The In Between

The phrase "in between" is exactly how I would describe my life lately, maybe even for the last year.  For months in Logan, we were waiting for things to resolve, for Heber's job situation to become what we moved for, for some sign to come that would make it feel ok to settle and buy a home in Logan.  This feeling never came.

We decided to start looking for work outside of Cache Valley.  Heber applied for jobs all over the country and we ended up with 5 job offers in Northern Virginia.  Five.  The one he accepted is a job worth moving for, he's so excited.  Now, Virginia is a great place to live, lots of things to see and do, good people but....it's not the easiest place to live. The decision to return was difficult but we felt like it was the right thing.

I imagine that many wonder why we would make a second cross country move in a year and why we would return to the same place.  The answer is complicated.  Would I change the way that I did things?  Absolutely not.  There were some deep lessons I learned through this whole experience, perhaps too deep for the blog, but I would do it all again. 

As for continued "in betweenness," we are currently living in a hotel.  There just wasn't time in between accepting the job, selling our condo (!) and moving to plan a trip out to find housing.  We came out blind with a month in temporary housing and hope that it would all work out.  While this is not the ideal situation with two very young children (I'm trying not to lose my mind), it hasn't been too bad.

We have been in Virginia for a week now.  In that time we've searched for house, found one, put an offer in, counteroffered, accepted and applied for a mortgage.  I almost can't believe it myself, which is why I write it down. As you can imagine, this has led to several sleepless nights because I've been so worried about it all.  Did we make the right choice on the house?  Should we have seen it again before purchasing? How can anybody sleep while going through this process?
 
We went over to the house for an inspection on Saturday.  As I walked into the house, I loved it.  It's not perfect but I could picture a good life there.  For the first time in perhaps a year, I feel calm.  We found a house in less than a week, we sold our condo in Logan in less than a week and I feel like I can see the hand of God in my life. The long winding journey is starting to make sense in my head. 

Yay!

Our soon to be new home!

Our trees!  Always been my dream to have trees of my own!

The real reason Heber liked this house, the garage.

In all of this, Heber started his new job and has been liking his first week, I'm interested to see how he likes it when he gets to the actual work part of this adventure.  I've been visiting my old haunts and connecting with old friends.  The whole things has been rough on the kids but it will all even out when we get settled into the house next month.

The in between is not my favorite and I'm looking forward to being somewhere, to settling down.  It's all coming together!  More pictures to come.

The Move

2,090 miles.
2 delayed flights
5 different houses and beds in 8 days
1 house completely packed and cleaned out in Virginia
6 day wait for a truck to arrive with all of our belongings
1 condo filled to the brim with boxes (boxes that we're so thankful to see because it meant that we got to be in our own space).
1 sinus infection.  1 bout with the stomach flu.  1 cold and fever (poor Leo)
1 passed Real Estate Exam

We are tired.  It's been a long couple of weeks.  

Leo wanted to make sure that his toys made it safe.

Trying to stay entertained at the airport. 

I want to publically thank those who helped us so much with our move.  To the Halstead's for bringing us lunch and good company, you have no idea how much we needed that.  To the Olsen's for bringing us dinner.  A special thank you goes to Nicole and Lawrence for helping with the cleaning.  We were down to the wire on absolutely everything and we wouldn't have made it.  To Gavin for helping to move furniture and for eating our ice cream that would have gone to waste.  The Williams' for inviting us to dinner and making Halloween a celebration.  To Amy and Zach (our dear friends) who drove us over to drop our cars off, over an hour away.  They even remembered to give us Leo's birthday present 2 weeks early.  Leo has not stopped talking about Zach.  To the Blake's for allowing us to stay with them for a couple of crazy days and for driving us to the airport. 

We want to thank all of those who supported us on the Utah end.  Mom and Dad Lawrence for a bed and beautiful Sunday dinner, Mom and Dad Green for picking us up at the airport and putting together such a fun activity with family.  For the Litza's Pizza (Heber's absolute favorite) and for allowing us to use their car.  It would have been tight without it.   The Palmer's for letting us stay with them and running us all around.  They were a huge help with the moving of boxes.  And the Kelsey's for having us for dinner when we had absolutely nothing but cereal in the house (seriously.  Oh, and we are still looking for bowls).


There's nothing like a move to help you realize how wonderful your life is and how many wonderful people you have in your life.  Thank you all!