Each season of life we set 5 themes to live out our mission statement. God only knew how necessary “adaptability” would be for this season of life. Since April, we moved from Arizona to Texas (check out our Summer in San Antonio Series here!), moved twice while being TDY in Texas, and we will move again in late 2023. Oh and, God-willing, we will welcome our new baby girl any day now!
In times of transition, we experience many emotions: excitement, guilt, stress, disorientation, impatience, anger. It’s also easy to start the doubts and what-ifs, but thankfully “grace” is also one of our 5 themes for this season of life. God’s grace has been our daily need and prayer. As we have been reflecting on 2023, we have seen God’s grace demonstrated in a multitude of ways, but it’s always hard to see in the moment. Without His faithfulness, His mercy, and His grace we truly wouldn’t be able to make it through this season.
How are we adapting to this life stage?
Check out our Finding Freedom Series that outlines our family goal setting process, including our “goal board” and weekly check-ins. We just finished reading Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley. We recommend this book for anyone looking to develop intentional family rhythms. We implemented many of Justin’s suggestions into our goal board moving into the next season of life:
We need frequent reminders to ask for help! Thankfully we have a great church community and lots of help & prayer from family. Despite Trevor’s busy training schedule, we have been focusing on date nights, giving each other breaks, and prioritizing family quality time. We have trouble saying no to things, so intentional communication and prioritization is critical for us to maintain unity in times of transition.
How Are we preparing for Baby Sister?
We are revisiting Babywise by Gary Ezzo and Dr. Robert Bucknam and updating our shared calendars with reminders of feeding schedule changes, “merges”, and sleep regressions. When Hattie was a baby, it was great to have schedules in the calendar ahead of time, rather than trying to remember things retroactively when “mom-brain” had taken over.
We have been preparing Hattie to be a big sister by practicing tasks like changing diapers on her baby dolls. These informal and spontaneous lessons are intended to prepare Hattie for the responsibilities of being a big sister. With the toddler stage in full force, we’ve been working on “stop and go” training and “independent play” intervals.
Real Estate Business Update
In early 2023 we hired a property manager, Fig and Toast LLC, for our short term rentals in Tucson and bookings have slowed down during the summer in Tucson, but we are looking forward to this upcoming fall and winter travel season.
In case you missed it, check out the online course we released in early 2023: “Military Real Estate Investing 101”!
With no signs of interest rates or prices dropping we are considering living on base at our next assignment, but we are still keeping our eyes out for deals with an assumable mortgage!
Podcast Interviews
Check out Trevor’s interview on the Tales of Leadership Podcast. This interview was recorded last fall before our season of transitions kicked off, so listening again gave us perspective and encouragement!
Thanks for reading!
We appreciate your prayers for this big transition coming for our family! Thanks for reading and let us know your thoughts and what you are up to this summer!
