Y’all, life has been a BLUR lately! Where do I begin?!

Let’s start at the beginning.

When we built the last house, we really didn’t have a timeline. We needed more space with Maxi and so that I could continue to work from home. I remember doing an Instagram Live or Q&A and someone asked how long we planned to be in the house. We thought we’d have our kids there and then see what happened. We had been a little apprehensive due to the distance we were from our family. In the home we built, we were about 40 minutes from my family, an hour from Paul’s family, 30 minutes from Paul’s grandmother, an hour from his siblings. Now, don’t we get me wrong- that’s a blessing and a privilege 99% of the world would crave! However, it was very different than how Paul grew up. I grew up with grandparents states away {Oklahoma and Georgia} so to me, the 40 minutes to an hour drive felt like a huge positive! Paul grew up right by his grandparents, so he remembers his childhood with his grandmother picking him up from school certain days a week, etc.

With all of that in mind, we didn’t have a “firm” timeline, but we figured we’d bring our children home from the hospital and raise them as toddlers in this home. We built it *for* toddlers {open concept and site lines!} so we felt like it was a win-win.

Then so many things happened last year. I could sit and write 18 paragraphs on every little detail of last year, but basically, it boiled down to some health issues with family and needing to be closer. While we were building, my mom’s doctor kept telling her she needed one or two hand surgeries for the damage her RA had caused. It’s a huge challenge to have these surgeries because she has to be off her medication for a month prior and a few weeks after plus the healing time. Well, two surgeries turned into four and now she needs a fifth. This next one is quite major. Her surgeon was expressing to me it was a 6-7 month recovery and his exact words were, “She’ll hate she had this surgery and hate me until at least 6 months post-op.” We started to feel a little more apprehensive about where we lived. When my mom has surgery, I normally care for her as my sister is in college and my dad travels a lot for work. The 40-minute drive back and forth all day started to really seem much further than it was. I’d be in the car for 3 hours a day just getting Maxi to and from and picking up prescriptions- thank you to my friend Cierra who lives RIGHT by my mom and drops off a chicken dinner with EACH surgery! I never even have to ask! My mom’s RA caused it to where she really couldn’t drive to our home with her hands and we hated that for her. Our home felt like this constant reminder of what RA had done to her.

But I tried to just put that in the back of my mind because I felt really fortunate to be able to even drive to her, so why should I complain?

Our friends started to see all of our driving with the situations that happened last year and everyone from my mother and father-in-law to friends at church were like, “Why on earth don’t you move closer to family?!“

So we started to browse. But we started to browse in the fall- which is such a frustrating time to look. Who wants to sell their home after kids are settled in school?! We tabled the discussion for a later date and spent our Sundays going to open houses.

Around Christmas, I found the home we just bought! We walked in after a Santa brunch with Maxi and Maxi couldn’t stop playing in the back yard. It was the first home we saw that I felt would be the best move. {It’s hard to compare homes you look at to a home you built for your family!} Paul didn’t want me to get my hopes up because it’s just such a lackluster time of year to list your home.

I put the thought in the back of my mind and just thought we’d move July/August of 2019, with the aid of companies like Edmonton movers.

On Valentine’s Day, Paul came home from work and we went on a walk with Maxi. He said, “Let’s just go ahead and list! Let’s just see. Why are we making this harder on our family that it needs to be?”

I didn’t even mention listing it because someone had told me it would probably take around 64 days to sell our house so I tried to not get my hopes up and not think much. We listed our home end of February {weekend before my birthday I think!} and our home went under contract in a day. Um yep, when I finally listened to God’s plan- he acted fast!

The home we looked at at Christmas was still available, we put an offer on it, and everything worked out. It felt so surreal and just honestly, a relief.

This new home was such a gift from God in terms of location. We moved for location and we are now 14 minutes from my parents, 22 minutes from my in-laws, 6 minutes from Paul’s grandmother, 8 minutes from Paul’s job. We can’t think of a better gift to give Maxi than the ability to see her grandmothers and great-grandmother weekly if she wants!

But trust me, I couldn’t write this post without mentioning that I know this is a privilege. I grew up without grandparents around, so I know how hard it was for my mom to balance things when she was sick or we were sick. I don’t take that for granted. But I finally had to accept that our circumstances with my mom’s RA are just different than what I grew up with. I felt so guilty moving after building this home 2 years ago, hence, why I kept telling Paul to table to the discussion and other important factors for decision-making for our home.

I also asked for help at Konnect Building Solutions if we have to build a new home or just add some extensions and additional creatives around.

But some people move twice their entire marriage and some people like my grandparents move 48 times- my grandfather was a home builder. 😉

When my mom has a bad day with her RA, I want to be able to drop everything and get to her quickly. I want to be able to drive her anywhere she needs her next surgery. And while 40 minutes wasn’t horrible by any means, when you’re working and have a little one, the trips back and forth seem so much further.

So needless to say, this past month has flown. I was almost so nervous at how smoothly things were going I didn’t tell many people we were moving because I felt so shocked seeing how quickly the Lord worked everything out. Ha! Why should I ever be shocked when he pulls at our heart?!

There’s definitely projects in the next house, including pest control. But you can’t put a price on being close to grandparents, so they will slowly but surely get done. I feel no rush because I joke with Paul we are NEVER moving again.

I can’t wait to share with you all how we make this next house a home. Like many homeowners, we are planning to improve lot of things in our new home. We’re thinking of changing the decor in most of the rooms, finishing and getting professional waterproofing services for the basement, hiring a pest control company to inspect the whole property and ensure that there are no hidden critters we might have to deal with in the future, and maybe a few remodels.

Let these pest experts put a pest control plan in place to protect your home.

Maybe you are planning to hire the top Pest Control services, you can check out online sites to learn more.

But ultimately, I just feel excited to share this next chapter with you as my friends. This past year was a rough one emotionally watching my mom with her health {I haven’t shared a lot with her lately} so to know I can be there at the drop of a hat feels like the greatest gift in life.

And I look forward to my daughter having the same childhood my husband had- right by grandparents. Today my mom cried happy tears being able to drive to our new house and that solidified this was the easiest decision to make.

P.S. I get lots of realtor questions via e-mail for my DFW girls! Our realtor is Ruthie McLaurin. She’s amazing! Her number is 817.703.8200.