We Found Our Forever Home?!

It’s been a while since I’ve written a general life update post. As I glance through the recent blog posts, I am struck by two things. 1^st – wow, I haven’t posted much in the past couple years, and most of what I have written has been about books. 2^nd – last time I did anything close to an update about our life was the end of 2024. A lot has changed since then.

Grab a cup of chai and an old quilt and be prepared to hear me…talk about me (and my family).

The end of 2024 saw us settled nicely into our new rental in Atlanta, Georgia. Jehosheba and I worked with Daddy doing bathroom remodeling. The kids studied. I finally figured out a routine for life in which I was productive. I took up sewing as a hobby and (finally) finished a few items of clothing that I could wear in public without embarrassment. We took some trips as a family and saw a lot of amazing historical sights. Jehosheba and I applied for (online) college and were both accepted (Jehosheba to a writing program at OXFORD and me to studying ministry and evangelism at a Baptist college in IA). We found a church full of lovely people.

Yes, it was a busy, beautiful time. Yet our lives wouldn’t be complete without our annual move. We spent many Sunday evenings sitting around our little firepit (roasting all manner of food from leftover pizza to bananas) and we talked about what the future looked like. In all the differing opinions and debate, one desire was unanimous.

We wanted a forever home.

We wanted to move somewhere and finally be able to settle. To call a place home and know that it would remain so for more than a year.

After much prayer, discussions, and a trip down to Florida to check out some potential properties, we put an offer in on a house. By God’s kindness and grace, our offer was accepted. The intervening weeks between then and closing were full of chaos and unknowns, but when we finally held the keys to home in our hands and walked solemnly through our new house…joy abounded.

The house itself is older and in need of a lot of renovation and repairs. We took several trips down to work on it before we moved (I’ll never look at a paintbrush the same way again…). Our move day was the middle of August.

It’s funny that now that this was (Lord willing) the last big move (for a while) we finally came up with a good system for packing and unpacking. Nahum and Baruch are old enough and strong enough to move most of the furniture (hurrah!), so Jehosheba and I found ourselves eased of much of our former burdens. The move was very smooth. Thank God!

It’s been a few weeks now and the settling process is limping along. We’re doing renovations on the house in the midst of trying to unpack and to start school, so everything is a bit chaotic. But we are all so thankful for this lovely place that God has blessed us with. It’s an old neighborhood filled with sweet, encouraging people and within walking distance of our usual stores. We couldn’t have asked for anywhere better.

~Hattush