There is no doubt that the last month has been an incredibly busy one for the Sturm family. In early October, we got a very unexpected surprise when an offer was made on our house. We had really become pretty content with the thought that nobody was going to come along in the near future to buy our house, so this came as quite a shock! In the market today, especially with a townhouse in the Joliet/Shorewood area, it would have been silly not to accept the offer and just deal with the chaos that would come with packing and moving in a very short time period. Needless to say, we survived three weeks of packing each night after long days at work and spending our weekends house hunting. Fortunately, the packing was successful...unfortunately, the house hunting was not quite as successful. We are very blessed, however, to have a wonderful Mom and Dad Lamont who have taken us in for the time being as we continue the search for a new house. It's already been wonderful having a much shorter drive to work and having the company of my parents and their two dogs. Chesney is loving her stay here with her best pal Ginger and grandparents who spoil her with several walks a day.
So for now, we've left our first home behind and are excited about what the future holds. It was a very sad and emotional day when we said our goodbyes to 546 Meadow Lily, but we know that God has another perfect house for us. We were blessed with 2+ years of memories living in our former house and so many of our "firsts" as husband and wife happened in that home. Some of our favorite memories (since the two of us have been fairly reflective throughout this whole moving process) include painting every single wall, acquiring a house full of stuff after initially moving in with just a couch, bringing home our first "kid" Chesney to the house and being patient as she chewed up several things including a door, decorating for Christmas each year, our frequent egg throwing contests off the balcony into the open field to the side of our house, Tyler locking himself out on the balcony when he was home alone, and of course meeting our wonderful neighbors Justin and Suzanne. We thank God for those memories (and so many more) and will cherish them forever. It's exciting to know that so many more memories will come along as we move on into the next chapter of our lives in a new home. Regardless, we have really been reminded through all of this that it is not all of the walls and stuff inside that matter, but the people within the house who truly make it a home.
