The Big Move - August Update

Wow, it has been almost two months since my last blog post! We have been working on renovating our new home for over THREE MONTHS while living with my husband's parents and finally yesterday, we moved in! As per requested by many friends and family, I've finally put together an update along with some pictures to show you the progress!

Here's a little refresher of what the house/kitchen used to look like.

 

Here's a list of the things we have accomplished since we bought our home:

1. Removed wall between living room and kitchen
2. Kitchen tear down
3. Carpet removal from living room and 3 bedrooms
4. Base boards removed from entire upper level
5. Wood floors laid in kitchen (wood floors were already everywhere else, underneath the carpet that we tore out)
6.  Lights wired to each bedroom
7. Canned lighting installed in kitchen
8. Smoke detectors and CO2 detectors installed
9. Trim primed twice, then painted twice on every window and door frame (white)
10. All ceilings on upper level scraped and changed to knock down
11. All bedrooms, living room, kichen and "sitting room" painted
12. All doors removed, painted white, then re-installed with new hardware/handles
13. New white base boards added thoughout
14. Backyard rock removed and transferred to crawl space in basement (AKA: our radon infested death trap)
15. Bush/shrub removal, general clean up in backyard

Here's a list of what we plan to continue to do within the coming months

1. Kitchen cabinets installed (in 1-3 weeks...hopefully!)
2. Replace linoleum entry ways (2) with tile 
3. Possibly add carpet to "sitting room/fireplace room"
4. Paint Dining room table and chairs
5. Tree branch removal (2 huge branches are looming over our house waiting for the perfect moment to crash down and kill us!)
6. "Master" bathroom reno
7. "Guest/Main" bathroom reno

And here are some pictures of the progress we've made!

 

Tearing the wall down (May 7, 2016)

Kitchen's coming out! (May 14, 2016)

Wall and kitchen completely out, wood floor is now exposed.

 

Removing base boards...

 

Wood floor laid in kitchen and first coat of paint on the walls (July 13, 2016)

 
And the painting commences! Andrew working on the guest room

 

 Our room

 

First coat of stain down on the floors (July 22, 2016)

 

Second coat of stain immediately after it was applied. (July 23, 2016)

 

All moved in, this is our gourmet kitchen! (August 13, 2016)

 Someone is feeling very comfy in our new home!

And that's where we're at! All moved in and continuing the projects. More to come soon :)

The Drama of Overwhelm

Wow, it's been a month since my last post. And what a month it's been!

This past month has been filled with all kinds of twists and turns to our lives. Luckily, they've all been good twists and turns! My husband and I have been working on our new house renovations like crazy. It's coming along quite nicely and we're starting to see the house look like an actual home, rather than a massive dump of sheet rock, dust, unfinished walls, and floor boards.

Last year, I had the pleasure of reading You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero. I couldn't find it in the pile of boxes in my in-laws basement to tell you the specifics, but there is a chapter called "The Drama of Overwhelm". I want to talk about that. This particular chapter has run over and over in my head this past year. I'll get to that later...

As far as the house goes, the ceilings have all been scraped and are ready for our ceiling and wall guys (what do we call those guys? Contractors? Tapers? Wall and Ceiling Professionals?) to do the knock down ceilings. Our walls are almost ready for painting, the wood floors will be laid in the kitchen tomorrow, and the rest of the main level will be sanded and prepared for staining this week and next. Next week we'll also start painting the main living space, kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms. Then, the floors will be finished and then hopefully we can start moving in!!

It's been a whirlwind of a month; going to work during the week, working on the house during the weeknights, fitting in weddings, cabins, and other plans on the weekends. And in the midst of all of this, I decided I didn't have enough going on so I should just get a new job too.

I started my new job a week and a half ago. I have officially strayed away from the Graphic Designer role and have taken on a new undertaking as a Marketing Coordinator at a small, family-owned jewelry company that specializes in unique wedding bands made out of deer antler, meteorite and dinosaur bone. So not only is this a new job, but it's an entirely different role than I have ever been in. Those of you that don't really know the difference, see below:

Graphic Designer: the art or profession of visual communication that combines images, words, and ideas to convey information to an audience. Typically uses a Mac computer.

Marketing Coordinator: Markets products by developing and implementing marketing and advertising campaigns; tracking sales data; maintaining promotional materials inventory; planning meetings and trade shows; maintaining databases; preparing reports. Typically uses a PC computer.

Yeah... so that's completely new. Of course I've worked on marketing teams as a graphic designer, so it's not like I'm going in totally blind, but this is still a new territory for me. I'm no longer working on a mac, which as any graphic designer knows, is catastrophic. Luckily, I have my mac at home so I can continue to keep my skills fresh :). I'm also no longer doing much layout and design/production work either, which will take some getting used to.

I'm not writing this blog post to tell you about the updates on our house renovations, or to complain about working on a PC or describe to you how different this new job is compared to my last job. I usually try to make a point in my blogs and I want to make sure I get to it.

I'm overwhelmed. I have a LOT of changes going on in my life and my brain struggles to keep up. We are renovating a new home, living with my in-laws, taking our dog to puppy/obedience classes, and on top of all of that, I decided to start a new job in a new field. Taking on all of this information and responsibility is draining, exciting, exhilarating and overall, exhausting.

I would encourage you to read You Are A Badass. It's a great book, easy to read and the author is hysterical. Since I can't find my book since I'm currently living out of boxes, I have no other details from the chapter but I will tell you this. The name of the chapter I'm referring to, "The Drama of Overwhelm", says it all. Because that's what being overwhelmed is. It's all drama. Yes, you have a lot going on. We all do. But the way you choose to think about it and the way you decide to deal with the responsibilities in your life is just that. A choice.

This week was hard. I thought, I've bit off way more than I can chew. This is too much at once, too new, too overwhelming. I need to schedule time just to breathe. I haven't seen some of my friends in months. Why did I think we could renovate a home, live with the in-laws, train our puppy, get a new job and do it all with flawless ease? What was I thinking?

And that, my friends, is the drama of overwhelm.

We let all of these things in our lives build up to this mountain of responsibilities. The weight pushes down on our chests like an elephant and we consider these responsibilities a burden and an annoyance.

But step back. Are these responsibilities bad things? Are they progressing you forward and getting you to where you want to be? Will they help you become who you want to be?

In my case, I know my responsibilities are great things and yes, they are progressing me forward in my personal and professional life. But I still get overwhelmed by the amount of time and energy spent on these things. That is why it is so important to step back and do what you need to do for your health and for your happiness.

For instance, tonight I had the option of going to do some more work at our house, or staying home, blogging, drinking wine and catching up on Pretty Little Liars on Netflix. There is so much I could be doing at the house, but obviously I chose the latter. I'm already feeling happier, more energized and ready to finish out my week on a positive note. By taking time for yourself, you're doing you (and everyone else) a favor by relaxing and re-energizing so you can be the best you!

Do what's right for you. Are you tired, exhausted, drained, angry, depressed, anxious or any other negative feeling? If so, you need to pencil in some you time and take care of that shit.

Your friend,

Meg

What I've Learned From Our First Year of Marriage

My husband and I got married 1 year ago today.

Today also marks our 8 years of being together. It's been an amazing year filled with craziness, love, changes and growth.

Here are some of the things I've learned this year:

• Love
  A simple hug out of nowhere is always a good idea

• Listen
  Sometimes we get so caught up in ourselves and our own daily routines. But listening to the other person is more important. Ask how their day went and actually listen. Sounds simple, but this can be difficult when we're distracted by our own thoughts.
  
• Be Patient
  Just because he says he will do the dishes today, does not always mean they will get done today. Just because he says he will clean the bathroom this weekend, does not always mean the bathroom will get cleaned this weekend. If you want it done NOW, that's your problem. Sometimes, things can wait. If there's something you want done now, do it yourself or ask him until he gets so annoyed that he finally just does it :)

• Laugh
  Be silly. Laugh at funny things. Laugh at things that make you mad. When everything seems to go wrong in one day, laugh about it. It makes a stressful day so much easier to get through.
  

• Do Your Chores
  Keep up on household work. Split the chores and decide together when you'll get them done.
  
• Tag Team
  One of you can go to the grocery store while the other cleans out the garage. One of you can take the dog for a walk while the other does the laundry. I'm not a firm believer that the man does the outside work while the woman does the inside chores. We are both fully capable of doing both of these chores (except mowing the lawn. I don't plan on doing that any time soon.) Work together to get your big projects done faster.

• Compromise When It Comes to Family Holidays
  This year, we made his family a priority for Christmas and my family a priority for Easter. We always try to make it to all of the get-togethers around the holidays, but we've learned to make one meal a priority, at the next house we will just have drinks, snacks & dessert.
• Discuss Finances Often
  We decided to sit down at the computer once every couple of months to see where we're at with finances. How much are we bringing in? How much are things costing us? Is there anywhere we can cut back? What are we saving up for? Keeping communication open when it comes to finances is so important. Don't make any major purchases without discussing together first.
• When It Comes to Work...
  Work is work. It's not life. If you had a bad day, discuss it, but don't drag it on for the rest of the night. You only have a few hours together a day. Use your time together wisely. Relax, watch a funny show or play a game to lighten your grumpy spirits.

• Make Plans to Relax
  Life gets busy. Decide on a day that you're going to do nothing but relax for a solid 4-5 hours. We often do this on Sunday mornings. My husband likes to get up early-ish, watch tv and play video games while I like to sleep in, eventually crawling out of bed to have my coffee and pretty much just look out the window while petting my dog. It's so wonderful and recharges us for the week ahead!

• Discuss Your Faith
  Talk about how blessed you are. Talk about how amazing it is that God has gotten you to this point in your life. Discuss your worries and your fears but then remind each other that God is in control. And most importantly, pray for each other.
  
• Go On Dates
  Go out to lunch or dinner and actually sit at the restaurant. Don't go through the drive through. Don't pick up take-out. Go somewhere (somewhat) nice and sit down together and have a conversation without cell phones. It's pretty great. 

• Remember To Do Your Own Thing
  This is something my husband and I have done our entire relationship. We are individuals with different interests. You need to make yourself happy before you can make someone else happy. I like to go shopping with my mom or spend a weekend watching movies and going out dancing with my girlfriends. My husband likes to golf with his brother and go hunting with his dad on the weekends. So do what makes you happy, then come together at the end of the day and tell each other about your day.

• Remember That You're On The Same Team
  You're in this together. Even when you're mad at each other, you both want the best for your marriage and your lives. Try to remember that.

And here's one more special tip. I've asked my husband to provide one thing he's learned this year and he came up with a really good one that I hadn't thought of:

• Be Flexible
  Life moves so fast and things are always changing. Be open to change and stay flexible.

I hope you enjoyed these special tips. We're no marriage experts but we sure do know how to love. We're so lucky to have had amazing family and couples in our lives to look up to. Here's to many more years of life and love together!

Your friend,

Meg

Homeless... kind of

My husband and I officially sold our town home and are moved in with his parents. We close on our new home in just TWO DAYS! Excited is not a big enough word to describe how we feel.

Although the closing of our new home will be here soon, it has not been the easiest road to get here. We looked at 25+ homes before we found the one that was perfect for us. There were a few times when I was ready to make an offer on a home but my husband wasn't. There were times when HE was ready to make an offer on another home, but I wasn't. This process has definitely tested our patience with not only trying to find our home, but with each other.

In March, we found a home that we both loved. It was a rambler with 3 beds, 2 baths, a two-car garage, a fenced-in yard with another two stall garage in the backyard for boats, toys, etc. and a basement that was mostly finished with lots of room for improvements. The upstairs needed a lot of work including new floors throughout, a new kitchen and updates to the bathroom. Since there was a lot of work to be done, and the home was on a busy street, we felt the asking price was too high. We decided to go in quite a bit lower with our offer. The seller came back with a counter offer just $2,000 under their asking price (we asked for almost $20K under the asking price). Needless to say, this home didn't work out for us.

After searching and searching, our realtor told us about a home that just came on the market one day. We went to see the home the next day and immediately decided to put in an offer. The home was a rambler in a quiet cul-de-sac in one of our favorite cities in Minnesota. There are 3 beds/2baths a large fenced-in backyard for our pup, a 3-season porch, and a huge unfinished basement. The home was listed at a great price, and since this was a home with multiple offers, we needed to go in with our highest and best offer. We ended up asking $12,500 over the asking price, and our offer was accepted!

After our inspection, we learned that there were a few things that needed to be repaired/replaced in the home. Items such as outlets, smoke detectors, insulation in the attic, etc. We had a radon test done in the basement which ended up with very high results, due to a crawlspace exposing the earth to the inside of the home. Here's the lowdown on radon:

• Radon is a gas that you cannot smell, taste or see. 
• Forms naturally when uranium, thorium, or radium, radioactive metals, breaks down in rocks, soil and groundwater. 
• People can be exposed to radon primarily from breathing radon in air that comes through cracks and gaps in buildings and homes.  
• When you breathe in radon, radioactive particles from radon gas can get trapped in your lungs. Over time, these radioactive particles increase the risk of lung cancer. 
• Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking.  

Sounds tasty, right? Wrong. Radon can be removed from the home by installing a radon mitigation system which can cost upwards of $1,500. When a test like this comes back, buyers always ask the sellers to take care of the problem before they move in, and the sellers do. Usually.

After the inspection, we asked the sellers to drop the price of the home by $2,500 to cover the cost of the mitigation system and the other things in the home that needed attention. They responded with a swift, "No thanks." and immediately our excitement over a new home turned into disappointment.

Keep in mind we had already offered $12,500 OVER the asking price and the sellers still refused to go any lower. The previous owner of the home was an elderly woman who passed away, leaving the estate to her children, 1 woman and 2 men. I was told that the woman was making the primary decisions in the case of the home.

We really wanted the home so although we were angry and upset, we decided to move on with the closing process. After a few weeks I just couldn't take it any longer. I did research about radon and what the standard procedure is for removal. After multiple websites told me, "The seller should cover the cost and get this fixed before you move in," I decided to write the sellers a letter.

I told them our story; How we can't wait to move into the home, our puppy will finally have a backyard and we will get to start our family here. I explained how rare it is for buyers to cover the cost of something that is so hazardous to their health when moving into a new home and politely asked them to reconsider covering the cost of just the radon mitigation system (forgetting about the other things in the home that need to be replaced for about $1,000). I included pictures of us, our puppy and thanked them for reconsidering.

After a couple of days, they finally responded with, "You're getting a really good deal on the house, so our final answer is no."

UGH!

There are things in life that I just don't understand, one of those things being inconsideration. 

Inconsiderate: [in-kuh n-sid-er-it]: without due regard for the rights or feelings of others. 

I felt completely baffled by the idea that even though we were paying so much more over their asking price, they were choosing to be so greedy and not considering the standard selling procedure or the health of the people moving into their home.

Being someone who often cares a little too much about what other people are thinking or feeling, this is something I could not wrap my head around. There are things in life that I just will never understand and if I've learned anything in my adulthood so far, it's that life isn't fair. Things happen for no reason all the time, and you have to just deal with it.  In this situation, I could let it affect me, cry about it, yell, scream and rant on and on about it.  Or I could say, You know what? This is ridiculous. I will not let this situation ruin my day. I've done everything I can to express how I feel and after rejection (twice), I will not be a victim of this person's greed. I will be the bigger person here and choose to move on with my life.

At the end of the day, I am proud of the person I am. I am proud of the person my husband is. If other people choose to disregard our feelings or well-being, that's ok. We'll survive. You're not always going to be treated fairly in life, but it's how you deal with it that shows your true character. It's not easy, but practice turns to habit and habit turns into a lifestyle. Choose this lifestyle.

Since we got the home under our budget, we have room for some renovations. After discovering that there are wood floors under the carpet in the living room and bedrooms, we've decided to remove the carpet, refinish and stain the original wood floors. We will also be removing a wall that separates the living room from the rest of the home, creating an extremely open floor plan. This will make the space feel completely different, I can't wait to see how it looks when that wall is gone! After the renovations are complete and we're all settled into our new home, all of this home-selling, home-searching and home-buying drama will be behind us, and the road we traveled to get there will have been SO worth it!


Your friend,

Meg

His Will

Something amazing happened last week. And when something amazing happens, I need to write about it.
 

To start out, my husband and I bought a house! We close on our old home next week and then we close on the new house within the next 2-3 weeks. It's a rambler in a beautiful city, charming neighborhood and friendly cul-de-sac. There is a large fenced-in backyard for our pup and 3 bedrooms/ 2 baths on the main level. The lower level is unfinished which is like a large, blank canvas for us to run with our imagination and do whatever we'd like with it someday. There are beautiful cherry blossom trees in the front yard that bloom in the spring and there is a cozy, three season porch off the back of the house. Overjoyed is not a big enough word to describe how we feel about finally finding our perfect home.

With all exciting steps in life come responsibilities. The home is under our budget, so we will be making some improvements to better fit our style. In our new home we'd like to complete the following projects:

1. Take down a wall that separates the living room from the rest of the house. This will create an extremely open floor plan, completely changing the feel of the main level.
2. Pull up the carpet and other flooring and refinish/stain the wood floors underneath.
3. Replace the kitchen cabinets/counter tops and put in a new island.
4. Eventually re-do both bathrooms on upper level with new showers, vanities, tile, light fixtures, etc.
5. Eventually finish the basement.
6. Flatten backyard and do some landscaping.

So that sounds fun, right? We are very excited but thinking about these projects (and the money it costs to do them) has been a bit overwhelming. We visited the house again last week with our contractor/kitchen & bathroom designer (which happen to be our parents, how lucky are we?) and the list of projects got longer and longer. The amount of time it will take to do the floors is also longer than expected which means we will be living with my husband's parents for longer than expected as well. We are so lucky that they are welcoming us into their home during this transition, but we are excited to get into our new home and it can't come soon enough!

Anyone who knows me knows I get very excited about things, very fast. I like things to move along quickly and smoothly and I like instant gratification. I am working on being patient but I just love the end result of a project so much that I race to the finish line as often as possible. Renovating a home is not one of those things that you can race through. It takes time, money and lots of decisions.

On our way home from the house last week, my husband and I were chatting about all of these projects; how we were going to get a home construction loan, how long the projects would take, when we would start moving our stuff into the house, etc. I became overwhelmed and weepy. My husband, as usual, reassured me that this is the right thing to do. We're getting all of these amazing projects done so that it will be exactly how we want it when we move in. It's going to be awesome, we just have to be patient throughout the process while living with his parents. I am just really excited to live in our new home and want to get in there as soon as possible.

As I was starting to calm down a bit, a car in the right lane passed us and pulled right in front of us and continued on down the highway. They didn't cut us off or anything, they just got over into the left lane in front of us and I immediately noticed their license plate. It said "HIS WILL"

If that wasn't a sign pointed directly at me in that moment, I don't know what is. I was in this moment feeling overwhelmed and anxious about the moving process and then THIS car pulls in front of us so I can read HIS WILL on the back of their car. I felt instantly relieved and thought wow, I really needed that right now.

The fact that what happens in our lives is HIS WILL and not ours, is such a relief. What a great reminder for me to drop control of the process and let Him take over. What will be is His will and He only does what is best for us. So I changed the subject and accepted that this is how it is meant to be right now. He has never let me down before, and I don't expect he will be steering me in the wrong direction any time soon.

I also instantly felt the need to blog about this experience, so I'm hoping that there is someone out there reading this who needed the reminder today that what happens in our lives is His Will, and it is good.

I leave you with these inspirational quotes about seeking and loving His Will. 

Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take.
-Proverbs 3:6 

Your friend,

Meg

Look To My Right and I See the Hollywood Sign...

My husband and I had an awesome surprise a couple of weeks ago. I was sitting at my desk at work when I received a phone call. The woman on the other line said, "Hi, this is Pam Silverman with Fox 9. You entered to win a trip to see the American Idol finale and...you won!"

I couldn't believe it. I totally forgot that we had even entered to win! We have watched American Idol on and off the last couple of years and we absolutely loved the winner, Caleb last year. Since this was the last season, we figured we would watch again this year. One night, they announced on an episode that you could enter to win a trip to the finale, so I entered us online three times, with three different email addresses. And apparently, we won!

That week, Fox had me on The Jason Show with another winner from the Twin Cities. We discussed winning the tickets, who we wanted to win the finale, etc. What an experience!

The following week, we were off to Hollywood, We arrived on Wednesday and the weather was beautiful. Sunny and about 75 degrees. We took a quick nap in our hotel room at the W Hollywood, and then headed up to the roof to sit by the pool for a couple of hours. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and checking out Hollywood Blvd.

 

 

  

Thursday was the day of the big show, the finale. We had Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast, then ate a delicious lunch at Delphine Eatery and headed to the Dolby Theatre around 3:30. The atmosphere was crazy. There were cameras and reporters everywhere. Everyone was dressed up and the energy in the air was full of excitement. We picked up our tickets and headed inside. Our seats were way up high, but there truly isn't a bad seat in the house. Here was our view:

 

The show was so much fun. We met a few other people who had won their tickets through Fox as well. Overall we had an amazing time, especially considering that our guy, TRENT won!! Wooo!

 

Thanks to Fox for this super fun experience! 

We flew out to Des Moines on Friday morning for a friend's wedding that I was in. Even though Hollywood was an awesome experience, I can't tell you how nice it felt to be back where we belong, in the midwest! We finally made it home to Minnesota on Sunday afternoon. Back to our crazy lives and getting ready to MOVE. That's right, we sold our house AND got a new one! More on that later...

So remember, you can't win unless you try. I've signed up for hundreds of things, called radio stations to win tickets, etc. and never won a thing. So it's nice to know that people really DO win and it can be you! But you have to play to win ;)

Your friend,

Meg

The Power of Patience

I wouldn't consider myself the most patient person in the world. Throughout my life, I've learned how to get things done fast, the way I want it and NOW. I like quick results and fast projects. I like checking off an entire to-do list within a matter of hours - not days, weeks or months.

I realized this about myself a few years ago when I was constantly getting comments from co-workers about how fast I was getting things done for them. I never realized how much faster I was working than everyone else, I just thought that's how everyone worked. Although they were happy with my ability to get things done so quickly for them, there were a few times when details would slip through the cracks and I would need to re-do my work. I've had more than one person kindly tell me that although I work efficiently and my work is highly accurate (most of the time), I should slow down and double check my work.

Around that same time of my life, I found myself impatient with other people and irritated when others didn't view things the same way I did. I didn't understand why my parents would tell me the way I should do things, or why my teachers would drag their lectures on and on about what I perceived to be meaningless things. I also noticed how some people were so patient and kind. Even though they did things a bit slower, their work got done and they were happy with that. They weren't frantically racing through things just to get them done. They were engulfed in their project rather than attempting to do 5 things at once, just so they could check it off the list today.

When I realized that I was maybe not the most patient person in the world, I specifically remember going to bed one night and praying for patience. God, help me to be patient. Help me to slow down and see all of the wonderful things that are happening NOW.  Help me to be a patient person who can relax and enjoy life, one day at a time, waiting on your timing and not my own.

Boy did I have a surprise coming for me. Soon after, the company I was working for began crumbling. We all knew we were going to be laid off, but when? The process of waiting lasted for a full year before we were finally laid off. During that year, I bought a house, got engaged, got a new job, planned a wedding, and had to be patient over and over and over again. A strong feeling of anxiety built up within me and I kept praying that it would pass and I would wake up one day feeling back to myself, back to "normal." But I didn't.

Day after day, the grueling process of learning my limitations and fears continued. The process of learning about anxiety - how to deal with it, stop it, accept it - hasn't really ended, and I don't think it ever really will. But what I have learned is that it is not up to me when or if this anxiety brain of mine ends. God has given me this amazing opportunity to be patient, to trust Him and know that He is here through all of my worries and fears.

Over the past year, my husband and I have set a goal to be more patient as a team. Last month, we listed our home for sale and began the search for our next home. There have been weeks when we have viewed homes every night, sometimes two or three per night. So far, I think we've seen upwards of 30 homes. Keep in mind, that we still have a puppy who is only 5 months old. After being in a kennel all day while we're at work, we can't just leave him in there all night too. So after work, we pick up the dog, drop him off with whoever is willing to watch him, go somewhere to pick up fast food for dinner and race to our next showing. While we have been waiting for our home to sell and looking at a million and one homes all month, my husband looked at me the other night and said, "Man, God sure is testing our patience these days, isn't He." I just looked back at him and said, "He sure is."

When our home finally sold last week, we were so excited. This means that we get to make an offer on any house that we find that we like! Well, last weekend we finally found a home that we felt was the one. It needed a lot of work but it was in a city and neighborhood that we absolutely loved. After much deliberation, we finally decided to make an offer on the home. We were so excited. But then our offer was declined. The homeowners wanted too much for their home than we believed it to be worth. I guess it's back to the drawing board.

So here we are. We close on our home in a month and we don't have a new home lined up yet. We do have family we can stay with until we move into our new home, but it just wasn't exactly what we had in mind. We were hoping to find our new home and sell our old home simultaneously. But even after all of this craziness that has pursued over the past month, I recognize that this is just another opportunity to be patient. I find myself opening my eyes, looking around and soaking everything in. I know that we will find the right home for us when the time is right. Being patient throughout this process has given my husband and I the freedom to feel happy and excited, trusting that it will happen when the time is right. What a liberating, stress-free feeling -- to relax and know that everything is going to work out.

On the day that I prayed for patience a couple of years ago, God was certainly listening as He always is. He has given me so many opportunities to be patient and I can confidently say that I am more patient than I have ever been. I am more patient with myself, more patient with others and more patient with God and HIS timing. This is something that I now truly believe is the key to happiness. Trusting God and waiting on Him, regardless of what you think should be happening right now in your life.

My challenge for you this week is to recognize when you could be more patient. Notice when you are feeling impatient and attempt to turn that around. Then, notice when you are excelling at patience, and reward yourself for it. Patience takes practice, give it some time.

Your friend,

Meghan