Time to share the story behind our move before I forget the details.

Starting last February, we began the process of researching an addition to our old house. We were just feeling a little cramped when we'd have guests over and our master bedroom (that was originally a den) was bigger than we needed. We were wanting to add on a master bedroom and turn our room back into a den. Well, it took until September to get a real idea from contractors what would be involved and how much it would cost and we decided it would not be worth it to us. We were so sad because we had naively dreamed that our first house would be our only house.

We had been discussing priorities during the summer while we were wondering if we would be needing to move. We contacted our realtors and let them know that we would be casually looking with the goal of buying and selling in a year or two. The next day we visited three houses on a whim after church. The first one had very dreary pictures and was for sale by owner. I convinced Jonathan to check it out because one of the rooms had a large exposed beam in the vaulted ceiling and it was two doors down from a 6 acre forest park. Well, the owner was home and ushered us in with fresh made cupcakes. She told us that she had been praying for the right family to find her house and that it had been a house of love and she hoped it would stay that way. We contacted our realtors again with the update, made an offer and hurriedly put our house on the market. 

Our house went live online Thursday on Quinn's birthday and we instantly got calls to see it. Fortunately, we were going out for dinner and then ate her birthday cupcakes at the park. Friday, people were coming and going all day so we just hid at parks and coffee shops. On Saturday, we hosted her birthday party in the morning and there were showings the rest of the day. Sunday was an open house. We got a good offer after a week of craziness and were so thankful to God. 

A notable memory from the house-selling experience involved me not being warned that the inspection was going to happen. Fortunately, I was leaving with the kids for three hours for Bible study. Unfortunately, the kitchen was covered in dirty dishes, a jar of beans soaking and fermenting kombucha on the counter, and Quinn had just spilled a whole bottle of bubbles on the carpet and I pointed a fan at it before leaving. Awesome. At least they knew I wasn't hiding anything. Then we came back before the inspection was done and Quinn was being so sweet to the buyer's baby. And then she told her that Archer was born in our house. Yes, I'm serious.

October and November were so challenging, waiting and planning, timelines changing, packing with two little ones. We got our keys at the start of December and our first treat to ourselves was to have every inch of the house (except the kitchen and bathrooms, because we have plans for those down the road) professionally painted. The painters filled in a lot of holes and almost everything is SW Alabaster now. Here are some of the listing photos before we moved in:

Next time I can find a free moment, I will write about all the projects we have completed. There have been many changes.