Five Years
Five years ago today we moved from Tulsa, OK to Sarasota, FL. We made this decision off of our experience at Siesta Key beach on vacation the year before. We were walking on the beach and Zach looked at me and said: “why don’t we move here?” My response was a face of shock and confusion - we don’t do stuff like that. We don’t just pick up and start over. This makes no sense, so why would we do this...?
After returning home and a job that he didn’t feel fulfilled in he brought the move up again. After A LOT of prayer and consideration, we made the decision in Jan. of ‘13 that we would soon call Florida home.
In five years we’ve experienced countless trips to beaches & airports, a handful of tropical storms and hurricanes.
10 Times our guest room has been occupied by out of state guests
9 Times We’ve Binge-Watched The Office
8 Cars
7 Renovations
6 Trips to the East Coast
5 Places of Employment
4 Disney Trips
3 Cities & Homes
2 Babies
All because of 1 life-changing decision to pack up and move to the sunshine state.
The life we live today is because we made hard decisions out of faith, and sacrifice.
We started off with me working out of our apartment, to moving an hour away from everything, including Zach’s job. We’ve borrowed money, been maxed out on credit cards, struggled with infertility, I quit the job that at the time brought in the most income for our home, and started from scratch when it comes to our little family, and friends.
Since we sacrificed so much time, energy, and have been diligent - as of last week we paid our last credit card payment. We live in a beautiful home 7 miles from Zach’s work which means Evie gets to see her daddy before AND after work instead of him leaving before she wakes up, and after she’s been put to bed. I am able to be a stay at home mom, as well as run my new business venture.
We are where we are in life today because we not only trusted God by taking MANY leaps of faith but because we trudged through YEARS of being uncomfortable.
Zach has worked himself sick on multiple occasions (which I do not encourage) 80+ hours a week with a newborn an hour away at home, 1/4 of the cars listed above we literally drove them into the ground, and they weren’t pretty to start with. We have pinched, scrimped, and stretched every last penny we had to get us to the next payday.
I am sharing this because I know some people look at us where we are today and do not take into account what it took to get us here.
So here’s to the #thorpfladventure that started it all, and the many more years soaking up the sun!