Preface: This blog post was written Saturday evening June 11, but went unpublished. It was written prior to the tragic massacre in Orlando that occurred a few hours later, on Sunday June 12. My heart weeps. I weep for all who are suffering. I weep that the act of taking away any human life by any other human even exists. 😥
Today, I’ve chosen to turn off the news. I know what happened. I know the toll. There’s nothing more that I can do to “undo” or fix what has been broken. That’s part of the great tragedy. The helplessness. I’ve found there comes a point (fairly quickly) when the media runs out of facts, and they turn to emotion, confusion, rhetoric and politics to keep the story going. This inevitably fuels the flames of misery, conjecture, fear and hate. And, it encourages despair.
The only thing we can control is to turn it off. Say a prayer. Move forward putting our unique share of light back into the world to chase away the darkness. We can choose to focus on gratitude for all of the good in the world. Because, I believe with all my heart that there is still so much more good than evil in this world. Just look around! Look at the sky, the sun, the rain, and the flowers! Look and listen to the extraordinarily exquisite music, dance and art! Look at the faces of the people we are so privileged to see and love each day (and, why not give them an extra hug)! Look at the mercies and blessings in our life! Look at the abundance! Look at the joys and opportunities of living another day on this amazing blue ball spinning in space! Yes, there is misery, evil and untold horrors. Each of us will take a turn carrying those burdens, either personally, or for those we love. But, suffering is not what life is all about. There is hope and healing, love and joy.
My friend Kayla Lemmon wrote the most perfect piece about Orlando. She said everything I could have- you can read it here.
And now, at the risk of seeming completely insensitive (which was never my intention), I am choosing to share the post I wrote Saturday night. Because, life is a beautiful gift, and it is good – even when it’s not fair or kind – it is good. I’m choosing to embrace and celebrate that today.
Thank you for reading, and for being a part of the goodness in my life. ♥ – MoSop
“Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest.” – Robert Montgomery
OK. Since many some of you have been asking and/or wondering [or not] what is happening with our housing situation – here’s my TOP TEN HOUSE LOWDOWN for anyone interested.
#1. Yes, [God willing] we are moving this year.
#2. No, our existing home is not for sale . But… it will be, later this year.
#3. Yes, we are building a new home [completion approx. November]
#4. No, we are not going far.
We will be living in Farmington, Utah [very excited!] which is only about 12 miles north of our current domicile. It is a planned community, with a pool, and a nice multi-generational / multi-style housing vibe. We will be close to EVERYTHING – Shopping, Restaurants, Movie Theater, FrontRunner commuter train, 100+ miles of trails right out my front door (yippee!!), new Hospital, lots of parks – including Lagoon Amusement Park and Cherry Hill, and better yet, we will be living super close to lots of family members.
And when I say close, I mean SUPER CLOSE. Especially to my parents – who are actually building their own new home right across the street from our new home.
Yup. I can almost hear us in true Walton Family style, yelling out our windows at bedtime, “Goodnight Daddy! Goodnight Holly! Goodnight Momma!”
I’m only half joking. You know I have try doing this at least once.
BONUS: We will have no more yardwork or snow removal (hooray!) – that’s all being taken care of for us. And, there is still plenty of room on our two huge decks available for planter boxes for my veggies and flowers.
#5. Our house construction has begun!
Last week they dug the hole for the foundation [early! I posted a pic of that], and they are preparing to pour the foundation footings this week!
~
#6. There’s more to this than I expected.
This week we had our final appointment at the beautiful “Design Center”. It’s like “Home Buyer Disneyland”, where each giant room is another adventure [the Kitchen Room with walls of cabinets and sinks and appliances and fixtures to choose from, the Bath/Shower Room with vanities and toilets displayed under artistic lighting like fine china, the Lighting Room, the Carpet / Tile / Hardwood Flooring Room (one of my personal favorites), The Home Media / Fireplace / Electrical Upgrades Room (akkkk! Way too expensive! Avert your eyes!!)…. etc.
We even had our very own Interior Designer consultant [named Amanda] who helped walk us through the process of choosing all of our colors, flooring, cabinets, lighting, electrical, trims, toilets, doorknobs, etc….[oh, soooo many choices! Who knew there were so many details?!].
#7. I wasn’t 100% sure this was really going to happen.
As you may know, The road has been rocky. VERY rocky in regards to our housing. But, now that we have signed a lot of papers, paid a chunk of money, and are able to stand in a hole in the ground “with our name on it”, The New House is getting real.
#8. We’ve met our neighbors!
A week ago, the community held a pool party for current and future residents. We had a blast meeting a lot of awesome people. We are going to have some of the most quirky, funny, interesting, diverse, perfectly lovely neighbors. If you are extra curious, here is a little video about the community I will live. The area has built up a LOT since the filming. Our home is a much coveted 2-story style, with the Master on the main, a large covered patio entry and a large Pergola porch upstairs. It is an attached home. The Model can be seen in the video. They also show a lot of the interior shots, but they’re all mixed up with the other model home interiors, so you’ll just get a general idea.
#9. The Model Home listed for sale last week. I’m still absorbing the asking price. Which is…wait for it… $$multiple tens of thousands more than we locked ours in 2 months ago.
O_O Seriously.
I can only feel ridiculously blessed, and awestruck at the timing this came about for our family.
#10. Crazy Utah Housing Market
As you can see, the housing market here in Utah is exploding right now! It’s beyond crazy. For various reasons (job growth, solid economy, increased aging population looking to downsize, etc) there are a LOT more people wanting homes than there are actual homes to go around. This is a really good thing if you have some property to sell! But, it’s not so good if you need to buy. So, if you live in Utah and are vaguely considering selling. Do it. Now. Just make sure you have somewhere to GO. Otherwise, you may be homeless.
That’s my TOP TEN Update for now. We will see what interesting twists and turns life takes us next. One thing for certain, it will never be boring. – MoSop
Latter-day Soprano 
I am so excited for you, Holly. What a neat place to live. How nice to have a place without exterior maintenance. Just a few flower pots to tend. More time for walking and enjoying life. Decorating is so much fun. I hope you’ll share pictures when you’re finished.
I, too, have been saddened by the events of this last weekend. I don’t know if you saw about the young woman who was on The Voice, Christina Grimmie. She was 22 and a sweet, Christian girl. She was signing autographs after her concert in Orlando (coincidence) when a crazy fan came up and shot her in the head, killing her, then took his own life. No rhyme or reason. That was Fri. night, then Sun., early AM, the massacre at the night club. So senseless and evil. His supposed reason was because they were gay. I’m not a proponent of that lifestyle, but killing them is not the answer. I weep for their families, friends and loved ones, and their souls. No one is ever justified for taking another’s life, with the exception of the military during times of war, or self defense.
There is nothing we can do about it. As you said, we can’t undo what’s been done. All we can do is praise God for His mercy and grace, and pray for the strength to live our lives in this crazy world that it’s become.
Love you Holly, Lynne
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