The last year (maybe even a couple years) have been a bit strange, a bit hectic, a bit exciting, and a lot overwhelming. But in hindsight, I can so clearly see God’s hand and guidance in my life. At every step, every tough decision, or closed door and challenging situation, I know it was God telling me to…wait, I have better plans for you. It was hard to grasp that in the moments, but knowing what I know now, I am just so grateful for a great God.
At the end of 2017/ beginning of 2018, we were praying to grow our family and move into a home that would fit our family’s needs. And this photo (below) really speaks volumes as to how my prayers were answered!
I feel like we’ve been house hunting for ages and have had so many obstacles. John and I never see eye-to-eye on what kind of house we needed (he is all about small and humble, and I of course wanted something right out of Pinterest!), and the market has been super competitive in Orange County. And not to mention looking for a house is like a full time job on its own, and with John’s travel schedule, our house hunting efforts were less than aggressive. But I’m so glad we were patient and didn’t rush into anything.
I quickly shifted my focus when we got pregnant with Kingston. When we found we were going to have another boy, I knew immediately that we needed to reevaluate the way we were running our family. Raising boys scares me a bit because its just so foreign to my girly-girl, dress-loving self. What they need, how they think, their emotions, etc. are all so different than what I innately know. All this just convinced me even further that we needed to do everything possible to provide the best family environment. And at the top of the list was making sure the boys get to spend as much time with their dad, their biggest and greatest role model. But unfortunately, the way we were currently running, this was also our biggest struggle.
John works a lot, and travels even more. Currently we’re lucky if we get to sit down for family dinner 5 times a month. A month! That is just unacceptable. I want my kids to grow up knowing that family is everything, quality time is the highest priority. I would love to have family traditions like Friday night pizza night and/or game night or any occasion where we can connect even if our schedules are filled to the brim. The art of family dinners seems to be an outdated practice in modern families, and I wanted more for my little family.
With my work getting busy and John’s ever crazy travel schedule, it felt like we were always trying to play catch up family time during those rare days at home, but never actually catching up. It was very hard to make time to connect with friends or commit to a church ministry, and I was frequently getting anxious, stressed and had little patience with everyone and anything. I prayed for God to help us find a resolution that would provide a better sense of stability in our day-to-day. Whether it was a new home or simply for Him to tell me that our lives are just gonna be crazy for awhile so I should just suck it up. But I was hopeful for something different…and better.
In the Summer, John was given a big opportunity. And this opportunity meant traveling even more. John was already spending 70% of his time traveling all over Europe and domestically, but now he would have an increased focus on the East Coast and Houston,Texas (his company US headquarters).
When he told me about the opportunity, I didn’t hesitate. I say, let’s do it and make Texas our home base! It immediately felt like the right thing to do. God had planted the seed for life in Texas long before this decision, so I knew this was Him calling us. Texas would ensure John was home more since it was central for domestic travel (he could fly to Chicago in the morning and fly back in time for dinner) and it would completely cut out a majority of the travel he was doing now to Texas. When we first got married, we made 2 big lists: 1) a bucket list of places to travel and 2) places where we could potential move to. And it’s crazy looking back at that second list and seeing Texas at the top. I always saw myself as a Dallas girl, but I guess Houston works too. ;). But honestly if we needed to move to the North Pole to make our lives slower, I would pack my bags today. Luckily God wanted us to be somewhere warmer. 🙂
As I think about everything that’s happened, I can remember countless times when I heard God speak and say, Matt 6:25-27…
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Long story short, we have decided to spend a lot more time Houston, so we bought a house! This year will be more of a transitional year, going back and forth between CA and TX. But if/when if we decide to build a life in Houston long term, we still have most of our family and our house (renting it out!) here in OC, so it will always be home!
Needless to say, the last couple months with having baby, building a home from 1,000 miles away and wrapping my head around life in Houston, has been nothing short of insane. For the most part I’m super excited to explore somewhere new since I’ve lived in Southern California for most of my life. People ask if I will miss the beautiful oceans, and easily I can say…no not really. I’m not really a beach person so I have no problems living far from the coast. I mean, I could count on one hand the amount of time I’ve been to the beach in the last 5 years.
I’ve also felt so unsettled the last year since so it will so nice to focus on this new direction. I’m not sure what God has in store for us. But I know it’s going to be amazing!
Anyway, I’ve had this little testimony brewing for awhile, and I wanted to share just in case any of you are in the waiting or uncertainty phase in life. Focus on God and how big our creator is. His timing and His plan always works out better thank you can imagine.
I am excited to take you all on this journey with us. I will share more home photos next week!
