Contentment (Otherwise Known as "Our Story and What We Are Learning From It"

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”--Frederick Keonig

We've had a lot of change in our lives in the past 4 years.

4 years ago, I was working Full Time at a big orange store as a department head in bookkeeping. Dear Sweet Hubby was working his tail off with no real rewards at a small tool store as an assistant manager. I dreamed of being a Mom, staying at home, and raising a family.

We decided the time was right and that we were going to try to have a child. So, we packed our belongings, moved to a 2 bedroom apartment in a different suburb, and were shown that not everyone gets preggers right away. :) Apparently, my plans were different than God's.

5 months later, and with no success, we stepped back and assessed the situation. Dear Sweet Hubby was completely unhappy with his job situation, I was feeling more than stuck where I was at, so when the opportunity for Dear Sweet Hubby to get a new job working at a strong retail company, we jumped on it. Not to mention the fact that the new job made it possible for me to become a housewife, and a hope of moving back into the "country". (We believed we weren't cut out for the big city lights.) So, we packed our stuff, again, and moved to our temporary city where Dear Sweet Hubby had to do his training. We literally lived in an Econolodge for a month, and then found this adorable little apartment. (And by little, I mean tiiiiinnnnyyyy.) But, it was nicer than any other apartment we were in, had a washer and dryer, a wonderful kitchen, and the balcony overlooked a wooded area that regularly housed a family of deer. Needless to say, those 4 months we lived there were absolutely wonderful. We were giving everything to God. We weren't attempting to get pregnant because we knew it just wasn't the time. And we just enjoyed the moment. We learned a lot from that moment in our lives.

Right before Thanksgiving, Dear Sweet Hubby finished his training and was told he'd be getting into his own store, and that he had to be there the Monday after Thanksgiving...talk about short timing! So....we packed up AGAIN, and moved into an apartment (sight unseen) in a small, tiny, Midwestern town. And of course, those dreams of having a family popped up again.

4 months later, a tiny plastic stick told us we were expecting, and 9 months later (with one more move due to a mold issue where we lived) we welcomed our sweet LBB into our family. And then, news that Dear Sweet Hubby's store would be closing due to repairs that were too costly, so off we went...right back to where we started from! Dear Sweet Hubby took a store that was 30 minutes from our first apartment. Crazy, isn't it?

So, we lived with my parents for a few months while we got our bearings straight, and then moved into the apartment that we are in now.

Did you count the moves? In the past 4 years, we have lived in 6 apartments, a hotel, and my parents' basement. :)

And...we just got wonderful news that Dear Sweet Hubby will be opening a new store 45 minutes from where we live. His current commute is 1 hour through traffic, and this is going out of the metro, so no traffic now! Immediately, our wheels started turning...well, if we could buy a house. If this. If that. When we have another child. If we can have another child...

...I am going to be completely upfront and share what breaks our heart each and every month. We dream of having another little one. We can't wait for the day that LBB is a big brother. We long to hold another sweet newborn in our arms. In fact, we've been waiting for that day for 20 months now. We know that when it is in God's plan, it will happen according to Him. Sometimes, though, that's not easy to accept.

But.

What's all this got to do with contentment? Do you see a common thread in this whole story?

I do, especially now. God has led us on an amazing journey. He has blessed us with an amazing marriage, an amazing son, and the ability to have me stay at home, be a housewife, and homeschool our little guy while Dear Sweet Hubby works at a job he loves. We've made some stupid mistakes, and some we are still paying for, but through it all, God is teaching us how to be content.

And I've gotta say...sometimes we can be really ignorant. Sometimes we try to ignore the lesson he is teaching us. Sometimes we try to make it happen in our time. Sometimes we get lost and ignore the way he is guiding us.

So, when the news of Dear Sweet Hubby going to this new store and knowing how cheap houses were, yadda yadda yadda, we started to get that discontentment bug again. We started to think about how we needed to rush to do this, rush to do that, move again in 2 years, and then rush around doing things in a house. But, we stopped.

We prayed. We talked. And we took a deep breath.

And decided, that deep down, when you find contentment in the place you live...in the apartment, house, underground silo (whatever it is you call home!), you find true happiness. When you realize that the list of things you want to do around your little apartment to make it work perfectly for your family makes you happy, while the lists of things to do to buy a house scare the living daylights out of you, it's probably wisest to go with what makes you happy.

God put us here for a reason. We live in the suburb we live for a specific reason...Dear Sweet Hubby has some time to relax after work before he walks in the door. LBB is close to all the cool extracurricular activities that the metro has to offer. And we live close enough to my parents to be happy and have that family time that is so special for us. Our apartment is home. And someday in the next few years, we would love to move into a 3 bedroom apartment in the complex for a little more space, but even that comes with contentment. :)

So, all that rambling comes down to one thing...and it's a big one.

Contentment isn't an easy thing to achieve. Sometimes you have to go through a lot of discontentment to even know how to get there. Sometimes you'll think you are "achieving" it only to find out that you had your blinders on and have to start over.

But once you find it, ah. It's a wonderful, relaxed feeling. You can begin to look at things with joy in your heart. Small things, big things. Happy things, stressful things. All of them take on a new look. And while as humans we are meant to struggle now and again with this issue, God will lead us on a path that helps us learn to be happy with what we've been blessed with. It is an amazing thing.

So, on this evening when I've rambled your ear off, please, take a moment and think...are you content? What is that makes you content? (And leave a comment if you want!)

That's all for now...I'm seriously going to go look at pinterest now. :) Have a blessed evening!