Bittersweet~

Back in early March, Russ started talking about selling our house and building just a street back and over from it. I kind of shrugged and thought, sure, whatever. I was in no hurry to sell our house and move. We weren't ready! That was something that was always WAY down the road. We'd always hoped/planned on it for someday, but I never thought the time would really come. So I just told him go ahead, whatever, we could probably make it work, but I wasn't going to do anything about it. I guess I didn't really think he'd make the plunge. Pretty much in our marriage, it is always me that gives the OK, or the "it's time", for the big decisions. We support each other, but to be honest, Russ is not usually the take-charge sort of person. So suddenly when we had meetings scheduled with builders and he had a Realtor come to our house I knew he was serious. But it wasn't until a "For Sale" sign was being hammered into our front yard did I realize just HOW SERIOUS he was. See, I'd been so busy dealing with Nora's crazy condition, surgery, and recovery, plus the pleurisy I'd developed in my rib cage (ouch!), I had no energy left to worry about house selling, etc. So come April 1st, our house was listed and we sold it by mid-June, and were out on July 12th.

When I was expecting Nora, I had great plans for rearranging kids' bedrooms: turning Mylie's room into Coy's, moving Bennett downstairs, and making a cute room for the two girls to share! Talk about a lot of effort when we just up and sold the house a few months later! At the time, I had no idea it would be like that. I thought we'd be there a few more years. But the time was right. We prayed and searched and really know the Lord was guiding us in the decisions we were and are making. We will get to stay in the same neighborhood and Ward, and our kids will get to continue going to the same school.

So it is bittersweet! I really miss my house in some ways...I loved it! I sobbed and vocally told each room goodbye when I finally shut the door at the end of moving day. We had all four of our children there! In fact we discovered I was pregnant with Bennett just 4 days after we moved in. I felt like our home was us. It was our family. But I am so excited to build a new one! Right now it is just hard because we are crammed in a 2-bedroom, dark apartment until at least Christmastime. We really miss our space, and I do miss my kiddos cute little rooms. I think once our new house starts to take shape, it will not be so hard. So here are some photos of their rooms.

Coy's Room:
I think I will paint stripes again for Coy's room. They were so cute, even though they were a lot of work! But I only got to enjoy them for a few months.


Mylie and Nora's Room: I love all the cute fabric options out there! I literally spent hours on Fabric.com and Hawthorn Threads staring at fabric and trying to tie it all in. I am happy with how it all turned out! Bennett's Room: I miss Bennett's room the most, and I think he of all the kids misses his room the most! It may have not been the best decorated room in the house, but it was just SO HIM! It was our playroom in the basement that we turned into his bedroom. He absolutely loves to read, so the little corner shelf was just perfect. He read with his lamp on every night, and the shelves along the walls were just perfect for all his books! He and I were so sad he didn't even get to be in that room for a year! We will have to find him a good headboard with built in shelves at our new house! I surely miss tucking them all in at night in their cute, individual rooms! But it is fun seeing now them all lined up in their beds at night when they have all FINALLY fallen asleep. We luckily were able to fit three twin beds all in a row, plus three dressers in one of the rooms here in the apartment. They think it is a party/sleepover every night and bedtime is kind of a joke, but they are getting a little better now. It's fun to kiss them all when they are sleeping. But I am sure we will be good and ready to separate them all when our new house is done! Oh, and Nora shares a room with us. It's all kind of crazy, but I am sure we will have good memories of it all. I just keep telling myself it will all just be a distant memory someday...We will get through this!!!