New House, New Life

 My whole life feels like a Tl:Dr post sometimes. So: the tl:dr version of my life is: we bought a house! And moved! To the neighborhood we have always wanted to move to. And it has almost everything I wanted for a house, including a view and a connection to nature. 

It is on 1.26 acres of land, most of that vertical mountainside, which means we have a lot of privacy and space around us, but don’t have insane amount of yard work, which is perfect for us. 

The actual process of moving was crazy, and I am deeply glad we are not doing that again for decades. We are still in the thick of unpacking, so the craziness continues - but even so it is amazing here. I feel like I am squatting in someone else’s much nicer house. I cannot believe this is actually our house, that we were somehow able to buy it. The kitchen/dining room alone is four times larger than our last one.  Here are some random pictures that partially show it. Today we made plum fruit leather (from our plum tree - and we have two apple tree, an apricot tree and a peach tree as well!!), and peach pie, and a plum compote.

 Cooking is so exciting here, and I have two ovens! I have wanted two ovens ever since I knew they existed. We use both a lot - for a family of 11 they feel like more of a necessity than a marker of luxury.

(Even Artemis does the dishes at our new house!)

(A side yard at our house in the morning light)

(Some of our property)

Pictures of Family Home evening and scripture study - both things that have been easier to do in our new house. Is it because change helps with bringing out other changes? Because the rooms and spaces are large enough for our family? Who knows, but I will take it!

Our quality of life, even amidst the boxes and furniture still in pieces is already much better as a family. There is more space for us to all sit together in the living room, we go outside more, and family dinners and cleanup are light years better. I am just so grateful God gave us the opportunity to have this house. We weren’t even actively looking when I found it, and it was out of our price range and went into contract with someone else first! Plus then the sellers picked our offer over a cash offer, which was crazy. Such a gift from God that we are here at all. And I love it here. 

Living room in progress: