Moving On and Moving In

Hey out there! It’s been a very long time since I have posted on this blog o’mine. Life is crazy! Babies go from crawling to walking to speaking so fast…children grow from little girls to preteens in the blink of an eye. We’ve moved twice in two years and I feel like I have been in survival mode since my youngest baby took his first step. Things are finally beginning to ease up; his third birthday is right around the corner and I don’t live in constant fear of him choking on a lego or eating poop anymore, but the days with toddlers are long and the years are short.

 

While I haven’t been blogging, I have been more than busy in my home life. We spent the past year and a half living on our friends’ farm while they took it off the market and waited to relist.  We enjoyed the open view of the valley and mountains, the amazing sunsets, nature, and quiet that comes with living in the country.

My husband and I worked on outdoor projects, painted, and spruced things up for it to be listed in the spring. I even learned to drive a tractor proficiently. It was a wonderful experience that we are forever grateful for.

At the same time the farm was being listed in spring, we were renting out our home in town and decided the time had come to sell as well. In March, we listed our house, had two offers in a day, and began the search for our next home!

In April, the farmhouse had an offer within only a few weeks! That same month we found our next home, set to close in May. We had an amazing realtor! She listed our house, the farmhouse, and helped us purchase our new home. She was my lifeline during those months; if you live in the area and need a realtor, look up Darlene Johnson-she is an absolute professional! The market was crazy, homes were getting scooped up so quickly, we didn’t even have time to look at one before it had multiple offers, and I was feeling the pressure. Spring was a whirlwind to say the least! Between buying, selling, packing, repairs, and trying to live in a home with three kids keeping it show-ready, it was by God’s grace I survived. It’s crazy how He brings things together- the timing of all the homes being sold, and finding our new home (in our budget and way more than we had ever hoped for) was a testament to His provision over us.

Moving was brutal.

Again, my husband and I did it ourselves. Why? I don’t know. I’m cheap and have a deathwish, I suppose.

One truck and trailerload after another, a week worth of vacation days turned into 14 hour-long days of packing, loading, unloading, cursing, sweating and aching was enough to make us agree that we weren’t moving again for a very LONG time. We moved across the valley, finally landing in a nice subdivision to call home. It was our oldest daughter’s prayer to find a house with stairs, a neighborhood with friends, and a place to sell lemonade. God was faithful, because we moved right outside the city limits of my hometown to the neighboring city of Caldwell. Our new home feels like a mansion compared to our first little home we bought as 21 year-old newlyweds. It meets all of her wishes plus the rest of ours! We are thrilled and have immediately began tearing into things.

Our new home is just perfect for us. It is a little over 2000 square feet, but lacking in character, as most tract homes are. We are anxious to begin the transformation though and have already begun painting and removing flooring. In just a few short months, I can say the house looks nothing like it did when we moved in. I have yet to hang pictures on the walls, but hope to be sharing all of those projects I have been progressing through. It’s difficult to blog about them sometimes because there is always a “before,” but sometimes the “after” takes about six months longer, because you know- life.

I spent my summer carving flower beds into the front lawn. I love gardening and have enjoyed a blank slate to put my mark on. They are looking better than I imagined by this time, and can’t wait to see how things will grow when the established plants take off next spring!

I’ve almost organized every room, which has taken so much longer than expected, but it hasn’t been easy. Every room is configured differently from where we were living before. Closets shrink and furniture gets moved in, bathrooms multiply and more storage is needed. We are getting there. Phew! We joke because the house is larger than we had, but we accumulated so much at the farm. It had a giant shop and an extra garage. It’s funny how stuff just shows up when you have a place to store it! Part of my agenda this summer was to have a yardsale and get rid of some of that junk. We had one in August, complete with a lemonade stand- Ava’s dream come true!

We took a break from homeschooling over the summer too, in fact we took a break starting in March. That’s the beauty of homeschooling, we can make it work for our family and adjust to what’s going on in our life at the time. We started back up again this week, and the kids have been had a long enough break that they are enjoying the new routine. I’m looking into fall, while still trying to knock out those outdoor projects while the weather allows. This week we decided to build a fence on our sideyard… really crossing our fingers the HOA will be cool with that. We decided it would be best to ask forgiveness later, instead of permission first, hehe.

While the saga continues…until next time!