A Season of Transition (aka: We Are Moving!)

I hope this post finds our This Catholic Family readers well. As tends to happen in life, we have entered into a season of transition after 4 years in our current home.

We moved into this home when August was just a newborn. At the time, we barely qualified for a mortgage under JP’s post-doc salary. But we desperately wanted a yard for the kids to play in, and a place we could make our own. To be able to make this happen, we could only find a home we could afford in Wisconsin, which made JP’s commute at times anywhere from 50 minutes to about 2 hours one way.

Here are some pictures of our cute, little first home, from our real estate listing:

Fast forward to now, and we’ve been discussing the need to find the home our kids will be able to grow up in, and that will allow JP to be home with the family more each day by reducing his commute. All 3 kids are in one bedroom, which is okay for the moment, but won’t work when they are all in their teens. And time is precious.

We are so thankful to share, that after a short search, Lorelei also found a job in her same field (instructional coaching) near where JP works, which opened the doorway for us to turn JP’s commute from 50 minutes into 15. That means we will have him home for a full hour more each day with us. Over the years to come, that will add up to a significant amount of time.

We went house hunting, and looked at 9 houses over the course of one morning. And there was one home we just couldn’t get out of our heads.

Here are some pictures from the real estate listing for our new home.

This is the home we see our kids graduating from high school in. The home they will come hang out with their rowdy teen friends in. The home we will drive up to and see our Christmas tree in the living room through the window. Our life has been in some form of transition since we were married. JP was in grad school, and we didn’t know what field he would end up in, or where he would find work. Then he finished his post-doc and searched for months for a job, finally finding one here in the Midwest. We lived in this house, and have been so thankful for it, but also knew it wasn’t going to be our family’s long-term home.

We still can’t believe we’ve gotten to the point where we are ready to settle in to a community, and become a part of it, without knowing in the back of our minds that we might have to leave. This next month will be kind of crazy, but, God-willing, the move will go as painlessly as possible, and we will be settled in before the kids start school.

Sorry to have been quiet for a few weeks here- but now you know why, and are all up to speed!

-Lorelei

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