It's been seven months since my last post. Winter has come and gone, as has spring and we're now full fledge into a good ol' Kansas summer. And life? It's been a little bit of a whirlwind.
This next week will mark the end of an amazing chapter and will send us full throttle into the beginning of another. One that I'm currently looking at with equal parts of excitement and anxiety, while putting my trust in His plan, even when I'm unsure of what the future may bring.
Jacob and I have both accepted positions with Clearwave Fiber, which offers both business and residential fiber service throughout the Midwest and Southeast regions of the United States. The office for the Kansas region is currently located in Baldwin City but will be moving to the Gardner area in the future.
So what does this mean for us?
When we'd first accepted our new positions, we were gung-ho for digging up our roots and replanting them in a new town. We've both grown up in the Emporia area and while there is no doubt that it's been a great place to raise a family, we both felt a little restless, like a move just might be exactly what the doctor ordered.
We spoke with a family friend and got a recommendation for a realtor in the KC area, knowing that we needed to start our search sooner rather than later and jumped in headfirst. The first couple of properties we looked at didn't quite fit the bill of what we were looking for and while we were discouraged, we knew that it was going to be rare to find a house that felt like a home within our first few days of searching. So we continued on. And by golly, we found it (or so we thought) in Linwood, KS.
The home was beautiful, completely remodeled to our taste, and sat on a private lake. There was plenty of room for both our family and any visitors. We initially looked at the house on our own, however, since it was vacant, we were able to go back with the kids later that evening to see what they thought. They too fell in love. And let me tell you, trying to get any excitement out of a teenage boy these days is dang near impossible. So Jacob and I talked on it and decided to go all in and put an offer in on the house, adrenaline and nerves running through our veins. And then, the wait began.
We waited, and waited, and waited. And due to lack in communication (on the seller's end), we lost out on it. And while we were pretty bummed, we decided that just meant it wasn't meant to be and something bigger and better would come along. So we continued on our search.
In the midst of our search, we decided to spend a week at the lake after work. It was our way to get away and decompress, finding relaxation amongst chaos. It was on one of those evenings that Jacob and I found ourselves side by side in our chairs, equally conversing and losing ourselves in the quiet. There was a point in our conversation where I began to spiral, spewing any and every worry that came to my mind as I tend to do when I'm feeling anxious. My husband, in true Jacob fashion, then spit our out one of his humbling, reassuring thoughts: "Me and you babe, we've got this. Whatever comes our way, we'll get through. But we can't forget to take the time to stop and watch the lightning bugs."
We looked at about 10 houses before we were getting exhausted in our search, even increasing our budget in hopes that something great would come along. Bigger budget or not, we still weren't finding anything else we were sold on. We're pretty spoiled by our current setup; a big house, an over-sized detached garage, a big yard and room to park our 43' camper and 19' boat plus all four of our vehicles in the driveway and truth be told, while we realized we were shooting for the stars, we weren't ready to give up on our wants and settle for something we know we'd be unhappy with shortly after we moved ourselves in. Nor did we want to settle into a new town, unsure of whether or not that was were we truly wanted to be. Pair that with the impending school year and bam, my stress level immediately went through the roof. And did I forget to mention that we'd put our house on the market in the midst of all of this and had it sold within a day and a half? Huh, silly me.
So here we are, a couple of days away from starting my new career (him a month into it),school enrollment is upon us, and we close on our house in exactly 18 days. And our plan is....?
***DRUMROLL PLEASE***
To move into our camper. On the farm. In rural Emporia. Commuting every day to our new jobs.
I can see your faces now.
Listen folks, I get it. Because truth be told, my face often mimics the above GIF. We've been back and forth so many times, giving not only ourselves but those who have so graciously been our sounding boards these last few months, emotional whiplash. But when it came down to it, we weren't quite ready to leave this all behind.
Our family is here. Our tribe is here. Lord knows we'll have to lean on all of them now more than ever. But the beautiful thing? They've already offered to sacrifice their own time to help us out in any way they can, no questions asked. We're raising our babies together. Laughing together. Crying together. Loving together.
And to the family who will now reside in 223 S East St, I hope you love it just as much as we have. Our first step into that house felt like home. We were two kids chasing a dream, and man, what a beautiful dream. Our daughter took her first steps in that kitchen. Our son knocked out his teeth while wrestling with his buddies on the trampoline. Our framily formed itself around us on the Southside. The kitchen has hosted endless dinners and game nights, dance parties too. I've watched the last 3 Carolina NCAA championship games in the garage, which has also been the battle ground for several car projects. The basement has held family movie nights and been the scene of too many tickle fights. A home where every kid who walked in knew exactly where to find the snack cabinet and wasn't afraid to fall asleep on the couch. A home where friends could come to just simply "be."
I could go on and on about about how much I'll miss this home, but I won't. Because I'm already fighting back tears thinking of what we're leaving behind. And as for what the future holds for us in regards to a house, we're not sure yet. Maybe this is how we get around to building our dream home on acreage. Maybe we only survive a month and we're back to house hunting. Maybe we stay in Emporia. Maybe we don't.
As for now, we're removing the noise ; you can find us counting the stars and lightning bugs.
No comments:
Post a Comment