I was just reading my last few blog posts and my March 2013 one struck a chord. Yeesh! I vividly remember being in that exact moment and how scary and painful it was. I am saddened to acknowledge how little credit I have given God for bringing me/us from such a valley to where we are now. We're not at the peak of a mountain, certainly, but God brought us through that period in our lives. The purpose of this post is to update and exclaim God's faithfulness to our family. It will likely read as a timeline.
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| 11 N Clover |
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| Mark & I |
In 2010, Mark and I reconnected and quickly became engaged, marrying late the next summer. Once Mark and the kiddos moved in to my city house, it quickly became apparent that it wasn't the right fit for our family. I was sad to acknowledge that I needed to part with the house that I loved but I was excited to find the right house and property for my family. I'd purchased the house at the peak of the market and we knew we needed to do some serious equity work to make any profit on the sale. We set to work transforming our MI basement into a useable space, pulling carpet, refinishing wood floors, and updating the kitchen. We made the mistake of looking at homes for sale before listing. While I wouldn't recommend that, at times, it was a good motivator for us. We initially listed our house in July of 2013 and nothing happened; we didn't get a single showing. We did open house after open house and only ever had one couple walk through in the 6 months it was listed. It was so disappointing from our limited perspective.
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| January 2014 - me on the bi-pap with Mark by my side |
In September of 2013, I learned I was pregnant; in January 2014 I nearly died from pneumonia; and March 2014 was an overwhelming point in our lives. We prayed hard for provision and direction. After much prayer, I talked to my employer about my pay and my finances. The illness that had nearly taken my life and the life of my unborn child helped them to realize the value that I was to them as an employee. The cut I had been warned about didn't happen and I even saw a slight increase. I delivered a healthy baby girl in late May 2014; filling a hole in our family that we didn't even know existed.
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| Merida Mae - 11 days old |
Halfway through my maternity leave, my employer gave me (and all of the staff) a summer bonus, sharing the profit the company had made in the first 2 1/4's of the year. That bonus covered the unpaid 3 final weeks of my maternity leave. When I returned to work, parting from my tiny precious newborn at 7 weeks, my intent was to find a way to work from home part time. 2 days after my return to work, I was offered a job change. After a lengthy negotiation and preparation process; I now work from home 2 days a week, have an increased pay and better benefits, and have greater potential than I had previously.
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| 2012 Cage |
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| Christmas 2014 |
In April 2014, we bought a crew cab (as in 6 seats) truck AND a new hoof trimming cage, allowing Mark to bring in more income to help with more with our finances. In July 2014, we found a low mileage, good condition, older mini-van that fit our family far better than my old Civic but is equally reliable. Despite our financial concerns in March, there were plenty of presents under our Christmas tree in 2014 and even more important we had a healthy happy family.
In March 2015, we finished updating our half bath and adding a closet to a closet-less bedroom, and we relisted our house. After numerous showings and a negated purchase agreement, we sold our home in September and moved into one of my parents rentals in October. We had all sorts of plans for how long we would rent, where our new house would be, how much acreage there would be, how many barns we would need, and what it would look like. In November we stumbled upon something that didn't much fit that criteria but we knew it was perfect. We signed on December 28 and moved on January 23. For $170 a month less than our old mortgage, we bought a 1,900 sq.ft. house with an unfinished basement, 8.5 acres with 450 ft of
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| our lake |
frontage on a semi-private lake.
That brings us to now. Admittedly, the house we purchased is a work in progress and we had to move in before we completed our pre-move to-do list. Mark and I currently have our bedroom set up in the living room while we finish our master suite. We are all sharing a tiny bathroom with only a stand up shower and we have 2 leaking skylights. We aren't accomplishing things in leaps and bounds like we had hoped but the stress has decreased exponentially. Our biggest victory is that we CAN take our time. The projects are looming but, unlike when we were prepping for listing or showings, we can put them off for a family day of ice fishing or rollerblading. Another major victory is that we have space; inside and out. Our living room is big enough to fit all of our living room furniture, and for the time being, a bedroom suite :) The kids can sled, rollerblade, ride bikes, fish, etc. We're getting pigs soon for fair in August and we're making plans for meat chickens as soon as we can rebuild our chicken coop. We are learning to get excited about even the small victories. Saturday we put up some shelves in our pantry and moved our food in, Monday we moved our cleaning supplies out of crates and into cabinets, and last night we finally put a door knob on the door to the master (the only door protecting our privacy while in the bathroom).
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| taking a break for family time |
Our stress is not gone but God has been faithful in providing for our needs and even many of our wants. We have 4 happy, healthy, and growing children that we adore. God is good!!!
