Wow, My Head is Full

So I've been thinking a lot lately. A lot about contentment and where I, as a wife, mother and person, and we, as a family, are in life. (Thanks, mostly, to the sermon series at church right now.) And sakes alive is my head overflowing with thoughts and ideas and hopes and dreams and...wow!

To begin, I realized this week that one year from now, we will be registering Milo for kindergarten. (Um, seriously, how is this possible?!?!) And for a while now, Aaron and I have thought we'd move into the Lindbergh school district (which neighbors ours currently in Affton). But getting our house ready to sell, actually selling it, finding a house in our price range, buying it and moving all within one year? A year in which Aaron's getting his business off the ground and we're working toward me working less? Yikes.

Then, as I was looking at registration for Lindbergh, I noticed this. $3500/year for full day kindergarten at Lindbergh. Which, really, is half of what we're paying for Milo's preschool right now. But still. Paying for public school kindergarten? Really?

So this led me to look at Affton again. Where full day kindergarten is offered at no cost. Which led me to question why I was anti-Affton in the first place. I'd always heard that their schools are great in the younger grades, but not so great in the older. But as I'm talking to more and more people, I'm finding that's not necessarily the case. And, even more, Affton is a fraction the size of Lindbergh; a place where everyone knows everyone, which is extremely important to me and somewhat important to Aaron. (I think, although maybe I'm just making that up about Aaron just to make myself feel better.)

Then let's circle around again to the question of housing. Without question, our house as-is is simply not feasible for our family. The basement is unfinished and the 2 bedrooms we have are upstairs, so there's no room -- except in the office, dining room, living room, kitchen, and part of the basement -- for the explosion that is the boys' toys.

BUT if we stayed in Affton, we wouldn't necessarily need to move within the year. Or, really, we may not need to move at all. Our house has about the lowest value on our block, as we're the only one that doesn't have an addition. Could we get a home improvement loan more easily than a new home loan? Could we finish the basement and/or add to the back of the house and not over-value our home? Quite possibly. But there's a LOT to look into and consider before we make any sort of move whatsoever.

I can tell you, though, that I am feeling much more at peace today with the thought of Affton rather than Lindbergh. And that tells me we're on the right track.

Speaking of on the right track, I'm really excited about a conversation with our friend, Nick. There are potentially some big things on the horizon for me and my career, as well as for our family. Hate to be cryptic, but that's all I'm spilling for now.

If you're of a praying mind, please keep us in them. We'd love prayer for guidance in all of these decisions and provision, as well as for the courage and conviction to make some changes with our lives and finances. I am ashamed to admit how our finances and the condition of our home do so little to honor God, and we've both agreed to change this. Now we've got to get to gettin' (c) Niecy Nash & Clean House. :) (And please feel free to keep both Aaron and I accountable for these things! Thinking of making an effort to be more transparent on this blog so you'll have better tools to do so...)