Musings on life, parenting, Jesus, and more...

October 2021 〰️ (Scroll to the end to skip the details of my trip and just read my 10 tips for researching a new city to move to.) 〰️ I just got back from my last morning walk around the neighborhood before we head back to Portland tonight. I don’t feel like I heard a definite “yes” from the Lord that this is where we are supposed to be, but I didn’t necessarily get a “no” either. 〰️ 〰️ This is the first time I’ve come to a city to give it an “interview” per se, since I was 21 and looking for somewhere to finish my bachelors degree. But back then, I wasn’t so much shopping the city itself, but the universities. I ultimately choose the University of Oregon in Eugene because they were well recognized in the psychology field and that is the degree I could get in the least amount of time. That was half a lifetime ago… literally! I’m 42 now and I’ve been in Oregon for 21 years. I love Oregon, but unfortunately it’s just become unaffordable and the political situation is taking its toll on m

I am doing my best this year to make Christmas fun and special for the kids (and for me too) and overall it’s been really good. We have Christmas shopped, wrapped gifts, baked cookies, crafted with friends, caroled at church, drove around looking at lights and playing Christmas light bingo, ate candy canes, watched Elf, went sledding, drank hot cocoa, had friends over, listened to lots of Christmas music… The present moment is good and I’m really working on living in the present. Right now, it’s Christmas Eve, 1:30 in the afternoon and I’m laying in my bed with the heater on, listening to Christmas music on Alexa, and just taking some time to reflect.  I almost feel guilty laying down on Christmas Eve, I mean there must be something else I need to be doing. But the gifts are wrapped, I grocery shopped this morning, and the ham is in the oven. The house is relatively clean (although that doesn’t really matter since Rob is the only one coming over, but still I like it clean and I can rel