The Unexpected Journey... We are selling our home!

As I sat down to blog the other day, my phone popped up and made mention that my "time hop was ready to view."  Of course with my A.D.D. I got distracted and looked. As I scrolled through what was posted a year ago I couldn't believe the post I saw was exactly what I sat down to write about.  It was a full circle moment for me. Sitting down today to blog about my experience of simplifying and how it has truly opened up my eyes to a whole new life.  To see this post, was a tender mercy, as I can now truly see how far I have come in a year. As I realized that I had been at this simplifying thing for a year... I understood more clearly why this journey has taken me to the point I am at now. (more about that at the end) Here is the message from last year... February 2014.

During this last year since I began this journey of getting rid of what I no longer needed! I realized that it was SO MUCH MORE THAN getting rid of things. It was changing me.  With each item that I sold or gave away, I noticed a change in me for the better.  It was literally freeing to my soul. It is one of those feelings that you can't get unless you go through the actions. It was like I was making more room for "God things" in my life. At the beginning of this "movement"  I noticed there were things that I had emotional attachments too (knowing it was something that I DID NOT NEED TO KEEP). I literally had to take it to God in prayer and ask; what am I missing? Why am I holding on to this? Why do I feel attached? That comes from the loss that I've had! But, it was time to let go and create more room for other things! 

I also invested in a personal organizer. Best gift I ever requested for myself. I have learned that if you don't possess a certain skill then sometimes you have to find someone that does. (Plus, you can bless their life by using their talents and paying them for their skills to be used.) 

Here is what I learned from my simplifying journey... First- I experienced LESS FRUSTRATION.

Anytime someone needed something I had to search for it. Therefore wasting mass amounts of time looking, searching and digging here and looking there just to find what I was looking for. Sometimes, that could even domino into being late getting where you needed to go. It could even create frustration cause you couldn't move forward with what you are doing. Then, in my case, A.D.D. would sometimes get the best of me and I would forget what I was even doing before I began my searching efforts. Now with everything having its own place, I definitely experience less frustration and MORE PEACE and a sense of calm when I can say,  "let me get that for you...its right here." Everyday I am happier because of having less.  

Secondly, since I have less to maintain it opens each day for way more TIME and more MONEY. It's amazing. I can't believe it actually. When I couldn't find something, I would often just buy another. It was actually humorous when everything was put together in the same place because you could see what I couldn't find when I had 4 or 5 of something. (hahaha) I have definitely noticed in the areas of my home that are complete that I am more productive because I have less stuff competing for my time and attention. I have saved money for sure in the grocery store department because I can actually see what I have and I no longer buy triple of stuff because I couldn't see that I already had it in my pantry.

However, I remember when we purchased our home and many people commented that, "You are gonna have alot to clean" They were right. Since I couldn't always keep it up... I hired a cleaning lady that came weekly. It was awesome! Then I hired a pooper scooper! Then I hired an organizer! Catch my drift... More space required more maintenance which required more money if I wanted more time. So I actually had to buy my time! It is an eye opener when you see the numbers that are actually spent on maintaining. Once you add up the cleaning lady, the poop scooper, the lawn guy, the window cleaner, the organizer and so on and so on... IT ADDS UP TO THOUSANDS! Of course, I could always do it myself (well not the organizing) but I wasn't willing to give up the time. But that is a whole other blog post.

The last major thing that I realized that I have learned from this process is that less stuff brings more JOY! I am finding more joy in living, rather than having too much stuff or spending time maintaining. I have never been a materialistic person. I am a thrift store shopper and wearer and I love me a good garage sale. I'm talking about clutter of things. Having things, keeping things, collecting things. I've never been big about having things but when you have a bigger place you naturally acquire more things. Now that I am experiencing less clutter I am able to focus more on things we actually need. As we have removed the clutter, we have removed distractions, and we have been able to experience more gratitude for what really matters most.

I now know why I was inspired a year ago to begin this simplifying process. I have learned so much, I have grown so much and I have seen how God has been changing me to get to a place in life that I could hear what he had in store for me and my family exactly a year later. I had no idea that God had a different path for us than we had planned. It's pretty magical to follow His path for you. In the spirit of simplifying and getting rid of clutter I learned that we will simplify our living space as well. Yes, I just said we are selling our dream home. It has been the perfect home for us for the last 3 years. It was everything we wanted. But now in this new season of focusing on what matters most...it's not maintaining a 4000 square foot home. It will be about traveling and creating more memories together. It's about having more time to bless others. It will be about doing what God calls me to do everyday. We will be selling almost everything we own except for what we love and need.  But that isn't much anymore! We will be downsizing from 4000 square feet to 1000...Until Kolby graduates and we decide where we want to settle.. if we ever even do. And that makes me happy for the possibilities! But for now....Forney is home.

We will miss our beautiful neighbors that we have grown to love. We also will miss our walks and definitely these beautiful sunsets! 

 Although, we have loved entertaining in our home; we don't need all of this space anymore. Plus, it will never be the same without all of us here. So we (me, Shay and Kolby) will begin our own new journey. We have cherished, forever memories in our home of Devonshire! I am grateful for the seasons and intersections of life that lead us to bigger and greater things....because God's path is always better than our own. I'm also grateful for the spirit of my son Kolby. He has always felt that our home was too big, and now that Hayley and Jose are moving is really excited to downsize. 

I have pages and pages of unpublished blogs for all that I have learned through this process but my most favorite part is knowing that I am listening to my heart and spirit and following God's plan for our family. And that we all feel the same. I never thought I would say good bye to this home. I thought it would be our forever home. But when God shows you a different path...you follow! I remember the day that He said to me in my heart... you can choose to stay! I knew that this was a chance to put all that I have learned to the test.  We decided to trust God! We can't wait to see who God sends to live in our home, so they can experience the joy that this home has brought to our family. 

I truly know that LESS IS MORE! More time, more energy, more ability to focus on what matters most,  which ultimately brings MORE JOY! 

This pic represents a wonderful moment (the day we closed on our home).. I can't wait to share many more moments like this picture of our new and upcoming journey.