We closed on our home in Temple 4 weeks ago today. Since then I can't help feeling overwhelmed by how lucky we are to be here. If you're not in the mood to read my thoughts, look at this picture (taken right after we closed and right before my mom and I spent hours scrubbing) and move on. Otherwise, read on...
While Bret was busy studying for his board exam, I was busy studying, too. I studied demographics and cost of living and climate statistics for cities in Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Colorado, and more. I took countless find-the-best-city-for-you quizzes, read the "100 best places to live" articles, called friends living across the country, scoured the APTA website to find jobs for Bret to apply to, and even resorted to "Ask Jeeves" and ChaCha where we should live.
We felt pretty confident about two things: 1) We didn't want to get any further from home and would prefer to be within a 12 hour driving distance from our families. 2) We didn't want to move home. I still worry sometimes that my parents will be offended when they hear me say that. I trust that our many conversations about it have left them understanding why. We LOVE being around family, but we have experienced such incredible personal and joint growth living away. Living outside of the Utah/Idaho "bubble" has also provided us with wonderful experiences that are molding our testimonies of Christ and His church and are giving us opportunities to share the gospel and serve as well as to learn from those of other faiths. While we know this is possible in Utah, the feeling is so much more prevalent here. While we hope to keep making our way toward home in the future, we felt strongly that it wasn't time yet. So that left us with a pretty blank slate when it came to looking for jobs.
We decided Colorado would be the perfect combination of the things we were looking for. But we just weren't finding job openings that fit what Bret was looking to apply for. So while I kept checking (daily) for Colorado jobs, Bret applied for multiple jobs in the central Texas area. I usually drove with him to interviews so that I could take a peek at the city. Temple was not my cup of tea upon first inspection... or second. But he felt really good about the job itself, the people he would work with, the hours, and the location. So we scoped it out some more and decided it wouldn't be that bad of a place to live.
But it wasn't until Bret took the job and we went to church in Temple to "check things out" that we got really excited about moving here. On that first visit we were swarmed with kindness and conversation. We were given names of neighborhoods to look into and areas to avoid. We were giddy with excitement.
So we house hunted. Our realtor was awesome. We learned tons about loans and mortgages and insurance. We questioned if buying a home was really the right thing. We persisted. We found. We signed. We waited. We bought. Such a whirlwind of a month, but so incredibly exciting.
My mom came into town to help us move. We loved having her with us, and I think without her help cleaning and organizing and painting I might have freaked out.
On our first Sunday at church we were invited to dinner. On Monday I was invited to an after-FHE girls' ice cream party. On Wednesday someone watched Molly for me. On Thursday we ate ate another family's home. The next Monday we had a family over for FHE. On Tuesday I went to a playgroup at someone's home.... Are you getting the picture? The Relief Society counselors came to visit me and bring me a welcome packet, I have been added to the RS Facebook page and email list. Someone invited me to a Jazzercise class. I've babysat for two families and Molly has been watched by a couple people as well. It would be one thing if we were the only new people in the ward... you know, if we were a novelty or something, but we're not. In fact, I think we're like the 15th family to move in this Spring. (Side note: Temple has a medical school and hosts tons of residents, hence all the move-ins.) I can't help but feel like the Lord allowed us to be here as a blessing to me. I so wanted to find and make friends. Being a stay-at-home mom in Georgetown was hard for me. But this place has surpassed my expectations in every way.
We love our house. We can't believe we were able to afford this house on a 15-yr conventional loan with a mortgage that doesn't break the bank. We can't believe what a nice neighborhood we live in. We can't believe how quickly we came to like our neighbors. We can't believe how fun and friendly our ward is. We can't believe the Lord is so awesome to let things work out this way for us. We know that He can see the big picture of our lives and that He knows both where we need to be and where we will be needed at each stage.
This post is long and wordy, but I don't ever want to forget how blessed we feel to be in Temple for this chapter of our journey.
