Our Newest Project

Emily and I are excited to announce our newest project: we bought a cottage in the woods! It’s our very first home purchase!

After years of dreaming, planning, and saving money, we started scouting out various locations. We found a gem of a little house in Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania, about a 2-hour drive from our apartment in New York City.

Our Little Dream

Purchasing a little home in the woods has been on the top of our bucket list for quite some time. After learning that we were pregnant with baby #3 (see Our Third), we were inspired to finally make our dream a reality.

We absolutely love our life in New York City and the simplicity that comes with small space living. I love that I can walk to work. I love that Mabel’s school and our church are in our neighborhood. I love that we live in the same building as Emily’s sister, brother-in-law, and our niece. I love our community of friends.

We knew we did not want to leave our life in the city. We also knew that meant we needed to continue to rent a tiny apartment.

And yet for years, we’d desired to own a second place where we could go on retreat with our girls. We wanted a location to enjoy vacation time with friends and extended family.

We also dreamed of owning a place that we could set up as a short-term rental for other families to enjoy. With kids, we prefer to stay in short-term rental homes rather than hotels when we travel. We have often driven away from the properties saying, “I’d love to run one of those some day.”

Reflecting on Life

The past two years have been difficult for both Emily and me. As I’ve been in the process of tidying up my life, (see Tidying Up My Life) I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting and processing patterns of my own behavior. I’ve struggled at times to articulate to myself and to others “what do I really want to do with my life?”

This little house is part of the answer to that question.

What do I really want to do with my life? I want to enjoy time with Emily and the girls. I want to teach and make a difference in the lives of my students. I want to craft, construct, design, and write. I want to enjoy city life and the great outdoors.

I want to set goals and put steps in place to achieve them.

So yes, here it is. Our newest project.

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