Home

I was a little surprised to see that April was my last posting. However, it makes sense once I really think about the last few months. Between dealing with a family emergency, traveling, being sick for 2 1/2 weeks, starting wedding season at work, vacation Bible school at church and moving (the big one) ... no wonder blogging hasn't been top on my priority list.

Finally, this week is feeling more "normal" whatever that means. It actually feels good to do some routine things like cleaning the house, laundry, blogging, catching up on the day to day. Our new house feels like home already.

We have been thinking about moving off and on for almost 2 years now, but we were always hit with closed doors. Our condo won't sell in this market for what we owe, rental properties looking sketchy (I have seen some gross rental houses), not being able to find tenants for our place, etc.. Finally, this Spring Joel and I said "Fine, we get the point God. We are going to be content, make this space work for us. We are grateful to have a roof over our head. We want a house to have a backyard, but we will be happy with this place you have blessed us with." So, Joel and I moved on trying to sell some of our bigger furniture, get space-saving items for our condo to make our space more functional. We were actually getting excited about getting creative on small space living. Then, nothing would sell and even the things we were trying to get off craigslist wouldn't work. I was beyond frustrated, until we heard about our friends needing to rent out their house due to a job change. We thought and prayed about it and realized that God has always closed the door, he will do it again if it's not right. So, we started pursuing it and looking for new tenants for our condo. Within a week, we had AMAZING tenants for our place and everything fell in to place perfectly to move in to our friends' house.
It was really the perfect situation and the perfect time.

Sometimes, you just have to surrender and let it go. That is really what the Lord wants out of us, right? I can imagine him looking down from above saying, "Lisa, how many times do I have to tell you to stop trying to control everything?!"

Being here in this house now, I realize that this is what He was orchestrating all along. We were so desperate for a time there that we would have settled on some aspect of a home (price, tenants, neighborhood). He didn't want us to settle and get ourselves in a bad position and He always loves to throw in the lesson along the way too! It's humbling, but I am so glad we went through it.

So, here is our new home for a season:

There are several things I love and that I am excited about with this new home.

I love having a little garden. I already have tomatoes and green peppers coming up.

Working in the Yard! We LOVE being outside and Isaiah loves to help "move" (aka: mow) the lawn.

Sprinkler fun with friends!

As thankful as I am, I will miss our old home. It is the first and only place Joel and I have lived together, we brought Isaiah home there, had countless memories in that place. Now, on to a new home for the next season of memories....

One of the best memories is coming back from our honeymoon to find a little surprise from our friends. Thanks guys, we were finding little "surprises" all over our condo for months!

Soapbox:
I know that we were given what we were hoping for even though we didn't NEED it. It's crazy to think in our culture that we are pressured to "move up" all the time. And, it really depends on what area you live in. In CA, it's a lot harder to actually own a home because prices are so high. Here in CO, it is weird if you don't. It's "normal" for our friends in Chicago to live in condos rather than houses. A house that my cousin just bought in TX would be double the cost here. So, it's really important to not compare yourselves to others around you, be thankful and content with wherever you live at the time and most importantly.... it's the memories and people that make a house a home not the size.