Well hello! Yes, I’m going to just drop right on in here like I haven’t been totally MIA since December. It’s 8:35 PM, and I returned from a walk just a bit ago in an attempt to escape the house. And now I’m hiding in the office that’s soon to be a nursery because the husband is cutting and fitting our countertops and well, that makes me nervous.
I feel like I just might have dropped some big bombs on you if you don’t happen to follow my Instagram. Which, if you don’t, I can’t blame you. I stopped posting back in May of 2020. And if I’m honest, I probably won’t ever be there consistently again. Social media just isn’t my thing. But yes! We’re having a baby. A BABY! Can you even believe it? Because most days I can’t.
I’m 17 weeks, and it’s been the wildest experience so far. The first trimester was really brutal. I spent pretty much the entire 3 months feeling like I was battling the worst hangover I’ve ever had. But as I’ve slowly crept into the 2nd trimester, things have really, really improved thank goodness.
I guess the other bomb I dropped, which wasn’t as big, is we’re in the middle of our kitchen renovation! I use the word “we” very loosely. J has singlehandedly done it all. Besides weighing in on the design and materials selection, my only contribution has been tearing up our old linoleum floors. And that was really only because J was struck down with a terrible migraine and was bummed he missed an entire day of progress. He took one week of vacation to get this job done. And I’ve kind of felt like we’re secretly on some crazy DIY reality show where there’s some wild deadline to literally flip an entire room. But he’s doing it! If you’re ever curious about our home reno stuff, I do have a little insta for that. I only pop in when we’re actively doing projects, so don’t expect much in the way of consistency. But I do keep everything in highlights if you fancy that kind of thing. Find it @stayingwithjo.
Work has been crazy but good. I know, it still shocks me that an out-of-the-house office job could suit me so well. I’ve done this weird, creative thing for so long that I just didn’t think I could stomach a structured, traditional job. But I think the fact that while there is some pretty standard structure, every day is basically an adventure. That’s working in a college for you, though. No two days are really ever the same. And I work with a great team of people who have truly become our family.
J and I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately. Our lives just look so incredibly different these days than even this time last year. And I tweeted out last week that if you would have told me when I was packing up our CLT house that this is what our lives would look like in just two years, I would have begged you to promise that you were telling the truth.
We’re happy. We feel settled. Despite the fact that we are literally in the middle of home renovations and cooking a human being we feel settled. I’m just so grateful for how things have worked out. The time we spent at Mom’s was really hard for me; so many giant question marks. I just couldn’t see how things would turn out. I begged and pleaded for God to reveal the rest of the story to me, to speed things up. The desperation I felt for any sense of stability is ineffable. I craved it in a way you seek comfort in turmoil. It was elusive. And I didn’t have the road map or even half a plan forward. Because every path forward we’d tried before lead us into painful dead ends. And I was out of ideas. I had no choice but surrender and Let God.
I’ve craved telling that whole story. All the beautiful, painful details of how God shattered everything so we could rebuild into something we never saw coming. But I think the only way to do that is a book. So I guess I have some work to do.
Anyway, I really thought all the sawing would be done by time I finished writing, but it is most certainly not. (Side note, should it smell like something is on fire? I’m almost afraid to know that answer.)
I’ll try not to disappear for another 4 months, but eh. I can’t make any promises. Either way, thanks for being here! Now, tell me how are you!?
So happy for you, friend!