HARD IS NOT THE SAME THING AS BAD

Over the past few months my heart has been stirring to get back into blogging and sharing our little life here with you all. I'm so excited to announce that we're back!

Where have we been? Well we've been: transitioning. We've been in a state of constant transition from one transition straight into another. Shortly after Addelyn was born we decided to stir the pot, pack up our world and move to Hutto. Moving to Hutto was the catalyst to change that our family would endure over the almost three years. Unfortunately Hutto was just not a place that we felt "at home". But for the time being we got to be closer to Jimmy's work and it enabled us to build some equity in a starter home; so that we could soon find a house to grow into rather than grow out of. So we stuck it out for two years and as soon as it made sense, we got out!

If we're being completely honest here, being in a state of transition is actually something that makes me uncomfortable to the core. Don't get me wrong a lot of the changes we went through were to get us to a better place in which we could feel rooted. I actually love change. But getting there... getting there is the part that I'm truly not a fan of. And then bringing kids into the hustle and bustle of that said change makes it even more of a challenge. The one mantra that got me through it all is just because something is hard, doesn't mean it's bad. 

Throughout those two years we moved to a new city- although not hundreds of miles away but far enough to be in a foreign community. Jimmy went back to school full time for a year to further his degree, while still working. We brought our second child, Cason into the world. The first six months of Cason's life were some of the hardest months of my life. Cason had a lip tie, tongue tie, reflux, milk protein allergy and colic. All of his feeding struggles were endured while Jimmy was working and going to school which was again HARD! While adjusting to motherhood with two under two, I launched an event styling company- at the worst possible time in life- HA! Running a business while being a SAHM with a toddler and new baby was just not do-able for me in the season we were in. I hope to re-vist that passion of mine later in life but time will tell.  Jimmy took a promotion at work which meant more hours. And that was the pivotal point at we which we decided that we were stretching ourselves too thin and needed to make a change. After a lot of thought and prayer we decided then; it was time to end our adventure in Hutto and move on.

We searched endlessly for an existing home that could meet our needs and continued to come up short. So we decided to build. We found a new neighborhood with the perfect floor plan that met our needs.We began the grueling process of getting our home ready to go on the market, selling moving and so on. We had three offers within the first 24 hours of showings. Our new home was supposed to be a 6 month build which meant we would have to find temporary living arrangements. We ended up putting all of our belongings into two storage units and moving to a beloved friends house. In the end we ended up only staying with her for a portion of the time. We could only child proof her home so much which ended up making it unsafe for the kiddos and super stressful for me. So we moved again to my Dad's house which would mean an hour plus commute for Jimmy. In hindsight we should have moved to a nearby apartment. Originally signing a lease didn't make sense to bridge the gap from closing on the sale of our old home and moving into our new home but little did we know at the time it would take 8 months and involve two moves.

The first year in our new home involved quite a few transitions as well. Getting settled in our new home entailed unpacking, redecorating and many many projects to get it to where we felt at home. Jimmy and I both ended up needing surgeries over the course of the first year. CRAZY. I ended up having some issues with kidney stones that needed surgical intervention. Six months later,  Jimmy had appendicitis and had to have his appendix removed. We also decided we were ready to grow our family by one more and were blessed with Rowan, baby number three. Enduring pregnancy number three was hard to say the least.

Again I can say that all of these things were HARD and TRYING but that does not mean they were BAD. This past season of ours revealed so many truths for us. Relationships with family and friends were tested to their core, leading us to discover the depths of our support system. They say it takes a village and I wholeheartedly believe it to be true. Don't get me wrong it was definitely hard discovering how small that little village of ours truly is but I can say I'm at peace knowing the truth. Our marriage is now stronger than it ever was. I've also come to learn how much stronger I am as a Mom than I realized. And the biggest of all my faith in God has been strengthened and remains through it all.

In the book of Luke God gives Satan permission to sift Peter and the twelve disciples like wheat. To give you an idea, sifting wheat is much different than the concept of sifting flour. This image Jesus chose is not to be mistaken. It's intended to be interpreted of being torn apart and left in pieces. When wheat is sifted it is quite literally done just as that. He is referring to the violent action used to separate the grain from the stalk and the chaff. Vigorous shaking is also required to separate wheat kernels from debris. Satan's goal when he sifts believers is to damage our faith in Him in hopes that we will fall away from Jesus like chaff. Satan uses the power of fear in attempts to destroy our faith by attacking our strengths. The areas that we believe to be invincible and well protected. He wants us to be useless to God. 

I truly believe that Satan has tried to use this season of transition to sift us like wheat and I am so thankful to say that our faith remains. So much good has come of these transitions and we've finally been able to root ourselves within a community that we love. Have you been in a season where your faith has been tested? Maybe you're in one now? Feel free to reach out to me or share your story with me, I'd love to pray for you and connect with you!

We've committed to joining a church finally. We're part of an amazing church group who are like family to us now. We've established some wonderful friendships. The kiddos started at a new school. We are closer to the stores we frequent and feel good about the school district. I truly feel like we are finally out of the stage of transition. Praise God!

Whew! Are you still with me?! I'm so excited to finally be in a place where we are finding our new normal and have the time for the things that we are passionate about like this little blog here. As the years have gone by and our family has grown it's become much harder to stay in touch with family and friends and share what all is going on in our world. I hope to share our adventures as well as document life here. Blogging also kept me committed to taking pictures - which I need that accountability! 

That's not all I'll be sharing here! Throughout making our house a home so many of our friends and family have inquired about decorating tips and organizationals tips and I feel honored that I've been able to inspire so many and I hope to continue to do that here as well! I'll be sharing our home decor, projects that we're up to, DIYs, crafts, organizational tips, recipes, parties, motherhood and much much more!

I can't wait to see where this journey takes us! Thanks for stopping by!