moving

In a few weeks, the Chowning family will be moving. We are excited and terrified and sentimental and optimistic all at once. It will be hard to leave our present house. It is the first house that Jeff and I lived in as husband and wife, and it is the home that Amanda took her first steps in. It's amazing how many memories you make in a house, isn't it?

We still can't believe that our house went under contract in the first weekend it was on the market. It was an answer to our prayers, for sure, but it also has made me feel like we actually have a cute house! Someone else appreciates the funkiness of our home, the red living room and blue kitchen, the things that we did to it to spunk it up a bit. Many of you know that I have always wished for good decorating sense. I tend to just do things to a house that make me feel good...colors, music in as many places as possible, pictures of people I love...without much regard for how it all fits together. So, I'm glad that someone else could see themselves in this home we have grown to love. It means a lot.

The house we are moving to has so much character. It has much more space, which will help enormously as we consider adding to the family. It was after we put an offer for it that I realized why it felt so much like home to me. It's very similar to the house I grew up in. It's a cape cod style and it has the same circular pattern of the house that my parents still love in. It has its challenges...a back yard that is huge but is basically mud pit at the moment, and a kitchen that we'll want to reinvent a bit as we are able to. But it also has warmth and great energy. And oh, a dining room that we will actually be able to use as a dining room. I don't even have the words to tell you how excited I am about that. Plus you guys, I finally have the little window seat that I've always dreamt of.

It will be a mess for awhile, and I've made peace with that. We'll have to listen to what it tells us it needs and find a landscaper who is excited about the possibilities of the back yard. But, we're really excited. We can't wait to share the space with family and friends. Look at that red door. Come on in.