Happy Saturday friends! I hope the start to your weekend is going great! It's been a month since I updated on our move to New York from Tennessee and then there have been some additional moves after that!*smiles* I thought today would be the perfect day to update on our move up to New York as I receive so many questions each day about how things are going, how teaching is going, how we are settling in, etc. In many ways it is completely surreal that this week marks eight months since the process really began and a couple of months since we moved again (from Albany to upstate New York). In some ways it seems like years because so many things have taken place... time is funny like that- isn't it?
Overall
Overall, I would say that we have been met with peace in deep ways as we have moved back to upstate New York. Honestly a peace that is beyond on my understanding. Last year at this time both of us were completely against moving back here for so many different reasons, but as the Lord opened doors to this space, job, and area it has been a peaceful and sweet transition. I think that there are still so many things that you have to give yourself grace for and so if you are in the midst of a lot of big adjustments and moves like we are... give yourself a LOT of grace.
Condo Living
We have given our official 60 day notice to vacate and we will be moving completely out of the condo in March. There is a lot of mixed emotions with this one specifically with the energy to be packing up another place and paying for another move, and we appreciate the prayers for all of these details. We are planning to use the same moving company that we did with our move from Tennessee to New York as we were so impressed with them and I will keep you updated.
Bungalow
I definitely look forward to sharing more in the upcoming weeks!
Blogging
As I shared last week (click
HERE if you missed it) Caravan Sonnet is heading into a
new direction and season and I am truly grateful for all of your sweet support, love, and encouragement! If you want to see the reel on IG that I shared with my community there you can click
HERE! Thank you again for all of your support! If you are a brand or sponsor and desire to work with Caravan Sonnet, please reach out to the team at: caravansonnet@gmail.com!
Library
I am truly loving and enjoying this new adventure. I will be honest it is a lot different than what I expected or what was told to me when I interviewed. Sadly the state of the library after a lot of neglect from the previous director was in complete disarray (financially and also circulation wise). There were hundreds of books that had not been cataloged just laying around, books that hadn't been ordered in months, a children and teen room downstairs that hadn't been properly tended to (I am talking books switched around in the computer system and on shelves mixing non-fiction and fiction), stacks of books that were supposedly withdrawn that were brand new, circulation that had been held up, hundreds of books upstairs that needed to be taken downstairs, finances completely disorganized, bills that hadn't been paid, and the list went on and on and on and on). It literally took me 4 hours one day just to clean out my desk and 4 trashbags of junk, dirt, trash, ect later. It was so sad to see how this small town library that I have always loved got to where it was at. The previous director before the director that I replaced had done such a fabulous job... it was heartbreaking. I can only imagine that the previous director before me was going through a hard personal time to have left things in such a mess. It has been a lot of work but I honestly I am enjoying it. Y'all know how I love to problem solve, organize, and be creative and this has allowed me to tap into those things in a different way. I miss teaching everyday...but this has been an extreme blessing during this season...
Teaching
I shared this last week, but since I am often asked if I miss teaching high school right now in this unexpected season, I wanted to clarify yes. Yes. Yes. Yes... definitely yes. More than words can express. More than words can say. DEFINITELY yes. This picture (above) popped up in my memories recently (from a precious "senior day" that we did last year) and it brought tears to my eyes. Last year was one of the biggest blessings of my life... and I will ALWAYS be grateful. More than words can express.
I recently wept as I read these pages from the book, "The Making of Us"... it says it WAY more eloquently than my words could ever express (about the missing of a job that you loved):
Writing
Something new is on the horizon and I am SO excited to share with y'all in the coming months! Stay tuned!! AHHH my little heart is bursting!!
Thank you for all of your support! You can find all of my books
HERE!
Teachers Pay Teachers Shoppe
This has been such an exciting adventure to be on with the new opening of the shoppe a couple of months ago! Thank you for all of your support of this shoppe and for spreading the word about it! You can find the shoppe
HERE! The one huge favor I have is for y'all to share this shoppe with those you know and love! Thank you SO much!
Etsy Shops/Ebay Store
December Lane has continued to remain open throughout this whole transition time. With the holidays coming up this could be an excellent unique opportunity to purchase a curated watercolor travel print for you or for your loved one! You can find the shop
HERE!
December Caravan is still on a brief hold until February 2022. There are some BIG changes coming with the shop and I am excited to share and show y'all what is coming! Stay tuned for some big announcements!
I have currently placed the Ebay stores on hold. To be honest I am not sure at this point if they will be opening back up. I have found that while it was nice to do, it didn't spark joy or a passion within in me as it was less creative so I am prayerfully considering what to do next about this!
PhD
AHHHH... I start classes this semester and am truly so excited. I can't wait to share more as this progresses! Thank you for all of your support!
Church
One of the things that I was most excited about was getting back involved in a church community and finding other people my age (single and married). Honestly... it has been hard to do this with COVID. It definitely has made this moving process feel a lot lonelier and I know that I am not the only one feeling this way right now. At this point we are continuing to listen to church online but I hope that in the future this can change and change quickly.
Social/Friendships
COVID has made this a more complicated process and with my fragile immune system it is not as easy as I would like it to be to just get together with and develop new friendships. I think anyone who moves understands all of the emotions that come with finding your "place" in a new space. And that wording of "new space" may sound silly because we have lived here before, but it is a new space, since I was so extremely ill when we lived here before. I am grateful for grace in just giving myself time to adjust. I definitely don't have the social life that I would like to have, but again I think some of it is a mixture between moving, adjusting, work schedule, and COVID.
Dating
I am giggling as I write this... there are some stories to share about some dating site adventures but nothing that is happening in this department right now. Haha. I am giggling because I would say this is one of the most asked questions I receive ALL the time. For personal reasons I have always kept my dating life private on this blog (out of respect to the men and out of respect for just the need for a personal boundary line) but right now... no, I am not secretly hiding any story. Yes, I have been asked this numerous times. Yes, I desire to be married more than I could ever express and yes, I still pray faithfully for my future husband every single day. Thank you so much for caring so much. I am so grateful for your love and prayers for me also in this area!
Thank you so much for reading today... I am so grateful for your prayers, for your love, and for your support in this time of transition and change. I plan to start doing this as a monthly update and I look forward to sharing next month the adventures of Month 9 that God has in store.
I hope that you and your loved ones have a wonderful weekend!
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