Starter House.

It was just another moving Monday. That was our move day. Now it’s all done day. Just another moving Monday…

We have successfully changed our home address. And yes, we moved on a Monday, just over two weeks ago.

We had a three month whirlwind that picked us up and plopped us down a few neighborhoods over. We did control this whirlwind, although at times it felt like it was controlling us! But, we were the ones who decided it was time to move out of our house of 9 years and enjoy more closet space and a lot more room for playing. We weren’t looking to move, necessarily, but friends of ours announced in December that they were moving out of town and their home was the type we could potentially see our family really enjoying. So we bought their home after selling ours.

Our house was on the market for only 36 days and we had 14 showings. It was crazy trying to keep the house “show ready” and trying to help the kids understand why their Christmas presents got packed back into boxes just a few days after they opened them. But, everyone handled it pretty well and the excitement of moving into our new home kept us motivated. It’s crazy how much the promise of a pink bedroom excited Karly! She still smiles about it all the time! And now we have a basement and wonderful closet space. Who knew storage could be so thrilling!

Yes, it was a hectic three months. I’m glad to be here and settled and enjoying actually hanging things on the walls instead of doing that in my mind only. My mind has been a little foggy anyway so it’s not been a great place to do interior design work. I’ve been thinking a lot about our homes and our lives. I’ve been thinking about the term we kept hearing to describe the little ranch we just moved from; “Starter House.” Many people would tell us what a great starter house we had. And it was. It was a great little house for us. We started there… and we proceeded! We had three kids, two miscarriages, a child go through cancer and chemo, a four month “evacuation” when mold was found in our attic air ducts, nine wonderful Christmases and a lot of joyful moments in that house. I was, of course, a little nostalgic to leave that starter house.

But, I’m looking forward to making memories in this new house. We’re starting to find things and starting to feel like we’re really at home here. Although, never completely at home anywhere because I know all of this life is just an imperfect, cramped little “starter house” preparing us all for eternity. I look forward to truly being home someday–and while I wait I’m doing better at embracing the new stages of life instead of lamenting the ones that have passed. I’m starting to get it!

And no matter what my address here on earth, God’s faithfulness is the same. And in His presence…. well, that’s my favorite place to dwell!