Land in Hand

We are super open people. I can’t deny that we would confess to you pretty much any old thing you wanted to know about us. I believe it’s a combination of our desire to connect with people and the lack of skeletons in our closets. We are about as transparent as they come.

However, in the last few months we have been relatively mute, as far as social media is concerned. This transition has come relatively quickly and you may be a bit confused about where this came from! If you are not someone we see on a weekly basis or we haven’t had the pleasure of talking to you one on one, this confusion may be multiplied!  And we’ve realized that although we love talking about our lives, it can make the shared information less sacred. So, erring on the side of not blabbing about every little detail as it happened we are now living in Bismarck, ND.

We’ve had a really spiritual and emotional last few months deciding that we wanted to move our entire lives to North Dakota where Joel’s family resides. We have never had any qualms with Chattanooga. Our community there is solid and our TN family supportive and close. Yet there are some things that you simply cannot convey properly over the internet. And so we didn’t try to.

When Joel quit his job in September and we spent six weeks in ND, we honestly did not think we’d move here. We are true adventurers at heart and were ready for change, ready for something new to grow us and challenge us, but honestly we would not have told you we thought North Dakota was the answer. We did follow the Lord’s prompting to travel there, thinking a change of scenery would do us good. It would also sweeten the deal that we could spend time with Olson’s other grandparents, who he only got to see a couple times a year.

Then the Lord spoke. It’s really just that simple, but altogether complex when we had to try and explain our decision to people who had given us so much and loved us so wholly.

So here we are! Joel is now the project manager for Threefold, a creative and video production company. Every weekday he works in a creative environment with a group of guys I absolutely adore, whose wives and ladies have welcomed me so warmly. His job allows for more time at home with his wife and boy. We love this above all!

I am still figuring out what my purpose might be here. But I am mostly concerned with tending to our precious three year old. Olson is growing every day in every way.

There are so many things to get involved in up here. The community is thriving and I am so excited for all the lessons to come and all the ways that North Dakota will grow me. God has blessed us with a wonderful house in a darling neighborhood. One neighbor brought us a gourmet house-warming basket and another shoveled our driveway and sidewalk after our first snow.

And yes, we are quite warm. The cold SERIOUSLY is not that big of a deal. (Although I know no one down south will ever believe me.) Olson played outside today in 13 degree weather for two hours with Daddy and is healthy and happy as a lark. (Side perk: he takes way longer naps after snow play!) He’s such a joyful little booger. We’re really impressed with how he’s adapted during this transition.

Although this has been a 1,450 mile jump for us, we feel blessing along the way.

2019 has already been an unforgettable one and we’re only one month in!

Pictures by Genuine Photography, aka our friend Ashton Hauff.