Home – The Lobster Shell

I think 2018 has been the biggest blur of a year that I can recall. What’s super embarrassing is when I first wrote that sentence, I actually said 2017. Point Proven.

But we are FINALLY starting to settle down. We closed on our house in early September and it has taken almost 6 weeks for us to finally feel settled and in a routine. Of course this past week didn’t help anything since it was my sister’s wedding. (Which was beautiful! Congratulations Elizabeth and Justin!)

We sold our Florida house in only 3 weeks thanks to our fabulous agent Dru Swain! He is INCREDIBLE! And was absolutely fantastic to work with! We even had an early closing, so from the day our house went live on the market to the day we closed was only 6 weeks. Which it awesome! But I kind of thought I’d have the whole summer to goof around and squeeze in a few more memories on the beach with our friends.

However, God has perfect timing, and I think the reason we sold our house in such a short amount of time is because He knew it would take us FOREVER to find our new house. Let me tell you, our buying agent/my beautiful sister in law was PHENOMENAL! Danielle took us all over North Georgia. We looked at everything! From a 6 acre farm, where I realized the idea of living on a farm is a lot more romantic than actually shoveling goat poop. To a fixer upper in short sale, when I decided the gamble of making money wasn’t worth the cash, stress, time and sweat it would take to actually turn the profit, while we had two toddlers at home and hubby works full time. We almost went with a house on two acres, but we knew we were buying at the height of the market and weren’t willing to pay them their asking price. And then finally we settled on a beautiful home, with plenty of space, at a reasonably affordable price, with an unfinished basement, a new roof, and a million neighborhood kids. In fact, I found out today that our neighborhood alone accounts for 11% of the kids at the local elementary school. Needless to say, I’m stoked about tomorrow night’s trick or treating!! (I’ll post a story about our first married halloween later.)

During the summer before we were able to decide what on earth we actually wanted in our next house, my in laws were gracious enough to let us live with them. This is no small gift. We moved in with two dogs, a new cat, two kids, new schedules, routines, rules and lots and lots of laundry. We will forever be grateful of this opportunity. It gave us the chance to decide what we wanted, while living rent free. We realize this is a privilege many people don’t have while transitioning and making decisions about major financial investments. So thank you, Torina and Wyatt.

Like I said, it’s been a whirlwind of activities and emotions and moving so. many. boxes. but we’re here, and life is good!

I heard a parable about a lobster- the way it grows. The lobster becomes uncomfortable as it begins to outgrow its shell. It might start with a little tightness here or an annoyance there, but soon the lobster is made so uncomfortable it has no choice but to shed its shell and grow a new one. When the lobster sheds, it loses its protective hard layer, leaving it vulnerable until it can rebuild a new one that fits it better. The moral of the story was actually about retreating during a time of vulnerability, and that taking care of yourself is important during a time of growth. But the larger take away for me was that maybe we need to pay more attention to the times we become uncomfortable. Maybe we need to start noticing those pinches, and annoyances and stop brushing them away and pretending like we fit inside the shell we created. Even if it does mean becoming vulnerable for a moment. If our protective layer is hurting us, then maybe we should create a new one that fits us better.

But creating a shell is some serious work! Our shell is everything we’ve spent our life doing. It’s what defines us, and it usually includes a whole lot of things that we really, REALLY love- our career, home, relationships, our protective layer that we’ve built to ensure our safety. Obviously, I’m not suggesting we walk in and quit our jobs, sell the house and move across the country without a game plan just because we’re momentarily uncomfortable. That’s different. What I’m talking about is a deeper need to change our environment to give us the opportunity to grow into what we desire to become. So here we go! My family is shedding its shell and we’d love for you to join us on this journey of creating a new one.

Category: Home

Settling Down

The Lobster’s Shell