Ok, so I've totally been avoiding writing a blog post for the past two months. Pretty much ever since I promised you all I'd update you on life in Virginia and finding a house, blah blah blah. To be honest, it's been too difficult to find the right words to describe our experience here.
For the first few weeks, I didn't want to write because I didn't want to spill the beans on buying our new house before we closed on it. And I also didn't want anyone to think we were crazy. Because what happened really was a little crazy. We arrived in Hampton on a Sunday evening, found the house online that night (it had just been posted two days prior), met with our realtor at 10:30 Monday morning and were in a contract with the sellers by 6. It was the first house we looked at, and after viewing about three more in the neighborhood, we just couldn't keep our minds open to anything else but 4 Margaret. Even the address felt right. If that's possible.
So then we waited. And waited. And waited for five weeks to close. Everything went through very smoothly. We stayed in temporary housing for a week, took a couple nights to visit my sister in northern VA, and camped out at our wonderful friends' Carla and Jeremy's house for almost a month. I also spent a week in CT helping my friend out with her new baby. You're probably thinking, "Wow, that sounds like a busy life!" But I promise you... it was so. long. I shamefully admit I have watched almost 5 seasons of One Tree Hill since arriving here. That's what a lack of job, friends, and life will do to a person.
But then we bought the house.
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| This picture was taken the day we closed... those blue skies didn't last for long! |
It was a Monday afternoon and as soon as we got the keys and walked in the door, the skies opened for the next week. We were fortunate enough to have a small break in the clouds long enough to unpack our moving truck, but seriously!
We spent the next couple weeks becoming familiar faces at the local Home Depot, Target, and Lowes, purchasing things to make our house a home. It's amazing how much money you can spend on trivial things like curtain rods and area rugs.
At the end of October, I took a trip I've been waiting four years to take. I went to visit my dear friend Viv in Lisbon, Portugal. It was an amazing experience, from wandering the cobblestone streets, climbing up to castles, and drinking wine in the Douro quintas... I experienced beauty in a new way. And I even think I learned a lot about myself in this place... traveling will do that to you, so be careful!
It's been a full couple of months, but at the same time, has felt so empty. We are slowly starting to make friends and have even enjoyed attending this one church for the past month. It's completely different from what we experienced in Alaska, but maybe that's a good thing. Nothing will ever compare to First Cov. or the people there anyways, so completely different can actually be healing.
But my heart is still so broken. Can I be that vulnerable with you? I miss the life we had and the friends we made. While I know there can be new life and new friends, I'm grieving Alaska more than I ever expected. I want it all back, and it scares me to feel that way because those feelings are preventing me from embracing the new, beautiful things here in Virginia.
But the Lord is calling me to be open. To pick up my mat and walk. To move on and be healed. Here's to a new journey...
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