Ready to Sell

Met with our real estate agent tonight, and we have set the date for the house to go on the market - Feb 19th. We set our list price and signed tons of paperwork. There is much to do to prepare. I just can't believe we are doing this! But, it just feels right.

A big move

So I've been thinking a lot lately about how much I would be willing to pay to take the chance (not a guarantee) for an increase in happiness. Am I willing to double my mortgage to an unholy amount for the chance to live in a better community and have a better chance at friendships for myself and my family?

I've had wonderful friends in my life, but it has been the one thing that has been missing from my life for many years now. I waited until my child started school because everyone kept telling me that I would meet people at the school and form friendships. Now that we have started at our local school it has become very obvious that I will not get what I was hoping for from our neighborhood. We have excellent schools, but we live in a community where the parents do not value being involved in the school. We live in an area of great diversity (which I love), but the cultures do not all value integration. The kids integrate well together, but the parents are simply not interested. I have always wanted the kind of community where parents are really involved in making their neighborhood school a great experience for their kids, and where families gather for casual barbecues and holiday parties. We don't have that here.

So, we're selling our house and we're moving. It terrifies us and excites us at the same time. We love our house. We've remodeled every square inch of it. We will be doubling our mortgage and at the same time downsizing to a smaller house. We will be leaving a life of financial stability for a life of tight budgets and penny pinching. It is a painful pill to swallow. It is a huge gamble. But, we think it will pay off in the end. Maybe not in dollars, but in an improved quality of life. Can you really put a price on that?

Year-end Salute

What a year! What a crazy, fun, challenging, and emotional year. In many ways, I'm glad it's over because we faced some tough times, and we're ready to move on to another year. In other ways, I'm reminded once again how fast the time is going, and I wish it would just slow down so I could truly savor every moment. When times are good, they are really great. And it seems that as I get older, when times are bad, they are really bad.

So, here is my year-end wrap up. We spent the Holidays at home with family. The entire family came out this year for Christmas Eve (sisters and brothers, and Kansas relatives), so it was a full house at my parents' house. Christmas morning the kids were excited to see that Santa brought them just what they asked for - Kayla got a pink princess bike, and Matthew got Star Wars Legos. Apollo even unwrapped a few gifts (he's very good at it). We spent the rest of Christmas day at my parents house relaxing and enjoy the time with family.

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My Dad is doing well, and is now even walking without a cane. However, he is exhausted all the time, and has not regained all of the independence we were hoping for by this point. It is difficult for my parents to adjust to this new lifestyle they have been presented with, when they were so used to active and full days. They are grieving the loss of the life they had, and it pains me to watch them struggle with the transition. But, he is here, and doing well. Our prayers were answered this summer.

At the end of every year I make a photo book for our family. It is like a yearbook of all the things that we did over the year. I don't scrapbook, so this is my substitute. It takes some time, but Shutterfly makes it easy, and this is my gift to my kids. The kids love to look back at all of the old books (so do I) and it is such a great way to preserve the memories. I highly recommend it!

We are already booking our vacations for 2010, including a trip back to Hawaii in June. We're also planning a return to Disneyland, and hopefully will connect with our Colorado friends for another reunion. It will be interesting to see what the new year brings us. We had a rough 2009 so I hope we are in for some smooth sailing.

We feel so very blessed every day for the wonderful things we have. I guess it is human nature to sometimes concentrate on the things you don't have, and I sometimes find myself thinking about what it would be like if we lived somewhere different. But then I think about all the things that we do have and I am humbled. I guess one benefit of surviving the rough times is a greater appreciation of the things you have. It's the small things, and the everyday moments that so often go overlooked that truly are the blessings in life. I hope you all have a healthy and happy 2010.