Since it's been forever since last picking up my blogging pen, I suppose it makes sense to fill you in on what's been happening since October of 2013. How about a little time line to make it easier on the eyes?
*Sold our bungalow on Franklin Street
*Moved in with generous friends for about a month while we waited for our rental house to open up
*Moved into the rental house while we figured out permanent housing
*Spent 3 weeks in Indiana with family over Christmas
*Jess immediately jumped into a new role as director of the children's ministry at church after arriving back in CO
*At this point we were actually in the process of building a new home on the east side of Colorado Springs
*Mom/Grandma visits for a week
*About a month before our new home reached completion, we found a pre-owned home on the west side of the Springs (where we had initially hoped to live) - looooong story short, we were able to terminate our new home build and are currently under contract with a well-loved home on the west side
*Cousins Andy & Brigitte crash at our place for a week after returning from 8 months in South America
*We will officially close on the west side house at the very end of May – until then, we’ll continue to live in the rental house
If I were to fill in the gaps with the reality of this last season of life, I'm sure the words "stress," "busy," "uknown," and "crazy" would pop up quite a bit - along with "excited," "joy," "thankful," and "surprised." After seaching for months and months, we did not expect to find a pre-owned home in an area that we love. Believe me, we looked. Sometimes we would even schedule a showing on a house, only to find that just hours before the house went under contract. Without going into all the details, let me just say that the way everything worked out in the end was absolutely unbelievable to us - and so, so cool. And in case you're feeling bad for the builder of the new home - don't. They are basically told us that they're going to sell it for a lot more money than what we would have paid (they gave us some pretty sweet deals, which was part of the reason we started building with them). In the end, it probably worked out even better for them.
Our new-to-us home was built in 1973, and while it's not shiny and sparkling new, it's also not a fixer-upper like our first house. Knowing us, we'll still put in plenty of sweat to make it feel like "us," but we're looking forward to more cosmetic work this time around. You know, like paint and pretty knobs - stuff like that. We'll be sure to post photos of the house and keep you updated on the changes we make, but mainly because that's just part of our life, not because the entire blog will center around house projects. It'll be a mix of family, friends, and home - just the type of things that should go together, at least in my book. : )
And not that I'm expecting our life to be enough of a draw for you all to follow us on Instagram, but Liam does make some pretty cute appearances. You can find us at: jessbraham. Thanks for being part of our journey!
