I have been unpacking boxes like a mad woman for the last few days, trying to organize and sort all of our things. I have run across A TON of pictures. It has been so funny to see how we (as well as some of you) have changed throughout the years. I will have to post some of the funnier pictures later. As for now, I thought that I would journal about the places that we have lived during our 7 1/2 year marriage. We have had 5 different homes - crazy, huh? The Lord has taught us a lot at each of those different dwellings.
Looking back, I can describe our first apartment in one word - tiny. It was only 575 square feet. There were only 2 drawers in the whole entire place - one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. There was barely room to breathe in that little place. But, we were newlyweds and loved that little space. When we chose to get married at only 21 years old, our parents were both firm in saying that they would pay for college, but nothing else. We were on our own financially. That was the wisest thing that they could have done for us. I know that we both would have finished school - quitting at that point was not an option. But, without our parents help, we would have started out our marriage with a ton of debt. (By the grace of God, we managed to make it through the first few years with no debt whatsoever.) We knew, however, that we had to be cautious with our very modest income, because there was no chance that we were going to ask our parents for money. We both had part time jobs and neither paid very well. We learned to budget and live within our means. We lived for Thursday nights. It was the first season that Survivor was on television. We would only let ourselves eat out once a week. We always picked Thursdays. We would get Chick-fil-a or chinese food and eat it while watching Survivor. It was the highlight of our week! We had so many good times in that tiny dump of an apartment. It was where we started building the foundation of our marriage.
2. August 2001- August 2002
The Barrington on Sheffield Square Apartments
2770 Bardin Road #6111
Man, we thought that we had officially made it when we moved into our 700 square foot apartment. Wade had gotten a job with Vought Aircraft, so we moved to Grand Praire. This apartment was much nicer than our first. I was in my final year of nursing school and Wade was starting his career in aerospace. I don't have many pictures from this apartment (probably because I spent most of my time studying). I ended the spring semester with my diploma in hand. I started my career as a nurse at Children's in the ICU. This was a great place to begin our "real" jobs and to continue to grow as a married couple.
3. August 2002 - August 2007
1619 Sandalwood Drive, Grand Prairie, TX
After a few months of having dual incomes, we had saved enough to purchase our first home. It was so exciting! We loved our little house and put a lot of work into it. It was here that we learned the joys (and the drawbacks) of being homeowners. It was so fun to have our own place, but we also realized that you can't just call up your landlord when something breaks. We loved living close to most of Wade's extended family. It was awesome being 5 minutes from Wade's sister and her family. I feel like my sister-in-law and I grew really close during that 5 year time span. I grew to love her even more, and now consider her to be one of my closest friends. It was also really fun to live that close to my nieces, too. I love those sweet girls! This is also the house where we started our family. I will never forget bringing that sweet little newborn through the front door. Clayton met all of his first milestones in that house - smiling, crawling, walking, laughing, teething, etc. I will always cherish our time on Sandalwood Drive.
4. August 2007-February 2008
6111 Meadowcrest Lane, Sachse TX
After selling our house in Grand Prairie much faster than anticipated, we were left with 3 weeks to find a new home. We decided that we didn't have enough time to find a house to purchase, so we decided to rent for 6 months. Life changed a lot in that short 6 months of time. Wade was offered a great opportunity with a company out of Detroit. He accepted their offer and now works from home. I quit my job at Children's to become a full time stay at home mom. And... our little guy became fully potty trained. We all went through life-changing events. :) That house was a great place to be during the transition period between houses.
5. March 2008 - hopefully, forever
Our current house
2 comments:
Aw! Love this post! I remember your tiny apartment and how we all thought you guys were SO cool b/c you were married. I actually even remember visiting and passing by that fateful Chick-fil-a! ;-)
Me too!!! I always thought that apartment was beyond cool!!! What city are you living in now? So glad it all worked out!!!
Post a Comment