Well….almost! We are under contract!

Our house was on the market for exactly ONE week y’all! We posted it on a Sunday & accepted an offer the following Sunday! Whew! That week was a WHIRLWIND!

We decided to sell By Owner first & if we couldn’t sell it ourselves, then we planned on reaching out to a realtor. But now that we are in the thick of it dealing with everything ourselves (& some guidance from our attorney) …I commend all you realtors out there! You rightly deserve your commission!! (Again, Whew)!!

My mom came the previous week to help me get the house ready for market (God bless her). We cleaned, planted flower, cleaned some more, chased toddlers, packed boxes, & attempted to potty train my son (to name a few).

Having my mother here was literally the biggest blessing & comfort! I don’t know how I would have gotten everything done without her. She kept asking how I had managed to already have so much done prior to her arrival!? Because my two toddlers are a full-time job! God has given me the strength & energy to do all I have done. That is truly the only way. But sometimes we get to the point where we just need help! I’ve always struggled asking for help. But as I’ve gotten older, I realize the importance & joy in helping others & have a whole new heart & mindset when it comes to lending a helping hand & even asking for help. I deeply appreciate when someone takes their time to help me & my family. I feel that same gratitude & love when I am doing that for someone else. It doesn’t matter who it is. I used to feel differently about it when it came to helping friends & family. Like it was an obligation, part of a family & friends “code” or something. I’ve also been guilty of only wanting to help someone that has helped me or keeping tabs of what others have done for me & seeking an opportunity to “get them back”. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have always had it all wrong & maybe that’s why I never wanted to ask for help, in fear that others would add me to their tab of people that “owe them”. These thoughts I had (& sometimes still struggle with) goes totally against what the Bible teaches.

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:32-36

Anyway! Where was I?….oh yeah! Almost having our house sold!

We had JUST decided all this house selling business at the end of March. We traveled to Illinois to be with my family for easter & as soon as we got back, we packed and cleaned out our house to get it ready to sell & we JUST took an offer on May 21^st! *Panting*

I couldn’t be happier for the family that is buying this sweet house. They have a two-year-old daughter the same age as Jefferson & I know they will love and care for this place just as we have.

I wrote this poem about this house, our first house, & I cried when I wrote it. It feels fitting to share it here in this post. I want to try to convey to you the safe haven & comfort that we found here at our little humble house.

I will miss this house & always cherish our sweet memories made here.

I’ve been reminiscing of our time here & the memory of finding our way to this house played in my mind like a movie scene.

We were newlyweds going for a drive on Thanksgiving Day in 2018, killing time before attending a family thanksgiving gathering.

We had been searching for a home frantically & desperately due to a stressful situation that we were in.

We saw a handwritten sign along a country road that read the address & “For Sale”. We immediately put the address in the GPS & went to check it out.

This was it. We both instantly knew it.

I’ll never forget the day we closed. We loaded up our mattress (it didn’t completely fit in the bed of Tyler’s truck & hung out the camper shell door lol) & drove out to our new house that same night. The house was completely empty. Just Tyler, me, & our mattress. That weekend we took a load of our things (which wasn’t much) to move into our new house. We were mattress potatoes (we had no furniture) all weekend watching The Mummy movies lol. When we accepted an offer, I told Tyler I wanted to watch The Mummy movies before we move out for old times’ sake. I honestly don’t think we have watched them since! I want to carry on this “tradition” at our new house when we move in someday. Are those movies toddler appropriate? lol probably best that we don’t make it a family affair. Those movies are even borderline too scary for me.

Alas, so many beautiful memories in this house!

Raising chickens, honeybees, & our two children. Attempting to grow a garden. Our many gatherings & cookouts…. There has been so much love & laughter here!

It is bittersweet but we are excited to move on & step into whatever God has in store for our family.

Change can be hard & uncomfortable. If I am being honest, it’s really hard to adjust in this chaos. We are out of routine & just out of whack. With two toddlers it’s hard to get into the groove of things in general! But God is doing a work in me through it all.

I am in a time of uncertainty, confusion, chaos, but also a time where there is time to read, write, be present with my kids, to think, & just be still.

I am going to fix my thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Then I will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard my heart and mind as I live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7-8

In this time of chaos & instability I will experience God’s peace.

& that is all the comfort I want & need.