I feel as if I owe you an explanation as to where I have been all these months. Both my businesses–my blog and my essential oils–have taken a back seat as our family is going through the longest transition ever.

First, it was the transition from our house into a tiny apartment in Wilmington in August. That was to take off the burden of trying to sell or rent out our house during my husband’s transition out the Marine Corps–we have tenants in there for the next year and they are a dream.

Still, our time in Wilmington was short. Seven months. While we made dear friends and our tiny, sad apartment truly did become our home, we always knew it was only temporary. As soon as we settled in, it was time to prepare to leave again.

Then, mid-March, it was the transition from North Carolina to Colorado. The last two months have been a whirlwind of packing and moving and selling and the culmination of it all was hopping on another plane, alone, with two strollers, two checked bags, two car seats, four carry ons, and two kids.

Did I mention I was alone?

Praise Jesus for a kind flight attendant or I would have never made it off the plane to arrivals–two hands can simply not carry four bags, two kids, a car seat, and both strollers. (There is a new, updated post coming next about tips for traveling with two kids because after the four trips I’ve done in the past six months, I feel like I’m finally getting the hang of it!)

Also, we’re building a house. An A frame, actually. It started as a joke, an ambitious ideal to build our dream house instead of going through the remodel process–but, of course, twenty-two with two toddlers is not the time to build a dream house.

But then what if we bought the land and built our dream house later?

What if built a tiny house? What if we actually built a little tiny house on our property to live in until we could afford to build our dream house in twenty years?

That’s crazy talk. Only people on HGTV do that.

Then, thanks to some random article that showed up on Facebook (or not random–I know you’re listening, Facebook) we discovered Avrame. A frames for people who don’t want to be burdened by a huge mortgage for the rest of their lives. We researched like crazy and discussed options for hours before deciding that once my husband is out the military, we can do whatever we want!

It’s not impulsive or spontaneous because building a house impulsively would be rather foolish; I think we can all agree on that.

It is a little crazy. A little ambitious. But us Brakes are not ones to dream big dreams and then not follow through with them.

So we’re building a house. Did you know that planning to build a house is a lot of work? Yeah. It is. And it’s kept me busy–busy enough that my businesses have been taking a back seat. The best part about my businesses though? They’ll be there when I come back. They allow me to put my family and our dreams first. And now that we live in Colorado, I can start blogging again. I can start teaching about natural living again and I can focus on our dreams.

There’s still two months before my husband’s time in the Marine Corps is over, and until then, he’s back in North Carolina, finishing strong.

We’re here in Colorado, living the dream of moving back in with the parents–which, although it sounds sardonic, actually is a dream. I adore my parents (also I adore their home) and my kids adore my parents and while I look forward to the day our A frame is complete and our family has a home of our own once more, I’m thoroughly relishing every moment here.

Life has settled down for a short period of time. Settled down while we go through the loan process to buy land, while we end our time as a military family, while I live in a home with three other adults who are invaluable with the kiddos.

Then the time will come. We will obtain the loan, building will commence, my husband will move into a new job, and chaos will resume.

Thanks for sticking with me on this adventure, friends. There is much, much more to come.