To kick off my return to blogging, I have BIG news! We are moving again! I can't believe I am even typing this because when we purchased our current home we just "knew" it would be our forever home. How does one really "know" anything in life? Nothing is guaranteed and none of us know what the future holds. When we bought this home we had a laundry list of requirements. More space, more room for our stuff, more furniture, better neighbors, a quieter street, extra bathrooms, a guest room, a bigger garage, a better front yard. I could go on, but I am sure you get the picture. This home met and exceeded all of those hopes we had. Since the day we moved in, it has been very clear that this home would meet our needs and wants as our family continued to grow. I believe we were put here at the right time.
Last fall, my parents went through a divorce after almost 20 years of marriage. Talk about heartbreaking! The bright side to that is that we had plenty of space and a lovely guest room for my mom to stay in while she found a place of her own. I am thankful that we had the extra room for her then. My parents' divorce was so unsettling for me for many reasons. Is your parents' divorce EVER easy to handle? Definitely not. Not even when you're grown up person with a family of your own. My mom is now in her house in town and my dad is living in their family home. Since the divorce we have talked about the possibility of my dad selling the family home. To me, it's the only place that has ever truly felt like "home" and the thought of someone else buying the home and land has just made my heart ache. So many happy memories were made there for me, my brother, and my daughters, too. My dad offered to sell the home to us and it couldn't have come at a better time.
As I said before, we bought our current home with a heart of wanting MORE. In the year and a half that we have lived here, we've had the luxury of extra space. We have filled our walk-in closets to the brim, we've stuffed our house full of furniture and flat-screen TVs, everyone has their own bathroom, and we've even managed to fill our garage with gadgets and a new SUV. I don't know if we have truly enjoyed any of that. In fact, it has become more of a burden than anything else. When we sat down and discussed what it would mean for our family to move to the country (as the littles say, the "crunchtry"), at first the talk was centered on the sacrifices. What would we be giving up? We wouldn't have a guest room, our youngest two kids would be sharing a bedroom FOREVER (they already share because they like each other, just in case anyone was wondering), we wouldn't be sending Olivia to the private school we'd just decided on, we couldn't have take-out delivered anymore, only two bathrooms in the whole house, and the maintenance of five acres of land and an old farmhouse. First world problems, right? None of those things are sacrifices. I can't say that it was wrong of us to purchase this home, but I can say it was wrong of us to purchase it with a heart of wanting more. There have been so many times over the last year and a half that I have felt that conviction. I am thankful that we have the opportunity to focus on what our family NEEDS and not what our family wants. After sharing all of that, I think it's time for a picture!
This is what our house will look like if you decide to visit us in the winter! (Don't forget to bring your sleeping bag because we won't have a guest room.)
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