Okay, I know, it's not exactly New Years Day. I'm four days overdue on that, but with two small kids, a new house, and the end of the Christmas season (which happens to be the busiest time of year at work for both Aaron and I), I was a bit preoccupied.
I'm excited about 2014! Very excited in fact. The New Year marks a new beginning and one that I've been looking forward to. On the selfish side, I'm excited to be in a new home. There is nothing more joyful that my kids running around in open space, going to their own rooms (no more sharing, at least for now), and playing outside. Thank you Lord for backyards!!! I am thrilled to have a playroom/office. This works so well for our life stage. The kids are constantly under my feet while I'm working so to have a space that can be both is such a blessing. Not to mention I can nest. I'm big on nesting. I love weekend projects and turning my house into my home. So all my Pinterest boards are becoming reality, slowly!
I feel like I need to take a minute and just say that this home is true blessing. Aaron and I prayed, talked, and struggled through a lot of decisions regarding our home purchase. We wanted to make the best possible decision for our family and that included decisions regarding location, school district, size, price, etc. One major decision for us was to purchase a home that would allow us to live on Aaron's salary alone. Now, don't go getting any ideas. I love my job and I plan to continue to work as long as God allows but we wanted financial freedom. We wanted to be able to make decisions free of financial stress. We wanted to give more. We wanted to travel with our kids and give them wonderful experiences while they are in our home. We wanted date nights. So, to do this, we had to make the hard decision to cut our price range dramatically from what it had been while we lived in Arkansas.
I have to admit that was hard for me. I struggled with letting go of new and shiny. I struggled with letting go of preferences like whirlpool tubs and brushed bronze fixtures. All things I know will perish and do not have eternal significance but I'm being honest here. I struggled! I wrestled with the Lord on this. I pleaded with Him to change my heart and to give me open hands. And I wish I could say that I arrived at that, but I'm not sure I did.
Our first round of house hunting was so discouraging. What looked good in pictures, what not that at all. So, we talked and prayed more. We discussed and planned. We reworked finances. Our second round of hunting was much more promising and ultimately lead us to the home we are in. It was purely God's hand at work. Our home was listed as For Sale by Owner and didn't come up on our realtors list (and by the way, we had an amazing realtor - Natalie Miller - if you are looking, she is a believer, a new mom, and extremely good at her job! She was an asset in this process!). I saw it on Realtor.com one night. Then I drove the neighborhood and it seemed like what we were looking for. We ask Natalie to set up a time to look at it. By the time we had toured the home, we were ready to make an offer. It was perfect for us and included some many perks we never thought we'd have again and some I've never had before.
This home is a new beginning for us. It bring security for the first time in 1 1/2 years (yep, that's right, we've been in transition for that long). So, 2014 is bright because we have such an amazing blessing. A place where we can be safe, a place where we can play and work, a place where we can be a family.
So in the words of Caden…"Dear Jesus, we love you so much…(lots of randomness)…thank you for our new home."
And thank you Lord for a new year but more importantly,
thank You for Your mercies that are new every morning.
