Time to Move

Why NOT sell your house and move to Bloomington for a house with a pool?

• We love living in Minneapolis! 
• So close to beautiful Lake Nokomis, biking, Minnehaha Falls and Parkway, diverse people and food options, light rail and public transportation, museums, concerts, plays, Fort Snelling, Downtown, three parks for our kids within walking distance, library, bank, post office all in our neighborhood, quick drive to the airport to pick up friends, doesn't take long to drive anywhere outside the city.
• We love our house. We've made a lot of changes here like updating kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, building a sweet pergola and patio, finishing the basement etc...  Even when we first moved in I often told Bert I wanted to live here forever because it's such a special house.
• The kids are young, (four and one) and we are BUSY.
• I've been battling the emotional roller coaster of depression these past few years. I transitioned off of medicine, thinking I was better, but have still had many days of heaviness and difficulty.  I was feeling exhausted with daily life and wasn't sure this was a good time for a major life change.

Why sell your house and move to Bloomington for a house with a pool?

• We've always talked about the dream of having a pool one day.  We often talk about our dreams for the future on date nights, and it almost always comes up.  Oh the allure of the after-dinner swim on those hot July nights!
• The kids are young.  They aren't rooted in schools here yet.  And it's possible we will be sending them to school in Bloomington because they have such great schools there.
• The kids are young.  They could get major, major hours of fun swimming in the pool at these young and rambunctious ages.  Let's make as many memories as we can before time flies away.
• The kids are young.  In the new neighborhood they will be able to ride their bikes on the street and play around nearby Nine Mile Creek in the prime of their childhood.
• We love new projects, and the new house is FULL of potential cosmetic changes.  Nothing has been updated inside the house (avocado green kitchen sink, six rooms of outdated wallpaper), but the backyard is pristine and perfect.
• The exterior and backyard are awesome.  Huge pool. Hot tub, Eating area outside which is only steps away from the kitchen counter. Basketball half-court. New retaining walls with perennials. Front porch to sit and watch sunsets from. Nice roof and siding and windows etc.
• All bedrooms are on the same level with two bathrooms.
• Great for hospitality and entertaining.  We can't wait to have our discipleship group and all our friends and family over to swim!
• It would be awesome to have the house where our kids and their friends want to gather, because then we can know their friends and know they are hanging out in a good environment.
• There is a beautiful and secluded nature trail that starts down the street and winds around a calm pond area.  There is another trail that goes to Nine Mile Creek and a fantastic elementary school.
• Well-established neighborhood that doesn't have through traffic, so the streets are calm and safe and all the neighbors know each other.
• We agreed on our core values when we got married, and while we might need to update those since becoming parents, two of our core values are being ADVENTUROUS and HOSPITALITY. 

So.  All this to say.  We're doing it.  Putting our beloved Minneapolis house on the market and moving to Bloomington.  We haven't been planning this all along, but just have felt stirred lately to look at the possibility of moving.  We didn't even plan on looking that far south, but just looked at this house on a whim.  Then we walked out and said, "now what?" because we realized that was the dream house and we needed to decide what we were doing.  After much talking through the above points, we decided to make an offer and it was accepted.

I've been amazed to see how God has used this life change in a healing way for my mind and heart.  Since making the offer on the house, I have experienced such a healing distraction and peace on my mind.  You'd think I'd be more overwhelmed with the tasks before me, but I've felt much more myself and up for tackling the work ahead.  I'm so excited about the future instead of dreading the upcoming days.  What amazing grace.  God has been answering our prayers for my healing and helping me each day to lift my heart out from under the dark cloud.

I am overwhelmed by the unspeakable grace that this move is to our future life as a family.  We have a lot to learn about pool care, but we are up for it.  Hope you can come over and swim!