Country Living

On Labor Day of this year, I called a realtor. We had finally, FINALLY decided to move. Anyone who knows us well, knows that this was a really big decision for us. We had talked about moving for several years. Mark and I bought our first house 11 years ago, and we had been there ever since. We brought two dogs home there, took care of two litters of puppies, survived two house floods, replaced all the flooring, painted (and sometimes re-painted) every room, and most importantly, brought all four of our sweet babies home to our Faith Court home.

After Max was born, we started playing musical rooms as we tried to figure out the best arrangement for the kids. Jack and Max started out sharing, but because Max was a baby, he did better sleeping in his own room. So then, Bella and Jack shared, so Max could have his own room. And then Max got older and moved back in with Jack, and Bella had her own room back. You get the idea. So, when Finn was born... holy cow. There wasn't a good place to put him. So, his crib took a permanent residence in the master bedroom. Along with the desk and computer. It was COZY.  :)

After Finn turned one, we both new something had to give. We had to finally make the move that we had been talking about and also dreading. How do you even begin to move after living somewhere and making so many memories over the last 11 years? Several times through the process I got teary just thinking about all that had happened in this house. We were very anxious to say the least.

We got the ball rolling though, and before we knew it, a for sale sign was up in our yard.

After nine days on the market, we had a contract on it, and we were thrilled! We had also been looking for our new house and had found one that we loved... it met all of the things we were looking for and more. It was bigger, had more rooms, gave us a little over an acre of land, and was out in the country. It was actually further out than I wanted, and I originally discarded it from consideration. But after lots of insight from several people, we put an offer on it, and it was accepted. Everything was falling into place, and it felt surreal! I won't go into all the yucky details, but the next two months proved to be one of the most stressful times we have experienced. We had major delays with our buyers' financing, and our closing date kept getting pushed back. We lived out of boxes for weeks just waiting for the call. It wasn't a pretty time, and I've told more than one person that I was often disappointed in myself in not handling the situation better. But I can't change all that happened, and I have already spent much time in prayer that I will learn and grow from the whole experience.

But let's just jump to the present where I can say WE MADE IT! Our family of six finally moved into our new home, and we have been overwhelmed with gratefulness for this home that fits our family SO well. Not just the home itself, but the land around us, as well as, friendly neighbors that have been nothing but kind and helpful. We have our piece of land, in addition to, a creek and a small lake. The kids have already been exploring their little hearts out (and getting majorly dirty), and everyday my heart overflows with thankfulness.


Moving day!

I've heard myself say more than once... "No crawfish in the house!"

We are loving our fireplace... we didn't have one at our old house.

The sunrises and sunsets out here are gorgeous!

Making friends...

This was a picture I put on Instagram... it's one days worth of shoes I had to wash because they got muddy. We promptly went and invested in some rain boots!

We have a school room/game room that has a big window... I love when the morning light shines in.

And we have stairs... we decided that instead of messing with a baby gate, we were going to let this little guy master the stairs. It had it down the first day. :)

We are learning to make the most of our trips "in town". It's nice leaving the noise and busyness when we finish our errands... we start out on the county roads, the kids get quiet (sometimes), and everyone starts looking out their windows for animals. I really appreciate where we live... we aren't completely isolated... we do have neighbors and there are kids for our kids to play with which is wonderful. But we are just far enough out to enjoy the quiet, the sunsets, and all the stars. Thank you to all who prayed for us through this new chapter of our lives... we were so thankful for them. And we are so thankful to get to make new memories in our new home.