Housing

After Jackie received his acceptance letter earlier this month, we immediately sent in our housing request. We had toured the three-bedroom apartment when we visited in March and were sorely disappointed. They were tiny. Teeny tiny. Smaller than our two-bedroom mobile home. I stood in that apartment wondering what in the world I was going to do with all of my furniture. Wondering how I was going to train myself to walk through the living room without stubbing my toe each day. Practically lamenting over the fact that the current residents didn't have enough counter space so they had their microwave on their clothes dryer. Also there were only 1 1/2 baths which is a whole 1/2 better than what we have now but I did so have my heart set on two people being able to take a shower at once.



Later that evening, however, we visited some newly-minted friends in their two-bedroom apartment. When we walked in the door to their apartment I felt what the Israelites must have felt when they first set eyes on the Promised Land. Except, you know, on a much smaller scale. = ) Their living room was downright roomy! Their kitchen was painted a sunny yellow and they had counter space AND a closet pantry. Plus...a whole laundry room and a walk-in closet. (Yeah, you were laughing at me about the Promised Land thing until you heard about the walk-in closet, weren't you?) There were also two FULL baths!


The fact that there were only two bedrooms was a concern, though. Keeleigh and Jathan are 8 years apart in age and I don't imagine either one of them would care to share a bedroom with the other. After talking to our friends they mentioned that they knew of people with only two children who were living in the four-bedroom apartments. Gasp! So we rushed over to the four-bedroom apartments and took an impromptu tour of one very kind family's apartment. The living space was similar to that at the two-bedroom. Roomy and with a pantry and two full baths and a walk-in closet and laundry room. AND FOUR BEDROOMS. Room for everyone and the extra bedroom could be a homeschool room/office, I dreamed.



Outside there were little pavilions for people's grills. Plus, as at each apartment complex, there was a playground outside.







"This is where I'm meant to live," I thought. Ha, ha. Though we were told that it was not likely we would be able to get a four-bedroom though since families with 3 or more children are given priority, we indicated on our housing application that that would be our number one pick and that the two-bedroom would be our number two pick. I have made sure to let God know our preferences, too. (Don't feel bad, housing officials, that I went over your head.) So we are *patiently* waiting now to hear our fate. Where will we spend hours upon hours of the next three to four years of our lives? Hopefully we will know in early June meanwhile I'll try and figure out how to fit the entire contents of my living room into a space the size of a bathroom stall, just in case.

The Graduation Song

When we sold my car last month, Keeleigh inherited the CDs that had been in there since high school. I’m really thankful that I bought all the Now That’s What I Call Music CDs even though some of the songs are totally lame. You can pop them into a CD player and they take you right back. Anyway, Keeleigh was playing one of the Now CDs and a Vitamin C song entitled “Friends Forever” came on. It’s also known as the Graduation Song which is how I think of it because I listened to it a million times my senior year. The first line says, “And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives/Where we're gonna be when we turn 25.” I was in my bedroom folding clothes when I heard that line blaring from my eight-year-old’s stereo and it hit me. I am 25! That’s how I know I’m getting old, because I look back and think, “Where has the time gone!”

The truth is, nothing is like I thought it would be when I was 25! At 18 I was very certain what the future was to hold… I was going to marry Seth Harper and live in Nashville, of course. I researched jobs in Nashville and found that paralegals could make six-figure salaries and the best part was that I could earn a paralegal degree at our local community college in two years. Somehow along the way, however, plans changed. I did earn my paralegal degree but I was not meant to marry my high school sweetheart or live in Nashville. My paralegal professor set me up in an internship at the District Attorney’s office where I became friends and really looked up to the ladies who worked there. One of them, Ann, invited me to bring Keeleigh to vacation bible school at her church and we ended up joining the congregation there a few months later. Ann and another lady at the church, Greta, took it upon themselves to fix me up with Greta’s cousin, Jackie. A year later we were married, Jackie adopted Keeleigh, and last August we added Jathan to our family!

It’s just amazing to me how God can take our plans and make them so much better than anything we could have imagined for ourselves. All of this came to mind when I heard that one, mediocre song from ages ago. Then the next day Keeleigh and I were preparing supper and she said, “I can’t wait to move to Louisiana! Can you? That’s why I’ve been listening to that song so much. It makes me think.” She’d been thinking about this transitional time of our lives just as I had knowing the weight of this move, knowing that it meant things would never be the same.


And suddenly it's like we're women and men/Will the past be a shadow that will follow us round?/Will these memories fade when I leave this town/I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye/Keep on thinking it's a time to fly

An Introduction

Our Family

Left to right: Traci, Keeleigh, Jackie, and Jathan

Right now we reside in North Alabama where I work part-time as a paralegal and Jackie works as youth minister at our church, Antioch Baptist, and also as a stocker at a local grocery store. Keeleigh is 8 years old and is in 2nd grade at a private Christian school. She is the most beautiful, creative, and spunky 8 year old I've ever known! She loves drawing and being outside and has lately been seen with a pixie hair cut topped with blue highlights! Jathan is a very happy 8 month old mama's boy who helps me out at the office. Yes, I have the privilege of taking him with me! We are pretty much inseparable.

In late 2007 God revealed to our family His plans to send us to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where my husband, Jackie, will receive his masters and I will be stay-at-home mom to our children, 8-year old Keeleigh and 8-month Jathan. I will also be homeschooling Keeleigh for the first time!

I named our blog Good News New Orleans because of the reaction we got when we told our friends and family we were moving. Most people had a look as if to say, "Are you crazy?" Many acted as if we'd told them we were relocating to prison! But having visited New Orleans, we know of its historic beauty and charm. We know of the warmth and loving friendship shared at the seminary. We also know of the great need for Christ running rampant throughout the city and hope to be a light while we also have our fire kindled with knowledge at NOBTS. I hope that you will read our blog and follow us on our journey!