We moved to Texas almost 5 years ago.

WOW!!! Honestly, it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. On the flip side, I’m beginning to forget what it felt like living anywhere else. I suppose that is due to the fact that we’ve experienced a lot of life in the past “almost” 5 years. We lived in our RV for six months, bought a house, took vacations, became a foster family for over 3 years, adopted our 3rd daughter, made new friends and became an established resident in the State of Texas.

What I’ve learned along the way is that, for me, a busy life is a happy life.

COVID has removed much of the busy part of life and that has been challenging. Not just for me though. It’s been challenging for the kids as well.

The other thing we’ve learned is that our seemingly “perfect” house, isn’t so perfect after all.

It certainly wasn’t perfect when we had our foster kids, but we made it work because kids were in and out so often during the past “almost” 5 years. In addition, moving means more work getting a new house licensed.

Hubby’s job was taking him into the office 3-5 days per week, so his little office in the corner of our bedroom worked fine the few times he worked from home. The COVID hit and his company told everyone to work from home. A couple months ago he accepted a new role in his company and regardless of what happens with COVID, he will work from home permanently. His little office in the corner of our bedroom doesn’t work as well any longer and we have no other space in our house.

It’s amazing how much space another child takes up in a house. That little body adds clothes, shoes, toys, games, plates, cups, and utensils. Our living room/playroom has grown very small for our family. For most of her two years of life, she slept in a crib in our bedroom. Yes, the same bedroom with the little office in the corner. When she began growing out of her crib, we had to move kids around so we could move her into her “big girl bed”. Our oldest daughter was displaced from her bedroom and our upstairs living room became her new bedroom. Because the room has a half-wall along the staircase, we put up curtains for walls, which gives her some privacy, but without walls, there is no real noise reduction. It’s a temporary fix at best.

Conversations about moving to a house that would better accommodate our family’s needs became common and after hours, days and weeks of conversations, we made the decision to move.

But where should we move?

At first the top contender was Florida. We love the beaches there. We love the weather (at least we have during our visits there). It’s a favorite vacation spot, so why not turn it into our full-time state of residence? Eventually, we realized it might not be the best location for our family.

Second contender was back to Illinois. Family and friends were a pull, but after some conversation, we decided it wasn’t the right decision.

Third contender was staying in Texas and ultimately we realized it’s the best choice for our family.

Now the adventure begins.

Packing

Painting

More packing

Replacing flooring, thanks to some recent damage from a crack in our dishwasher. I’m so happy we caught it before it cause any more damage.

Even more packing

Replacing bathroom tile that cracked

And more packing

Cleaning

Packing, packing, and more packing

Organizing

OH MY GOD, the packing!!

So much work to get this house show ready!!!!!!

Fortunately, it’s a seller’s market right now and interest rates are so low right now, so buying is good as well.

We’ve put ourselves in a good position to make this move, so the time is right except for the fact that we are getting so close to the Holiday Season.

Our goal is to get everything done so we can list our house the third week of October. That’s only three weeks away and it seems like an impossible task, but we’ve accepted the challenge and are working diligently to make this happen so we can find our next home sweet home.

I am also trying to give this blog more attention. Needless-to-say, trying to move means my time is limited. At the same time, this is also a good place to keep a journal of our progress so I’ll do my best to keep blogging about our progress.