Changes Are Coming!!!

So I have something I've been wanting to say for awhile, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  To be honest.  I needed to deal with my own emotions before I talked about it publicly.

So I'm just going to lay it out there....We're moving.  Again.  I think the reason I had to "deal" with myself first was because I was angry and ashamed....feeling like we're flighty...afraid of being judged that we can't just "sit still" somewhere for awhile, but once I dealt with myself I realized that life is change.  Some people move once and stay put their whole lives.  Some people have the same job for years.  Some people don't, and it's not bad.  God has different plans for different people, and this is His plan for us, and maybe just maybe because He knows how tightly I cling to familiarity, and being stable, and my inability to accept change easily....maybe He knows what I need most in order to make me cling to Him more, because really He is all that I should be holding tightly to anyway.

Truth is, if you live in Chicago or the suburbs, the reality of your life here is knowing you probably will more often than not spend a lot of time in your car.  We knew the reality.  We accepted the reality before coming here and we made the best choice we could with the amount of time we were given and the amount of money we had.  We were on the 5 year plan...hoped to live here and save for 5 years to afford a house since we moved from a starter home in Normal IL to buying a condo in the Chicago suburbs.  2 years in....we can't handle the commute as a family anymore.

My husbands drive to work is 29 miles...29.  Now when you grow up surrounded by the cornfields of central IL, that is no big deal!  There 1 mile typically equaled 1 minute.  Here...ha!  His drive 9 times out of 10 takes him 1 hour and 10 minutes...one way!  That's about 2 1/2 hours of driving daily.  He gets home at the kids worst time of day, and is so exhausted from dealing with Chicago traffic that he typically needs to rest away from us for a bit before he can put his "dad" and "husband" hats on.  We tried...we really did, and I know how badly Dave wanted to push through and do this for 3 more years to save up enough money to buy a bigger home, but He can't.  He's got nothing left at the end of every day.  So, on Wednesday, our house goes on the market, and I've had a few months now to come to terms with this.  This both excites and terrifies me.  I'm excited to be able to afford a house instead of a condo (all be it, it will probably be a small one), and we should be able to have a yard and potentially a basement and a 1 or 2 car garage....and when we stop for a moment and decide not to compare ourselves to what everyone else in the suburbs seems to have, and instead embrace what God has given us....we see how blessed we really are.  Besides...smaller homes mean less time spent cleaning, maintaining, and expense!  So I'm choosing to look at the bright side :)

If you could say a few prayers for this process we would so appreciate it.  It is so hard for me to look at the amount of money a mortgage is on a meager house here and feel "good" about spending it.  What we are looking for will probably need work done to it in order to make it affordable to us, but I know God cares about details, and we aren't asking for a mansion.  We are asking for basics...so that Dave can be the dad and husband he wants to be and not come home from work everyday with nothing left.  Him being able to be involved at church because of his commute, has been really hard, and we both want to be a family that is involved at church together and serving.  We feel that even though the timetable for moving isn't what we wanted, that God is leading us in this direction and so I lay this all down again.  God knows our needs.  He knows the plans He has for us.  He knows where He is taking us, and so I must trust Him.  I watched him work two years ago to sell our house in a little over 2 months, and take care of all the details from closing on one house, to closing on this condo, to being able to move in right away.  I know He will do it again.  I know He will provide the exact house He wants for us.  Will it be perfect?  Of course not!  Can any house He gives us be made into a home...you betcha!

And so I thought, since I never really shared with you before and after photos of what our condo looked like when we bought it, to what we turned it into...that I should share now, because our condo won't really be ours much longer.  It's been a good space.  A home.  A place that we made ours.  A place that will always be a part of the memories God has given us in this season, and for now we pray....God your will be done.  Help me let this place go.  Help me embrace the changes coming and trust you with all that I am!

Here you go...enjoy!  And if you know of anyone looking for a large 3 bed, 2 bath condo in the south Chicago suburbs with great school districts let me know ;)

 Abbie's Room Before:

Abbie's Room After:

 (Cost-  just paint and cheap flowers I made out of scrapbook paper, framed in old picture frames I spray painted white...so maybe $25-$35??)

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen After:

(Cost-  New kitchen sink and faucet replaced, new paint color, and new hardware I bought on clearance for 98 cents a knob!  Around $400)

Living Room Before:

Living Room After:  

(Cost-  New laminate wood floor, paint, supplies to mount TV on wall, area rug $150 on an overstock website online with free shipping (it is like a $250-$300 rug!  Repurposed old decor that I spray painted to what I wanted and made my own "last name" wall hanging for like a buck using modge podge and a repurposed old shelf that I hung up with thick white rope.  I don't even know what the floor ended up costing because it caused us a lot of problems to redo.  We finally ended up hiring someone to professionally level the floor for us at around $1000 and I think the materials cost us about $1000 too)

Dining Room Before:

Dining Room After: 

Cost-  New light fixture ($50 on sale I think?), flooring is part of the LR flooring cost, an old oil painting Dave's grandparents gave us that I painted the frame on (it was a really ugly gold color), and "Family Rules" wall art that I designed the graphic on myself and got a super duper mega coupon on for a canvas website to get it placed on.

Alex's Room:

(Cost-  this originally was another portion of the LR that we walled off into a 3rd bedroom.  It originally was a 3rd bedroom that the previous owner had knocked the wall down for.  We just had it reinstalled.  It was gifted to us so cost...nada.  Just the $8 or so I spent on scrap fabric to make the wall hangings and again more repurposed picture frames I spray painted.  This was the original color of the LR so we already had the paint color.

Our Room:

(Cost-  nothing...we didn't do anything in here.  I like green so we kept it :) 

Bathroom (1 of 2):

Cost-  nothing...we really didn't do much but replace the hardware which was included in my originally expense for the kitchen hardware.  I bought enough knobs to change all hardware in the entire house for about $30!  I replaced the mirror in this room because it was an old unframed one that was ugly.  I had the mirror though so we just hung it up in place of the old one...cost to us..nothing!

Well there is most of it anyway!  We seriously covet your prayers during this time...that God would lead us to exactly the place He wants us to be, and that it would be a space we would be able to wisely live within our means, and call our home!

Blessings,