The Happy Homemaking Blog

Wow, it’s sure been awhile since I’ve spoken on here! I apologize for the long wait and thank you all for your patience. 

As I’m sure most of you know, a little while after I published the latest post on here, I sent out a posting schedule update via email in which I announced that I was moving away from a weekly posting schedule and instead moving to a “post when I have something to say schedule”. Shortly after I sent out that email, my husband and I made a decision regarding our lives that then put a lot of things into motion, and I didn’t even think about my blog for a while. But before I talk about that decision that my husband and I made, I’m going to go back a while before that, because there’s a lot of things that went into that decision. 

Since the beginning of our marriage, my husband and I have felt rather adrift in life. We struggled for quite a while trying to figure out where we were meant to be in life- in regards to my husband’s career, where we wanted to end up location-wise, and what exactly we each wanted to do with our lives. When I tell you that we mentally tried out just about every different living situation you can think of, I really mean it. 

Since the day we got married, we had lived in a location that was very near a large city. We were within twenty minutes from the city and almost exactly an hour away from all of our close family members, which was a great middle ground since our families are pretty spread out. This area worked really well for us for a long time. It gave us some distance from our families and friends that we needed in our early marriage. It gave us time to figure out who we were as a partnership and who we were out on our own.

Over the course of a couple years, we lived in two different small towns on the outskirts of the big city, and we truly fell in love with both of them during the times we were there. When we first got married we thought that the small town living situation would be where we would stay for the rest of our lives. We liked the small-town feel- no hustle and bustle of the big city, yet not “in the middle of nowhere” country living. We hoped to someday be able to buy a house in one of those small towns, which we found pretty daunting since the housing prices in that area are largely affected by the proximity to the big city.

But… our spirits began to get restless. Suddenly we clearly felt that those towns weren’t our forever homes. We were growing bored. All of the sudden we were craving new scenery and adventure. No area in the United States was outside of our consideration. We were genuinely considering making a long distance move; the most prevalent areas in our contemplations being Iowa, Virginia, Tennessee, and (crazy as it sounds) even Hawaii. But, while the prospects of such a move were exhilarating, the actual calculation of numbers and logistics rather tamped down our excitement, and in the end, even though we were enjoying the space from our friends and families, we decided that we didn’t want to move that far away from everyone we cared about.

So then, if moving to another state wasn’t going to provide us with the adventure we were seeking, then maybe the big city would. The big city is teeming with possibility. With so much to do and see, and getting to experience it all by each other’s side, we were sure to never get bored again. It was an exciting idea, but this plan really didn’t last long, partly due to the high cost of living associated with city living, and partly because we quickly came to the conclusion that we are not city people. 

But we still longed for something different. Our hearts had moved on from those little towns that we had called home, it was time for something new. If we weren’t going to move to a different state, and we weren’t going to become residents of the big city, then where would we go to find that adventure? We poured over so many of the towns and cities within our state. We researched so many different places and even explored them ourselves to discern whether or not they felt right to us. There was one town in particular that we were stuck on for a while. We fell in love with that little town that was tucked in between so many beautiful hills and trees and we found a house that we really wanted to buy. But alas, the house didn’t work out and in the end, we decided that it was still too far from family. 

Because as time went on, we needed space from people less and less. We were starting to get lonely just us two, and we wanted to get closer to the area in which our relationship began, which is also where a lot of my family lives. Thus, we began to look into the towns surrounding that area. At this point, our minds were made up. We wanted to move to that area at some point, preferably as soon as possible. We wanted to move there for several reasons- because of the lower real estate prices and lower cost of living, in order to be closer to family, because we liked the area and were feeling a pull to it, and because, if we were to decide to begin a family, I wanted to be near the support of my own family when the time came. 

The only thing holding us back from just picking up and moving was the lease that we were stuck in. We were only three months into our year-long lease, and while we could move out and try to find a subleaser, the prospect was daunting. Yet we knew that we wanted to move, so we decided to just make the decision and brave the outcome, whatever that may be. 

I began to look around for apartments in the area and my husband began to look around for a new job. This is still crazy to me, but it really didn’t take long to find either of those things and we ended up making a trip down so that my husband could do a job interview and so that we could tour an apartment. He got the job and we found the apartment that we would later move into, all in one day! Everything from that day forward just fell into place so perfectly that it was like we were just watching in awe as God’s plan for us unfurled right before our eyes. 

Finding someone to replace our previous lease has definitely been a hassle and has presented us with several challenges, but it seems as though that last strand connecting us to our old life is almost absolved. It’s crazy to me that about two months ago, we were still living an hour and a half away in our old apartment and my husband was still at his old job. In such little time, our life has changed in so many ways. We have definitely gotten that change of scenery that we so desired! 

We absolutely love our new apartment and our new location. Although it is in yet another small town, we love it for the time being and it meets all our needs until we can, hopefully, fulfill our dream of getting a house in the country. It was a long mental and spiritual journey to get where we are now, but I’ve so greatly enjoyed the entire ride. 

Since moving here, we’ve been able to have so much quality time with my family and we’ve been grateful for the opportunity to help them out with several projects. I’ve been able to have a greater presence in my sisters’ lives, like I always hoped that I would be able to when I moved out on my own. Also, due to the proximity to people we know and due to the larger size of our new apartment, I have been able to do some hosting at our apartment, which is another thing I always wanted to do. My husband is doing well at his new job and he is enjoying it very much. 

So yes, this is the big update that has happened in our lives. We are doing very well and are very happy with all the changes.

Thank you all again for your patience, sorry that it took me so long. If any of you have any updates in your lives that you want to share or any prayer requests, feel free to share them in the comments. Merry Christmas!

Until next time. 🙂