Chloe is napping. It is raining hard. Sienna is at school in her Christmas pajamas for her Christmas pajama party. Scott is in the shower. I am just sitting here filled with gratitude. We have a happy and healthy family. We have food in our refrigerator, we have a working heater, we have warm water, and we have a home.
We still don’t know where our life is headed or even, really, what direction it is about to go. We secured a rental home that will take us with our two adults, two toddlers, two dogs, and two cats. Praise the Lord. We move the week of Christmas. I will be packing up our house, hosting Christmas, and moving to our new home all in this month of December. And honestly, I kinda love it. I LOVE organizing and what forces me to organize more than moving into a whole new house. We will be downsizing a bit, so we will have to get a little creative, but this is temporary. I would love to have a new home by next Christmas, but we know we can make all the plans we want and God will just laugh at us. So we wait and we work hard and we stay ready and flexible for opportunities that come our way.
My dream for our long-term home is land. We would love to have at least three acres to fill with chickens, goats, and cows. Something small. Possibly with room for a little pond filled with fish. But something we can use our hands and our hearts to care for. Something we can use to provide for our family and teach our children to play hard and work hard. We want somewhere we can make memories and learn and grow together, and somewhere far away from the city. We want to be able to sit on the porch after a long day and watch the sunset together and talk about how thankful we are for the things we have. I want to wake up before the sun each day, make my coffee, put my mud boots on, and walk the land to say good morning to each of the animals. It is not a small responsibility. I do not for one second think it will be easy. But I know in my heart it will be absolutely be worth it. I could cry right now just imagining it. It is such a big decision for us to move out of state. We have our families here, we have our friends here and their kids. California is all either of us has ever known. The beach is here, and that is a big part of Scott. Scott has a great job here that he loves and does well at. This decision is not an easy one. But that is how heavy it weighs on my heart, that I am willing to give all those things up to make this happen. I would never force Scott to leave, but we have these conversations often and are making this decision together. We want our kids to grow up outside of California. We just need to figure out where is best for our family. So… we wait and we work hard and we stay ready and flexible for opportunities that come our way.
Speaking of Scott… he recently got promoted to Corporal and got nominated for FTO of the year. We are proud of him. He is working hard and it shows. He is such a loving husband and father to us. I wish his dad could see him. I think he would be so proud. If I could talk to him I would tell Chuck how great his son is to us girls. I would tell Chuck how he really listens to us and he works hard to make us happy. How he is so sweet and intentional with Sienna and Chloe and how he really tries to lead by example. I would tell Chuck how Scott spends so much family time with us and is sad to miss things while he is at work, but he still works hard to provide for our family. We are some lucky girls. I would also tell Chuck that Scott is a man of integrity and strong values. I would tell him his son is respectful, strong, stoic, and resilient. And I would tell Chuck that I have never known that I had the capacity to love a man as much as I love his son.
Well, I feel like I’m just being a big sap now. But I really am so grateful for this life. I know we will figure everything out. And really life is about the journey. So while we go through ours, we will breathe in the fresh air, put our bare feet to good use, sing at the top of our lungs, laugh till we cry, and get our hands dirty. If you think our hands are full, you should see our hearts.
“The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal…” – C.S. Lewis