Before & After

Since we decided to move to Texas (see below post)... I am in a fast frenzy to get our current home ready for us to leave. Below are some fun "before and after" shots of the guest bedroom. For those of you not aware, these pictures are from our town home which we just moved into in February. We are going to keep it as an investment property (which was the original plan anyway) and rent it out when we move to Texas.

Before

After

So these pictures don't really have great lighting and they're taken with my phone... but basically I took the ugly pink and brown striped wall with tan walls and cream moldings TO light grey walls, white ceiling, white baseboards and white doors (can't see here). Really, it may not look like much in the pictures but WOW it took forever-- at least a week. The brown stripes must have had 10 coats on them because they were 3D. It was hours of sandpapering, patching, cleaning, sandpapering, cleaning, painting, painting, taping, painting, painting... you get the idea. So I can't help being a little proud. Now that I'm moving onto our Texas home JUST as we finished renovating this homes... I am going to post some pictures on here of our beloved town home we are leaving behind. Look for those soon!

A Recant & an Announcement

So... the last post I put on here was about going private. I really had every intention of doing that-- especially with warnings from my friends about having personal information online and public. Truthfully, I still feel that way- it makes me a little nervous. However, a LOT has changed in the last month and now I feel like my connections, even my internet ones, are suddenly very important.

So as many of you already know from Facebook... Mike and I are moving to Texas at the end of October. We have always wanted to live out of state and have explored opportunities in different states in the past. We both wanted to expand our opportunities and have an adventure. So just about a month ago, we made a big decision. A decision to move our family, change our plans and head 1,200 miles east to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Mike will be transferring to the Deloitte office in Dallas and on a surprising twist...I received a job offer to work at Cook Children's Hospital! I never imagined us living in Texas-- most especially because we just moved into our town home in February. I love it so much here (we just finished renovating!) and life is good. We have been trying to start a family and things were smooth sailing. About a week or so before we found out about this opportunity I turned to Mike and said, "I don't want to move for another 5 years at least. I love it here!" Heavenly Father must have been listening because just as I was feeling comfortable... there was one gigantic push that turned all our "plans" upside down. Isn't it funny how life works? No matter how much we plan, or don't plan and assume that's just how life will be... it always ends up surprising us.

So here we go... one step forward into the unknown. I have to say, now that I've had some time to digest everything... I am SO excited! Psyched to meet new people, move into a new place, start new jobs and experience a different life. It's almost like starting over and with that comes a certain level of challenge and adventure that we can't help to anticipate. So here goes... we are up and moving from our roots, family and friends. And even though we are incredibly sad to leave them we feel like this is what the Lord wants for our little family. Because of that, I am hoping to keep this blog open (and hopefully updated more often) and this really GIANT adventure we are starting on. I apologize for the private/not private fake-out. Hope you'll still stick with us and see where this journey leads!