All the New Things

I have to say, this last month has been a whirlwind. Who'd have thought that adding one more little person and her birthday to the mix would make this time of year that much more crazy?? I mean, she's only ONE person! But when you add in doctor appointments, speech therapy, post placement visits, and the fact that her birthday falls in the 6 week time frame that we now have FIVE birthdays in (not counting extending family in there either!)...well, it all adds up. But it is SO much fun and she is SO very worth it!! Anyway, to the purpose of this post...

Do you ever feel led to do something totally out of your comfort zone? Something you didn't see coming? Something that wasn't in "the plan"? Well that's where we are right now. We have some changes up ahead, ones we didn't see coming, but ones we are so completely excited about!

A little back story for you: It's been coming for a while now, but I would say definitely as of the end of last year, we knew that Sean wouldn't be staying at his job long term, for many reasons. I won't go into them all here but suffice it to say, we've been praying over and discussing the future for well over 6 months now. As of January 22nd of this year, we started a small side business as many of you know. It's now been less than 3 months and we are SO busy! It has taken off faster than we ever expected and it has been such a huge blessing to our family--and we haven't really even marketed much! But that is only part of the journey...

At the core of who we are, at the heart of where we feel God is leading, we want restoration...for our family, for our neighbors, for our community, for every individual that we come into contact with. SO many people are hurting, our nation is hurting. And it would be so easy to believe there's little we can do, when there's only a handful of us. But we serve a BIG God. And we believe that when He gives you a vision, He intends for you to fulfill it. So we are seeking to serve, to give, to build relationships with those around us...to begin the process of restoration. We have to start somewhere.

So the first part of the new "plan" (and I use that word loosely because we all know how easily plans can change), is to focus on getting our business off the ground. That will happen more intently over the next month or two. At the same time, we have begun the process of purging. Many of you know I spoke of it a few posts back and about my desire to have less clutter and more time, less stuff and better relationships. We purged and had a garage sale. Then we've loaded up the remaining items and donated them. The next phase, however, won't be quite so easy.

We aren't 100% sure if the plan will be to sell our home or simply rent it out. Both options have pros and cons. So that has yet to be determined. But what we DO know is we will be in search of land by the end of the year. For now, we are patiently waiting for the right time, then we will move forward and find a temporary home to rent. This will allow us to either have an income property in our current home or allow us to sell it altogether so that we are able to purchase the right land when we find it.

Once we are on land...well, that's even more exciting! We want to open a Bed & Breakfast. We want to create a space where people can come to get away...whether they want to visit local attractions or just relax on our property to rejuvenate their souls. There's even a strong possibility that dear friends of ours will purchase adjoining acreage and supply us with all the foods we will prepare for those who visit, as well as help us run the B&B!

There are so many many aspects of this process, this vision that we have, that I cannot list them all. But suffice it to say, we are truly, truly excited about where God is leading, about all that He is doing, about the vision laid out before us. It has already changed our family so much and we are only just beginning!

I will try to post at least twice a week on here to keep you all in the loop. Our prayer is that as you see God moving in our story, that somehow, you will be blessed, that you will be challenged to step out and allow Him to do the unforeseen in your lives as well.

Blessings,