SOLD! And a little about our next chapter...

That's right, the Jorgensens are jumping ship!  Back in June, I wrote a post about our plans to dig a hole and build a house in Cedar Falls.  We've been dreaming up plans to build for, well, a long time, and the new development we will soon call our home has been a slow, unyielding process getting started.  It's been a blessing, really, as it's given us time to get settled as a family of four and figure out what we really want and need in a floor plan, but it's come with more challenges that I could have ever foreseen, even though every one under the sun warned me about it!  The biggest blessing, though, has been this charming pile of bricks behind me.  We put our house on the market at the beginning of September, not knowing how long it would take to sell and wanting to avoid the slow market of the winter and holiday season.  Well, our house sold within a week of sticking that sign in the ground.  We enjoyed a week's worth of sparkly clean, show-ready status and were floored when we got a call from our realtor so soon, especially after we were told time and time again how slow the market is right now.  We were prepared for it to sit, but were not prepared for it to sell so quickly!  The offer was hard to pass up, even though when we got the call our basement was just being dug!  The timing was not ideal, but, we praised God for a speedy sale and moved on to climbing the next mountain.  

Fast forward two months later and we finally have that SOLD sign in our front yard.  The months between our initial offer and all the rigamarole that goes into financing, inspections, appraisals, etc. was definitely a test of our patience and our desire to control what's around us, but we learned to let go and focus on what we could control.  We continued to move forward on our house, projected to be move-in ready early 2015, and did our best to maintain normalcy for our kiddos.  Now, with just two nights left in this place we've called home for eight years, it's all starting to sink in.  It hits me at weird times, like when I pull the garage door opener off my car mirror and realize very soon, someone else will push the exact same button and pull their car into the exact same place I have for the past eight years.  It hits me when I look at our backyard, the leftover leaves and summer toys scattered throughout and realize we won't ever again lay under that shade tree and read books while we wait for Beau to get home from work.  It's the weirdest thing, handing over a piece of your identity by signing a paper, knowing you will likely never see it again.  So much of us exists inside these walls and it's hard to think that soon someone else will make a life here.  It's been just what we've needed, the perfect refuge to build our marriage on, bring our babies home to, and create our family's story.  Our roots are strong under this foundation, but we're taking the fruits of our labors with us, to plant new seeds and water new stories for our family in a house with lots of room to grow.  It's the most bittersweet feeling in the world, leaving behind something so dear to us, knowing that so much good lies ahead of it.

So now where are we going?  Well, as of this Thursday night, we will be taking up residence with my parents while we await our new house to be completed.  It's going to be quite the transition for all of us, but I am excited to spend the holidays close to family and take advantage of an extra set of hands or two while we finish up the decisions that go into building a house.  We've packed most of our belongings into storage and have plans to live simply this holiday season, giving our kids a different take on the holidays.  We've had our fair share of hustle and bustle this fall and I'm more than ready to slow down as much as we're afforded through the remainder of 2014.  It's a bit of thrill thinking of making a temporary nest in our soon-to-be close quarters, to have lots of time to drink tea and talk with my mom, and to give Cruz lots of Papa time for a few months.  It's going to be an adventure indeed, one we will soak up and make the most of.  My parents have been working so hard readying their house to make room for our family and we are so grateful.  It's truly taken a village and we are so thankful to have a good one.  

So, here we go.  It seems we've been packing for days and are finally seeing the end.  We're looking forward to one last night on Fleur Drive tomorrow.  We're planning on doing it right.  Takeout on the living room floor, mixed drinks with whatever's left from the pantry, and piling on mattresses for one last sleep in our rooms.  It doesn't get any better than that. :)