There is so much I can say about the journey that we are currently on, that I’m not quite sure where to even begin. Which is why I want to blog it. To keep track of and get out there, the many lessons we have learned, but also the pure love that God is. God has shown us so much in the last year, but it has really been over the last 5 years that has brought us to the decisions we are making for our family now.
And, you know how it is, you can never see the big picture when you are in it. You can only sort of make sense of things and give reason to why things are happening the way they are. I can’t even say that I can make complete sense of the last 5 years now, but I do see pieces that have brought us to this point.
So maybe I will give a quick catch-up to where we are now before I dive into the many, many reasons why.
It is January 19, 2024, and 11 days ago we sold our house. It was a big house (for us at least), 3600 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 14 ft ceilings and on .9 acres of mostly flat land in Westlake Village, CA. When we bought it in April of 2020, it was a dump. We had grand visions and could see our family living there forever, so we decided to gut the entire thing. With the help of our friend @lemonadehomes, we made the house so beautiful. We picked every part and piece by hand. We had even more vision for the backyard, but that was going to take another several hundred thousand dollars. For the time being, the kids built forts, found bugs and animals, ran around with their friends, could play hide and seek, and we had the biggest Easter egg hunts ever! It was great.
I thought we would live there forever. I never wanted to move again. Until God spoke to my heart.
You see, we had thought of moving out of California not that long ago. It was in 2019, when we were getting ready to put our last house on the market. We didn’t tell anyone. We wanted to be sure about such a big decision. At that time, our two places were Tennessee or Florida. But, Aston was only 3 and it was crushing to me to think of living that far from family and being outside of the beautiful area we live in. The Westlake/Thousand Oaks area is one of the most beautiful in the state, maybe even the country. I just couldn’t see myself living anywhere else - a true Socal girl.
So, I told Damian, the next house we buy, I want to stay. For good. I hate moving. I hate buying and selling homes. I just want to have roots in one area.
Fast forward through COVID and the recession of 2023 (can I call it that?), and there we were talking again about moving to Florida. Well, let me be clear, Damian has never dropped the idea. I was getting tired of him looking at real estate in Florida every stinking day!
After a few conversations, I knew we needed to take a trip. If we were seriously considering this, we needed to go and see if it was a place we could actually live because we don’t just sit on a decision. We are a little bit “all or nothing.” We are either doing it or we aren’t. Our kids are at the ages that it just makes sense, and we knew it would be a full year before we actually made the move. So we went to Florida for two weeks in July/Aug of 2023.
It was on the second night of that trip that Damian and I shared a bottle of wine outside (it was so lovely and warm), while the kids watched a movie. And he said to me, “what if, we really do this thing and sell our house… what it while we don’t have a mortgage, we go to Italy for a few months?”
I almost couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t be excited because it jus seemed crazy enough to be right. I had to sleep on it and think about “could this really be a possibility?”
And then we decided to do the craziest thing. After much prayer and consideration, we are following through on that thought, that dream that we have had for over a decade.
We have sold our house, and are getting ready to travel to Europe (mostly Italy) for 3 months. We will leave on Feb 20 and return May 20. We have sold or gotten rid of most of our belongings. We said goodbye to the big, beautiful house.
We have no idea what’s coming, or how God will show up. But we are ready! We are ready for an adventure and we know God has good plans for us, BIG plans for us. We are going into the next several months with hands wide open. We are saying, “God you gave it all to us and you can have it all! Show us how you want us to use what you have given us.”
We really don’t know where we will end up. Maybe we will live in Italy for a few years. Maybe we will come back and move to Florida. I’m not sure. But I do know God will show us and I am excited about our future for the first time in a LONG time!
The things we feel for certain in our spirit are 1. we need to take this trip to Italy, and 2. we need to leave California!