HUGE life update!!

I can't believe I finally get to share this with you all!

Holy moly… it’s been a minute since I’ve written on here.

I want to start by saying I’m so sorry for the long absence. There have been so many times over the last few months when I wanted to pick up my laptop and write, but life has just been so crazy that there always seemed to be something preventing me from sitting down and doing it.

But nonetheless… here we are, three months later, and I’m finally ready to blow the dust off my laptop and start writing again. And let me tell you—I have SO much to update you all on!

I’ve shared before how writing is such a good outlet for me. I feel like I’m able to express my thoughts best through writing, and it’s always been something I’ve loved to do. So I’m so excited to get back into it and start sharing what’s been on my heart with you all on a regular basis again.

The last time I posted, I shared the news of our ectopic pregnancy loss. It’s so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that it was already over three months ago.

God is healing our hearts a little more every single day.

But, whenever I have a quiet moment to myself and my mind finally has time to slow down, my thoughts almost always drift back to our sweet Anya Grace.

I would have been about 22 weeks pregnant right now.

My heart was forever changed the day we lost our baby. I know I’ll spend the rest of my life missing our sweet little angel that we never got to meet here on earth.

But like I said, I truly have felt God’s healing hand over our hearts every single day. He has faithfully carried us through these last few months and has given us so much peace and comfort along the way.

The verse Psalm 34:18 has felt especially true in this season:

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

He is near.

He is moving.

And even when life is hard, He is still good.

Before I get into our huge life update, I wanted to update you all on something else.

So as some of you may know…

I wrote a book!! And it’s comes out SO soon!!

I can’t believe it will be releasing in just a little over 6 weeks!

It’s called Praying for Mr. Right, and it’s the story of how I met my husband, my testimony, heartbreak I’ve walked through, and God’s unwavering faithfulness throughout my years of waiting.

If I’m being completely honest, the closer we get to release day, the more nervous I’m becoming.

I share so many things in this book that I’ve never talked about publicly before, and knowing that they’re all about to be out in the world feels so vulnerable.

But I’m praying that by choosing to be vulnerable, someone else might feel a little less alone in whatever they’re walking through.

Years before I met my husband, I started consistently praying for my future husband, and I wrote all of those prayers down in journals.

Over the course of five years, I filled five journals.

Then, on our wedding day, I gave those journals to my husband as my wedding gift—a box filled with years of prayers—many of them I had prayed over him before we had ever even met.

I even included some of those actual prayers in the book, along with real love letters I wrote to my future husband.

Like I said... some very vulnerable stuff.

This book truly is my heart poured out onto pages.

Even though I’m getting more nervous as release day gets closer, I genuinely cannot wait for you all to read it.

It’s actually available for preorder now! If you’d like to support it, you can preorder it by clicking here.

Preorders make such a huge difference in the publishing world, so if you’ve been thinking about picking up a copy, your support would truly mean so much to me.

Okay now I won’t make you wait anymore…

I’ll finally share with you all our HUGE life update!!!

I can’t believe I finally get to tell you guys this…

*Drum roll please*

Our big announcement is…

WE MOVED TO FLORIDA!!!!

AHHHH!!!

It still feels so surreal to even type those words.

That’s one of the biggest reasons life has been so busy lately and why I haven’t had much time to write.

Believe it or not... moving your entire life across the country is a lot of work.

Like...

A LOT.

There were way more logistics involved than I ever expected, but nonetheless, we are finally here and settling into our new home!

I’m sure many of you have questions about why we decided to pack up our entire life and move all the way from northern Minnesota to Florida. So I thought I’d share a little bit of the “why” behind this big move.

If you’re not familiar with Minnesota’s climate, let me fill you in.

Summers and fall there are absolutely beautiful. They truly feel magical, and during those seasons it’s such an incredible place to live and visit.

But unfortunately, those seasons don’t always last very long.

For a big portion of the year, the weather can be very cold and unpredictable. Some years we’ve had snow for nearly eight months, and temperatures can very regularly drop below zero—with some winter days reaching as cold as -30°F.

So yes... the weather definitely played a role in this decision.

Both my husband and I have actually lived in warmer states before. I lived in Hawaii for a year, and my husband lived in Texas for several years.

We both experienced what it was like to live somewhere warm year-round, and we absolutely loved it.

Eventually, though, we both moved back home to Minnesota (and thank goodness we did, because that’s where we met).

But even after moving home, we both quietly held onto the dream of living somewhere warm again someday.

In fact, within our first few dates together, we discovered we shared that same dream.

As the years went on, we traveled to lots of different places together, but Florida was always the place we kept coming back to.

We visited many different parts of the state, but we completely fell in love with Southwest Florida. After one particular trip, we came home and immediately started browsing Zillow just for fun.

For years, though, it was never the right time.

It stayed exactly what it had always been...

A dream tucked away in our hearts.

Until recently...

When God opened a door we never could have imagined.

Over the last two years, we’d been searching around our hometown for a different house. We wanted a little more land and privacy, but nothing ever felt quite right.

There was one house we absolutely loved.

We actually put an offer on it...

Four different times.

And every single time, we didn’t get it.

At the time, we were so discouraged.

But looking back now, I can clearly see that God was protecting us from settling for something that wasn’t His best.

He was closing one door because He had another one waiting for us.

After we didn’t get that house, we decided to start looking at homes in Florida again.

Only this time...

It wasn’t just dreaming anymore.

We were actually serious.

Then one day, a house popped up that felt almost too good to be true.

It had nearly everything we had been hoping and praying for.

And no matter how hard we tried, we just couldn’t get it out of our minds.

So we prayed.

A lot.

Eventually, we decided to fly down to Florida as a family to see it in person.

And honestly...

The moment we walked through the front door, something just felt different.

It already felt like home.

We put in an offer and prayed that if this wasn’t what God had planned for us, He would close the door.

But if it was...

We prayed that He would flood us with peace and make it abundantly clear that we were supposed to move forward.

Not long after...

We found out our offer had been accepted.

We were beyond excited.

It honestly felt like one of those “pinch me” moments that you keep expecting to wake up from.

Then...

Life immediately shifted into overdrive. 😅

And that’s a big part of why we’ve been a little quieter on social media these last few weeks.

The moment everything became official, there was suddenly so much to do.

We had to get our house ready to sell, which meant remodeling three different rooms while also packing up our entire house.

To say it was a lot would be an understatement.

There were many late nights, lots of boxes, and more to-do lists than I can count.

But through it all, we kept seeing God’s faithfulness.

And praise Jesus... because after all that hard work, our house sold in less than 48 hours after being listed!

It was such an answered prayer.

After that, my husband and I drove down to Florida by ourselves for a week while the kids stayed in Minnesota with their grandparents.

We wanted to make our new house feel like home before bringing them down.

So we spent that week setting up their bedrooms, unpacking boxes, cleaning and sanitizing everything, grocery shopping, and doing all the little things that would make the transition easier for them.

Once everything was ready, we flew back to Minnesota, picked up the kids, and made the trip back to Florida together.

And now...

We’re finally all here.

Honestly, Florida already feels like home.

There were a few other reasons we decided to make this move as well.

Like financially, it made a lot of sense for our family.

But beyond that...

We genuinely love this lifestyle.

We’ve always loved the ocean and the beach, and I’ve dreamed for years about raising our kids somewhere they could grow up making memories at the beach—building sandcastles, collecting seashells, watching sunsets, and spending so much of their childhood outdoors.

That has always sounded so special to me.

Another huge blessing is that we have plenty of guest space for family and friends.

We already know we’ll have lots of visitors, especially our parents, and that makes my heart so happy because staying close with family was something that was really important to us before making this move.

Another reason we felt like now was the right time is because of our kids’ ages.

Right now they’re only two and (almost) four years old.

We figured that if we were ever going to make a big move like this, it would probably be easiest while they were still little.

And honestly...

The transition has been so much smoother than we ever imagined.

They absolutely love it here.

We’ve been spending so much more time outside together, and they already adore our new home—especially their new bedrooms.

Watching how easily they’ve adjusted has given us so much peace.

There are certainly other reasons we made this decision, but I’d say those are the biggest ones.

Ultimately, this has been something we’ve dreamed and prayed about for a long time.

Right now we’re in a season of life where we have a lot of flexibility. So we felt like if we were ever going to take this leap of faith...

Now was the time.

And honestly...

If, for some reason, we end up deciding Florida isn’t where we’re meant to stay forever...

That’s okay.

Minnesota will always be home, too.

Nothing says we can’t move back someday.

One of the things that gave us a lot of peace was knowing that we’ll still be traveling back to Minnesota often to spend time with family and friends.

In fact, we’ll already be heading back very soon for a couple of weeks!

But I think that about sums it all up!

Sorry I got a little long-winded. 😂 There were just so many parts of this story that I wanted to share because this has been such a huge season of change for our family.

We truly couldn’t be happier to be here. This still doesn’t feel completely real.

Every once in a while, I’ll just stop what I’m doing, look around, and think...

“Wow... we actually live here.”

It’s one of those moments that still hasn’t fully sunk in. More than anything, we’re just so thankful.

We’re thankful for the way God has led us every step of the way. We’re thankful for every closed door that eventually led us to the right one. And we’re thankful for the peace He’s given us throughout this entire journey.

There are still boxes to unpack, projects to finish, and lots of adjusting to do, but we’re so excited for this new chapter and everything God has in store.

I can’t wait to bring you all along for the ride.

I’m excited to share our new home, our new adventures, and all the memories we’ll make here as a family. So make sure to subscribe if you want to follow along!

And before I go...

I just want to say thank you again. Thank you for always loving and supporting our family.

It truly means more than you’ll ever know.

Honestly, this move wouldn’t have been possible without you.

Because of your support over the years, we’ve been able to build a career doing something we genuinely love, and we’ll never take that for granted.

From the bottom of our hearts...Thank you.

And thank you, too, for all the love you’ve already shown Praying for Mr. Right.

Seeing your excitement for this book has been incredibly encouraging!

Release day is getting so close!

If you’d like to preorder your copy, you can do so here. ❤️

Looking back over these last few months—

from grieving the loss of our sweet Anya Grace, to writing and preparing to release my first book, to packing up our entire life and moving across the country—I’m reminded once again that God is faithful in every season.

Sometimes He guides us through heartbreak, and sometimes He leads us into beautiful new beginnings.

Through it all, He never changes.

Until next time,

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Are you surprised by this announcement of us moving?

Also, have you ever moved somewhere completely new? What was it like?

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