his new baby sister and get a better understanding that a baby is growing in mommy’s belly. McKenzie was a little concerned about what was happening to mommy and why was I laying on a table, it took her a bit to relax and feel more comfortable but then she was just as excited about seeing the baby! It is so amazing, feeling the baby move inside of me now, and already I am forming an everlasting bond with our newest child, learning more about her every day. So far she seems to be a very calm baby, unlike Zeke and McKenzie when they were in the womb, and even now for that matter. Nathan was also able to feel her kick and I can’t wait until its strong enough for her brother and sister to feel her too. We are excited to meet Janessa!
Psalm 127: 1 This is our family motto as we enter a new season and we are excited to learn the practical side of this verse and be able to apply it to our spiritual lives as well.
February has turned out far different than we would have ever imagined. Earlier this year we began to throw around the idea of possibly moving for the reason that we would eventually outgrow our home and it was OLD! As with any home I suppose, our home had its fair share of issues, some we were eager to leave behind. We initially thought we might build considering we would have the help of Nathan’s crew but we left it as a thought and didn’t know much of what it entailed. We then decided it might be better for us to sell our
home and buy another one, especially because there will be a new addition to our family this summer and it would be a lot less of a time commitment from Nathan. We found a home we really liked and we could grow into, so we decided to make an offer contingent on the sale of our home. The family was planning on building in the spring so we thought it would be a great situation with them not needing to move out right away. But unknown to us at the time, the day they got our offer they also received a call from their builder who made a 14 thousand dollar mistake in his bid. They decided to not accept our offer nor go with our realtor, who they had been working with, but they would leave a clause when they put their home up for sale that if we got an offer on our home they would reconsider our offer. Our realtor said she had the “perfect family” for our home and asked if we would let them walk through our house and maybe we would get an offer from them. (this all being done with our house not even on the market yet) While we were out she called and said she had another couple who would also like to see it that evening, so two families walked through the home and the couple decided to go right to the realtor’s office and write up an offer. They were the “perfect” family for buying our home, they were renting on a month to month basis and would give us 6
months to find a house and they could close at anytime from now until 6 months. So we accepted their offer, knowing we were selling our home at least in 6 months, and take that offer to the family who we wanted to purchase from. They denied our offer, saying it was still contingent on a home inspection, so we have no idea why they even offered to have the clause for us if they were just going to say no anyway, but we believe the Lord shut the door to that home for us. The way the market is going up here it is not in our favor to try and find a home to buy that we felt like we could grow into so we reconsidered building at that point and really began to look into all it entailed… and all the pieces began to fall into place.
We found a plot of land that we loved and began to hope and pray that no one would buy it before we could get all our ends tied up and make an offer. We are blessed to know so many people with a wealth of knowledge about building, and who are willing to help, not to mention Nathan works for a construction company who can help throughout the process.
For a period of time everything was a big question mark for if it was all going to work out but on Friday the 18th we got the call from our realtor that the family agreed to buy our home after looking over the home inspection and so we made the decision to go ahead and build. Saturday morning we signed to sell our home, which closes on April 22, almost 3 years to the date that we bought it. Then we went and made an offer on the property we loved and to our delight it was still available and was SOLD to us!! So here we are, the calm before the storm. We have to be out of our home by April 22, our closing date, and we will be moving into our friends’ camper trailer. It has a master room at the front end and 3 bunks at the back and will fit our family perfect for the summer. The beauty of this situation is that their farm, where the camper will be parked, is only 2 miles from our property! This will be convenient for Nathan, who will be spending all his spare time building our new home and easy for us to drive over and watch daddy build our house!! It is also a huge blessing because the family who’s trailer we are staying in are dear friends of ours with young children our kids’ ages and Zeke’s best friends, he’s not going to believe it when he realizes we’re going to be living on their farm and he’ll be able to play with them every day, all summer long! We are so grateful to the Lord for His provisions already! All our stuff will be stored at Nathan’s boss’ workshop/ church in the
basement and that was another big question answered, again we are grateful!
We are researching and making decisions, something we’ll be doing a lot of, and we’ll start to pack shortly. We are excited for what is ahead and we covet your prayers as we start this adventure! Pray for our family, especially as we prepare to become a family of 5 midway through this process. Pray for Nathan, for his safety, peace of mind and heart, stamina and strength, and ability as he will be learning how to do many new things! Also pray for provision from the Lord, our time frame for summer here is very short, we desire to do as much work ourselves as possible but in a short time frame so we are asking for the Lord’s direction, guidance and favor. The list goes on and the Lord knows, beyond us, all we’ll need, so we ask that you offer up prayer for us when you think of it! We are eternally grateful to know we’ll go into this with the Lord and a powerful prayer team behind us!
We are also getting ready for a fun weekend! McKenzie Jewel will turn 2 this Thursday. And Saturday will be a day of fun for our family to celebrate her life and the joy and blessing she is to our family!
Life is flying by and I desire that through this process we will take time to remember and reflect on all that the Lord has done and is doing and cherish each moment! We don’t know what the future holds, our days are numbered on this earth and the Lord tells us we will face tribulation and persecution but He has overcome the world! Praise be to Him! A house here on earth is temporary and not what we should have our focus on, not to be consumed with material items but be consumed with the Lord and all He has for us. That is also our desire during this season. We are grateful for the opportunity to build a home and in the end we hope we will use it to bless others and fellowship in it as long as we have it. But we are also pilgrims and
sojourners here on earth and our true HOME is in Heaven with our Savior, and that is what our hearts and minds are set on, Jesus Christ! Wherever He leads our family, whenever he leads our family, our desire is to follow Him and say Yes, no matter what the cost. Our desire is to raise our children to be ambassadors for our Lord, to know Him personally and be willing to lay down their own lives to serve and follow Him, that is also our hearts desire! So as we move forward with building a temporary home here on earth we hope to remind ourselves and you to not be consumed with the things of this world, they are fading, but to be about our Father’s business while we are here and that a glorious home awaits us in heaven with our Lord!
Picture 1: Janessa Belle Mudd
Picture 2: Picture of our property & part of our view. Our property is 2.67 acres on a bluff, at the end of a cul-de-sac, with an amazing view out towards the river! And major wind! It’s a hilly area, we have a decent area of flat land and then a nice drop off into a ravine which is also part of our property. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in the summer! We’ll be taking more pictures soon to give you a better idea of what the property looks like
Picture 3: We have been working with one of Nathan’s boss’, who is also a friend of ours, on our house plan. It is a split foyer, so instead of our basement being all underground it is half underground and half above ground with big widows that you can look out of. This was the only way I would go with a basement, coming from a part of the country that doesn’t have basements and loving to be able to see out our windows and not feel like I’m in a cave. So our home is a one story with a basement and when you walk into the foyer you have about 6 steps up to the main floor and 6 steps down to the basement level. We will finish the main floor and most likely leave the basement unfinished and finish it as we can afford it. Our main floor will be 1560 sq. ft. and the basement will be 1400 sq. Ft. We are still working on the basement layout.
