Oh, hello there blog. Remember me? Yeah, it's been too long. I realize I haven't written in awhile... in fact, this recent break has been the longest separation we've gone through since I decided to embark on this crazy adventure with you. It wasn't you, it was me. Honestly. I didn't even intend for it to happen... things just got pretty crazy around here and time slipped away in the sneaky manner that summers (and the beginning of fall) seem to produce.
It also didn't help that we moved... with a newborn in tow. That was pretty crazy. Certainly a good move--we're extremely happy in our new home! But crazy all the same. Particularly because it was so unexpected.
On a whim we decided to list our house. Well, I guess that's not a very accurate description. It was actually more of a hard to ignore prompting that my husband had. He told me awhile back he felt like we would be moving in the not-so-distant future. Pregnant at the time, I think I probably laughed at him. We were happy in our house--we had just finished decorating baby boy's nursery and, you know,
we were about to have a baby!
We didn't talk much more about it until summer rolled around. Sam brought up it up with me again--he told me of his undeniable feeling that we needed to look into moving. He gave me a list of reasons why we should and I gave him my list of reasons as to why we shouldn't (the main one being the sleeping newborn in the other room). He pulled up some adorable new homes online and asked me to at least entertain the idea. A sucker for new homes and white kitchens, I couldn't resist at least looking with him. We started looking around and even toured a few homes. Moving started to look like a real possibility. Sam contacted our realtor just to get a feel for what we could sell our house for. Our realtor gave us a number, and we decided to pray about it.
We both felt so ridiculously torn. It seemed like our pros and cons list was equally weighted, and we just couldn't figure out how we felt about it. We prayed some more, even fasted--and came to the conclusion that the confusion we felt wasn't a good sign. We decided together to put the idea on ice for awhile.
The next day I made plans to meet up with my in-laws for a play date at a park just down the road from one of the houses we had really been considering. When I drove into the neighborhood I had the
strongest impression that it was where we needed to be. It just made sense! I called Sam at work and told him how I felt, that he needed to talk some sense into me, and that I must be crazy because we had come to such a peaceful decision about it the day before.
Instead of talking me down, he told me he was having second thoughts about our decision as well. He had been on the phone with our realtor earlier. After Sam told him that we didn't want to move forward with listing our house, our realtor called back and told Sam he thought we could list it for a significantly higher price than his initial estimate. After doing some research on comps and seeing how quickly things were selling in our neighborhood he encouraged us to at least try listing it. He promised he would work really hard to get it sold for the higher price.
The timing of this conversation coincided with my sudden change of heart--and looking back I'm convinced we were guided all along. We got our offer after just one day of having it on the market, and for a much higher price than our realtor had initially told us to list it at. If we had moved forward sooner we wouldn't have gotten nearly as much equity. I'm so glad that we felt inspired to hesitate. All that confusion with our prayers--the "no" followed by a sudden "yes"--makes sense now.
Sooo our house sold in a day, and we moved into our new house just three and a half weeks later. Talk about a whirlwind.
It was crazy, crazy I tell you! If I ever move again it will be too soon.
But, on a much more positive note, we are absolutely
in love with our new home! I am incredibly grateful for a husband who receives and listens to promptings. God definitely led us to this new destination. And, for the first time in our marriage, I finally feel at home in our house--the kind of place I know that we can stay in. This house is significantly bigger than our last, so we have plenty of room to grow. The neighborhood is extremely family-friendly with amenities all around, and we are surrounded by some of the nicest people I've ever come in contact with. Plus there are little kids everywhere... a feature our last house didn't have. We both feel certain that we can happily raise our kids in this home and live here for the rest of our lives.
I do apologize for my absence though. I've missed blogging. After moving into our new place we went through a period without internet, and my fast from all things social media was hard... but also refreshing. While I'm obviously excited to have internet access again, I have to admit that I also enjoyed being unplugged. I think my kids and my husband benefited as well. We've had internet again for a little while now, but it was really hard for me to jump back in to the blogging/social media game. Now I feel like my priorities are realigned, I've gained new perspective, and I've had some time to really reflect on this whole blogging thing and decide where I want to go with it.
First, I really just miss writing. I love to write out my thoughts about, well, whatever I want--mom life, religion, the pursuit of happiness-- anything is fair game.
Second, I've been extremely blessed with this fantastic new kitchen equipped with double ovens (dream come true) and I feel all sorts of inspired to cook and post more recipes!
I've also been focusing a lot on fitness lately, and I'm excited to share what I've learned in my journey to become strong and healthy again postpartum.
And of course I'm still really interested in fashion. I've never considered myself a guru, but as a Mormon SAHM I have a definite interest in modest, mom-friendly fashion and I love sharing my find with other like-minded individuals.
...And then there's the hard decision. This blog started as more of a journal for me, and I've wanted to maintain that "lifestyle" aspect of it even as it evolved into more. I love having a place where I can keep a collection of memories, pictures, and reflections on my life while pursuing some of my other interests as well. Unfortunately I'm feeling an ever-increasing sense of paranoia about the creeps and weirdos that exist in the world--particularly the internet. I've always tried to be careful about the information I post on here--I don't mention my last name, the city I live in, or tell people where I'll be. But I don't think this is enough anymore. Even though I love the idea of sharing cute photos of my family in this community of moms that I'm a part of, there is the potential of exposing my kids to very real threats that lurk on the internet.
After months of going back and forth, trying to figure out how to proceed--I've decided to really scale back the photos and information that I share. I recently read
this article by fellow blogger Hailey Devine. In it she tells of her own scary experiences sharing her information on social media. It really struck a chord with me, and I simply can't continue blogging without making some changes.
Thanks to everyone who has followed me over the past couple of years and for all of your love and support. I love blogging. It has been such a blessing in my life, and I'm glad that I can continue it--even if my focus is forced to shift a little.