I'm Back!

Well, I’ve taken a not-so-brief hiatus from the blogging world.  It’s only been, oh, about 2 years since the last time I posted anything.  Not being able to access blogs at work significantly cut down on my time devoted to blogging (sorry former employers), but lately I’ve felt the urge to get back on here.  So here goes.  A couple of pretty big changes have occurred in my life since the last time I posted, so it seems only fitting to touch on those before proceeding.

 First, I bought my first home in March of last year.  I never thought I would buy a home by myself.  I always joked that I’d rather find a husband who already had a home or who would buy a home for me/us ha!  The truth behind it, though, is that I am so anti-debt (thanks Dave Ramsey!), that the thought of taking out a mortgage with only my income coming in to pay the monthly payment was quite scary.   But in the Spring of 2012, I started considering my options.  I knew that I likely would not have a roommate for the next year once my current lease ended.  I also knew that based on where I wanted to live in the Madison area, a mortgage payment would be about the same or less as the rental rates.  Combine that with the fact that mortgage rates were basically as low as they had ever been, it only made sense to just go ahead and search for a home to purchase.  Besides, I was trying to finally plant some roots somewhere and stop moving/changing jobs, so it just felt right.  After looking at homes for a relatively short period of time (I usually spend a great deal of time researching even small purchases), I found a home in the same subdivision as my friends Mindi and Joey (baby Everett had not yet joined us at this time).

Way back on closing day.  Her landscaping has filled out now!

The process of making an offer to closing day all went incredibly smoothly, so I had a peace that I made the right decision.  Over the past 15 months I’ve been both enjoying my new home and at times being surprised at the unexpected costs of home ownership.  And although I never thought I’d do this “alone,” I really have felt a sense of accomplishment being able to make this purchase/investment all by myself.

The second big thing that has happened in my life since my last post is that I met the man of my dreams, Brad.   I only list him “second” here because he came along after the house did and I’m going chronologically ha.  About a year ago, I had become increasingly discouraged with the dating scene.  After all, I was 29 and “should have” been married by then, according to my plans.  Of course, God showed me that His plan was the only one that mattered and I should just get over myself!  I had several friends suggest online dating to me.  My first thought was, “absolutely not.”  Being honest, I suppose there was a bit of ego in there, thinking “why should I have to go online to find someone?!” Plus, it was just scary.  But after talking to a couple of friends who had done it and had some success, and after doing a bit of research on the various sites, I decided to give it a shot.  I mean, I really had nothing to lose. 

So almost a year ago, during the first week of July, I created a match.com profile.  Being the perfectionist that I am, I stressed over that thing, wanting to make sure I gave off the right impression.  Amongst an overload of creepy, somewhat stalkerish messages from 50+ year old men, I got a message from Brad.  Match emails progressed into texts messages and phone calls, and two weeks later on July 18, we went on our first date.  He was the first and only man from the site that I would ever go out with.  Our first date went wonderfully.  I left to go on vacation two days later, so we didn’t see each other again for about 2 weeks, but that was a non-issue.  We deactivated our Match profiles not long afterwards, both having only gone out with each other, and have been dating ever since!  I can’t believe we have been together almost a year now and it was been wonderful!  I am so thankful that I trusted God’s timing (finally) and waited for the one He had for me. 

Before finding Brad, I had a list of 5 Non-Negotiables, things that the man I was searching for would have to have.  Everything else was pretty unimportant, but these five things had to be there:

Christian / Has a relationship with God

 Loves his family and wants one of his own

Hardworking / Ambitious

Trustworthy

Good sense of humor

Brad has all of those and then some and truly treats me like a queen.  I am very blessed to call him mine.

So that's the most important events of the last two years in this little life.  Until next time...