7 Quick Takes: Moving Edition!

Happy Friday, everyone! God-willing (because, you know, there could always be a random tornado that changes plans), we're closing on our first house later today, and moving in tomorrow, so here are some really quick takes as I process my thoughts on life recently! Head on over to Kelly's place to read more quick takes across the blogosphere! 



1. The whole house-hunting and house-buying process has been a great reminder of the importance of trusting in God and living in the present moment. 
In mid-February, we went through the pre-approval process, and towards the end of March, we began house-hunting. We visited some horrible houses, some decent houses, and some houses that I loved. We visited houses with basements (in Oklahoma, basements are very rare, but they are good to have because of tornadoes). And...we didn't make an offer on any of these. There was always some reason why we kept holding out: we wanted to find something that was on the less-expensive end of  our financial budget, we wanted to find something in a better location, we wanted to find something with a garage (lots of the houses we initially looked at had no garages, or had halfway decent detached garages). We wound up realizing that if we looked in a different part of town, we could buy a house just as nice for 30-40k less. 

One day, after visiting houses with our realtor, we were driving by a neighborhood and noticed a cute house. We quickly searched for it on Zillow. It had only been listed for 4 days at that point. We visited it soon after, made an offer hours after the visit, and, just over thirty days later, will be moving in. There were times, back in April, when I struggled with living in the present moment. I'd worry that, "We'll never find a house to buy!" or "We didn't make an offer on that one awesome house, and now it's off the market-we missed our chance!" I just needed this opportunity to grow in trust and realize that God has everything under control :) 

2. I am so excited to live in an actual house and to move within walking distance to both a park and a library (!!!!!!), but it's weird to think about the reality of moving.
This week, my son and I have been saying "farewell" to the various people we have been getting to know over the time that we've lived here. The apartment staff, the workers at Aldi, our neighbors. Admittedly, I've been feeling a little bit like the Tenth Doctor when he visits all of his old friends to say good-bye. But, I know that God will continue to put wonderful people in our path as we move to a different part of town, and I'm excited to see what He has in store for us! 

3. As I've been packing, I've been feeling kind of old-fashioned.
We don't have a huge supply of packing boxes, and I didn't want to take the time to beg for some/I didn't know how many we need, so I started packaging some items in large pieces of fabric or old clothes that were destined for the scrap pile (I thought of this because I recently read a book about Japanese fabric-wrapping). Not only does it make the pile of packing boxes more colorful, but it really does make me feel old-fashioned in a really cool way, because I'm pretty sure that, back in the day, people bundled their belongings in fabric packages when they moved. For some reason, it's making me think of Tevye, from Fiddler on the Roof, in particular. 

4. When we move, we'll no longer have access to an awesome swimming pool right outside of our door, so we've been playing in the pool nearly every day.
Peter has a little floatie he bobs around in, and it's pretty adorable. And, since I hadn't purchased a swimsuit in about ten years, I went online shopping a few weeks ago and found a super-awesome swimsuit. It's adorable, it fits me perfectly, and I'm pretty obsessed with it. Oh, and it was only about $13. You can find it here. I'm fine with not having regular access to a swimming pool when we move, but I am a little bummed that I won't have a good reason to wear this swimsuit every day haha. 

5. In the middle of the packing frenzy, we celebrated Peter's first birthday! 
I wore my "Labor Dress" (a.k.a. the yellow dress I wore while in labor last year). It was a pretty chill day-we had some friends over in the morning, the ladies who work in housekeeping at our apartment sang to him, we played in the dirt, and we hung out in the pool. Little man was a bit cranky because he's been teething this week (and, subsequently, not sleeping well), but it was a pretty fun day! It's so fantastic to see how he's grown. At birth, he was five pounds, eleven ounces. At one year old, he is twenty-one pounds, eleven ounces. What a growing boy! 

6. Also in the middle of this packing frenzy, I was honored to be on Catholic radio!
On Wednesday morning, John Harper welcomed me on Morning Air so that we could talk about avoiding the "Ordinary Time Slump." Speaking with John (and Glen) is always such a blast, and I had a great time! It was extra-special, too, because when John asked about Peter and heard that it was his birthday, he told Glen to play the accordion to celebrate! So, Peter got to start his birthday by hearing "Happy Birthday to You" being played for him on Catholic radio. It was pretty cool, and when Peter gets older, I'll play the recording for him to listen to! You can listen to the interview here (I come in at the fourteen-minute mark). 

7. As I try to avoid getting overwhelmed in the moving process, my husband has been keeping things lighthearted by putting on Youtube videos.
And there's this one channel that he recently discovered which I really enjoy-and I don't know why I like it. The channel is UnlistedLeaf, and the vast majority of the videos involve Ando, the man who runs the channel, opening packages of Pokemon trading cards. I've never played the Pokemon Trading Card Game, I didn't really enjoy playing a little bit of a Pokemon video game once, and I don't understand any of the characters or references that are discussed on this channel. I guess it's just fun to watch Ando freak out when he pulls out super-rare cards. That, and the fact that he has a great accent (he's Australian) and seems to have a good sense of humor (the phrases he uses instead of cussing are entertaining). Plus, it's fun to see my husband get super into it and start being all nostalgic. 

Well, these were not very short quick takes, so I guess I just don't know how to avoid rambling and being succinct! Oh well, a girl can try, right? I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!