Settling in one spot, for a while

In the past 8 years since we graduated college, Andy and I have lived in 10 different locations-we've lived in apartments with other friends in China, 3 apartments together in China, with our families when we came back to the US, a house in the US, a hotel in Thailand for a month, and now an apartment in the US. There's been a lot of packing and unpacking for us. So the thought of settling in one spot for a while is really appealing to me. Each place we've lived holds special memories but moving definitely takes a toll on me! It's been almost a year since we sold everything we owned in China and headed back to the US. It will be almost a year to the day from the day we left our apartment there to the day we move in our home here. We've loved our set up this year in an apartment, but we also knew it would be temporary.

The next month of our lives will be full of work on our new home. Andy has been busy ripping out carpet, patching holes, and painting. Our neighbor has been removing the popcorn from the ceilings (goodbye 1970) and we've started to trim some of the trees that were way overgrown in the yard. Tonight Andy is over there with a friend who we met in China, Aubrey. He and his wife met there and they moved to our city here and attend our church. It's been neat to have a China connection so close by! Andy and Aubrey are taking out the tile in the kitchen and entryway. We decided that the carpeting in the first floor needed to go since we are really hard on carpet, especially in the dining area! So we are taking up the tile as well and putting in hardwood flooring all through the first floor.

The picture above is taken from the back doors that lead out to a patio area. The kitchen is off to the right. The living room area is where the red padding is. The dining area is in the front part of house to the left of Andy. There's a bedroom and bathroom off of the living room area and 3 bedrooms and a bath upstairs. It's really open and simple, which I like.

As my Rossi always says, "If I can just see where you sleep, I feel better." So this post is for those of you who like to visualize where people are living! I'll get a picture of our bedroom up for my Rossi eventually.