Have you ever looked around your house and thought, I wish I could sell everything and start over? I mean most of the time that is completely illogical, unpractical, and just not possible. Well, it just so happened that one day that was exactly what Mr. Whitelane and I did. It sounds crazy but that is why I am explaining it all here today. There are a lot of moving pieces to this story that started to fall into place before we even realized what was happening. I think we were really blessed with how all these things worked out. So, let me start from the beginning.

Mr. Whitelane and I always wanted a good size house with a large yard for our kids. When we found the lot for this house we knew it was perfect. The location, the size, and the timing. We took time to build this house and put in the yard. We loved how everything came together just how we imagined. The house and land were perfect. However, we quickly realized that we only used about half of the house. I mean there were rooms we never even touched other than to furnish. There was a lot of space in this house that we just didn’t need or use. After we got the yard finished, we were ecstatic to have so much space to run around with the kids. The funny thing is that we hardly ever used it. I know crazy, right!? We had this big deck, trampoline, grow boxes and almost a 1/2 acre yard that we rarely utilized. Both of our families live in close proximity and a lot of our time is spent with them and other activities our kids have. In fact, we started to realize that we were rarely home enough to even take care of a yard and house that size. The little free time we did have was spent trying to keep up with the care of a yard and house we didn’t use much.  Thank goodness for Mr. Whitelane’s Dad volunteering to come over to mow for us so much. He just loves mowing the yard and does such a good job. We lucked out with him doing a lot of it for us. Mr. Whitelane and I both started to realize that having exactly what we THOUGHT we wanted, was not what we needed for our family. The thought of selling was definitely in our minds at this point.

Well, that is half of the moving piece to this story. The other half started by Mr. Whitelane and I listening to a show on the radio, Dave Ramsey. Have you heard of him? Well, we kept listening to his total money makeover and baby steps. The more we listened, the more we wanted to do it! Now, we had already paid off all of our school loans a few years ago. We really didn’t have much more debt to pay off (getting personal here). So, we sat down and got really serious about our budget and getting everything else paid off as fast as we could. In fact, Mr. Whitelane even took on a second a job on nights and weekends. It wasn’t easy but it was worth it. We were both working in any way we could and that made for long days with three kids (one of those a new baby). We had got to a decent spot in our goals but we realized we couldn’t fully be where we wanted with this house. Part of Dave Ramsey’s plan is putting your house on a 15-year mortgage to pay it off quickly. It just didn’t make sense to try and squeeze this big house into a 15-year payoff (especially when it wasn’t our forever home). We needed to downsize. The crazy part is that it wouldn’t be really downsizing for us. We learned a lot from this big house and yard ( we now call it our learning house) 🙂 . Since we didn’t use a ton of the interior space or yard this house had anyway; It would actually be finding a house that fit our family and needs better. A house that didn’t have rooms we never used. A yard that we didn’t have to try and find time just to take care of (Dad can’t mow our yard forever) 😉 .

We decided that we would sell when the time was right. Well, it just so happened, the right time was a lot sooner than we thought. A few opportunities came into our life right when all these thoughts and goals were taking place. Some may have even seen these things as negative but we knew that it was working out for us. You know, faith and prayer have a way of turning the unexpected into part of the plan all along. Before we knew it, our house was on the market, under contract, and sold. It was definitely part of God’s plan for our family.

Now that we had sold our house (and a lot of the stuff in it), we had a few ideas in mind. Mr. Whitelane and I started looking for a house that fit our family. There were a lot of options. We thought about a fixer-upper, remodeling an RV, and many other houses that were on the market. Ultimately, we decided to build a new house. A much smaller house, that would be just right for our family. We started going through the building process, picking our finishes, and designing. Then, right before we were going to finalize, Mr. Whitelane and I both had the same thought. We kept thinking about this house that we had looked at on the market about a month previous. We both really liked it but for some reason, we had decided to build a new house. However, now we just kept thinking about that same house. So, we decided to go give it another look. Turns out, they had just taken it off the market to have a baby. Long story short, it all worked out and the people agreed to sell us their house. We have big plans to turn the new house into our home. I am excited to share it all with you along the way. In the meantime, we are staying with family/renting until we close in a few weeks and get the keys. Most of all, we are just enjoying this new season of life and the goals that we have accomplished.

Although a lot of people may think we are crazy, we are just where He wants us to be. We needed to simplify and focus on what matters most. God has this path for our life. We just have to listen and let Him guide the way. Mr. Whitelane and I have felt so much happiness and peace from this decision. In life, I have found we can probably live with a lot less and be even happier. So, we have said goodbye to our learning house. Hello to our new adventure. It is all part of a beautiful plan God has for family. I hope you will stick around and follow along as we make this new house our home.