Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe that 2014 has come to a close and 2015 is here upon us. It's truly amazing how quickly time flies, but faster and faster it flies year after year it seems. 

I have been awful at writing any sort of update the past month and a half or so. I suppose it's due to the overwhelmed feeling I've had for that long of a time. With holidays, house hunting trips, packing, and simply trying to live life, I didn't even know where to start. 

Here is an overview of what has been happening over the past two months:

The day after Thanksgiving we flew down to Raleigh for less than 72 hours for a house hunting trip - and we bought a house. You probably saw the picture of it on my Facebook. It's the most perfectly charming Southern home in an amazing neighborhood. You can literally walk to the elementary and intermediate school from our house, it has big, tall trees, a park, swimming pool, clubhouse, etc. Overall, it's the type of house and neighborhood that I picture in my mind when I think of a Southern town. It's perfect.

When we came home from NC, it was time to get ready for Christmas. I felt like I was running around constantly with my head cut off. Buying gifts, seeing friends, running errands, making calls about our new house - oh my! 

Christmas was so wonderful. Dean got a Cozy Coupe that sat unwrapped next to the tree and his face when he saw it on Christmas morning was priceless. He only got out of it to exchange one toy as his passenger for another. We had a wonderful time spending multiple days with our families. 

Even though Christmas was wonderful, it was quite sad at the same time. On Christmas Eve I said goodbye to my family - aunts, uncles, cousins, Grandma. No one really said anything about it, they just hugged me extra tight and a few extra times. Right before we left, my cousin Michelle said, "Am I going to see you before you move?" I said, "I think this is it." She instantly teared up and I felt so loved! I held my composure until we got to the car. 

It's very difficult saying goodbye to your family. Of course we will be back for visits and will talk to everyone and keep in touch, but not being close is a difficult pill to swallow.

Christmas Day I said goodbye to my Grandma Johnson and uncle and aunt. That went smoothly, and Grandma has already called me a few times - once so that I could settle a 25 cent bet she made with my brother. Sorry that you lost Grandma!

Oh, and I suppose one of the biggest things that has happened in the past two months is that WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!

Two weeks before Christmas I said to Ryan, "If you don't plant St, Joseph tonight, I'm going to be really upset. He's been sitting on our kitchen table for three weeks now."

When I initially brought up St. Joseph to Ryan he said, "Is this a Catholic thing?" 

Meh, I know a lot of Catholics that have done it and have been successful, but it's not necessarily a "Catholic" only thing. If you're trying to sell your house - you need to plant St. Joseph immediately!

For those that don't know about St. Joseph:

You buy a small figurine of St. Joseph to plant in your yard. If you Google it, there are specific "rules." to help you sell your house faster. But here's what we did. We planted him in our flowerbed about 4 feet from our house (thanks Google), upside down (very important) and facing AWAY from the house. And, of course, you need to pray while you're doing this. 

We planted St. Joseph on a Wednesday night. And I swear to you, we got an offer on our house in exactly one week. Wednesday we planted him, Thursday I got a request for a showing on Friday (that didn't pan out), we had an open house on Sunday where one couple showed up, Monday they came back, Wednesday they offered. 

Now, it's incredibly important that once you sell your house, you dig St. Joseph up and take him with you. He's still buried in our flower bed currently. I'm just giving him some extra time to make sure everything goes according to plan. But he will be making the journey with us to NC here shortly. 

This has been a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders. We aren't closing on our house here in Ohio until February 13th, but that's okay. We were really worried about having to make two house payments for a few months until this house sold. But, we are beyond blessed that this doesn't have to happen. We don't have a house payment on our new house until February 1st, we already paid the January payment on our house here in Ohio. So that leaves a 13 day overlap. Well, the sellers in NC are actually renting the house back from us....for 13 days. So we literally will have zero days of overlap between payments. 

Coincidence you may say - I think not. 

I was Baptized and brought up in the Catholic church. My family was always very religious, and I have been the same. I had a few years of anger with God when my Mom and Dad both passed away, but now my faith is stronger than it has ever been. During this whole relocation process, I have prayed more, read my Bible more, and have trusted God more than I have in years.

 I don't find what happened with our house to be a coincidence. I give credit where credit is due. 

And now for the biggest question we have gotten for the past few months - When are we moving!?

8 days. Yup, that's right. We're in the single digit countdown right now. Ryan is actually packing right now (I can hear the tape) and I promised to help once I finished writing this (maybe that's why this has turned out to be such a long post - ha!). 

I promise that it won't be long until I post again. I just needed to get through the holidays and to have a minute for myself again. 

So here's to starting 2015 off on the right foot. We would greatly appreciate any thoughts and prayers that you would love to send our way - especially for me. I am a homebody and even though I'm very excited for this new adventure, I know that it will take more of a toll on me than it will on Ryan. 

I hope that you have a great New Year, and thanks for sticking with us through this crazy journey of life! 

xoxo,
Beth