Onward Ho!

So, John and I have some big news - but if you're looking for a sonogram or tummy bumps or pictures of cute things, this is the wrong kind of big news for you. We have none of that today!

Drumroll please....

we're moving!

Time to gauge audience reaction:
What?! You're moving?! You just moved 3 months ago!
What?! You're moving?! You have the perfect spot in Toronto!
What?! You're moving?! What about John's business?!

Okay, you've had your moment, hope it was lovely. Those were generally the reactions of our family and friends when we announced what we had in mind for our lives over the next few months, and trust me - they were entirely justified.

John and I have moved a total of 1 (to our first place together after we got married), 2 (to Circle Square over the summer), 3 (to our first place in Toronto which turned out to actually be above a drug operation which was not ideal), and 4 (to this place). So this will be move number 5 in the course of nearly 2 years and trust me, we're not ecstatic about the moving process either. It's exhausting and the sense of uprooting (again!) is draining. But we feel it's necessary in our lives right now.

We came to Toronto to network and build relationships that will help encourage the success of our business. And we did it - it worked! - and in a shorter amount of time than we thought. While we were here, we realized that meetings don't actually happen at the drop of a hat, and people don't expect you to show up for an urgent job within 15 minutes. That's just not how it works in the industry John's in. To be honest, we expected it to be that way - because from the sounds of the ad-world, that's sort of how it would seem to be. It's just not. That's not to say that we haven't met success along the way or that John hasn't gotten the connections he's searched for. He has! But we don't need to be right in the heart of it all now that he's got those connections.



Wal Mart had a great sale on tote boxes! Seeing as a lot of our stuff is getting stored, it just made sense :)

We'll be back and often, because we want to foster the networks that we have already established. That's for sure for sure for sure. Probably once a week. But the majority of John's work is from home, which means that we should be spending our time, in our home, in an area where we feel most comfortable. And that ain't here.
So, today we're packing up, heading north (but not too north - we're still about an hour or so from the city, which says a lot considering that you can get from one end of the city to another in an hour) and taking ourselves on another adventure.

Here's the plan, and remember - the greatest lesson we've learned in marriage (aside from how crucial laughter and patience are!) is that plans change. Often. And drastically. Anyway, here it is:

Step 1: Live in a temporary residence (which we really love!) over the course of the summer months
Step 2: Rent out an apartment in a house from September to May (living like students, now that we're finally not students)
Step 3: Save up enough money to...
Step 4: Buy a house sometime next year (???reallybigquestionmark???) - that's the change-y-planniest part of our change-y-plan

What this means for our lives will hopefully be a little more peace, a little more quiet, and a little more time to gather ourselves up. After I finished University a couple of months ago, our lives were a flurry of travel and transition - two things I adore but it got a little overwhelming. Then with the passing of a loved one, the worst day at work in my life (which I will rant about later in another blog), and some serious consideration (to be fair, we've been considering moving out of Toronto since before we moved here - you can ask our friends about that one) we put our apartment up on the classified-sphere of the internet and waited. Three seperate "yes! I'll take it! I'm coming to sign the lease tomorrow"s later, and three "actually we changed our minds" later, we finally found a renter that is taking over our lease. (Which, I should mention, was an extremely confusing time because although we felt that leaving was the right thing to do, it wasn't the smoothest or without its roadblocks. Our prayer was predominantly "God, do yo' thang" - as in, if we're 'supposed' to stay here, let's work that out. If we're 'supposed' to not stay here, let's do that. Alongside prayers for immense clarity, discernment and peace of course.)

buddies :D

And thanks to all of those (and there was a team of you!) praying for us over these last few weeks. We have needed every single prayer.
So... all that's to say... in a very vague Forrest Gump reference...

Our life is like a brightly coloured tote box.
You never know what you're gonna fit.

(You know, like... we've fit a lot into a short amount of time?)