Staying Put

Most of you know that we have had our house for sale for a LONG time - about a year and two weeks now.  I honestly can't remember back to a time when our house wasn't for sale.  Checking email, searching for houses, and cleaning for showings have become routine for us in the past year.  It's been a year of intense ups and downs, and even a few heartbreaks.  But I think we've become stronger people because of it.  We have agreed to keep trying to sell our house for another month - we're giving it until the 4th of July. At that point, we feel that it will be getting too close to the time that the baby will be born for us to be dealing with selling a house.  We plan to make our current guest room Logan's "big boy" room, and I want that transition to be complete by the time we have to bring a new baby home.  I also don't want to be bothered with cleaning and having to leave for showings with a newborn and a two year old at home.  So, in another month we will most likely be taking our house off the market - unsold.  Surprisingly, I am very okay with this.  I've had some moments of heavy-duty stress over the past few weeks, thinking about ending the school year, getting ready for a substitute to start next school year for me, selling our house, and buying a new one.  I will be happy to have a few of those stressors out of my life, even if it means we're not getting exactly what we wanted.  I know that taking an entire semester off work in the fall will really push our family to financial limits, and this would not be possible with a new house.  I'm starting to see now that this whole process is just a blessing in disguise and God's way of showing me that time with my boys will always be more important than having a bigger, newer home.  It will be a tight squeeze for us, but I know we can make it work.  I'm actually looking forward to a learning experience that is going to help me re-examine what's really important in my life.  We will need to do some cleaning out of our "stuff" to make room for the baby, and we will definitely have to prioritize our spending - two things that we desperately need to do but are not motivated to do without feeling like we have to.  I plan on using the next several months as an opportunity to make little improvements to our current house (we do plan to try to put it back on the market again next spring), our growing family, and our lifestyle.  I'm amazed that a situation that has seemed like such a pain throughout this whole process is now giving me a sense of calm and hope.  (Disclaimer:  I am hormonal, so my feelings about this situation will most likely change by tomorrow, if not sooner!)

And now, just for fun, here is a picture of my little Logan the day we put our house up for sale last year. He couldn't even stand up by himself, and now he's almost two!