For most people here in Kansas, sometime in March 2020 marked the beginning of all the lockdowns and restrictions. When I first started taking notes for this post, we were only about a month or so into quarantine. My notes kept growing as I kept thinking, “I don’t want to post this while I’m still in quarantine, I want this piece to be a look back on my complete quarantine experience.” Well, here we are one year later!

While I am so thankful that we are not in a full on quarantine anymore, I can hardly believe we are still dealing with this virus. And while I hate the phrase “the new normal,” I am convinced that we might not ever get back to what life was like before coronavirus. But maybe that’s okay? Maybe we need to be more cautious than we were before?

My local news stations say that as more people are getting vaccinated, we are just a couple more months away from being free from masks and limited gatherings. Whatever the return of that freedom looks like to you, I know it’s going to be a sweet moment. I can see you now at a big outdoor concert or festival, surrounded by your best friends finally mask free, singing along to your favorite song with your hands held out, as a big smile comes across your face as you remember, THIS is what freedom feels like! Oh my goodness, I can’t wait for that moment for you.

For now though, I want to reflect on some things that I learned during my quarantine/coronavirus experience.

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If you follow me online at all then you likely saw my kitchen remodel reveal. We took out an entire wall, so of course the before and after pictures are impressive. But there are alot of other intentional details that went into the design that I want to share with you.

First, a little background on how we ended up in this house. Between the properties we looked at in Texas and the properties we looked at here in Kansas, we looked at about 50 homes. One day before our final go around Wichita my husband sent me a link to a house and said, “this is a good example of a bad house on good land that we could fix up.” Even though it was just supposed to be an example, we lined up a showing. It was our very last showing before heading back on down the highway to Texas. The land itself was beautiful, but the house actually made me cry. It was so much worse than the photos made it look. I think I cried all the way through Oklahoma. However, something about it I just couldn’t leave alone. The opening sequence to one of my favorite shows ends with the phrase, “do you have what it takes to take on a fixer upper?” Well, as it turns out, I do have exactly what it takes to take on a fixer upper.

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A few months ago, I shared my family’s heartbreak at a real estate deal gone wrong that shattered our dreams of homesteading. Since then, with the help of our friends at church, we turned to the Lord and asked him to reveal his will to us. It only took a couple days of intentional prayer before my husband said to me, “I believe the Lord is redirecting us, and telling us that it’s time to move closer to our family in Kansas.” After my initial shock wore off and I started to pay attention too – it seemed there were signs of wheat and sunflowers everywhere!

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This is not the post I thought I’d be writing.  I thought I’d be writing to tell you that in a just a week’s time, my family and I would be moving out onto our own perfect piece of the Texas Hill Country to begin our next stage of life. I wish I could tell you all my feelings about the real estate deal that fell apart…but for now I will just share those thoughts with Jesus (and my therapist) in hopes that they subside. All I will say is that I uprooted my family and put 98% of my belongings in storage for two months under the impression that a legally binding real estate contract would in fact be honored; however that is not the case.

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This post comes as a result of growing up a light skinned Mexican American and after many conversations with close friends and family members of similar heritage. When #blacklivesmatter started trending, I set out to understand the struggles of African Americans and figure out what I could do to help. I was surprised to see that in some documentaries and articles, the black and brown struggle were grouped into the same plight.

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It’s no secret I moved around a lot when I was younger. But to my memory there was no sweeter a time than growing up and being a teenager in New Braunfels. From early morning taco runs before school to late afternoon floats on the river after school, I have many fun memories. Even though my family ended up moving to Kansas around college age, I always said that when it was time to settle down with my own family I would come back to New Braunfels. As with many things, I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

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Except not really, more like hello my one or two readers. But still, hello! Pardon my blank space as I get this whole thing up and running.

Some upcoming topics include:

• Hometown Disillusionment
• Dinosaur Valley State Park
• Summer Bible Studies
• Happily Ever After
• Father’s Day
• Baby’s 2nd Birthday
• Summer Road Trips

In the meantime check out my other pages and stay tuned!

XO-Olivia