closing one door and opening a new one

In exactly 4 weeks from today, we'll be moving to a new home and saying good bye to our very first home, here in Washington State. 
At the start of 2010 Jason and I began setting goals for our family and one of our goals was that we would purpose to live simpler. Less stuff, less space, less collecting, less constant craziness, more time for those in need, more time for ministries at church, more time for our family, making more time to redeem the time.
As we approached our 1 year lease for our home coming to an end, we began discussing finding a home that would be less cost per month, to help us save even more. The options were: 
1.) move closer to Seattle, but pay more in rent or 
2.) stay in this area we already like and find a home for less rent.
3.) staying put de-cluttering and just being okay with a big, more empty home. Three was almost immediately ruled out as we began looking on Craigs list and realized we were paying pretty high rent for this area. See! things you learn after you've lived in a place for a while :) 
Our landlord helped this process along, when she told us she would be raising the rent for the following year lease. We had been praying that God would give us a push in the direction we should take, and there it was :) 

Our new home is literally a couple blocks away from our old home, so the move shouldn't be too hectic. Its still a move, so I'm sure it will be a little hectic. We've done long distance moves and short distance moves and though I'm apparently in a camp of my own, I prefer the short distance moves over long. 
Its smaller and a bit cozier inside {less wide open space}. It doesn't have a formal dining room and doesn't have the large bonus/play room that we have now, but we think it will serve our family quite well. Its still a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house. 
Its higher up the hill in our neighborhood, so on the plus side, we have an amazing view of the Seattle skyline! The view of the fireworks all over the county is going to be awesome next year! I think that's Ethan's favorite part. My favorite part is a flat, level backyard {even the deck}, where the whole yard can be seen from the living room and kitchen windows.

As we get ready to close the door to our old home, I'm feeling very thankful. We knew this home wouldn't be a final, permanent home for us, but we had no idea that we'd only live here a year or that it would be such a nice home. 
Jason was hired on with Amazon on October 1st and we made the move from California to Washington in exactly 2 weeks. We said good bye to our families, our friends and our entire lives as we knew them and ventured up here to live in a home we saw only once and picked out in one week's time. I mean, when you hear it that way, you realize it could've been really bad. We're so thankful to God for the home He's provided us with for our first year here in Washington. We feel so blessed that He landed us in a city we actually really love, a neighborhood we still think is breath taking, and that He gave us this new home at an even lower price than our old home. We've moved a lot {is that the understatement of the year?} but in all of our moves, I think one thing rings true. Its not the home that makes the family, the family makes the family. Home really is where you heart is. Those sayings always seemed cheesy to me, but I think they're more true than I gave them credit for.

And so we're in the process of purging & packing. Today the kids and I went through their toys. It was nice to see them so eager to give toys away.  It was sad for me to see some of their baby toys being given. I took some long last looks at them and reminded myself that in the great scheme of life, its just a toy.  Ethan has a much harder time parting with sentimental things, so we put together a small box of keepsakes for him. 
We've been involved with a half way home for abused women and children through our church Community Group and we're all pretty excited about giving those families some things we don't really need, but things I'm sure would be of great use and enjoyment to them. 
I will post pictures as we get closer to the move. Its supposed to be quite the lovely day tomorrow, so I think I'll drive by and take some outside pix of the house. 

Also, don't worry about us losing 500 square feet, its still plenty big enough for company! :-)

Comments

Unknown said…
So happy for your positive attitude and your upbeat way of looking at life.
Stef said…
aww, thanks Heidi :)
it was so good to finally meet you in person at the wedding last week!
Melissa Joy said…
Oooooh, a new home to set up, fill, organize, live in, love in... God bless you as you do these things!
Jessica said…
Very awesome! Sam and I sat down just yesterday to re-discuss our budgets and our goals. We feel so blessed to be in our new place, but realizing that there are a lot of things on my grocery list that have snuck on there as "necessities" that are really just "wants" - ie diet soda, beer, decorations for the house...
It's amazing how fast it happens!
Well, I am so thankful to have a friend like you in my life to always encourage me!
Nicola said…
I'll be pray for you all as your getting your house packed up and your new home set up. Many blessings on your new adventure!
Gina said…
I'm so happy for you all. To find a house nearby that costs less is great! 500 sq ft might be adjustment at first, but it's a minimal loss--and the backyard sounds great! The space will be great for the kids. Great new blog background too--fall is so pretty! :-)
Stef said…
Thanks Gina! You guys will have to come visit now.
We'll still have room for a family of 7 :)

Thanks for the compliment on the background! I'm still tweaking the eatsleepandrun banner. I need to get rid of the white behind it, but its going to take some time I don't have right now :)
W and J said…
Phew, so glad there will still be room for visitors! ;) I also love the new fall leaf background!! Yeah Fall!

I like your idea of just grabbing stuff & putting it in the new house! Ha! Definitely exciting to have something to look forward to & to push you to re-evaluate stuff that you have! I feel like every 6 months, we have to do that to our garage.
Nicola S. said…
I'll be pray for you all as your getting your house packed up and your new home set up. Many blessings on your new adventure!

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