Leaving Chatt

Jason flew back into Chattanooga on my birthday (8/16) and we anticipated the movers coming to pack our stuff the next morning, but there was a mix up on the dates and they didn't end up coming until Thursday, which turned into such a blessing. We were all SO exhausted and it was so nice to have a lazy day together as a family before going into crazy mode. :)

That night we met the Korhonen's for dinner at "chips & salsa".

After a yummy (and slightly teary) dinner, we stopped by Alex & Forrest's house to meet baby Forrest!! No pictures were taken but I sure am glad I got to see that sweet baby and hug my sweet Alex before we left. 

Then a stop at my parents house, where Sam and Vanessa met us and we got to spend some great time together. 

Y'all. Goodbyes are just THE WORST. I refused to consider them goodbyes. #denial

The next day the movers were there and started to pack up the house in a hurry! 

I was super stressed for the first hour or so because there were lots of questions for me: Is this going? How do you want us to label this? and questions from myself - Will we need this on the road or when we first get there? 

And the ever annoying LIQUIDS that weren't allowed to be packed in the truck, so I had to make sure those ended up in the section where were were staging for our small U-Haul. But the movers were fantastic and made it all go so smoothly.

Jason had taken the boys with him up to his parents house and Patricia LOVINGLY offered to watch them until dinner. Woo hoo!! So I just had this little nugget to deal with while we orchestrated the moving out process. 

She is SUCH a good baby. Seriously. We are lucky ducks that she will stay put for long periods of time. There wasn't anywhere quiet for her to fall asleep, so I strapped her in the baby carrier and walked laps around our carport until she fell asleep. Then of course, I had to CONTINUE walking laps to KEEP her asleep, so there went an hour and like 3,000 steps according to my phone. :)

Boxes, boxes - everywhere!

We met up with the boys at Outback that night and the Millers, Lawhorns, and Grandmother Cox and Grandmother/Granddaddy Lawhorn got to be there! It was great to get to see all of them in one place, but again, #denial on the goodbyes.

After dinner, the kiddos and I headed to a nearby hotel (since our house was in complete disarray), and snagged this selfie before bed. (Jason went to make sure everything was set at the house, and then joined us.)

Whew! It was a crazy crazy day!

The next morning, we had a final hurrah at Lillie Mae's (our favorite breakfast place), then the kids and I stopped by Mamaw's for a little bit. (She would kill me for posting the picture and I promised her I wouldn't, so I won't, but it's a REALLY great one.)

The movers loaded up the last things in the big van and we loaded our U-Haul, all while trying to keep the 3 kiddos happy. 

We had several friends stop by over the course of the two days - Debra, Becca, and Emily, it was so great to see them all one last time before we left!

(And of course my mom and Patricia, which again #DENIAL - 

can't even type about it without tearing up, so quit pestering me about it, okay?! :-P )

Then before we knew it, the house was empty and clean, and it was time for us to leave! 

I think I am more emotional about it right now as I write, than I was at that moment. We were running later than we had intended to be for the first leg of our journey, so we rushed through and left... but our Brynwood house means a WHOLE LOT to me, as I said in this post. 

Off on our adventure to "Denber"!

WE LOVE YOU CHATTANOOGA!!! 

WE WILL MISS YOU AND SO MANY FRIENDS WHO LIVE THERE!!!

The Search for a New Home

On Sunday, July 3rd (after enjoying Jack's 5th birthday Star Wars swim party!!), we headed out to Denver in search of a new home.

I was optimistic!
I was excited!
Until we got there.

"What are we DOING?" was ringing in my ears... And a migraine was ringing in my head (never my best moments).

I wanted to do NOTHING, but Jason convinced me to let us drive around to look at some of our top contenders from the listings. We drove to a couple and immediately said NOPE. Rough looking neighborhoods, or just generally somewhere we wouldn't prefer to live. 😁

Near the end of the evening I started to feel better (though we did have to pull over once so I could get sick. Sorry. Just being real.) Then it was off to bed so we could start our first real day of house hunting with our realtor Josh.

We looked at probably 10-12 places that day (July 4th), and by the end, there were 3 that "weren't no's". Nothing had stood out to us as THE ONE. Oh yeah, have we told you that the market in Denver is NUTS?!? We had saved 14 houses to go look at when we got there and by the Saturday before, 12 of them were already under contract. If something doesn't go under contract within the first weekend out there, it's surprising.

So that night, realtor Josh, who happens to be one of Jason's good friends from college, invites us to join them for a 4th of July party! It was WONDERFUL to meet his wife Katie (seriously, she's amazing!) and two other couples who go to church with them - and all their kiddos! We really felt welcomed by their group and it gave me a better sense of what good things are to come for us out there.

Also, one of the three homes that "weren't no's" went under contract by the end of the night. 😐

So the next morning, Josh had two properties to show us, but by the time he came to pick us up, 1 of those 2 was already under contract! Remember how I said it was crazy?? So with one house on the docket, we headed that way.

It wasn't love at first sight for me, but by the time we were in the huge basement and then walking out to the big backyard, I was starting to feel flutters. Jason made the point that it "felt like our house in Chattanooga", and he was right! There were a lot of similarities. It needed some updating and personalization to make it feel like home to us, but it was completely livable "as is". The carpet in the basement was so clean, I even let Grace down to crawl.

Oh, yeah. Did I forget to mention that we brought our sweet and wild 15 month old with us? The one who twisted, talked, squirmed, and fussed for 2 hours on the flight there? (And who fussed the WHOLE flight home... 😭😭😭 <--- that's me crying, not her.) While she was pretty "not good" on the flights, she really was amazing the rest of the time. ☺️

Soooooooooo... We left there and decided to put an offer in on that house. Eeeek!! Josh encouraged us to write a short letter to the sellers to include in our offer, which is common in Denver because so many houses have multiple bids and a letter can set you apart. (He said some people even make videos!) So Jason wrote one and we prayed for God's will.

That night we got a call from Josh saying that the sellers wanted to choose us and, long story short - we are under contract and the (almost) new owners of a great house in Denver!!!

It is only 10 minutes from Jason's work, a 13 minute walk (3 minute drive) to the neighborhood playground/park which has a community pool and splash pad, and 20+ acres of walking and riding trails!! It has a big fenced in backyard where we will be putting a swing set ASAP, and a great deck where Jason and I can relax and watch the kids play.

The only drawback to this 3 BR/2 BA house is that the 3rd bedroom is in the basement, and we aren't ready to be that far from any of the kiddos. The boys already share a room, and at first we will set up the crib for Grace in the boys room and also a pack n play in our room, and just see how it goes. 😄

We are getting SO EXCITED about the new house, and guess what? Exactly one week later, we got TWO OFFERS on our house and accepted one!! God is so good and so faithful to continue to show us that this is the path He has for us. 🙌🏼

(isn't it crazy how similar they are??)

I still get nervous from time to time about this huge life change, but I have a peace from God that transcends all understanding, and I know we are doing His will.

(Remind me that when I have my freak out moments, okay?)

Leaving This House...

Leaving this house is going to be so hard...

This little place that we have called home for 7 years. 

Where we ripped up carpet and painted walls.

Where he got down on one knee and asked me to share my life with him.

Where we discovered that our "wait 5 years to have kids" plan was scrapped, thank goodness. :)

Where we brought home our first sweet son, into a nursery that had been poured into and prayed over. 

Where we brought home his little brother and our world got more chaotic and more beautiful.

Where we found out there would be five of us.

Where we almost lost that little one.

Where we prayed and pleaded for our baby girl to stay with us.

Where she tried to make an early appearance in the snow.

Where we went back and forth to the hospital, and praised God for family who took our boys for a week at a time.

Where we have lived "happily ever after" after all this time.

It will not be easy to leave. So many firsts here.

So Lord, could you pick a little place for us, on a sweet little street in Denver? With enough space for all our favorite things. And a yard to run around in. And walls we can paint and fill with pictures and memories. 

Our little adventure house.

(Oh, make it cute, Lord.)

Den-ber.

So we have some pretty wild news... We are packing up and moving to Denver, CO! It is crazy and exciting all at once!!

A few months ago, Jason applied on 5-6 jobs around the country in a field that is new to him. He just wanted to see what would come of it, but didn't expect much because he wasn't exactly qualified for any of the jobs he was applying on. And he was always clear with me that he wouldn't even entertain the idea unless the Lord put it on BOTH of our hearts and we BOTH wanted to move.

Well, within a week or so, he got a call from a company in Denver asking to do a phone interview with him! "Sure, sure, go ahead and do the phone interview - it'll be good experience. It's not like we're MOVING to Denver..." (That's me talking.) So he did the interview, felt great about it - and great about the people who interviewed him.

Fast forward a week - we are on vacation in Charleston, when Jason gets a call from Denver and runs off to take it. They really liked him from the phone interview and want to fly him out to do a face-to-face interview at the company. (Oh no - this means I actually have to tell my Mom about all this!! Eeeek!!)

So this is the point when I say "Oh hey, Mom... Jason's got this thing on Friday. It's this interview in Colorado, but it's no big deal and it probably won't work out, so no worries." :-D

During this short passage of time, God really worked on my heart and so many things fell into place. The Lord gave me a peace and a longing for a new adventure, and I mean, how cool is Denver?? (No really, how cool is it? I've never been there.)

It seemed as though things had been lining up for us to make this big move. A month or two prior, we decided to re-do the basement so that if we found a house we liked (we thought in Chattanooga), we would be ready to sell ours right away. Well, the basement was finished the DAY before we left for vacation, where he got the phone call about flying out. There are so many more little things like that, that just seemed to fall into place.

We also kept saying to each other - if not now, WHEN?? In 10 years are we going to say "Why didn't we take a leap of faith and move to Denver?" We have been itching to travel and seek out adventure, and just knew that this was the Lord giving us that opportunity.

I know it's going to be hard. I know there are going to be days when we look at each other and say "WHAT WERE WE THINKING?" But we are so excited. It seems like everyone we talk to has a cousin or a friend from college that lives in or around Denver, so we already have several connections for when we get there. Plus, I'm already signed up for Bible Study Fellowship for the fall! And MOPS International headquarters is in Denver!

And the kiddos are super excited about "moving to Denber". When I put Miller down for a nap (almost every day) he asks "When I wake up from my nap, are we moving to Denber?" :) Not yet buddy.

So there's the backstory! Keep checking back for more updates on what's going on with our little family. :)

Home Tour - Before & After

It feels like just yesterday we were walking through this house, deciding if it would be a good first home, and now here we are - 7 years later, about to list our house to sell!! We have put our heart and soul into fixing up this house, and though we will be sad to leave it (like... REALLY sad) we hope that someone else will love and appreciate it the way we have.

Here are some of the very first pictures we took of the house, and then our AMAZING listing photos taken by Chattanooga photographer Tyler Smalley.


Kitchen


















Dining Room 




Living Room






Master Bedroom





"Horse Room" to Nursery





"Rainbow Room" to Boys' Room





Hall Bathroom





Master Bathroom





Basement