God is in the Details: Part I

Sitting at nearly the end of this move with 20/20 hindsight it is amazing to look back on the transitions we have come through in the past 6 months and to see how every decision was divinely guided and controlled.  We took a step of faith by saying yes and our needs have been provided....every single one.

After saying yes it came time to have some tough conversations and make some decisions.



Ed was stuck at home during the January 2011 ice storm in Atlanta for 4 days solo with C & Little Man while I was stuck in Schenectady, NY doing job interviews.

 One of our first decisions was regarding Ed's job....should he resign and start a new job yet again, expand his freelance work to nearly full time, be a full time stay at home Dad or propose a remote work arrangement with his current employer.  It is rare for in a in-house designer to work remote HOWEVER my husband is awesome at the different jobs he has held over the course of our marriage; every employer he has left has been very sad to see him go and he is very valued for his creative mind, experience, attention to detail and patience for last minute changes. We thought there would be a chance he could work remote but were not sure this "favor" would be accepted.   Ed convinced his co-workers first before approaching management about the arrangement and we were elated to hear his CEO supported the arrangement because they love Ed.  Doesn't everyone???

After our snow storm adventure it became clear that me traveling back and forth between Atlanta and Virgina until our house in Atlanta sold and we found the right home in VA wasn't a great solution for our family.  It put too much burden on Ed, the kids, and our marriage.  We took one house hunting trip to Roanoke and were pretty disappointed with the selection.  The prices were high, the homes not updated, and the "good school district" homes lacked the character and neighborly feel we so enjoyed in Atlanta.  Despite the disappointment we enjoyed our weekend away and got to stay at one of my favorite hotels: Hotel Roanoke.  It is a charming Doubletree Property that is an updated classic and the nicest hotel in town, don't you just love those mountains in the background?

Thus the hunt began for temporary housing.....

We had 2 options for a short term lease:

1) live in a college-esque apartment (dark, dingy, old appliances, old fixtures, cheap carpet)

    2) live in a furnished college-esque apartment for triple the money with dingy rented furniture. 

We created option 3 and stepped out in faith that God would provide.  We signed a 9 month lease for the only apartment that met our expectations and sent our sweet Abbie dog to Camp Kentucky with G-dad. 

After having spent 2 months of cleaning out, upgrading, de-cluttering our Atlanta home to be on the extremely tough Atlanta real estate market a 2 bedroom loft sounded like heaven.  We did a partial move into The Cotton Mill in middle March. 

Our loft is unconventional for Roanoke. Downtown living is a recent trend/fad here much like in the rest of the US.  The smaller population here doesn't drive much demand much in the way of upscale apartment living in renovated factory buildings.  Many people feel the downtown area is unsafe(we disagree) however it is not an ideal location for a family of 4.  Luckily the walls here are very well insulated and we haven't had any complaints from neighbors about the 2 crying, jumping, and screaming monkeys that live in our unit. 

We have loved our time here; the unit is beautiful and it has allowed us to walk downtown, ride to the greenway, and be 10 minutes from work and the kids' school.  The original wood beams are exposed and the original wood floors have been restored....they are even rolling in places.  The developer spared no cost restoring this place, he actually was developing this building as condos and at the last minute changed to rental units due to the economic conditions when the project was completed.  The most important part of us living here is the church home we found literally outside the door of our building.



Our Dining Nook



Ed's Office...our hallway!



On our downtown walks I had noticed a sign outside The Jefferson Center (a performing arts center) for a church; I mentally filed it away because we were trying to like a church in the same "family" as the one we were missing so badly in Atlanta, but it was just not to be. So one Sunday we walked across the street and found our new church home.  We knew right away it was the place for us: COR. 

Stay tuned...we are moving into a home and there is more to that story too.