Today's Lesson learned!

Quite an eventful day for a Tuesday, ended up being a great great day! (just to warn you this is a long read- but might be worth it for the lesson!)

1. Dee picked up a humidifier for us for the nursery since we didn't have one in there yet. Well, since the little guy isn't here yet, we put it in our room last night. I think that was the best nights sleep i've had in a while. Not once did I wake up from Cotton mouth. WHen I wake up with cotton mouth- i tend to drink water, which in return causes pregnant me to get up more at night to pee. Last night- didn't get up ONCE! it was nice :-) I also got to sleep into 7:45 am. That was really really nice.

2. My birthday money from Gavin's family has been burning a hole in my wallet, but I've been holding onto it! I've been waiting for a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon. My dad got one in yesterday- yeah!! So i went and used my birthday money on new pots and pans that we desperately needed. In the last 2 weeks we threw away 3 of our old pans that I've had for about 8 years now. Those black flakes in the Mac N Cheese is not pepper, its Tephlon. YES, you get the idea- so in the trash they went! I got a great deal! Thanks to some wonderful kitchen gurus- I was told about the Cuisinart Chef's classic 10 piece set at BB&B. reguarly $150. Using a 20% off coupon saved me $30- PLUS there is a mail in rebate for some free mixng bowls- oooh! can't turn that down! So YEAH for new kitchen things!!!

3. Earlier this year in our bible study we were given a challenge, sort of in a sense....Marsha asked each of us to pray about this line and to see what answer God gives us. This also gave us a chance to really listen for him more. The line goes like this- "This year is my year of ______________." I had prayed about it a few times, and half way into the week, I knew what it was. God wanted me to have ultimate faith in his plan and to give up my control. More specifically my business. So it's my year to give up the reins. 'WHAT? but I created my business and worked my hiney off for the past 7 years, how can I just GIVE up control. I've made it work, I've made it financially, and I'll continue to.' Not necessarily so. I've learned that the talents I have, and my creativity is a gift God's given me, but how I use it is my gift to him. He's shown me over and over again his promises to me and how I can't survive without his blessings. So this was most definitely going to a challenge to me to give him ultimate control over such a thing and to have total FAITH in his plan, where he takes me and my business. SO no more business decisions without consulting the man in charge first.

That really came into play in the past few days. My lease comes up later in May of this year. Gavin has really been feeling the push to move into a studio space, and so we felt the time is right to combine into one space and get him out of the house. We've been looking at different locations since the fall really, but got more serious after Christmas. We had been looking at one space specifically for sometime. I gave up the reins to Gavin to deal with it and the leasing agent- he knows what my needs are for my business. So in the mean time while he dealt with that, I just kept praying, 'Lord either shut a door, keep it open or what have you with your plans for us!' I kept trusting and sure enough- he shut that door for us twice with the leasing agent and the 2 spaces we had looked at. He kept taking his time and stringing us around (which I was fine with knowing if it was meant to be- it'd work out.) Meanwhile, Gavin's friend John called on another space in a GREAT location for us- and WOW, the rent was listed right in our budget. We went to check it out on Friday of last week and we LOVED it. TONS of character, original harwood floors (built in the 1940's) with awesome upgrades. And there's even the possibility for us to grow into the additional space in back. I was so excited about this space, and we decided we'd talk about it over the weekend. Fast forward to sunday at church- I prayed about it, and really felt completely at peace about it and felt God's blessing- this was his plan for us. Awesome- so Monday morning we plan to go talk to the owner again who owns a business next door and she throws us a curveball. Someone else is interested in a 3 year lease (which we were willing to do) but for the ENTIRE location. (crap.) not our plan, but eventually really wanted to.
So she offers us a deal, a nice discount for the first year for both spaces, and then year 2 and 3 would go up to the normal rent. WOW that's a big commitment and a BIG financial responsibility we were not prepared for yet. SO we asked her again, can we talk about it overnight? Thank the LORD that was Monday/yesterday. Monday nights we have bible study. Our lifegroup/bible study has really been teaching me how to pray effectively and more so specifically. At the end of the night when we get together with our smaller prayer groups- usually 2 or 3 of us of the same gender, Martin & Marsha (my prayer warriors) prayed with Gavin and I about this big decision. I felt so anxious over it, didn't feel right, but my business brain kept saying, BUT it's supposed to be ours- let's just do it! Clearly, God had a better plan and was protecting us. We came home and I was mentally exhausted, but I did feel better after praying with Martin & Marsha and even having a few new bible verses to come home with for encouragement. (Marsha reminds me of my mom in the sense that she can throw you bible verses left and right for every occasion, that's good to have!)
So I prayed again before bed last night and even first thing this morning before I was even out of bed and I knew what we had to do. (Thank you lord!) We had to let it GO. I was SO bummed all morning, but trusting God had better plans for us. I really felt the impression there was a reason to let it go- and it wasn't the last we'd see of this space/location, but that was so hard for me grasp! (me being hard headed and trying to take control!!) I talked to my dad for a few minutes and he made me feel a lot better for making a smart move especially with how the economy is the way it is right now- lets not get in over our heads...

So Gavin, John and I got together and went and looked at a few spaces, had some interesting possibilities but nothing exciting. We sat down for lunch and all 3 agreed on the same conclusion. Gavin went to pick up Mason from pre-school and I went on to my Dr's appt. Gavin called me and said John told him the owner didn't sound too happy that we had to pass on the space. I came home just drained from the day and laid down on the couch for a few minutes. Gavin's phone rang and heard him talking to John. Gavin got all giggle-y and excited. Finally I dragged the words out of him. It could only be 2 things- she came back with a better offer for us OR she was bluffing the whole time trying to get us to take the WHOLE space for a 3 year lease. SURE ENOUGH, that was it. She had called John back and asked when we'd be ready to sign the 3 year lease on the front space. THANK YOU LORD! Sure enough he was right, it wasn't the last we'd see of the space, and it worked in our favor more than anything. WHAT a BLESSING that its an amazing location, a really unique location, MOVE IN ready, and RIGHT within our budget.
And thank you Lord for the nice swift kick in the rear end to tell me "TOLD YA SO!" So this was my first major lesson to trust him completely and to NOT ask questions!!!! We're going in tomorrow morning to pay the security deposit to get things started the first of April! HORRAY!