Dear New Home,

You aren’t the fancy flipped type that everyone seems to be in to these days. You don’t have trendy blue cupboards or doors and no strongly patterned bathroom tile to be found. You aren’t the biggest home we looked at, and we like that too. Because those homes would have meant moving very far away from where we wanted to be. You aren’t perfect, but you are perfect for us and our family situation. And we hope to be making memories with you for a long, long time. I’m writing this mostly because there are a few things I want to remember about our first few months together.

First,  the anxiety that went in to getting you. We were going crazy trying to find what we hope will be our “forever home”- (that phrase still feels impossibly adult sometimes and brings up some deep imposter syndrome). We wanted to find a neighborhood we loved, a house big enough for us to grow into, somewhere our kids would feel comfortable bringing their friends and where we can look forward to entertaining others once this pandemic calms down. We looked at a few houses in this neighborhood and it became our clear top choice. We were devastated when we didn’t get a house down the street that we put a bid on, but then we found you- with even more space for us to grow. We were aggressive when we saw your “coming soon” listing during one of the craziest housing markets ever and put a bid on you before even touring you. When we did finally see you in person, we could see past your overgrown backyard and strange paint colors to the charming unflipped possibilities  that were just waiting for our sweat equity. We took care of some big things right away, even before we set foot in your doors as owners and began unpacking, we even swallowed our frustrations with some of the random stuff your last owners left behind.

Our first night here I got super emotional. I had this moment at the foot of the stairs imagining what it will be like to wait in our family room and look up at my kids coming down the stairs for prom night. I could imagine the sounds of birthday parties in the den and I could see the mountain I can’t wait to hike over and over again.

It was a strange thing to suddenly have so much space to make decisions about in a way we just couldn’t with our old house. When you move into a new house you can’t actually know how you need to use the space until you start living there, but you can’t start living in the house until you take some stuff out of boxes, take your best guess and throw them where they might be useful, and try stuff out… kinda like life right? So thank you for that reminder.

I can’t wait to see how we use your room and yards and how you will change right along with us as the years go by. It feels like we were always meant to be here and yet it has only been a few months. We haven’t even come to the best part of the year yet- We have so many plans and we

Just wait until we hang some stockings with care above that beautiful fireplace…

are so looking forward to our time outdoors in cooler weather and then time to decorate for the holidays. I can just imagine our Christmas tree in the front window and garland along the stairs. 

But we have already found aspects of you that we really love. Space for the kids to spread out and build forts, to enjoy their own reading nook, and for the youngest to finally have a place to sleep that is not a pack n play. We have room for an indoor bike and workout space. I can do yoga with a mountain view in my room and we have enough storage that we can actually use our garage for a car! We have set up a devotional area with saints pictures and a place to pray quietly. We have space for the whole family to eat around the same table. And while I begrudged your stairs at first, it turns out they aren’t so bad now that we have some high quality baby gates keeping our little one safe.

It is a bit strange to feel so settled so soon after spending a large part of my life moving around like crazy. I hope you are one of the last places in a very long list of addresses I’ve had. We are so excited to make the most of you.

XOXO

Your new family