Guess I Should Change the Tagline

How was 2013 for you? I hope it was good, but I know for some people it wasn't. It was good for us. We did a lot of fun trips (I know, I've been that person this year who keeps subjecting you to vacation pictures over and over), tried to enjoy the amenities of living in DC, and stayed really busy. It's awesome because we've been busy with all good things, but I think I can count on one hand the number of weekends we didn't have plans that involved leaving DC for work, trips, family or moving.

Oh yeah, moving. We moved. The weekend before Christmas, so Christmas was a little less magical and a little more stressful. We got a small pre-decorated tree, but didn't do any other decorating, and even sent presents off to family early in the month, so it didn't feel very Christmasy. Plus, we moved all our stuff, but with all the friends and family coming into town, didn't lived out of boxes for two weeks before we unpacked.

The story is, Jason will be gone most of this year for work, so we thought it made the most sense to move in with my parents, who live in the suburbs of DC, where I grew up. Um, yeah, let me be the first to admit I'm almost 30 and living at home and dragged my husband into it too.  God sure has a sense of humor because I always vowed not to live with my parents while married, despite my mom's constant offers of their basement apartment. Now, we've moved in and we aren't even in the basement - we're in my old room. (I think the only sure thing in life is that I will inevitably do the exact things I swear not to.) We never planned on staying in DC long term, but don't know what the future holds.  So we went through the process of finding renters for our condo, moving and are now getting used to suburban life. (We say some variation of "Ah, so much traffic!" or "Driving everywhere stinks" most days.)

It's not all tough. I'm really thrilled to be closer to family, a good friend, and their adorable kids.  The doubled/tripled commute time will allow for more reading. (Can you tell I'm grasping for some positives?) I've also got some projects and girls' trips planned while Jason is gone, and being able to save up this year is a crucial step in our financial plans. (Still an economist, so of course finances are a consideration.)  We joke about the situation, but we're actually pretty grateful that my parents are willing to make it work and that we have the kind of relationship that we can even envision living with them for a while.

So that's our year. The elephant in our room is that I'll miss Jason like crazy. I'm sure it will be hard. But I'm also sure that God is faithful to keep his promise to work for our good. Not our comfort. Not our ease. But certainly for our good.