33755 S. Barlow Rd. Woodburn, OR 97071

As hard as this is for me to write, I have a complete peace in my heart about this major transition that's about to take place in our lives.

We hit 'post' on our house for sale this past Thursday.  Most people think we're crazy and I have to admit, I still occasionally do to.  When you feel God is calling you to something bigger than your understanding at the moment, that's often how it seems.  We've loved this home for the past 9 years and have put many hours into making it the beautiful home that it is...All the way up to a bathroom that we're still currently working on!  When you buy an older home, it comes with a lot of charm but also quite a few repairs and/or much needed updates.

Our recent decision to leave the church we've been a part of since we moved here led us to start looking at our location in regards to community.  We've always lived about 15 minutes from everything, school, church, grocery store...And now that we were entering a new season of life with William in school and Calvin to follow, we started thinking more about our future.  William attended a private school in Brooks last year for 1st grade and so we started our search for a church near his school.  A year of church hunting led us deeper into South Salem which left us a little confused as to where God was leading.  A LONG story short, we randomly reconnected with the pastor's wife (Anita) that Curtis grew up with in church who told us that if we were already that deep into Salem, that we should just head on over to Stayton to try out the church her daughter (whom Curtis also knew from childhood) and family attended.  We figured it was worth a try and now know that our reconnection with Anita wasn't random at all, it was Providential.

We've been attending Foothills in Stayton with the Dessieux family ever since (going on 6 months now).  Curtis and I both felt, after attending a few times, that Stayton and the surrounding community was a place we felt comfortable raising our boys.  As it turned out, there was also a private Christian school in Sublimity within minutes of the church.

Yes, this meant another school transition for William of which we weren't excited about for him (due to his extreme difficulty transitioning into new environments).  Poor kid has started a new school with each school year.  We're hopeful it serves to help him grow and become stronger.

Today is Sunday, Sept 25th...just three short days since we put our house on the market.  We've received a full price offer from a family we ended up knowing from William's kindergarten class at 91 school.  The timing of it all has been nothing short of God's hand at work.  Curtis and I would've liked to have had it on the market plenty sooner but if we had, the Wilder family wouldn't have gotten it.  We posted our house on Thursday.  They posted their house the next day on Friday.  They sold there's that same Saturday and then bought ours the next day on Sunday.  How's that for timing?!

Now begs the question, "Where will we live now?"
Although we've been searching within the Stayon/Sublimity communities, we haven't yet set our hearts on where we feel God is leading us.  For me, it's all a bit surreal still.  There's a lot of packing yet to do and right about now I'm thankful He only gives us one day at a time.

In the meantime, we're looking forward to landing temporarily with Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Bruce.  They have so graciously offered their home (and their garage for a lot of our stuff!) for us to live in the interim.  Im' sure we'll make some memories worth keeping...

Our home: July 2007-Sept 2016

It once was a drab beige color...I like what we chose!

A lot done in this backyard...and to the back of the house.
There once was a car port...now a Garage!

Ah, my garden.
I can only hope there's at least a little space at our next place to plant a few things.

Added so many windows...

Kitchen Remodel: 2010

To think this once was a wall.
Oh the difference it made when we opened the dining room up to the living room.

Original hardwoods.  As grungy as they were, the held a lot of character.

From nursery to bunk beds.  The house I brought both my babies home to.

Our very first remodel project on this house.  Complete gut and redo.
I'll always love the barn wood ceiling.

Smart move turning the space above the garage a bonus room.
Added a lot to our home and it gave us a space for the TV that wasn't in the main living area.  

Entering the last a final remodel project. a complete 2nd bathroom.  These pictures were added at completion (months after this post was originally written), just 2 weeks prior to our move out date.  My husband is amazing at what he does.  I only wish we could have enjoyed it a bit longer before leaving (o;

Boys (and I) did enjoy a few soaks in the tub while we soaked up our last few days in the house.

Yeah, mirror's off set because we didn't hang it prior to the new owners.

All in all, I can't say I won't miss it.  But I know that what's made it a place I have loved has been not the house and the property, but the people we've shared it with.  Things are just things and I am forever grateful we were given the opportunity to be here for as long as we have.  Am I a bit sad?  Yes, naturally.  But I'm also excited about what lies ahead.  An adventure awaits us...