Living Arrangements and a New Car: Lots of Big Changes Lately!

The past couple of weeks have been a blur of packing, moving, settling in, and trying to smoothe out last-minute details from the relocation. But now I have the driver's license to prove it: I'm (once again) an Ohio girl!

It finally feels like the dust is settling, so I wanted to provide a little re-cap of all the ch-ch-changes that have been going on, behind the scenes here:

Now that we are officially in Ohio (and everything with selling our home in Georgia went smoothly and without a hiccup!), we will be living with family for the next couple of months while my husband gets settled into his job. Through the end of the year, he'll have to do a lot of training that will take him away during the week, so waiting to buy will enable me to always have plenty of extra pairs of hands whenever I need them to help out with Claire. (She loves having someone nearby all the time!) And our families have been so generous in accommodating for us, turning bedrooms and basements into complete living areas so that—whatever the address—it all feels like "home."

Plus, even though I grew up here, my husband isn't from Ohio, so we didn't want to have to rush into figuring out where we want to live. We want to take our time figuring out what location works best for us and finding a part of town we could see staying put in for the long haul (because after that cross-country move, I don't want to have to move again if I don't have to!). We think we've found a church to call home in a part of town that's near my husband's work and equidistant between my family and his, so that's what we're thinking but this will give us time to explore and ease into the decision—and shop around for another great deal!

Another big change for us has been that we are no longer a one-car family. We lived with one car for a little more than three years, which was pretty doable and practical for us from a financial standpoint for most of that time. But once we had Claire, it became really hard for me to get out and do much because I had to borrow the car while working around his work schedule as well as Claire's nap schedule—which was a pretty daunting task that made me really start to feel tied down at home.

So, we took some of the money from selling the house and set it aside to buy a sturdy used car that we could pay for with cash. And because my husband really wanted a minivan (seriously), that's what we got this week! I figured that if he was willing to move us up to Ohio, I'd be willing to buy a minivan. (Compromise is the stuff that makes a marriage, right?!) But, after driving one (we opted for the Toyota Sienna, for anyone interested), it has some pretty nice features that I won't complain about. I'm not sure who's more excited to drive it—me or him!

So, as the seasons begin to change, so do things around here, and we're settling—slowly but surely—into this next chapter of ours.

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