We have successfully moved from Charlotte, NC to Richmond, VA. Successful = nobody died in the process. (Although we did forget to pack one entire drawer in our kitchen which housed our silverware. Whoops. We’re eating with our hands these days. Nothing out of the ordinary there.)

There are a million thoughts going through my brain these days, so I’m going to just start with a general life update … which is basically code language for anything I want to tell you that is maybe too small for one blog post.

HOME

For the past several weeks, I have entertained a new home decor style with a major emphasis on boxes. With a side of packing tape. As of this past Monday, the “box motif” has been evicted from my home. (Except for several that are filled with books. Which shall not be evicted until shelves have been installed.) 

Here are some picture moments from this past week:

for more pictures, see my instagram here.

After we unloaded all the boxes, I made it my goal to unpack ASAP. Sure, it meant working like a crazy woman for several days – and I may or may not (emphasis on the may not) have taken a shower every single day – but guess what? We’re moved in now and back into the swing of homeschooling. Hal.le.lu.jah.

Sometimes I knock routine. I think it’s boring and predictable, so I want something new and exciting! But hear, hear: there’s something absolutely delicious about routine when you haven’t had it for a while. I’m smack in that delicious feeling right now and not looking forward to getting out of it anytime soon.

NEW CITY

So no, Richmond isn’t technically a new city to me since my family moved here when I was in 5th grade. But a lot has changed in the past 12 years. Like the fact that I have 4 kids now. In Charlotte, some of our favorite things were the libraries and greenways/parks around the city. We also had some used bookstore and thrift store haunts we liked to hit up every once in a while. I’ve already located and shopped at my nearest Aldi, so there’s a big point in Richmond’s favor. Next stop: library.

FAMILY

A major perk of our new location is being close to family. I already mentioned this, but it’s definitely worth mentioning again. I’m so thankful to be near my parents as well as my sister and her family. I love that my kids can play with their cousins and that we live close enough to just drop in. Unannounced.
For dinner.

Okay, maybe not. But the point is that we live close enough to do that! And they live close enough to do that to us! Hooray! Since we’re planning to be here until Jonathan finishes his PhD (approximately 2 more years), I want to soak up this time with family even more than usual – knowing that this is potentially the closest we’ll ever live to each other.

EMOTIONS

Pretty much all the emotions have been covered over the past few weeks, with a spike in intensity riiiiight around the days we moved. Go figure. One of my prayers throughout this moving experience has been that God would help me to stay grounded. My theme verse for January was Isaiah 26:3 –

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

I’m so thankful for how God has answered that prayer. Moving from a place and people you love is emotional. Not only emotional, but just plain tough. There’s no antidote for that. But there is God’s grace, which is far better than any antidote you could find. This grace has the ability to lift my eyes up from temporal circumstances to God’s unchanging Word and character. There is absolutely nothing more grounding than that.

ONWARD

We are so thankful to be right where God wants us to be. There’s rest in that, isn’t there? It’s been such a great teaching tool to remind our kids that God led us here. Here’s to settling in and writing a new chapter.

Oh, and to all our Richmond/Charlotte friends? Our home’s ready for ya. #fistbump