WE ARE MOVING!

We are moving! We thought it best to keep it under wraps until it was a for-sure thing, and now with only one week to go, it had better be for sure, right? ;)
We've been looking to move out from our in-laws as soon as we could afford to. But we were looking for a rental house on an apartment budget, and hadn't found anything that both felt right AND was affordable. Aside from that, my parents (especially my mother) had been on the hunt for a "flipping" house for a while now, and were hoping for it to be one that we could move into. Admittedly, this new house was not a perfect picture of what my mom was visualizing. But she and my dad have followed wisdom and promptings step by step, and this is where we have ended up. Interestingly, although the owners received higher offers, they accepted my parents' offer over those higher offers. So that certainly feels like a sign and a blessing to me!
And to be honest? I'm just crazy about the house! Maybe it's because I've been longing to be in my own home for years now. Maybe it's because in our almost five years of marriage we've lived in four places and have made mini-moves every summer, and the idea of settling for a while is appealing. Maybe it's because I have been living at my in-laws for almost a year now, and am excited to unpack all my stuff that's been in storage for a year (oh mini-library, how I've missed thee!). I'm excited to play my own music and make my own noise without bugging neighbors and family (or being bugged by anyone else). I'm happy to finally get to structure Tommy's nap and bedtime based on my own timetable (haha, like that's actually going to happen, but I can try!). I'm feeling driven to start my own garden. Basically, if the house were dark purple and covered in polka dots, I'd still be happy about this move. And besides, even if it's not our favorite on the outside, I think it's pretty cute on the inside! It's small but open, and was well-taken-care-of around the edges. I am looking forward to settling in and making it a lovely home.
I'm aware that I'm going to get a rude awakening to my rosy image of living in a home of our own. We've been blessed (and spoiled) by the incredible generosity of my in-laws, and parents. We're going to be shocked at paying utilities on a house in the Arizona summer, and we're going to miss being able to use someone else' washer and dryer. But that's what, you know, independent adults do - they pay their own bills and take care of their own needs. And I'm really happy that we are in a place to start standing on our own feet. Chris is finally working as a sub for MPS, and we got his first paycheck today. Gainful employment looks good on him. ;)
Although, let's be real, our "standing on our own feet" isn't even that - we are renting from my parents at a great rate, and they made the decision to sacrifice to buy the house with us in mind. They are not putting us through the fees, or the month of rent in advance, or other ways they could be charging us. So yeah, we are feeling very grateful.
The move will probably be a gradual one, due to the busyness of our end-of-school-year schedules (I'm feeling exceptionally overwhelmed in addition to exceptionally blessed!). But we will be getting a truck on Saturday morning the 25th and are hoping to get as much of the move done as possible on that day. We be moving out towards Power and University.
Oh, and if anyone is still reading this and wants to, I dunno, join the Elders Quorum and help us move or sumthin', we'd be super grateful. There will be donuts and juice! :) 


"We have paused on some plateaus long enough. Let us resume our journey forward and upward." - President Spencer W. Kimball, April 1979 Conference