Well, we've done it. We've found a more permanent place to live. It's kind of funny, because a year ago, I never imagined I'd be where I am today. So much has changed!
One year ago:
- We were in the middle of a short sale of our Provo house.
- I was working 12-15 hours a night, not sleeping and not eating much.
- Lily was 7 months old, and just getting started with solid foods.
- Our plans were to sell our house and move to the Salt Lake area to be closer to Lance's work.
- We were inactive at our church.
- Lance's mother was close to passing away
In December, our house sold while we were visiting my parents out here, in North Carolina. We decided we liked it here and we wanted to move here. We didn't feel like we had the means to make the move at that time, so we found a short 6-month lease in Midvale, Utah. We got rid of most of our large furniture, and kept only what we needed to fill our new, much smaller living space. We made the move to the apartment in January, and started going to church again in February.
I'm going to be honest. We only started going to church again so we could get our temple recommends renewed so we could go to Jared's wedding, which was in March.
What I didn't plan on was falling in love with that ward!
This isn't what I was planning to write about today, but I guess I'll continue anyway... I was born and raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have great parents with strong testimonies of Jesus Christ and his restored gospel.
I was never truly converted until this year.
This year! In the past 10 months, I feel like I've become a completely new person. I have a completely new perspective on life. I have a completely new perspective on the church. And I have a completely new perspective on the people around me. I have a real testimony for the first time in my life.
It was not easy. In fact, I had to do one of the hardest and scariest things in my life. I'm glad I did it. I am glad that even though I had been led down the wrong path for a very long time (nearly 10 years - which is 40% of my current age), and even though I had ignored all the warnings given to me for years, that I could come back. I could be, and was, forgiven.
Anyway, back to my story... Lance quit his job and we moved from Midvale to Raleigh in July. So, here I am. I am a new person, and I'm once again moving to a new place. This will be our third move this year!
We're moving to Kissimmee, Florida.
Here's a little gem for you (from Wikipedia):
On August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley passed through Kissimmee with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour, damaging homes and buildings, toppling trees and cutting electrical power to the entire city. Kissimmee Utility Authority restored power to 54 percent of the residents in the first 72 hours; 85 percent were restored within one week. Service was restored to all customers on August 28. Three weeks after Hurricane Charley, the area was struck by Hurricane Frances, followed by Hurricane Jeanne three weeks after Frances.
Ain't that exciting? I'm thinking I need to get some 72 hour kits prepared.
So, I'm sure you're wondering why we're moving there. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure. We have visited that city four times in the past (twice this year). It's right outside of Disney World and we usually stay in Kissimmee because it's cheaper than a Disney World hotel. We like Disney. Disney World makes us want to live there. But California has Disneyland, so why didn't we move there? It just didn't work out that way.
We've been living here in North Carolina for a few months now, and while we really enjoy it, it just doesn't feel like it's where we need to be any longer. I wish I could give a more solid answer than that, but I can't. It's just a feeling we have. Yes, Lance has been offered jobs here. No, he hasn't liked any of them, or felt like they were the right job for him. So, we're leaving on a hope and prayer that he'll find something he likes in Kissimmee.
Lance and I have always been drawn to Florida. Together, and separately. In the 5th grade, I chose Florida to do my state report on because I thought it was a cool state. In the past we've talked about living in Florida. When Lance lost his job at Flowserve in 2009, I was looking at houses in Florida thinking that maybe we would get a job and move there.
Well, now we're just going to move there without a job. We might hate it. We might love it. We won't find out unless we try.
A few weeks ago when we went to Disney World, we also looked at apartments in the area. We did a little research and wrote down a few that looked good. While Lance was looking at apartments on his own, however, he saw a couple of LDS missionaries leaving a particular apartment complex, so he decided to check that one out. He really liked it, so he came and got me and we both checked it out. It felt right, and we jumped.
Are we crazy? Perhaps. But, as Emilee and Jessica would say, YOLO!
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