On Change and What’s Best

“Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle, and best at the end.”
-Robin Sharma

My oh my, could I write a long, slow book about Change.

You, too?

In your family?

If there is any consistency the last three years, it is this:

1. Life is rarely how we picture it.
2. What is best is never how we picture it.

Having been a goal-setting girl from as far back as I can remember, it feels incredibly strange to be sitting here January 1st, 2021, without a desire or need to write even one goal down in my journal. Not one.

It’s crazy. Maybe I’m crazy. Or perhaps it’s a little bit of turning 50 last month mixed with a scant pinch of settled peace, a warmth of quiet contentment knowing that whatever 2021 brings, it will be okay.

As I type these words, Philippians 4:11 inevitably surfaces: “…for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”

Maybe, just maybe, I’m a bit closer this year.

Like you, we rode the ups and downs of a pandemic-laced year, pressing on and celebrating silver linings.

We blew out birthday candles.

 

Went on moose hunts and processed meat.

Said goodbye to our son and to my parents as both headed south for the winter.

We enjoyed sandy river banks, played with horse trailers, and learned how to iron-on and how to crochet.

And somewhere in our string of days, amidst all the noise and joys of parenting, while planning homeschool lessons and working and praying, we bought ourselves a farm.

Our farm is in rough shape. It needs so much love.

The ironic thing is, Buy a Farm was not on our list of goals.

Even more ironic? The farm has no living quarters; only a dilapidated, long barn (with cool floor boards) that needs lots and lots of love.

So we will be selling our current house this spring~ in which we’ve lived for 11 years ~and will build a farmhouse instead.

Build a Farmhouse was not on our list of goals.

But without trying, without striving, we’ve been prepping for this Change for a long time. For months we’ve been seeking, praying, longing for a simpler life….a life lived more outside than in. A life with smaller rooms and less peripheral noise, with more warm animals and less wi-fi.

A life where we can learn how to can vegetables, kayak in a backyard creek, or race ponies around barrels in an arena.

Did I mention our farm has its own arena? Yep. The arena pretty much had us at hello.

We didn’t know it would look like this. We didn’t know our Change would include a long red barn, a green field, and a house building project.

But the crazy thing is, we’re not only okay with it. We’re kinda giddy.

As such, I will be stepping back from All Mimsy Home and will not be accepting new clients for the rest of the winter.

It’s always hard to know what’s Best. How fortunate we are to have a Savior who primarily decides Best for us, in spite of ourselves.  I do know that growing my business and pursuing creative passions has taken a back seat to being present and available for our children during a tremendously tumultuous year for socially, mentally, spiritually, and educationally.

I wouldn’t trade the innumerable hours with them for all the creative success in the world.

Fireman and I have talked often about this next phase of our journey. Should we share it through social media? Should we start a YouTube channel? Connect with brands through Instagram during our build?

Yet each time we return to our focus: Less outside noise; more presence in the moment.

These parameters remain our constant, our inspired reason for Change. Unless it’s life-giving, we will say No so that we can say Yes to Time and to One Another. But who knows what the future may hold?

Thank you always for your faithful friendship and support of All Mimsy Home over the years. It has been a tremendous joy serving and creating with you to make homes beautiful in this little corner of the world.

Our Best days are undoubtedly still ahead ~

Warmly,

Jaimee