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4 In Family/ Finding our place/ House Hunting/ Minnesota/ Moving/ Peek into our Week/ Raising boys

A Peek into our week – Saying Goodbye to Colorado, Hello to Minnesota

Enjoying our final Pikes Peak sunset from our home in Colorado

Last week we said goodbye to Colorado – to our friends, to our home, and to that beautiful chapter of our lives.

Jared and Holly Newman – life long friends

Lots of friends came over to give us one last hug, we went to the Newman family’s house for one last dinner and I went to church one last time to see Kari Jobe and Louie Giglio! (It was so good!)

Early Wednesday morning two kind gentleman showed up at our house and started packing. Somehow, those two guys had my house completely packed and loaded on the moving truck in just 3 days!! (I think it took me 6 weeks to pack when we moved to Colorado)

Our family flew to Minneapolis on Saturday morning. Clark asked if we were in “first class” because the flight attendant offered him a snack and a drink. (He’s only flown one other time – and that was on another airline)

We stayed the weekend in a hotel.

Saturday – lots of swimming!

Sunday – Mall of America!

Before we moved, I told the boys that when we arrived in Minnesota, I’d let them spend $20 each at the Mall. It gave them one more reason to get excited about the move.

Our first stop – the Lego Store!

George was THRILLED to explore this place and had a hard time just picking out ONE thing. $20 doesn’t go very far there, but he found a set that he was excited to build.

Clark chose to buy a remote control car.

Paul wanted new running shoes. (I gave him a little extra since he chose RUNNING SHOES!)

Luke picked a Lightning McQueen toy.

I picked where we ate –  Wahlburgers. (It was great!)

They wanted to ride ALL the rides – but we picked one – The Ferris Wheel! It’s kind of crazy riding a Ferris Wheel inside a MALL!

Monday morning, we met the movers at our house.

There were a few things about this house that made me fall in love with it:

  1. I could tell it was a neighborhood with LOTS of kids – nearly every house has a play set, a trampoline, a soccer net or a basketball hoop.
  2. It has a nice backyard…big enough for FOUR boys to run some of their energy out with a game of tag or soccer.
  3. It has LOTS of trees! Since I’d no longer be able to see Pikes Peak, I wanted something pretty to look at and I do! I love all the trees and water in Minnesota.

Within an hour of pulling up to our home, the boys had already met the neighbor kids on both sides. They played all day. Clark called it the “best day ever” and said he’d be sad if I picked ANY other house in Minnesota.

George agreed and said this is his favorite house we’ve ever lived in.

All the boys have been sleeping SOO good in this house. I haven’t been wakened at all by any child! It may have something to do with the fact that they RUN, JUMP, PLAY, and SWIM all day! (Maybe that’s the title of my new book?!!)

We are grateful for a smooth transition and looking forward to making many happy memories here.

Thanks for your prayers, comments, texts and encouragement through this process!

July 18, 2018 By
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15 In Colorado/ Colorado Springs/ Faith/ Family/ Finding our place/ Moving/ My Journey

Life is Either a Daring Adventure or Nothing – Helen Keller

When we moved to Colorado, we thought we’d be staying here forever.

Ted found a good job.

We found a beautiful home.

We met so many new (and old) friends.

I began a job that I love at an amazing church.

I’ve become a writer in Colorado:

Our family has thrived here, and we absolutely love this place. There is so much beauty all around us every day. It’s soul-filling.

However, changes are ahead.

We are about to embark on a new adventure: We are moving to Minnesota.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. – Helen Keller

My husband has accepted a job with Target Corp. He will be working in Executive Leadership Development at the Target headquarters in Minneapolis.

Until a couple of weeks ago, I had never been to Minnesota.

The only two things I knew about Minnesota were:

Minnesota was not on our radar. It was not in the plan.

I guess sometimes we go off script and follow the adventure of the unknown, unfamiliar.

After I went through the stages of grief, I’m choosing to move forward in joy, trusting we will find and create beauty in a new place.

Though we chose Colorado as our place, my true place is with my family. Wherever they are is home. Where they are is my place. They are my people.

My people. My place is wherever they are!

 

My favorite quote over the last couple of weeks has been:

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Thank you Dr. Suess!

Our friend and pastor, Daniel Grothe, reminded my husband that when we moved to Colorado, we were ALL IN! He recommended we have the same attitude in Minnesota. Be ALL IN.  This is such a good reminder, such wisdom. Thank you Daniel!

I’ll be re-reading the book: This is Where you Belong: Finding Home wherever you are. I’ll also refer back to this POST: 8 ways to LOVE where I LIVE – as we adventure into a brand new place.

I’ve begun following the Twin Cities Mom Blog, and other blogs and checking out Pinterest to see all there is to do in Minnesota.

I’m looking forward to:

  • meeting new people,
  • finding a good church,
  • discovering the best places to eat,
  • learning how to stay warm in winter,
  • exploring this beautiful state!

Have any of you been to Minnesota? What can you recommend we do and see? Where should we go?

July 9, 2018 By
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1 In Colorado/ Colorado Springs/ Faith/ Family/ Finding our place/ Motherhood/ Moving/ Raising boys/ Things to do in Colorado

Our Adventure on Gold Camp Road

Two and a half years ago, when we decided to move to Colorado, I had mixed feelings. Part of me was excited about the new adventure, and part of me felt fear and even dread! I didn’t want to say good bye to all the things and the people we loved. I didn’t know anyone, or much of anything about Colorado! Then I stumbled across this quote:

“Always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the Unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into.” ~ Wendell Berry

Wow. I clung to this quote like I would a favorite Bible verse or security blanket.

Along with the quote was a picture of a tunnel on Gold Camp Road in Colorado Springs. I was determined to one day, find that tunnel, get a picture of it and post the quote.

On Thanksgiving 2017 – this dream finally became a reality!

We have an annual tradition of going out as a family on Thanksgiving morning. We like to spend the morning hiking or exploring. Since we didn’t have any friends or family in town this year, we decided to try to find the tunnel.  We weren’t exactly sure where it was or how far we’d have to hike/drive. Someone sort of told me where it was, and we headed off.

We drove past Helen Hunt Falls and continued up the mountain until the road became a dirt (Lower Gold Camp Road). We continued on this gorgeous road about a mile until – “wah – lah!” There it was, right in front of us. We parked and explored this incredible tunnel. It was everything I had imagined and more. Stunning, spooky, enormous, and picturesque!

 

  

I’m grateful to call Colorado Springs home. I’m glad I was able to move beyond the fear (and the dread) of leaving what was familiar and those we loved to embrace this new adventure! I honestly can’t believe we get to call Colorado home!

 

 

December 9, 2017 By
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7 In Colorado/ Colorado Springs/ Finding our place/ House Hunting/ Moving

Becoming Colorado home owners!

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. – Melody Beattie

In 2015, Ted received a job offer for a position at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). This was a company he had followed for over a decade, reading and using the material they produce on leadership. What an honor to now get to be a part of their team!

We decided to first “rent” a home until we knew which part of town we wanted to live in. After living in Colorado Springs for about 6 months, we were getting familiar with this great city, and knew which area of town where we wanted to buy a home. After looking at several houses, we found the one that we knew was our ‘home.’ From the first time we walked inside, we could feel the love and comfort in this home, and could imagine ourselves living there.  We would soon find out that the family selling the home had moved here from Naperville, Illinois (not far from where we previously lived) and attended the same church as us!

We put an offer on the house and included a letter about our family – why we wanted their home and what we loved about it. The house had only been on the market 6 days and we knew others were interested, but thankfully, we got the house! They let us know that the letter was what made them want to sell their home to us.

We set a closing date for the end of April, but the lease for our rental home was through September. I called the Rental Agency about breaking our lease. They quoted all the fees involved for doing that, and my heart sank for a minute. Then I remembered a conversation I had with someone who knew the owners of this rental home. I remembered her telling me that the owners were planning to moving back soon after living overseas for five years. I wondered (to myself) where the owners would live since our family was renting their house.

I asked our rental agency if they would contact the owners of our rental home to see if they might want their house back.

Amazingly, the owners said, “YES!”

We did not have to break the lease or pay any fees for moving out early!!!!

Wow!

We are now Colorado homeowners and absolutely love it! We are grateful to get to live in such an amazing place. I share more specifically about what we love to do here in this post.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following us in this journey as much as I’ve enjoyed telling you! It’s been fun to look back and see how God has gone before us, opening doors at every step. We took a leap of faith and flew. I hope it’s inspired you!

CLICK HERE to read 10 things I didn’t know about Colorado until I lived here! 

Click here to read a post I wrote about 10 things you MUST do in Colorado Springs! 

September 10, 2017 By
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1 In Colorado Springs/ Faith/ Finding our place/ Friendship/ Uncategorized

Finding old friends in our new place!

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. – Anais Nin

When we moved to Colorado Springs, there was only one family we knew. They were our neighbors and the only who had helped us find our home. After 13 years in Chicago, we had developed a strong community of friends, and it was hard leaving that behind.

Soon after arriving in town, old friends of my husband (Ted) recommended we visit New Life Church because he thought there’d be some people at New Life that Ted might know. We went to a Friday night service and discovered that the Friday night pastor went to high school with Ted! Ted knew nearly a dozen people that were a part of New Life Church! How incredible to be in a brand new place and have some really special friends from the past! These are people that knew him well and immediately welcomed us into the church and their homes. From our very first visit, we knew that New Life is where we belong.

 

 

If you are in Colorado Springs and don’t have a church home, visit New Life Church. The pastors are incredible teachers, the music is absolutely amazing, and we love the children’s ministry! And best of all, it’s a church filled with some really incredible people.

In my next post, I’ll finish our “Pikes Peak or Bust” saga by telling you a great story about how we found our permanent home in Colorado.

Also, tomorrow is the last day to enter to win my giveaway. I’ll be choosing a winner tonight! Go here to enter!

September 9, 2017 By
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30 In Colorado/ Colorado Springs/ Finding our place/ Friendship/ Moving

8 ways to LOVE where you LIVE

We moved into our nice home in Colorado Springs, into our family-friendly neighborhood, in this amazing state, and within 3 days I started feeling overwhelmed, depressed, and questioning everything. I’m usually an extremely happy person, but suddenly I was so very sad. We made it to Pikes Peak, but was it really just a BUST?

I didn’t know where to grocery shop for the five hungry males in our home, the post office wasn’t delivering our mail, I had just said good-bye to every single one of my friends and family members (I was lonely!), my house was unfamiliar and filled with BOXES and MESSES everywhere.

What have we done? Why are we here?

My son Clark (only five years old at the time) noticed that I was sad and said, “Mama, just look at the mountains!”

He was right! I needed to re-focus on why we had moved here!

We got outside, did some exploring, and my heart and soul filled with gratefulness that we GET to live here!

If you have recently moved or are planning to move, here are 8 things to help you love where you live:

  1. Get outside

You may not live at the base of Pikes Peak, but every town in every state has something outside to enjoy. Whether it’s a sunset or park – get outside and let God’s beauty fill your soul!

2. SMILE! To make friends, be friendly!

If you know me, you know I talk to EVERYONE. I recommend you do the same. Don’t talk about yourself, ask questions!

  • “How long have you lived here?”
  • “Where are you from?”
  • “Do you have children?” “What are their ages?”
  • “What do you like about this area?”
  • “What do you do for fun?

Remember, every stranger can one day be a friend.  I met my first and closest friend by just walking up and chatting with a complete stranger while our kids were playing together on the playground.

3.  Call an old friend

When I was feeling lonely, I reached out to old friends for encouragement. They cheered me up and spurred me on!

4.  Get to know your neighbors

We knew one of our neighbors. They had us over for dinner and made us begin to feel welcome in this state. (Thank you Barrett family) I asked them LOTS of questions, and they were so helpful and patiently answered each one.

If you don’t know anyone in your neighborhood, spend time OUTSIDE. Take walks and say hello to each person you see. Being friendly helps you have FRIENDS!

When you chat with neighbors, they would HAPPILY answer simple questions like:

  • “What day does the trash go out?”
  • “What paper should we subscribe to?”
  • “Where do you recommend I buy groceries?”
  • “Where’s the library and post office?”
  • “What restaurants should we try?”
  • “Where’s the best thrift store?”

5. Reach out to any friends/family in your new state

We have cousins who live about an hour away. One offered to stay with me while Ted was gone on one of his Chicago trips. (Thank you Sarah!) I also re-connected with childhood/college friends who live in Colorado. It’s so fun spending time with old friends in a new state!

6. Volunteer

I started volunteering at our children’s school and at our local church. This is a great way to meet your kid’s new friends, see what they are learning, and MEET new people!!!

7.  Join a group

Whether it’s on meetup.com, a book club through your library, or a Bible study through your church…a small group will make it easier to build friendships.

8. Read good books – Two books I enjoyed and found really helpful are:

“This is where you belong” has TONS of great stories, facts, and information about making a new place feel like home. I checked it out from the library but loved it so much I had to BUY my own copy. I recommend it to everyone who has moved recently.

After the Boxes are unpacked is filled with encouragement and practical advice for feeling at home in your new place. Visit JustMoved.org for more info!

I really enjoyed both of these and believe you will too. 

Thanks for reading!

Click here for 20 fun, free, family-friendly things to do in Colorado Springs!

Click here for my Minnesota Bucket List! 

You can also read how we became Colorado Home Owners here!

If you know someone who would benefit from this article, please share it!

September 6, 2017 By
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9 In Colorado/ Colorado Springs/ Faith/ Family/ Finding our place/ Friendship/ Moving

Finding our new home and saying good-bye to our old home

“Always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread.  It is the ancient fear of the unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going to.” – Wendell Berry

Our moving date was one week away, and we had NO idea where we were going to live. (Click here to read about it!)

The ONE family we knew in town mentioned that their neighbor had just moved out. She called to see if the home was available for rent. Thankfully, miraculously, the person who had been renting that home had moved out two weeks early, providing an opening for us to move into the home in SIX days!

“Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building                                                                    your wings on the way down.” – Ray Bradbury

Ted had to fly back to Chicago, so our sweet friend offered to meet the agent at the potential rental home in Colorado Springs to give us an iChat walking tour. The house was PERFECT! It was a four bedroom house on a cul-de-sac, in a great neighborhood, with a gorgeous view of Pike’s Peak – and within our budget! We immediately signed a 12-month lease, waited for approval and FIVE days before we were scheduled to move, we had a home!!

Thank you Lord! I can breathe again!

Saying the actual “good-byes” to our Illinois friends, and my Indiana family, was harder than I expected it to be. These are the people who loved us, encouraged us, worked with us, supported us through the births of each of our four sons! They had watched our boys grow and had loved them so well. My Indiana family had only been 3 hours away for the last 13 years. I could pop over any weekend and for any event. Now everything was changing. Our DREAM was being realized, but we were leaving a part of ourselves behind. And that was hard. (Honestly, it’s still hard. There are so many good people that we miss in Illinois, and I still miss not being able to drive over to see my family in Indiana whenever I want.)

   (Saying good bye to family⇑ and friends ⇓)

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

In September 2015 –  we left Illinois, the place that we had called “home” for the last 13 years, to make a new start in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

When we arrived, something happened that shocked me. I’ll tell you about it my next post. (Subscribe→ so you won’t miss it)

September 5, 2017 By
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0 In Colorado/ Colorado Springs/ Faith/ Finding our place/ House Hunting/ Moving/ Traveling

Taking a Leap of Faith

Come to the edge, He said.

They said: We are afraid.

Come to the edge, He said.

They came. He pushed them,

And they flew…

GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE

We decided to put our house on the market, and it sold in three weeks (Click here to read about that).

NOW WHAT?

Well, the week we put our house on the market, a friend reached out to my husband to tell him that a company in Colorado Springs was hiring and that Ted would be a perfect fit. My husband immediately applied for this position.

We wanted to get to Colorado as soon as possible, but it would be several months before my husband knew if he got the job in Colorado Springs. How could we move there without any definite work or way to provide for our family. We discussed staying in Illinois and renting until we had things lined up perfectly.

Instead, we stepped out in faith. We believed that Colorado should be our new home and we were just going to take that LEAP. We would move forward and trust God to open the doors and go before us.

This “leap of faith” stuff is frightening. Imagine closing your eyes and jumping off into an abyss. How does that make you feel? That’s how I was feeling at that moment.

Where would we live?

How would we provide for our family?

How long until we found a job?

“I’ve spent my whole life trying to get less comfortable.  I don’t think God wants us to be comfortable.  I think God wants you and I to live right on the edge of YIKES.” – Bob Goff

Ted told his current employer about our decision to move. Instead of giving him the ‘two weeks notice,’ they let him keep his job!  They were able to work out an arrangement for him to work remote and travel back and forth from Colorado to Chicago on a monthly basis!

Then we had to decide where in Colorado we wanted to plant our roots.

Colorado Springs was the one spot that, even before ever visiting, seemed to be “calling my name. “ I thought that if Dr. Dobson, Focus on the Family and Compassion International could call this place home, then perhaps, so could we!  Plus, Colorado Springs is so beautiful with Pike’s Peak as its backdrop. It’s a city with so much to offer young families, plenty to do if you are seeking adventure, and a reasonable cost of living. After talking it through, that’s where we decided to go.

Once we had chosen our city, we had to find a place to live. Our closing date was soon approaching, and our moving company wanted to know where they were taking our stuff. I wanted to know where they’d be taking our stuff, too!

I had no idea how HARD it would be to find a home to rent in Colorado Springs. As soon as a good one would pop up online, I’d call, and then find out that it had already been rented! It was challenging, but I was at peace knowing that God was going before us. I knew there was a home for us in Colorado Springs.

With only one week before our closing date and move, Ted flew out to Colorado Springs for an in-person interview. He was also planning to nail down a place for us to live. I had been talking to a realtor, and she lined up three houses for him to tour. Unfortunately, he didn’t think any of them were right for us. When he called me that evening to tell me we still didn’t have a home, I took a deep breath and prayed: “God, I know you have a place for us. Please help us find it…soon. ”

Click here to find out how God answered our prayer! And please subscribe (in the column on the right) so you don’t have to miss an update.

September 4, 2017 By
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7 In Colorado/ Finding our place/ Moving

Rowing our boat

After our family spent a week in Colorado, we were all in. We knew that Colorado was our place. It would be our future (and hopefully permanent) home. (Click here to read about it if you missed my last post)

But how could we make this happen?

Ted told me about the “Row the Boat” philosophy where we were going to put our oars in the water and get our “boats” to Colorado. We focused on doing everything to get us there, STOP doing anything that won’t get us there.

Our first step was to sell our home. We had a comfortable home, with fantastic neighbors, in a great neighborhood. We loved our community. It was a HARD decision, but selling our house was our first step in rowing our boat and would give us freedom and the ability to move forward.

We put our house on the market.

Have you ever tried keeping a house spotless, every single day, from top to bottom — with four little children? I hope to never have to do that again. They sure are cute, but they are messy! It’s kind of a BLUR about how I made that happen, but it was summer, so we stayed OUTSIDE as much as possible. We also ate way too much fast food and take out so I didn’t have a mess in the kitchen. I think I also hid most of their toys.

Thankfully, our house sold in 3 weeks!

But wait, our house SOLD. Now what!?

Click here to read that story!

September 3, 2017 By
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1 In Colorado/ Finding our place/ Travelling

Finding our place in this world

For about two years, my husband and I had been talking about where we wanted to raise our sons. We had been living in the Chicago-area for over a decade. We had such a great community of friends and loved so many things about living in Illinois, but we felt like we needed to find “our place” … the place where we would put down permanent roots. We started researching, praying, and traveling!

Ted and I took a long weekend and visited the Pacific Northwest. It was sooo beautiful, we have life-long friends there, we loved it, but it wasn’t our place.

We took our family on a week-long visit to Tennessee. It was a fantastic week, there is so much to love about this state, but it wasn’t our place.

 

We went back to Tulsa where Ted and I met and got married. We love Tulsa. We have family there and some of our closest friends live in the Tulsa area. We strongly considered moving back but eventually decided … it wasn’t our place.

We talked about and visited a few other places … but none of them were ‘our place.’

Then, we came to Colorado.

Ted had been talking about Colorado for years. I finally told him I’d be open to taking a trip to scout it out and to see if I could imagine our family living there.

We planned our trip for June 2015, packed the car, loaded up our boys(ages 1, 3, 5, and 7 at that time) and set out across the country.

The trip was incredible.

Spectacular.

Soul-filling.

I could not (still can’t) figure out how so much beauty can be packed into one state. It’s really not fair.

And we knew….

Colorado was our place.

Now the question became…How do we get here?

Well, come back tomorrow so I can tell you about some of the CRAZY details about how it happened!

September 2, 2017 By
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