Ch-ch-ch-changes …

From 3000 square feet to 1300 square feet. What a change, eh? Look at that monster on the left. That was our house before. And that sweet little cottage on the right? That's where we're living now. (It has a palm tree! Can you see it??)

The variety of questions and responses from friends who heard about our move is interesting. Some think we're heroic for "giving up" our house. They surmise that we might have moved to pay for the kids' school or for some kinda spiritual reason. Sorry-nope. :P

We didn't move to be heroes. The economy changed for a lot of people and we sold rather than dealing with the pressure of payments. We didn't feel like we really cared about owning anymore—we just needed to be able to pick up and go whenever we needed to. The people who bought our home gifted us with freedom.

I asked our family in the car the other day if they really missed the space. I got some pretty ho-hum answers. The "new" house (built in the 70s) is all tile, so the floors are colder. (My youngest has made rugs out of blankets.) The walls are thinner. (Spinning gerbil kept mom and dad awake at first.) We had a big pool right outside the front door at the other house. (This one is half the size and down the street. Horrors!)

I hope you're laughing. We're still in the category of the richest people in the world just because we live in America. We got rid of a lot of unnecessary stuff. I clean less. (Hooray!) And no one's particularly impressed by the size of our house or our fashionable location. So?

Yes, I cried when I first learned we had to move. We gals get pretty "married" to our living quarters. That big house was really pretty, and we've moved a lot. We had no plans to move again. The girls' rooms had been decorated really cute and they mourned losing black dots on pink walls and dolphin wallpaper.

But life sure isn't about houses, is it?

Now we have to holler less to get attention. "It's cozy," I heard one daughter say. And the other doesn't mind at all the fact that the piano landed in her little bedroom where she can play anytime she wants. My husband has taken over the extra room for a studio and seems to get just as much work done as before. I'm surprised by own my lack of feeling "loss" in the matter. I still can make beauty here. And did I mention I clean a lot less?

One treasure of this place is a little screened in porch off the bedroom where I parked the two white rockers from our roomy front porch at the other house. And I've sat outside with some low music playing lately, Bible in hand, and felt pretty downright content. What is that verse? "I've learned to be content in any situation, whether in plenty or want."

We haven't reached "want" yet. But we are happy where we are. Thanks for asking!