So, we moved!

Remember the house we planned to buy last fall? And then were crushed when the owners decided they weren’t ready to sell?

Our prayer all along was that if we were supposed to be in that house, that God would make it clear.  As long as He kept opening doors, we kept walking through them. And when that door was shut, it was quite clear. That was in the fall. In the spring, the owners contacted us and said they were ready and the house was ours if we still wanted it. Open door.

And that’s where we are now. In Small Town, Northern Indiana. Population 7,000.

The house is huge, but it definitely doesn’t look like it from the outside. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, an aqua blue kitchen, a basement for Catherine to freely be a kid, and a huge dining and living space to be able to host lots of people. Those last two things are my favorites.

I’m not gonna lie:  it’s been a really hard transition. I’ve been overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done (unpacking, rearranging, installing a bathroom mirror, toilet paper holder, towel bars, a shower door, window treatments, painting, landscaping, ceiling fans, a new mailbox--an unexpected surprise requirement from the city’s post office, etc. etc. etc.). And when I’m overwhelmed, I get paralyzed and do nothing. I don’t know where anything is, and I don’t know where I should put everything. All our furnishings were perfect for our old house, and it’s been hard to make them feel right in this new space. It’s been hard to make much feel right in the new house.

But we’re making gradual progress now. And we had our first get together at the new house on the Fourth of July. That helped tremendously. I’m really in my element when I’m hosting, and I find great enjoyment out of co-hosting with my husband. We make a really good team when it comes to hosting events.

The cookout was all last minute and impromptu and random. We had visited the local butcher shop, where there was a sale on their 17 varieties of brats. Yes, 17. So we stocked up of course, wanting to try multiple flavors. Then we realized we should have people over to eat them.

 

We realized we had a couple other things we could serve.

And we asked people to bring a side, if they wanted to. And it just sort of happened.

No planning. No facebook event to create for people rsvp to. No stressing over cleaning the house.

It was perfect in that regard. Everybody was flexible and willing to go with the flow. People brought chairs. And I set up an extra table in the middle of dinner. We used whatever paper plates we had on hand, and then switched to regular plates. Josh threw food on the grill and later started a fire for marshmallows and s’mores.

 

There were kids for Catherine to play with. At one point I checked on them in the basement. Her friends were content to be playing with new-to-them toys. Meanwhile she was wearing pink sparkly dress shoes and goggles and doing cartwheels and crashing into her play tent. I went back upstairs and saw groups of people eating good food and talking with one another, relaxed and enjoying themselves. And it all made my heart so happy. It was as if the home was just happier to be filled with people.

That night we sat outside watching fireworks from our neighborhood, and I was grateful for our new town.